What to Do When One of Your Players Can't Make It

[ShayRob007]

How do you cope with players not being able to make a session? When this happens to me, I try to invent a reason why that person is out-of-touch in the game so that they can continue on with the arc. Sometimes, if there is more notice, I will allow another player to play both characters--with the consent of the absent player. When I want everyone at the table to receive an important piece of information, I sometimes replace the planned game with a one-off or an epic battle/dungeon crawl so no one misses anything.

What's your thoughts on absent players? How do you react?

[BurgerBeast]

Yeah my preference is to not play, or play something else.

The compromise is an option: (1) play with one less character, but “pretend” that he/she was there. Scale encounters and/or experience appropriately (to determine amount awarded - I still award it to everyone). (2) DM plays the missing player’s PC, but experience is divided normally, and of course you lose some spotlight time.

[Mukade]

Yeah I let another player control their character in combat and play on. Different schedules/time zones mean that realistically not everyone is gonna be able to make it to every session, you kinda have to roll with it

[pragma]

There are a few fun ways to weave a player absence into the narrative.

(1) The absent player has the flu, and spends the session violently puking and miserable. Other players don't interact with them and the world tacitly ignores them.

(2) If a player is going to be absent often, you can have them be a summoned creature. A friend of mine played a barbarian that came out of a Horn of Valhalla an edition or two ago.

(3) For stealthy absentees, say they're on a stealth mission. Have them pop out of an amusing background object when they get back.

Etc.

[Specter]

Depends on the situation.

If a player says beforehand than he won't be able to attend the weekly session, I give him a preview of the decisions of the session and ask him what his character would want to do. Then we play without him and if the character has to decide something, I already have a baseline.

If a player doesn't come an doesn't let me know beforehand, then he is essentially a ghost traveling with the party.

In combat, some other player takes over (or I just make him tackle a monster 1-on-1 and remove both from the combat process).

But that's just me.

[HappyDaze]

Player can designate another player to run the PC (with all players collectively having a veto for truly out of character behavior). If they didn't designate another player, then I select one.

[LurkytheDwarf]

Well, for the last couple of years I've been the West Marches–style DM for my extended gaming group. Due to its impromptu nature, the players who were there were the characters present. Each dungeon excursion or event was fairly self-contained and everyone (er... the survivors) returned back to town at the end of the session. So unlike our group's other, more modern Adventure Paths and the like, I haven't really had a problem with missing players in a long time.

But, back when I ran linear campaigns, this was a fairly consistent problem and near the end, in my last campaign, I decided to make it a part of the setting: Introducing "the Dreamlands." A coexistent, mildly sentient plane which was equal parts Fey and Shadow and Ravenloft. If a player missed a session then the Dreamlands had taken them, when no one was looking of course. The next session they made, they'd roll on a modified version of the Lost in Faerie tables from The Great Pendragon Campaign. No matter how long the session was in-game time, the absent player could be gone anywhere from minutes to years and often would return changed in some way (i.e. laboring away mining for crystalized screams [permanent -4 Listen, +1 Str]). Should an absent player return at the same time another player was introducing a new character, then they both escaped the Dreamlands together which instantly created a bond between the new character and the party.

[Wizard_Lizard]

I mean my games aren't super serious, so they just.. aren't there or in the canoe (Long story)

[Chronos]

One of the players in my group frequently has issues with her work schedule. In the previous campaign, the workaround was that she made a deal with a powerful magical entity involving a term of service, and the entity can call her up for service at any time. It hasn't come up yet in this campaign, because her work is nonessential and has been closed for a few months, but it'll probably come up again soon. We'll probably come up with some other in-universe mechanism to pull her away as needed.

[Sigreid]

We just dont play.

[Wizard_Lizard]

We just dont play.

See if I did that, I would NEVER play.

[Trask]

If I'm running a small group (3-4 players) I'll probably cancel and we'll play a board game. If I'm running a big group (5-6 players)...the go to answer is that they have diarrhea or some similarly embarrassing ailment if they canceled last minute, or something more dignified if they politely informed us ahead of time :smallbiggrin:

[BoringInfoGuy]

Another player proxies the missing players character.

We all accept that a character can still die when the player is not there. We also do our best to play the character the same as if the player was there. I added several notes to my character sheet explaining the motivations and methods of my character.

I don’t think the DM has ever had to say “Bob would not have his character do that,” but I’ve been in a couple of short discussions polling what others thought a missing player would have his character do.

Something that helps is the DM setup an Obsidian Portal page for the game. After each game session, we upload our current character sheet. If we suddenly can’t make it, the DM can print out a copy for someone else to use. After the game, the DM uploads the sheet again, so the player knows his current HP, expendable resources, and treasure.

The DM also loads a summary of each session onto the site, so everyone can review last session before each game.

It’s the type of solution that I like best.

Even if a player had something come up last minute, the game can continue.

[Sigreid]

See if I did that, I would NEVER play.

Sometimes it's a few weeks, but we eventually get back to it.

[BurgerBeast]

See if I did that, I would NEVER play.

This exact situation is what led me and two friends to get together one day and lay the groundwork for an episodic campaign. We would take turns DMing, for set sessions on the same night every week with a hard limit of four hours (6-10pm or whatever).

The DMs had to start and end every adventure in the same location (the Society is Stalwart Adventurers headquarters in Suzail, Cormyr). This meant that games required strict pacing and occasional hand waving for things like travel etc. in order to work.

DMs has to forfeit all authorship rights to the story at the end of every session, and not get upset if another DM turned NPCs or plots in new directions contrary to their original trajectories.

It also meant that we could play every Saturday with whoever showed up, more or less forever. The idea was to make it low stress for the players, and not to worry if you couldn’t make it because life... so even if you didn’t come, you levelled you with everyone else.

It ended up being the most successful campaign we ever ran.

[Waterdeep Merch]

I only include a missing player's character when they were absolutely critical to the session. I don't reward missing players with XP, gold, or treasure, but in return they won't come to any harm.

I also don't stop the present players from sharing what they got anyway. They can split their gains, even XP, if they want to. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. Really comes down to why the player couldn't make it.

[Nagog]

Their character is there, but fairly... Absent-minded. *ba dum tss*

I wouldn't cancel the game due to a missing player unless their character is central to a plot point that comes up that session. I've found that when DMing for college students, sometimes a player will have to unexpectedly drop out of the campaign entirely due to unforeseen scheduling conflicts, and I would rather not have them tank the campaign with them as we wait for months for them to be available again.

[Contrast]

I mean my games aren't super serious, so they just.. aren't there

I never really get why people tie themselves in knots about this. We just have the character effectively count as not existing for the session. If its relevant they're wherever makes the most sense that is least disruptive. Don't waste time and energy explaining an out of game event in game. This includes games that have had a more serious tone.

I've played in games where the DM had other players pilot the character and they expended resources/almost died. I've played in games where DM spent half the session explaining why the player wasn't there and then took another half a session to introduce them back into the game when they came back.

Don't waste table time. They're there if its necessary and otherwise are just hanging around off screen somewhere.

[ShayRob007]

I never really get why people tie themselves in knots about this.

Don't waste table time. They're there if its necessary and otherwise are just hanging around off screen somewhere.

I agree! I like how many responses that supported these principles.

[Sorlock Master]

How do you cope with players not being able to make a session? When this happens to me, I try to invent a reason why that person is out-of-touch in the game so that they can continue on with the arc. Sometimes, if there is more notice, I will allow another player to play both characters--with the consent of the absent player. When I want everyone at the table to receive an important piece of information, I sometimes replace the planned game with a one-off or an epic battle/dungeon crawl so no one misses anything.

What's your thoughts on absent players? How do you react?

Kill thier character while there gone. When they get back, they can roll a new one. If they protest? Look them in the eye and say "The time to address this was last week."

[JNAProductions]

Kill thier character while there gone. When they get back, they can roll a new one. If they protest? Look them in the eye and say "The time to address this was last week."

That is absolutely awful advice.

If there's a natural breakpoint between sessions (say, last session ended with the PCs resting in town) have something come up for the absent PC. An erstwhile relative, a smitten maiden/man, something that takes up their time and makes the PC say "I'll catch up later-I should deal with this now."

If that's not possible, say you're in the middle of a dungeon, it gets tougher.

[Sigreid]

That is absolutely awful advice.

If there's a natural breakpoint between sessions (say, last session ended with the PCs resting in town) have something come up for the absent PC. An erstwhile relative, a smitten maiden/man, something that takes up their time and makes the PC say "I'll catch up later-I should deal with this now."

If that's not possible, say you're in the middle of a dungeon, it gets tougher.

Despite the lack of blue, I'm reasonably sure they were kidding.

[Keltest]

Kill thier character while there gone. When they get back, they can roll a new one. If they protest? Look them in the eye and say "The time to address this was last week."

I hope youre being sarcastic here. D&D is a game, expecting somebody to put their life on hold to service your need for entertainment is... well, wrong. You should never punish somebody for getting sick or whatever incident is keeping them away from the table.

[MoiMagnus]

It depends on the campaign and the table.

Sometimes, the atmosphere around the session makes it like it just doesn't feel right to "continue the story without one of its authors", because the story also belongs to them.
(When that happens, we play boardgames, or start an improvised RPG session / a short campaign in parallel.)

Sometimes, we just play without them, because there is no particularly deep emotional connection with being all together for the session.
(When that happen, the character just become a passive NPC, the kind of NPC that tags along, takes no particular decision, and is conveniently "doing something else" when needed, so not present in combat unless the team is build around one of their powers.)

[MrStabby]

Usually... carry on. The group controls the extra character. After a few years of playing people get to know how a character would react - it helps that some sessions can be more combat puzzle than role play... and I might shuffle a little towards that style of play for a session.

There is an understanding that everyone will take certain steps to just slightly increase that characters chance of survival. As a DM I am less likely to specifically target them with damage spells (more likely to hit them with spells like banishment instead). The other players wont charge in the missing players character too recklessly either. Also, the party ers on using fewer of that players resources if they can - no blowing all of the high level spell slots so the player has nothing to come back to unless the encounter needs it. Sometimes players miss tough encounters and they come back to their character on 6 HP with no spell slots left and surrounded by enemies, but it's rare.

I will cancel if there is a specific character specific side quest or choices for that character to make, but even pretty mainline quests will carry on. Now if two people are missing a session, or if I need a break then I might cancel if one person calls off.

[da newt]

The missing PC loses a shoe, their left pig tail, or other mundane item that was part of their identity so they learn a lesson. A finger is another good one.

Seriously - we adjust the CR if needed and XXX isn't with us for today's adventure. We do collect the stories and try to make them feel like they missed out so there is a motivation to make it next time, but life happens - have a beer and carry on.

[Whit]

A lot of good options #4 is what we use
1. Agree that another player can play it.
2. Agree the character is there but sidelined, no XP.
3. Player got lost then found again
4. NPC Wizard etc of power, acquaintance who periodically teleports away and back a player to the adventure. Example. Lvl 1. Group encounters NPC who takes interest in them.
Turns out to be Elmister, who will Teleport player for some errand. No XP unless you choose to keep up with group. DM can make up any quick story. Yiu did research, scouting, asked you to get a spell ingredient etc

[Crucius]

I have a short list prepared with in-game explanations for why the character might be absent.

Maybe they were kidnapped and the party is spending a session on a sidequest to rescue their partymember.

Maybe another player is willing to join for a game and explain it away as a temporary possession of the PC by a ghost or spirit that has their own story to tell. This way the character can still tag along but with a cool new twist.

I try to tie it into the main theme of the campaign, that way, even though it might be a diversion, it is at least relevant to the game.

[Demonslayer666]

How do you cope with players not being able to make a session? When this happens to me, I try to invent a reason why that person is out-of-touch in the game so that they can continue on with the arc. Sometimes, if there is more notice, I will allow another player to play both characters--with the consent of the absent player. When I want everyone at the table to receive an important piece of information, I sometimes replace the planned game with a one-off or an epic battle/dungeon crawl so no one misses anything.

What's your thoughts on absent players? How do you react?

When I run a game, I have someone else run them, or I run them myself.

I dislike it when characters poof in and out of existence in a game. It breaks the reality of that game world. That works fine if you are not on a long trip and just screwing around in town, but if Bob disappears out of the dungeon only to reappear to fight the boss...that's just weird.

I really dislike it when players are punished for not being able to make game. They are already punished by not being able to play.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I never really get why people tie themselves in knots about this. We just have the character effectively count as not existing for the session. If its relevant they're wherever makes the most sense that is least disruptive. Don't waste time and energy explaining an out of game event in game. This includes games that have had a more serious tone.

I've played in games where the DM had other players pilot the character and they expended resources/almost died. I've played in games where DM spent half the session explaining why the player wasn't there and then took another half a session to introduce them back into the game when they came back.

Don't waste table time. They're there if its necessary and otherwise are just hanging around off screen somewhere.
This. Especially as my friends and I have gotten older, having the full group present is an exception more than a rule. There's always someone whose shift got switched or whose kid got sick or who has family in town. I'm not going to punish them because it's not their fault, and I'm not going to take time explaining why they're gone-- at a certain point, it's more implausible to keep coming up with in-universe explanations than it is to ignore it. Unless there's something really important going on, we just keep going.

[GreyBlack]

During my Curse of Strahd game, the running gag became "The character appears out of the mist," or they just mysteriously weren't there.

Honestly, I find it too much effort to work out where the player went and just kind of go with "Suddenly they're not here. What do you do?" When they come back, I go with "Suddenly they're back. What do you do?"

[DeTess]

When I DM, if only one player is absent, I generally manufacture some reason why the character is ineffective for a session. In my most recent campaign it became a running gag that whenever a player couldn't make it, their character had made the mistake of eating some bad seafood prepared by the party cook. If two or more players are absent, or if the upcoming session will have some import moments, such as the final boss of an arc or some major decisions regarding what to do next, I'll generally cancel.

[Keltest]

My party has about 8 people if everybody shows up. This is rare, as there is at least one person who's work does not cooperate with the important things in life. We handwave absent characters as being in "the Magic Bag of Holding Characters Whose Players Are Absent"." Characters can reach out of the bag for the purposes of handing over plot items and for the comedic abuse of other party members, but anything without a plot tag is stuck on the same side of the bag.

[Sjappo]

Missing players if the norm for us, unfortunately. With kids, jobs, spouses, it's hard to present each time. We did some mucking about with players playing multiple PCs or the DM taking over but that never seemed very satisfactory. And it took a lot of table-time working out how a PC works when it's not yours. Especially if you take over a caster or similar complicated PC.
Now, the PC is just not there. It mostly works out, unless the missing PC happens to be (or have) a plot device which is needed in the session. But that doesn't come up much and can be mostly worked around.
Our group consists of a DM and 6 players. So one missing player doesn't hinder much. We keep playing if we have 3 or more playes present. And teh DM of course. We used to have easy to play NPCs which could fill in the meat shield role is no melee PCs were present but now we just play with whoever shows up.


But, back when I ran linear campaigns, this was a fairly consistent problem and near the end, in my last campaign, I decided to make it a part of the setting: Introducing "the Dreamlands." A coexistent, mildly sentient plane which was equal parts Fey and Shadow and Ravenloft. If a player missed a session then the Dreamlands had taken them, when no one was looking of course. The next session they made, they'd roll on a modified version of the Lost in Faerie tables from The Great Pendragon Campaign. No matter how long the session was in-game time, the absent player could be gone anywhere from minutes to years and often would return changed in some way (i.e. laboring away mining for crystalized screams [permanent -4 Listen, +1 Str]). Should an absent player return at the same time another player was introducing a new character, then they both escaped the Dreamlands together which instantly created a bond between the new character and the party.
This sounds like an excellent idea. I might steal this.