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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ProgBard" data-source="post: 6761142" data-attributes="member: 6803722">Long-time listener, first-time caller here.I run for a large group (eight players) who are all pretty dedicated, but it can be challenging to schedule. Sometime we can find a date that works for all but one or two people, and we go ahead with it anyway.When that happens, I try to find some reasonable in-game explanation for the PC's absence. If I can, I like to give that player a minor side-quest they completed, and maybe some information they discovered that way that contributes to the ongoing campaign. So far we've had everyone level up together. I use milestones (tracking XP is opposite-of-fun bookkeeping for me) and this makes it easier, and no one is left out while the rest of the party gets cool new powers. While not doing so wouldn't exactly be a "punishment," it certainly could *feel* punitive to players who had to miss out, and I don't want to create that kind of atmosphere at my table.Like I said, these are great players. They don't want to miss sessions, but sometimes other obligations take precedence. They've got families and work and other friends; some of them have medical conditions that make it necessary to cancel unexpectedly. They're not just flaking out on the game, and having to tell them they need to lag behind during a level-up feels too much like saying "Them's the breaks, pal! Guess you shouldn't've gone to that wedding/ been so dedicated to your kids/ been born with that particular disorder." They get once or twice a month to sit around a table and pretend to be heroes and save the world, and that feels like the wrong place to be nitpicky about what they did or didn't "earn" in the process.Anyway, that's how I work it in my current group, with these particular players. In another situation, running for different people, I might handle things differently.</blockquote>

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