Fauchard1520
Adventurer
Game night is coming. Two of your five players have cancelled. What do you do?
Relevant comic for reference.
Relevant comic for reference.
Scheduling Conflicts: How do you solve 'em?
the Jester
Legend
We still have a quorum (three players plus DM), so we play (unless the session is very unusual and requires a different approach).
Ralif Redhammer
Legend
I place a big store in keeping a regular schedule, so that my players know that on this weekend and that weekend, at this time, ever month, we game. People can plan their own schedules accordingly.
If only one or two people show up to play, then I still run the session. It’s pretty easy to adjust the encounters downward, and I don’t believe in telling the people that showed up that they can’t game because other people were slackers (or, you know, had things they actually had to do instead).
Sometimes (one of my groups has some players that can no longer be relied upon to consistently show up), I will also plan in advance for those epic boss fights at separate tiers. So a full group might get that fight with the dragon, plus a set of wyrmlings, plus pools of magma. If it’s not a full table, then I ignore the wyrmlings, and maybe the pools of magma. Sometimes I even completely change out the monster. It’s more prep work, but it makes it easy for me to run an adventure and not worry about scrambling at the last minute.
If only one or two people show up to play, then I still run the session. It’s pretty easy to adjust the encounters downward, and I don’t believe in telling the people that showed up that they can’t game because other people were slackers (or, you know, had things they actually had to do instead).
Sometimes (one of my groups has some players that can no longer be relied upon to consistently show up), I will also plan in advance for those epic boss fights at separate tiers. So a full group might get that fight with the dragon, plus a set of wyrmlings, plus pools of magma. If it’s not a full table, then I ignore the wyrmlings, and maybe the pools of magma. Sometimes I even completely change out the monster. It’s more prep work, but it makes it easy for me to run an adventure and not worry about scrambling at the last minute.
It depends on the situation.
My group is usually okay getting together to just chat or play board games or the like. So, we may just get together anyway. If I know that the night is marginally bad for some of theothers (say, it is going to be bad weather, or I know someone is super-busy at work or something, I'll just cancel the session.
My group is usually okay getting together to just chat or play board games or the like. So, we may just get together anyway. If I know that the night is marginally bad for some of theothers (say, it is going to be bad weather, or I know someone is super-busy at work or something, I'll just cancel the session.
Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Firm rule. We play down one, we cancel down two.
We used to try to reschedule a missed sessions, but only with everyone (since otherwise it's a popularity contest), but that ended up not working out often anyhow.
When we had one player who was holding down several jobs and another who was a bit erratic with their work, we went up to six and played down two, cancelled down three. (So it basically became: play with 4+, cancel if less.)
Only problem is we play every other Monday and are missing one (holiday in the US), and we are down one player next one who's visiting his sister & family half the US away. But we're also just a few sessions from the campaign end and this will be the climax of one of the campaign arcs. So I will likely wait until we have all.
We used to try to reschedule a missed sessions, but only with everyone (since otherwise it's a popularity contest), but that ended up not working out often anyhow.
When we had one player who was holding down several jobs and another who was a bit erratic with their work, we went up to six and played down two, cancelled down three. (So it basically became: play with 4+, cancel if less.)
Only problem is we play every other Monday and are missing one (holiday in the US), and we are down one player next one who's visiting his sister & family half the US away. But we're also just a few sessions from the campaign end and this will be the climax of one of the campaign arcs. So I will likely wait until we have all.
S
Sunseeker
Guest
Public executions of the perpetually absent. Public lashings for the tardy of course.
Why rule with love when you can rule with fear?
Seriously though, I like to play every other week, but I'll run 4/5 and 3/5 if it's the "good players"(we all know what I'm talking about here). So there's the option to go next week, and then get back on schedule the following week. I try to keep my sessions about 4-6 hours tops, so sometimes I'll suggest a double-session 8-10 hours if people feel up for it.
Why rule with love when you can rule with fear?
Seriously though, I like to play every other week, but I'll run 4/5 and 3/5 if it's the "good players"(we all know what I'm talking about here). So there's the option to go next week, and then get back on schedule the following week. I try to keep my sessions about 4-6 hours tops, so sometimes I'll suggest a double-session 8-10 hours if people feel up for it.
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