Absent Players

[Vaxalon]

Anyone ditching my game in order to play someone else's is insulting me. Not only is he telling me the other game is better than mine, he expects me to hold a space for him. Chuck him. You got more than enough players, show him the door facefirst.

In general, if someone isn't at the session for a GOOD reason, then their character just isn't there; they're left behind, for possibly no good reason, and we'll fill in if they show up next time.

 

[DragonLancer]

If a player cannot make one of my games, even with a legitamate reason, then they don't get XP. They haven't played, so no XP.

 

[Big Jake]

Most importantly, in your situation, I think it comes down to: is he disrupting the game; do you (or the other players) want him gone; does he want to leave; or can everything work out the way it goes?

As for my game, I follow the following self-made rules:

First, I don't make my players choose the game over other aspects of their lives. Sometimes people go out of town, play in a softball tournament, or out to other group functions as they come up. So, we inevitably play a player down once a month (we play weekly). However, my players are dedicated to the game, and are all engrossed in their characters, so they do all they can do deconflict any other activity. We often switch game days depending on everyone's schedule.

Second, I don't like any of the players being behind in levels, so I try to keep all the players close together in xp. I award full xp to each character, present or missing, but no bonus xp for role-playing opportunities that may have occured. This has kept everyone within 1,000-2,000 xp of each other.

Third, I have to say that I have pretty good communication with my players, and I have known whenever any player would miss a game. Now, what I do to the character depends on how long the player will be gone... one day, two weeks, or more.

If a player is gone for one session, someone who knows the PC well runs him, and we often make group consensus on what the PC would do in any given situation. (It's actually funny that the group always picks the path the player would have in the situation, when the game was described to the player. You just get to know a person and his character after a while.)

If a player is gone for more than two weeks, I send his character on a "side quest" that I discuss with the player. It usually involves character background that the player made at creation. We decide what mission he does, and I let the player describe it to the group when he returns. Of course, everyone understands that none it was roleplayed, but eveyone truly enjoys the stories generated for the players. It adds a bit of scope to the game when the players are able to think of any of the party members doing something other than their current mission... there's more to the world than what's at the game table.

But, if a player were to miss every other (or third) game to play in another game, I would see if we could work out gaming days to help (I do have two of my players in games run by other people I know), and if they simply enjoy the other game better, I would suggest that they simply pick one and stick with it.

 

[reanjr]

Howdy!

I know this has been discussed before on this site, but what do other GMs do about a player missing sessions?

Do you NPC them and grant them some portion of experience? No experience?

I ask because I have a player who is now constantly missing sessions in favor of another game that up until now ran about once every 3 months. My group consists of 7 players and I am looking for advice.

Thanks!

I have several policies in place both to handle and deter missing players.

1. No XP. Period. If possible, I disclude the character from the adventure entirely. Usually, unless the session ended in the middle of action, this isn't too much of a problem. Since I run my campaigns from off the top of my head primarily, I can usually just add some kind of complication that the character can handle while the rest of the party is doing other things.

2. No call no shows are not tolerated. Two in a row, and your character is guarenteed to have been used as a sacrificial lamb to the campaign. A good excuse MIGHT get you by on this.

3. Scheduled absentees are OK. If it becomes a problem, I will let the player know that his character's life is in imminent danger. This works out especially well for casters, because they can spend the time researching spells and/or creating magic items.

 

[robberbaron]

If someone can't come we generally reschedule and play a game that he wasn't playing in.
If we can't, then he doesn't take part he doesn't get any XPs. Likewise, he doesn't get a share of any loot from that game.

If several people can't make it we miss a week.

The DM can't always run the character as an NPC. Let's face it, the DM has enough on his plate playing everyone else in the world.
Sometimes, another player will run it for the session but that's not 100% satisfactory either as it gets in the way of his own game.

It's a shame, but not everyone can play every session. We all have RL issues sometimes.
You just have to live with it and try not to compromise the game.


Edit: Jeez, reanjr. You make me sound soft.

 

[Feathercircle]

My group currently has three players running a total of 5 PCs... so if one person can't make it, we pretty much don't play. Hopefully we'll be able to make the shift to online gaming this year once people get to college so that we'll be able to meet on a more regular basis. And maybe get new players in to adopt the extra characters....

 

[CalicoDave]

In the group I play in if a player can't make it one of the other players will run the character. This usually means that the missing player's character will only be around in combat. They still get full XP as we really haven't had a case with a "bad" excuse.

If more than one player can't make it we will usually play something else, like Settlers of Catan or Puerto Rico.

We rotate our DM position every 6 months or so and the next person who's going to be DM-ing has said that he's going to prepare for 4 to 6 players so that if people miss we can still play. In this case the PC will just disappear and reappear the next time the person can be there. I don't know what he will do about XP in this case.


D.

 

[Li Shenron]

In different games we have played, normally there is no Xp given to missing players' characters, whatever the reason. That someone misses a session happens quite often, but it's not always the same person, therefore we are basically always at the same level and there is no problem.

 

[Painfully]

I say point him to this thread, and then ask him how he would like to handle it.

Or, don't point him to the thread, but lay out the facts for him, and tell him to make a choice between his two games.

It's not unfair to ask your player to choose.

 

[Brother Ezra]

My campaign has seven adult players plus myself, ranging in age from 28 to 36. All are employed, and are either married, engaged, committed (in the romantic sense , and have varying hobbies or activities in addition to our gaming.

Being adults with lives, we recognize that coordinating eight people's schedules is a high-wire act. We've set up a group website on Yahoo! Groups where we can communicate the next proposed session and get people's commitment to be there fairly easily. I don't penalize people for not being present, and so far there have been zero no-shows. It's a rare occasion when all eight of us are in attendence, but we can normally count on at least 6, and normally seven. Absent PC's are run by someone in the group as best they can.

Communication is the key. If your player is blowing your game off for another game, it seems like he's saying that the other game is more important. I'd say ask him to choose. Some of the most important aspects of a game IMO is consistency and character development. Neither of those can happen if the player is not there most of the time.