Things that your group does that is unusal

[uzirath]

We have PCs appear and disappear depending on which players can make it to a given game session. We used to go through all sorts of gyrations to handle this: other players running a character, GM running a character, adjusting the plot to provide reasons for PCs to disappear ("Gandalf went to consult with another member of his order...") Each of these options worked sometimes but not as well at other times.

Now, we just don't waste any time figuring it out. Each player at the table has a PC in play. Simple. If you miss a session, your PC vanishes. If you're back next week, you reappear. To our surprise, the continuity issues haven't interfered with anyone's suspension of disbelief. Indeed, sessions feel tighter and more focused with less meta-discussion of what so-and-so would likely do in any given situation. If the details somehow become important, the GM and player can collaborate on a reasonable explanation that gets spliced into the story.

 

[Jd Smith1]

We have PCs appear and disappear depending on which players can make it to a given game session. We used to go through all sorts of gyrations to handle this: other players running a character, GM running a character, adjusting the plot to provide reasons for PCs to disappear ("Gandalf went to consult with another member of his order...") Each of these options worked sometimes but not as well at other times.

Now, we just don't waste any time figuring it out. Each player at the table has a PC in play. Simple. If you miss a session, your PC vanishes. If you're back next week, you reappear. To our surprise, the continuity issues haven't interfered with anyone's suspension of disbelief. Indeed, sessions feel tighter and more focused with less meta-discussion of what so-and-so would likely do in any given situation. If the details somehow become important, the GM and player can collaborate on a reasonable explanation that gets spliced into the story.

Our experience as well. The inference is usually made that they have been stricken with food poisoning, if any comment is made at all.

Now: when a player misses a session, does his or her PC still get XP?

 

[uzirath]

Now: when a player misses a session, does his or her PC still get XP?

This might count as another unusual thing: yes. At least when I'm GMing, I generally just move the baseline character points of the PCs up as a unit. I'm playing a GURPS variant, so PCs earn character points after each session, but this is the equivalent of either setting the XP or simply saying, "The party is level 6 now." A few characters may earn new advantages or disadvantages that modify their value from the baseline, but that's unusual.

I adopted this system after realizing that I'm playing with busy adults who don't need cajoling. Everyone in the game strives to attend every session, but sometimes life gets in the way. Similarly, I no longer see a need to provide a mechanical reward for great roleplaying. An extra character point isn't worth nearly as much as the laughter and delight of one's fellow players.

 

[Legatus Legionis]

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[Fanaelialae]

We'll often run with a PC and one or more henchmen.

We also tend to do significant modifications for our campaigns.

For example, because the 3e book Savage Species (rules for playing monster classes) was very popular with my group when we played that edition, I worked out a way to do the same in 5e. Monstrous races generally tend to be more accepted in our games than what I would assume is generally the case.

My friend replaced the existing classes and races, as well as most weapons, with entirely homebrewed ones for the post apocalyptic fantasy campaign he's currently running.

Another friend created extensive rules for food and water consumption for the Dark-Sun-esque campaign he ran a while back. Not only were the rules for starvation and dehydration more nuanced, but there was also a "well fed" status where you could consume more than the minimum amount needed for a buff. He also had special rules whereby the price of water was expensive but would constantly fluctuate.

Sometimes these things will see reuse over multiple campaigns (or even in someone else's campaign if they were particularly successful). However, oftentimes they're a bit of one-off tinkering and experimentation. Fun for that campaign, but afterwards we're ready for a new and different experiment. At my main table, many of us have at one time or another homebrewed a new RPG that was intended to be a one time use for a single 6 to 18 month campaign.