Players unable to make a session

[VenomousFiligree]

Interested to hear how GMs manage their sessions, with missing players.

Do you cancel the session, gloss over the fact that a PC is missing, or......?

[joeru]

... send them a mail that it's unfortunate that they couldn't make it and that they certainly had a very good reason to do so and if they did it again they'd regret it.

... What?

[VenomousFiligree]

... send them a mail that it's unfortunate that they couldn't make it and that they certainly had a very good reason to do so and if they did it again they'd regret it.

... What?

Not exactly what I'm after, it's how the session is run with a PC that was prieviosly there and is now missing?

[Cantstanzya]

Adventuring sickness is our DMs explanation. It plagues our campaign from time to time. The player character that isn't there is healthy enough to move with the party but is unable to perform any actions, like fight, climb ropes, ect.... If they party needs to retreat in quick fashion, too bad for the one that is not there as their character cannot move at a fast enough pace and most likely would get devoured or captured. If the party elects to, they can leave him/her in a "safe" place. Let's say you are in town and you are all set to go out on your adventure, well the party could leave him/her behind in town. But the next session that starts up and that player shows up, it is up to him/her to find the party or wait for their return to town.
I really don't like to have other people play the character of a person that doesn't show up. Let's put it this way, if I am controlling two characters, one that is mine and one that is someone elses character, who do you think it going to go see if a door is trapped? Of course the character that is not mine.
I think adventuring sickness is the best way to account for someone not showing up. There is a danger that their character can die, and is a burden on the party. This way the player that are there can put pressure on the people that don't show up to show up.

[ldyparadox99]

I have three ways I handle missing players:

1.) If more than 2 players are missing, game cancelled. (sometimes I'll have some sort of side mission for a remaining character and we'll run through that, but that's only sometimes)

2.) If the characters are in a situation where the missing character really isn't needed/or would be noticed missing (ie in a city where they could easily wander off on their own), then the character is simply missing. Typically this can put the character in some interesting and compromising situations when they return. The missing character gains the title "sir/dame not appearing in this picture"

3.) If the characters were in the middle of a dungeon/battle (which can take several sessions in my game due to the massive amount of roleplay they do in combat), I will send the excel version of the character sheet to whichever player is willing to run the missing player. (Each time the players level or get something that drastically changes their stats, they update their hard copy of their characters on an excel sheet and send it to me. Works perfectly to send the player willing to run the missing character...and I have a hard copy if I fubar the character sheet in FG while tinkering with the ruleset)

[Oberoten]

Runing Ars Magica troupe style pretty much solves this problem, it just means that one less character is taken out of the char-pool of Magi, Companions and Groggers...

[Griogre]

There are basically two ways to manage missing players. Run their characters or don't. I run missing player's characters in the games they miss as NPC's. I also will only play a game if three or more players show.

I run the missing players characters because I then don't have to explain why characters suddenly vanished in the middle of a dungeon or adventure - since they don't. Also you suddenly don't get into a situation where gee the rogue is needed to do this (or some other class) and well, ah, he's not here. I think you need to explain your missing policy to players up front. I also think if you have a player with an attendance problem you should get a new player.

[Sigurd]

The characters are in the middle of a life or death situation. The players are not. If a player cant make it, run their character as you think they would.

While another person (the DM or another player) might not play them as well as the owner its the best solution available.

I think constructions that penalize the character because the player didn't show are childish and insulting. My players all have commitments much more important than D&D (like Kids & Mortgages). If you crap on them for being away they're not going to come back.

It's supposed to be fun.

If they miss a lot of sessions and\or things get so bad they can't really commit then you have to talk to them, or usually they'll talk to you.


This should all get much easier in FG2 when you can control more than one character.


Sigurd