PDA

View Full Version : What to do when players can't play?



Tough_Tonka
2009-10-15, 09:22 PM
I have a bit of a problem, my roomates and I started a DnD game but there was only four of us and we wanted to have a crew of 4 players. So one of my roomates invited a friends that goes to another college a little over half an hour away. He nice and all but we've had to cancel a lot of games because he's too busy to come over here. I think things would run better without him but I don't want to be a jerk, do any of you folks have any experience about it.

Kylarra
2009-10-15, 09:31 PM
Try to plan games with his schedule in mind and if he cancels, just run him as an NPC for that session.

Kallisti
2009-10-15, 09:36 PM
Try to plan games with his schedule in mind and if he cancels, just run him as an NPC for that session.

This. Definitely this. Telling him you feel it's unfair to ask the other players to wait on him isn't being a jerk, it's being a conscientious DM.

jokey665
2009-10-15, 09:44 PM
Try to plan games with his schedule in mind and if he cancels, just run him as an NPC for that session.

Yup, this is the way to go. Alternately, instead of actually running him as an NPC just have him in the background and kind of non-existent. We've been doing this in my current campaign and it's working great because the players have a boat and we just say "so-and-so stayed on the boat to work on X," which also works because there are a total of 8 players and we rarely have all 8 there at the same time. Usually 5-7.

Dienekes
2009-10-15, 09:49 PM
Generally, me and my group made an agreement that if we ever had everything set up and 1 person couldn't make it we run anyway, no complaining.

It's worked out fairly well, for the most part.

Tyndmyr
2009-10-15, 10:46 PM
One of my current games involves round robin DMing. Thus, there is always a needed reason for one or more of the characters to not be with.

I don't think we've repeated reasons yet, and they've ranged from mourning a fallen teammate to ceaselessly copying spells after looting spellbooks to doing upkeep on our house.

GM should keep in mind that one less player can alter power level, and to adjust encounters accordingly to avoid likely wipage, but there's always a chance that a player won't be able to make a game...things happen. Best to have a way to deal with it.

Grumman
2009-10-16, 12:10 AM
One thing's for sure, what you don't do is run them as an extremely OOC NPC, whose sudden burst of incompetence and cowardice leaves her and another PC up **** creek without a paddle.

infinitypanda
2009-10-16, 12:16 AM
One thing's for sure, what you don't do is run them as an extremely OOC NPC, whose sudden burst of incompetence and cowardice leaves her and another PC up **** creek without a paddle.

I sense a story behind this.

Mystic Muse
2009-10-16, 12:38 AM
when my players can't play I cry myself to sleep.no I am not serious.


When my players can't play we just don't play.

Grumman
2009-10-16, 01:01 AM
I sense a story behind this.
Some kid we were escorting to the capital got captured by slaver pirates, so the two evil characters in the party (a human tank and a drow wizard) decided to do a bit of sequence breaking on another pointless sidequest: we 'port in, we grab the kid, we 'port out.

We 'port in, and we finish for the night.

Next week we had to play at another location out in the boondocks, and the drow player couldn't show up. The DM decided this meant that she more or less started gibbering in the corner instead of 'porting us out as we had already stated was the plan in the DM's presence the previous week, and as a result we got captured.

Since my druid hadn't done anything during the fight that would suggest he wasn't just a barbarian, I decided to slip out of the manacles and hide as a snake until I had an opportunity to escape. The DM then decided that despite not knowing he was a druid and me rolling ~30 on my hide check at level 6 in a cluttered, enclosed space that could not be cleared without returning to port, the slavers found me anyway. That was when I quit the game.

Blacky the Blackball
2009-10-16, 01:29 AM
My group has a GM and five players. Our general rule is:

If one player can't make it we still play (unless it's the GM!)

If more than one player can't make it we play boardgames instead.

In terms of the character, one or more of the other players play the missing player's character - with the others in the group acting as a "don't be silly, they wouldn't do that" sanity check.

And yes, we have ended up with characters dying in sessions that their players missed once or twice. We're all mature enough that when the player was told the circumstances of their character's death it didn't cause any argument or sulking.

karnokoto
2009-10-16, 01:41 AM
If its just the one guy that cant make it, his character just kind of...mysteriously disappears. Just temporarily forget the fact that he was ever playing. You can make up fun stories after the fact to further immerse your players.
Like he decided to hang back to cover up your tracks, fell down a ravine and broke his ankle. Nightfall came and he found himself surrounded with a pack of dire wolves...only to be saved at the last second by a band of hunting eladrin. They look him to their beautiful and eloquent town, where they enjoyed the most sinful of hedonistic pleasures with devastatingly beautiful and exotic young women for the rest of the night, and the day after...sadly, he bid them farewell and has been tailing the party the entire time, only now just catching up.

Of course this could all be utter crap, but hey, even DnD characters make up fish stories ;)

Tyndmyr
2009-10-16, 01:42 AM
If all else fails, fall back on "hey, WTF is so-and-so? I coulda sworn he was just here a minute ago."

Autopsibiofeeder
2009-10-16, 02:01 AM
My group has a GM and five players. Our general rule is:

If one player can't make it we still play (unless it's the GM!)

If more than one player can't make it we play boardgames instead.



Aye, this is what we do as well, except we usually end up drinking beer somewhere.

When we finished the last campaign, one player went like "Gee, uhh...every week is so much, can't quite make it, but I don't want to quit." Seeing how everybody else (we're 1 DM and 5 players) is up to playing once per week, we decided that that player was to roll a character that was not too significant to the party (e.g. not the healer/debuff-remover) and notify the DM about when he will be absent/present in advance.

The DM has time to anticipate on his character being there, when he is absent the party does not miss out on a critical component, but rather has a NPC-ish teammate with somewhat of an off-day.

DemonSlayer
2009-10-16, 02:42 AM
This might be crazy talk, but how about you, oh I dunno, wait until he can play?
You knew beforehand that he'd have less time than you (since you're all roommates and he's gotta take a half hour trip to even get there), so you could've expected him to not be able to play as much. Now you gotta cope with it. If you dind't want to adjust to his scedule then you should have decided to do so beforehand.
I mean c'mon, it's a game. The point is to spend time with your friends, not to play some game regardless of the people you play it with.
Something similar happend in my old gaming group. A friend and me also had less time than the other players (we were both in school and worked during the weekends, while the others had more free time). In the end I decided to leave both the game and those friendships behind because of the pressure they were putting on me to play a friggin' game. I recently heard the other friend eventually did the same.
So lighten up. If your friend can't play, then don't play. The point is doing something fun as a group, isn't it? Besides, as far as I know, D&D was never supposed to have a time limit, so what's the rush?

And if all else fails, start a second game for when he's not around. My old gaming group ran a Star Wars d6 game when I couldn't make it, and it worked perfectly. They had a fun game even when I wasn't around, and I didn't have to feel like some second-rate pc who missed out on most of the roleplaying and action.

FoE
2009-10-16, 02:53 AM
This is why I place remote-activated exploding collars on all my players.

"What's that, Jimmy? You need to go to your grandmother's funeral? You can't make game night. A pity. I guess that means your family is about to experience two sudden tragedies .."

pasko77
2009-10-16, 04:56 AM
Play 2 different games.
One is with him, one without.

bosssmiley
2009-10-16, 04:59 AM
Try to plan games with his schedule in mind and if he cancels, just run him as an NPC a trapspringing test dummy for that session.

/posted fixed for lack of meanness :smallbiggrin:

If the character is critical to the intended story that session just curse his name, throw darts at his picture and play a beer-and-pretzels game instead.

Katana_Geldar
2009-10-16, 05:56 AM
Have you talked to him about this? One player not turning up is usually NOT enough to cancel the game, unless his character has some important things to do related to the campaign and then you need someone you know you are committed to.

You're the DM, you're the best contact person to make sure the people get to the game and you need to make calls when it is the best time to cancel.

Sounds as if, as you've said you've had to cancel a lot of games, that he's not really committed to this.

BTW, my players have a special fate if they don't turn up and don't tell me. They get left behind at the last place where they were actively in the party and something embarrassing (but not terrible) happens to them that is decided by all the players at the table. Putting them in a clownsuit handcuffed to a toilet without money or a ticket on a train to Vladistock is a great punishment.

Blacky the Blackball
2009-10-16, 06:54 AM
[...] my players have a special fate if they don't turn up and don't tell me. [...] Putting them in a clownsuit handcuffed to a toilet without money or a ticket on a train to Vladistock is a great punishment.

Wow that's harsh. I mean I could understand doing that to their characters - but to do it to the players...

karnokoto
2009-10-16, 06:57 AM
This might be crazy talk, but how about you, oh I dunno, wait until he can play?
...
I mean c'mon, it's a game. The point is to spend time with your friends, not to play some game regardless of the people you play it with.
...
So lighten up. If your friend can't play, then don't play. The point is doing something fun as a group, isn't it? Besides, as far as I know, D&D was never supposed to have a time limit, so what's the rush?

And if all else fails, start a second game for when he's not around.
...

(Edited the quoted section for length)

So, your group of five friends has been planning to see a hypothetical movie for the past month. Everyone is going to come, except for the one guy who says he might not be able to make it.
Movie day rolls around, and that guy calls to say he can't make it. Everyone feels regret that he couldn't come, but do we HONESTLY expect the other 4 friends to just not go JUST because the one guy isn't going to be there?

There are some differences in this because you dont neeeed that one guy to go to the movie with to be there.
If the guy not able to show up to D&D played a crucial character, it makes things a little difficult for the rest of the group.

I really think its extremely childish to take on a mindset of "IF I CAN'T HAVE FUN THEN NOBODY CAN."
If you can't make it to a session, thats regrettable. Hope we see you next time kinda deal.
But it doesn't mean everyone else has to stop having fun because of it.

I mean if you can pass on the D&D for a night, go ahead, but sometimes D&D is just what people want to do that night.

Or, lets say you start a new game to play when absent guy isn't going to be there. Cool.
What if everyone loses interest in Campaign A which involved absent guy, and doesn't want to play in it anymore? What if, when absent guy finally comes over again, everyone is talking and laughing about the last session of Campaign B? Both of those situations are going to make him feel even more left out than he already was.

DemonSlayer
2009-10-16, 07:53 AM
So, your group of five friends has been planning to see a hypothetical movie for the past month. Everyone is going to come, except for the one guy who says he might not be able to make it.
[...]

There are some differences in this because you dont neeeed that one guy to go to the movie with to be there.

That's a bit of an understatement, even though, yeah, I'd try very hard to postphone going to the movie as long as possible so that we can all go. But even then, he could always rent the movie later or something.
The point is, however, that missing a movie does not have consequences for the next time you go out. So one person misses a movie, so what? It's probably not even going to come up next time. (The fact that a movie only runs for a certain amount of time also counts...)

Missing a gaming session, on the other hand, does have consequences (we wouldn't have a thread about it if it didn't have consequences). It has consequences for your character (who misses out on XP, treasure, role-playing and, most importantly, working with the others as a team), and it has consequences for the player (who feels left out, misses important plot-points, and altogether misses much of the ongoing story he's participating in).


I really think its extremely childish to take on a mindset of "IF I CAN'T HAVE FUN THEN NOBODY CAN."
Is it less childish than a mindset of "I WANNA PLAY AND ***** ANYONE WHO HAS OTHER OBLIGATIONS"? And, seriously, the point is to get together with friends and do something fun (which may or may not be D&D), not to play D&D and get whomever is available to play along.


What if everyone loses interest in Campaign A which involved absent guy, and doesn't want to play in it anymore?
Well, what would you normally do when people lose interest in a campaign? Simply drop it, maybe one or more sessions to finish the whole. Then either start a new campaign, or invite the often-absent player (OAP) to campaign B and start a campaign C for when he can't make it. It's really quite easy once you realize "gaming is a fun thing to do when I'm with my friends", rather than "people can add fun to the game I wanna play".


I mean if you can pass on the D&D for a night, go ahead, but sometimes D&D is just what people want to do that night.
Yes, and any adult should be able to overcome that urge. And if you can't, either start a new campaign or play a short module or something.

Asheram
2009-10-16, 07:57 AM
Well... If someone can't show up for a session there's five things to do.

Don't play.
Play while the absent persons character is gone away on another mission for the time being.
"Mark" him, The Gamers way. (Make him just follow you around and noone'll pay any attention to him, not even enemies)
Make him your Heal/Tank/Trapchecking bot
Have someone else that the characters owner trust play his character over the evening.

jamminjelly
2009-10-16, 08:29 AM
Personally, I would make an absent policy for the game and just let one of the present players roll for an absent character. This way you don't have to worry about xp weirdness or modifying fights.

Also, be sure to give any Warforged in you game lots of magical items. This will help too, I assure you.

valadil
2009-10-16, 08:41 AM
Most groups I've played in will run if there's only one player ditching but cancel if there's more. Whether you NPC or ignore the absent PC is up to you. Both methods work.

The J Pizzel
2009-10-16, 09:29 AM
One of my players (the most eager, mind you) lives in New Orleans while we all live on the other side of the state (near Texas). He comes down about twice a month to visit friends and family and we "try" to play. Oddly enough, sometimes it's one of us that can't play that particular weekend. So sometimes (like right now) we'll go a month before playing again because we're waiting for him to come back down. I promise you though, if my other players were having fits of withdrawel, Mr. New Orleans wouldn't mind if we played. To me, that's just politeness on his part, just as it's politeness on our part to "try" and wait for him to come down. It's just like any other relationship, compromise.

So I don't think there's anything wrong with ya'll playing without your other guy. As long as, out of respect for him, ya'll make a valiant effort to try and wait for him. But if you group is pushing a 3-4 weeks without playing, I'm sure your friend won't mind if ya'll get together for a little death and destruction.

jP

Kol Korran
2009-10-16, 09:29 AM
my group is comprised out of 5 players and a DM. but we're all busy people and os osmetime some can't show up. our rule is that if but one player is missing, we NPC him/her, and the same player can't be missing for two consecutive meetings.

but, due to people's schedules, we can't meet frequently, so the DM, another player and myself have formed a smaller experimental group (with the other player DMing), at something a bit more light hearted. the bigger group's shcedule takes precedence, but the little group fills in gaps of meetings.

Kol.

Guinea Anubis
2009-10-16, 09:38 AM
another vote for run him as NPC

DemonSlayer
2009-10-16, 09:44 AM
To me, that's just politeness on his part, just as it's politeness on our part to "try" and wait for him to come down.

You try? So sometimes you fail and accidentaly role-play and roll dice :smalltongue:?

Besides, its a lot more difficult to make time in a busy scedule (sometimes its impossible) than it is to not play. I just wanna know; what's pressurising people into playing the game? Because if there was no pressure, then you could wait a few months if need be.
I'd have no problems with waiting a long time before continuing the game, at any rate. I just don't see what the big deal is :smallconfused:.

Kylarra
2009-10-16, 10:23 AM
Having to cancel a lot of games says either they have a normal game date and he just can't make it on those days or they plan on meetings and it turns out he can't make it at the last minute multiple times.

Either way, by planning with his schedule in mind you establish a time that he should be able to attend. If he can't attend for multiple sessions in a row after you've tried to accommodate him, clearly he's not all that interested in playing.

kjones
2009-10-16, 10:59 AM
I have a suggestion that I don't think anyone has made yet - have some sort of "backup game" that you bust out when the fourth guy can't make it. I suppose this is more useful for situations where someone has to suddenly cancel, and everyone else is already at your place / has made plans to be, but it might be good for you as well.

I've done this with Spirit of the Century (works well as a pickup game with little prep) and with various little one-offs. Sure, you don't get to play your "main" campaign, but everyone still gets to game and have a good time.

DemonSlayer
2009-10-16, 11:50 AM
Either way, by planning with his schedule in mind you establish a time that he should be able to attend. If he can't attend for multiple sessions in a row after you've tried to accommodate him, clearly he's not all that interested in playing.

How do you figure that :smallconfused:? There is a little something called "obligations to real life". That always comes first, and yes, it gets in the way of the game sometimes. Any D&D group who doesn't respect that isn't worth playing with. Even in the case of missing multiple sessions.

Kylarra
2009-10-16, 11:55 AM
How do you figure that :smallconfused:? There is a little something called "obligations to real life". That always comes first, and yes, it gets in the way of the game sometimes. Any D&D group who doesn't respect that isn't worth playing with. Even in the case of missing multiple sessions.I meant that it's not a priority. :smalltongue: Multiple "obligations to real life" in a timeslot that you had previously slotted for something else, show that it's not a priority.

Obviously there are exceptions to this, but given that you had already made the initial effort to find a timeslot that they should be free...

DemonSlayer
2009-10-16, 12:43 PM
I don't quite agree. I'll take another example from my own life. There's ten weeks for each class we take (usually four at the same time). For each class we usually need to make some kind of assignment, and take a test. The fact that over 60% of our sstudents dropped out should indicate how difficult those are.
Now, in week 7 we usually need to be finished with each project. In week 8 we have to present our project to the teachers. In week 9, there's the test. In week 10, we have to fix whatever was wrong with our project.
It is not uncommon that we need to spend each weekend prior to those weeks working real hard to get stuff finished on time. Basically we can throw spare time out the window by then, cause we won't be having any of it. That's FOUR weekends.
Now, did I know any of this before I started that education? Hell no. How long was I playing before that? About two years. So yes, it is definately possible to suddenly find yourself without enough time for the game, and your gaming group consists of a bunch of jerks if they put pressure on you to play anyway, or punish you for it in-game by moving on without you.

And I should mention that they sometimes missed sessions, too, meaning I couldn't play for weeks (sometimes more than four). Did I make a fuss? No. I just did other fun stuff with those friends, and we all had a good time. And a few weeks (or over a month) later, we'd pick up were where left off. I don't see why this would be such a problem for others.

Random832
2009-10-16, 01:01 PM
I meant that it's not a priority. :smalltongue: Multiple "obligations to real life" in a timeslot that you had previously slotted for something else, show that it's not a priority.

Only if you define "a priority" as meaning a level of importance that shouldn't be assigned to a game by anyone not being paid money to play it.

Stuff comes up. That's life. It could have happened to anyone in the group.

Glass Mouse
2009-10-16, 01:02 PM
You try? So sometimes you fail and accidentaly role-play and roll dice :smalltongue:?

Besides, its a lot more difficult to make time in a busy scedule (sometimes its impossible) than it is to not play. I just wanna know; what's pressurising people into playing the game? Because if there was no pressure, then you could wait a few months if need be.
I'd have no problems with waiting a long time before continuing the game, at any rate. I just don't see what the big deal is :smallconfused:.

Well, maybe people actually DO get together to play the game? :smallsmile:

You seem to start up games via the route of: "Hey, these are cool people I'd like to hang out with, what could we do, hmm, I know, D&D!" which is cool, no problem.
Other people go by the route of: "Aw, man, I really miss playing D&D, maybe I could ask my player-friends and see if we can scrape together a group!" which is equally cool.

Obviously, both options need people to have fun together (kinda goes without saying), but yeah - there are actually groups for whom D&D is the primary objective. At least for that one evening.
I know groups like that. It's not that we don't like people who don't show up - it's that we get really disappointed if we can't do the thing we've all been looking forward to.

Sometimes, the reason could be as simple as attachment to character and plot. If you start reading an exiting book, you love the characters, the plot has you by the throat... Wouldn't it hurt to put it away?
For some, D&D is kinda an interactive novel. You'd like to finish. You'd like to know what happens. And you get sad if this closure is postponed needlessly.


Now, I'm not advocating punishing or pressuring people (but, really, playing without one person is NOT punishment, unless you're actually playing out of malice - in which case I'd flee the group anyway), but if some compromise can be had, or the player is generally okay with missing sessions, wouldn't that be for the best for all?

Just my two cp :smallsmile:

Kylarra
2009-10-16, 01:10 PM
Only if you define "a priority" as meaning a level of importance that shouldn't be assigned to a game by anyone not being paid money to play it.

Stuff comes up. That's life. It could have happened to anyone in the group.Not really? I was assigning as something that you'd make time to do?

re: school example, I'm pretty sure you could tell your group ahead of time for those weeks? Not just cancel at the last minute each time right? My qualifier was for those who cancel at the last minute repeatedly.

Blackfang108
2009-10-16, 01:58 PM
Not really? I was assigning as something that you'd make time to do?

re: school example, I'm pretty sure you could tell your group ahead of time for those weeks? Not just cancel at the last minute each time right? My qualifier was for those who cancel at the last minute repeatedly.

We have a buddy who bails at the last minute rather often.

We just blame his Girlfriend.

And usually, we're right.

DemonSlayer
2009-10-16, 02:14 PM
re: school example, I'm pretty sure you could tell your group ahead of time for those weeks? Not just cancel at the last minute each time right? My qualifier was for those who cancel at the last minute repeatedly.

Oh, yeah, I thought that would go without saying :smalltongue:. People who call five minutes before session starts that they're not going to come over will be delegated to trapfinding duty. And I don't mean the kind of trapfinding that requires skill rolls ;). Also, they suddenly become very generous with their gold and magic items :smallbiggrin:...

@Glass Mouse: I understand that it's frustrating, and if people decide to get together with random people for the sole purpose of D&D, then it makes more sense. But if people commit time to a game, rather than to hanging out with friends, then they probably have enough free time to be there each session.
Also, Tonka and his group knew beforehand that the player had much less time, and I feel they should have decided whether they'd want him to join or not before the game starts :smalltongue:.

Telonius
2009-10-16, 02:18 PM
Whenever one of my players is absent, we run him as an NPC. With one addition....

I have in my possession a small figurine of Ned Flanders, that is just big enough to be a D&D mini. The absent player must live with the shame of knowing that they were represented by Ned for a session.

Thajocoth
2009-10-16, 02:32 PM
Here's what I did:

The group has 8 players... Technically... Never will all 8 show up at once. Last session we fluctuated between 3 & 5. (Yep, we fluctuate player quantity within a session...)

I made a bunch of extra guys (or, rather, took 11 level 1 units out of the monster manual). These are the player's "backup", as given to them to command by the city guard. Each player picked one. If there are 2 or 3 players, they use themselves AND their backup units. If only one player shows up, we'll play video games instead. (Hasn't happened yet.)

Rhiannon87
2009-10-16, 04:03 PM
We have this problem all the time. We have a core group of five players who can make it pretty much every week, another one player who can make it fairly regularly, two players with spotty attendance, and one guy who graces us with his presence once every three months or so. (He's the cleric in one of the games. Sob.) We used to say that unless everyone could show up, we wouldn't play. And then we never freaking played.

So we instituted a policy of playing regardless of who can show, so long as we have a minimum number of players (5-6 usually). If people can't make it, tough. We're not putting both games on hold for, literally, months at a time, when other people are available. It's not fair for a handful of people to keep everyone else from having fun and advancing the story. Maybe it's also not fair that the people who are absent miss out, but we generally operate on a majority-rule system: if the majority of the group can make it, we play.

We've run into this problem multiple weeks in a row in my game. Two weeks ago, I had three players bail on me the day of game. I am still pissed about that one, to be honest. Last week, everyone had conflicting plans (plus a friend was in from out of town). This week, we've only been able to scrape together four players, but I think we're going to play anyway. I'll scale back the encounters and some of the absent players have given their blessing to NPC their characters. We're making it work as best we can.

Glass Mouse
2009-10-16, 04:36 PM
@Glass Mouse: I understand that it's frustrating, and if people decide to get together with random people for the sole purpose of D&D, then it makes more sense. But if people commit time to a game, rather than to hanging out with friends, then they probably have enough free time to be there each session.

I feel oddly offended by the implications of that last statement. However, I'm willing to believe the words just don't agree with you.



Also, Tonka and his group knew beforehand that the player had much less time, and I feel they should have decided whether they'd want him to join or not before the game starts :smalltongue:.

Agreed, absolutely.
However, I don't think this decision should necessarily involve an "all players must be present" rule. Any form of agreement would work (as long as everyone's happy about it, of course).
Also, this is completely besides the point. The guy has joined, and they have a problem. Now.


To get my own rantings somehow back on track...

In one of my groups, we play by the "absent player's character dissolves into a small, pink cloud until next session". Meaning they aren't present for the session, but when they return it's assumed they were there anyway, and they are gonna be held accountable for the party's actions whenever such occur. All are fine with that (but we're a group of 6 players where at least three are fairly busy people).

My other group plays by "none must be absent", which works ok - mostly, since we are only 3 players.

I'd say - have a talk with the guy, OoC. Find out what HIS expectations are. Maybe bring it up in the group - not with the "We have a problem with this guy" tone but more a "Hey, wouldn't it save us a lot of trouble if we decided on a general policy for absence?".
Maybe present the suggestions given in this thread. Y'know:
- have PC become NPC for the session.
- have PC disappear ("Mark" style).
- have another player control PC.
- have PC be completely absent, with IC explanation.
- sms player fantically during the entire session ("We are here-and-there, what do you do?!?") :smalltongue:
- etc.

Katana_Geldar
2009-10-17, 01:30 AM
I have the opinion that if a player's attendence is going to be constently spotty then they have the obligation to tell the DM that this is the case. Real life, particularly schedules, do not turn out how we like them but sometimes people can have a general idea whether or not the day that is set aside for gaming may have something else in it that has other priorities.

If one of my players (other than the one who is hosting) came up to me and said they he could maybe only make it monthly rather than fortnightly, I would work out with him what sort of role his character would take in the sessions he was absent to satisfy us both. And also, to tell me beforehand if he can't come for a particular week.

The DM has to think about the whole group and make the call whether to cancel or not. If one player is going to be inconsitent or know the possibility exists of this happening, then the DM needs to consider this in terms of the campaign so they can be ready. One player missing a session does not necessarily mean it is cancelled.

Magnor Criol
2009-10-17, 02:29 AM
I have a suggestion that I don't think anyone has made yet - have some sort of "backup game" that you bust out when the fourth guy can't make it.

This is what my little group does. We've all got different things eating our schedules and so all of us are fairly inconsistent, so we actually have 3-4 different campaigns we play depending on who can make it...it can actually be sorta confusing sometimes when we come back to a campaign we haven't played in a couple months. "I cast fir--no, no, wait, I'm the barbarian here, not the wizard. Hm." =p

It works for us because, as I said, we're all somewhat inconsistent. We're also all have a pretty laid-back, come-what-may attitude about the gaming, and that helps a lot.

Xenogears
2009-10-17, 03:51 AM
Also, Tonka and his group knew beforehand that the player had much less time, and I feel they should have decided whether they'd want him to join or not before the game starts :smalltongue:.

I don't see where you are getting this idea from. The only info we have is from the first post and all it says is that the person was a half hour away and that they consistently miss sessions. Being a half-hour away does not mean they have less free time. At all. It doesn't even imply it. From all available evidence it seems that they thought he would be able to participate regurally and have now found it he can't. Entirely different than what you are proposing.

Edit: Didn't mean to sound abrasive if it comes off that way...

Tough_Tonka
2009-10-17, 10:28 AM
Personally, I would make an absent policy for the game and just let one of the present players roll for an absent character. This way you don't have to worry about xp weirdness or modifying fights.

Also, be sure to give any Warforged in you game lots of magical items. This will help too, I assure you.

I guess that's pretty good idea and giving the Warforged figher extra magic items could make up for the chronically busy monk...Wait a sec, I didn't mention anything about the player's characters. :smallannoyed:

dragonfan6490
2009-10-17, 11:01 AM
This is why I place remote-activated exploding collars on all my players.

"What's that, Jimmy? You need to go to your grandmother's funeral? You can't make game night. A pity. I guess that means your family is about to experience two sudden tragedies .."

This. Its a shame about what happened to Jimmy, he was such a good role player.

In my group, if someone can't make it, I just have another player take control of the character for combat and then set him to the side for role playing interactions.

DemonSlayer
2009-10-18, 10:11 AM
I feel oddly offended by the implications of that last statement.

How's that :smallconfused:?


I don't see where you are getting this idea from.

Well, for starters, he has travelling time to deal with. That's plus 1 hour, and probably more if he uses public transport (at least, public transport that's as bad as where I live :smallwink: ).
It also means he could be forced to take the last bus back home, which might be before everybody else is ready to quit (I've had this happen to me a few times; I missed a few very impressive action scenes because of this).
Lastly (though I could think of a few other reasons, but I'm running out of time :smalltongue:), if this guy lives someplace else, then he might have obligations to the people he lives with (which the rest of the group doesn't, since they live with the other players). Maybe he lives at home and his family wants him to be present for something. Maybe he lives with his girlfriend/wife. Maybe, just maybe, his own roommates are his friends, too, and he needs to occasionally spend time with them, too, in order not to lose said friendships. Different locations mean different obligations, so it's only natural to assume his schedule doesn't fit in as seamlessly as that of the other player's.

ravenkith
2009-10-18, 07:03 PM
I'd have to throw in my vote for talking with the guy and see if he's cool with someone else NPCing his character for him when he can't make it due to real world commitments, especially if it's something that happens once a month or less.

If it happens more often than that, starting a second campaign in which he doesn't have a character is usually the best option.

Thurbane
2009-10-18, 07:09 PM
When one of our group can't make it, we usually have an agreement that someone else will run the character in their absence. If it's to be an extended absence, the character might drop out of the adventure for a while, to return at a later point.