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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dexterward" data-source="post: 1634873" data-attributes="member: 15087">Currently I have a small group of four players and myself. Usually when someone can't make a session, I don't run the game for that week. It doesn't happen too often. Since we run one game per week, missing a game here or there isn't all that bad. In the past I would run the PC as and NPC for the session and grant them 1/4 EXP and an equal share of the treasure. After a while this led to inconsistency problems. For example: in one campaign I ran, we had a player that wanted to play a druid. The problem was he really didn't know how to play the class effectively. In the first game session, the party, due to the foolish actions of the paladin, lost their horses and supplies to an orc patrol during a snow storm. The party stumbled across the wilderness for days lost (even with the druid in the party)! I am not the type of DM to tell players what their characters can do, but I kept offering advice to the druid player. He would listen to my suggestions, and then do the opposite. So the session ended with the party hopelessly lost without food in a blinding blizzard. The next session, the player of the druid could not make it. I played the druid as an NPC. Well, the running joke after that session was that the druid slipped on a chunk of ice and hit his head becoming "suddenly smart." I played the druid with the same personality, but because I made good uses of spells and personally know how to survive in the wilderness I was more effective as the druid than the player was. After that the players would try to talk the druid player into missing the game so I could run the character and the party would have the "smart" druid back. I also personally hate having a character "present" yet not doing anything. I think it takes away from the gaming experience. I don't mind leaving a PC in a town or city, but usually when a player can't make it their characters are in the middle of the wilderness, dungeon, etc. with no really good way of the PC returning to the town. I like consistency in my games.</blockquote>

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