Gaming Group Struggles

[Retreater]

My longest running gaming group has run into some difficulties as of late. We were facing sporadic attendance due to real life issues (work and family commitments, which I can't complain about.) We were already down to biweekly sessions, so it was hard to keep everyone on track. Since we couldn't bank on having the same players there week after week, the style of game necessarily changed. We decided as a group we couldn't run a class-based system (aka D&D) since not all the roles would be filled. I converted the campaign and their characters to a different system.

So now several of the existing players are leaving to find "D&D" groups. Obviously, I let the players find a group that is fun for them. I'm just at a loss of what to do. I can't run a regular D&D game for the 3 players willing to stay behind. And I can't keep the players who are leaving unless we play D&D. But we can't play D&D because half the people miss regularly.

What's a guy to do?

 

[Lanefan]

Three players plus a DM is fine for running a D&D game provided you-as-DM are willing to toss in a party NPC or two and-or if one or more players is willing to play two characters side-along. Three players, each running two characters, party of six - you're gold!

I've even seen (and run!) D&D games with just two players + DM and they worked out OK.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Run D&D. Create a party of characters and then play those characters every week regardless of which players show up. Some players will have to play two characters on weeks where other players can’t make it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It can definitely be done. You just have to remain cognizant of the group’s power voids and not aim at them...at least, not regularly.

Multiclassing and more generous gear drops- especially those filling a gap- or even NPCs can keep things going smoothly.

 

[ccs]

I can't run a regular D&D game for the 3 players willing to stay behind.

Why not?

 

[Imaculata]

In my experience, smaller groups are easier to DM for. 3 or 4 people is perfect. That is assuming that those 3 are able to attend reliably. It wasn't entirely clear to me from the OP's description if the remaining 3 players are able to do so.

As for running a class based system, I have never required my players to include a healer class. If the party doesn't have a dedicated healer, they can rely on healing potions, or find a dedicated healer npc. I can also adapt the encounter difficulty to the fact that they might not have a dedicated healer. It's really not a big problem.

 

[S'mon]

5e works fine with 3 PCs. It's perfectly possible to create a PC who fills a couple of the standard roles adequately. You can also include an NPC with the group if you want, but this is rarely actually necessary.

My regular 5e Primeval Thule group comprises:

Rogue assassin with 1 Barbarian level.
Barbarian
Rogue/Fighter/Warlock (celestial)
& maybe a Fighter Eldritch Knight, or another Barbarian.

So little AoE, very little healing. Great on single target damage & good on skills. Works fine.

I've also GM'd for a party of 3 Barbarians!

 

[Retreater]

The main issue is that the 3ish players are not the same each time. There is little consistency for story and I don't have the ability to plan ahead for encounters, etc.

 

[S'mon]

The main issue is that the 3ish players are not the same each time. There is little consistency for story and I don't have the ability to plan ahead for encounters, etc.

Best to create status-quo encounters in a West Marches style environment (lots of mini dungeons in a wilderness) - and let the players know they may have to run away quite a lot!

With variable players you're not going to get "consistency for story" in a non-D&D RPG either, and most games don't even have encounter-building mechanics as such.

Edit: If I'm GMing for 3 5th level PCs I probably want the default encounter to be CR 4-5, or the equivalent in multiple critters, but I'd expect the party can likely handle CR 3 through CR 7 or 8 ok. I'm not going to sweat the details or alter encounters to fit the precise party makeup. If the party are all melee brutes going up against goblin worgrider archers, well likely sucks to be them.

 

[muppetmuppet]

You might possibly want to play Gloomhaven.

In this not really much of a roleplaying game game you can swap the characters out depending on who turns up. Each player just needs one character. Bonus you get to play and not DM. This may not be what you want at all if you in fact want a roleplaying game though.

There must be a roleplaying game that would work with rotating players not knowing who will turn up but I'm not sure I can think of one. You are pretty much stuck to things that are one session long.