What do you do when not enough players show up?

[randomhero00]

Play a different game that requires less? Call it off? We've done various things. Usually we play the same game but each play an extra character of someone who isn't present. That is tiresome though. Does anyone have any better ideas?

[Mystic Muse]

Break out the Xboxes? Risk? Monopoly? Magic the gathering?

[KillianHawkeye]

Crack out the board games.

[AslanCross]

Typically my minimum for a successful game is three players, but we've done it with two--dragon battle, no less.

The players handle an extra character each. If anyone is absent and his or her character dies, they don't really have a right to complain since they were absent and the show had to go on without them.

[PId6]

Call people and harass them until they show up, and then give them a couple of lashes when they do so they know not to incur your displeasure next time.

Alternatively, MtG.

[Ormagoden]

Trial and error, find people that want to play. Go to a convention, everyone at a convention wants to play.

Schedule game nights less frequently and far in advance (Once weekly, Bi monthly, once a month.) Have people set aside the date, the bonus is it gives you time to prepare for a fun night.

[Defiant]

Do a one-shot non-plot related encounter. Examples I've had in the past:

- Players are offered a chance to participate in an arena against various powerful monsters, for the amusement of the crowds and a certain payoff ratio (with optional resurrection insurance)
- Players are summoned by angels or demons and commanded to battle against the others
- Players relive experiences from the past (for starting levels higher than 1), giving some nice backstory... claim the monsters have been adjusted so that the players remain at the same level

[Mystic Muse]

The players handle an extra character each. If anyone is absent and his or her character dies, they don't really have a right to complain since they were absent and the show had to go on without them.

Why do their characters have to go on when they can't come? I know I'd be ticked with my DM if he played my character for me and my character died if I had to stay home because I was sick or because I had to go out of town or something.

[Jair Barik]

When one of my players didn't show up the party continued without him and just chose what he did. In the course of that session one of the characters had all his stuff eaten by a rust monster and fell down a very tall chimney with a Howler. The guy who didn't show up got turned to stone (don't worry, he got better). The moral of the session was two fold, always turn up if you agreed to do so and never use chimneys as a means of transport unless your positive there is nothing in them.

[AstralFire]

Why do their characters have to go on when they can't come? I know I'd be ticked with my DM if he played my character for me and my character died if I had to stay home because I was sick or because I had to go out of town or something.

I think it depends on if they let people know in advance, how much they make a habit of this, why they missed, etc. Though, personally, I just don't involve characters that aren't present.

[Kaiyanwang]

Capture strangers and force them to play. In my language.

"Tirate l'iniziativa gente!"

"Wut?"

[Zaq]

In one of the games I'm in currently, we just scale down the encounters and continue as normal, with the absent characters just ethereal (or hyper-ethereal, if there's anything around which actually effects ethereal). If they have an obviously needed ability (e.g. we're on the Plane of Fire, it's time to refresh Elemental Immunity, and the sorcerer's out sick), we just have it trigger more or less on autopilot.

In one of the other games, everyone has a designated "second" to play their character (basically as an understudy) if for one reason or another they can't play. If there's just way too few people to do this in any sane manner, we reschedule.

[Saint GoH]

Why do their characters have to go on when they can't come? I know I'd be ticked with my DM if he played my character for me and my character died if I had to stay home because I was sick or because I had to go out of town or something.

Especially because my players would likely get my character killed... I only live because of ridiculous rolls. Anyone else role-playing me with slightly less luck would be dead in a hot minute.

[Kiero]

People simply not showing up unexpectedly doesn't happen. If people can't make it they let everyone know in advance and we cancel the session.

[Gensh]

Sometimes, I do a oneshot. Other times, one of the players does a oneshot. On rare occasions, we'll continue the plot, calling the guy who only attended like 2 sessions to have his cleric revive any dead characters, even though that campaign ended months ago. Most frequently, however...

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANGUU DAMASHI~!

[AslanCross]

Why do their characters have to go on when they can't come? I know I'd be ticked with my DM if he played my character for me and my character died if I had to stay home because I was sick or because I had to go out of town or something.

Because the game was scheduled way in advance and they backed out all of a sudden. Even if they say they really can't come beforehand, they typically tell one of the other players to handle their toons anyway. They trust the other players that much, since they're really good friends.

If too many people really can't come beforehand, we just call off the game in advance. If they suddenly back out, that's when someone else handles their character.

I know it seems rather draconian, but it's kind of our social contract. I spend a lot of time and money on D&D--I own all of the books, minis, and accessories we use. They spend practically nothing. They don't lose much from a game not pushing through. I waste my time when games don't push through, and I'm the only one who's of working age. Finally, I'm the only person in the group who has the time, patience and resources to DM.

Rest assured that I don't do this punitively. It's a matter of practicality, and the group is fine with this.

[Katana_Geldar]

One of our house rules is that if you can't come, you let the DM know beforehand. Usually, if we don't have enough on a SW week we play D&D, we made it more flexible.

[Lev]

We go outside and have a real adventure.

[J.Gellert]

We've played the D&D Minis game in the past, but most often we just try video games (Fifa, or Medieval 2 on lan) or we go out instead.

[Mongoose87]

In my very first group, the elven ranger always got smashed the night before and skipped to nurse his hangover. Generally, the DM just controlled him.

[Starscream]

Have those present roll up some quick and dirty characters, and bust out a pre-made adventure.

[Talon Sky]

I generally just lower the difficulty of the adventure. So the final battle was supposed to be against a troll barbarian and a band of six troll minions? Meh, make it four minions, and maybe damage the barbarian some at the beginning. I realize with a troll that damage is short-lived, but it's a starting advantage.

As far as what the actual player-absent characters are doing, I usually play it off. "Valnar is sick today and had to stay in the inn...." or, "Narcisa was summoned by the Duskblade Council to perform a personal mission before the king sent the guard to you tonight...." That kind of thing.

One thing I am dealing with for the first time is a player who consistently misses. On one hand, he is one of my dear friends and I'm not about to kick him from the group, but on the other hand his girlfriend rarely lets him out of the house no matter how much warning we've given him that we're going to play at such and such a day.

Consensus of the group has come to, because of his continued illness, it's life-threatening and terminal. This then somehow developed into squirrel AIDS.

[oxybe]

when we have to skip/miss a session due to turnout, it's no problem finding something to do since we play at the FLGS and there are tons of board games open and ready to play on the shelves.

alternatively: a one-shot with premades

alternatively: hanging out at my place and play vidja games.

alternatively: hang out at a burger joint and chat

alternatively: think up alternatives for the next time we miss a session.

now, my group is hardly draconian when it comes to missed sessions, mostly because real life comes first. sometimes things happen the day of the session and you can't really tell in advance if you're going to miss the session. i've had to skip sessions due to my manager asking me to put a few extra hours (i used to leave for work at 9 and get home at 8, effectively missing the first hour of the session, and that's before extra hours), or being sick/too tired (after pulling 6 11-13 hour days of work in a row, even if gameday is my day off, i might), or family stuff coming up...

****, or rather life, happens and penalizing a player for not putting a silly RPG on the top of his priorities list isn't something i would want to enforce as a group.

now, if a player is missing a session "just because" without any reason often enough... well that's not possible. there is a reason: waning interest, not feeling like he's contributing, not what they're looking for in a game, ect... ask the player why. don't get angry or annoyed, since there is always a reason why he's not showing up, try to understand from their PoV and either try to accomodate his needs a bit more or ask him to leave.

[Lin Bayaseda]

When people don't show up, it's very important not to do anything that could be interpreted as a punishment to those who did show up.

In fact, take it to the other extreme. Do something extra-awesome for those who showed up. Like, a one-shot that occurs in a dream sequence (so they can't really die). But can get the XP if they win. Those who went AWOL will be green with envy.

[Drakevarg]

If the person is a non-essential entity to the plot at the moment - let the DM control them. They just kind of fade into the background until their unique services are required. For example, in my most recent campaign our cleric never showed up. We just kinda treated him as a box of band-aids with legs. As it is, we've decided to just kick him from the group, so next session I get to toss him off a cliff (LE sociopath).

On another occasion, I was literally the ONLY person to turn up at the DM's house at the appointed time. We wound up chatting aimlessly before he introduced me to Battle for Wesnoth, and we kinda just burnt up the rest of the afternoon on that. We could've played MtG, but since I've got a taste for thematic decks and he liked to munchkin, he was so far out of my league it wasn't worth the bother.

[Curmudgeon]

Frankly, we typically just have dinner, shoot the breeze, and postpone actual gaming until the next time.

[Another_Poet]

Play a different game that requires less? Call it off? We've done various things. Usually we play the same game but each play an extra character of someone who isn't present. That is tiresome though. Does anyone have any better ideas?

Step 1: Play anyway. The players who are there can play the characters of those who aren't (2 characters per person) as needed, or NPC those characters.

Step 2: Ask the missing players to give you more advance notice next time they can't make it. If this becomes a habit, boot them.

[Ormur]

I've hardly ever had that happen as we plan sessions based on when everybody is available. Once or twice I've been in games where one player cancelled at the last moment or something and we just played their characters as really quiet. Unless of course in the big group where we're never fully manned and players routinely play other characters in addition to their own. If I really want to play something and I know not everybody can make it it's time for Risk or Catan.