Do you kill PCs of players who do not attend a session?

[Zappo]

I am cursed by a group of working people who all have quasirandom work shifts. I basically never have the whole group, and noone of them likes to have someone else run their character.

So, I usually try to find any excuse to keep the character off-scene. If there really is no way (which seldom happens), then I run it.

In those rare cases, the character has a good protection in that I run him as much more cautious than usual and using a bit of metagaming to ensure his survival. He doesn't get any XP though. I still had a character die once or twice this way, but it involved a TPK or near-TPK, so...

 

[reiella]

Personally I'd think the best option would be for something In Character to come up (hard at times on the DM I know) that causes them to be removed from the 'action'/scene/whatever. No need to give them experience for that session (beyond it being easier if you award xp on an adventure level). Of course if you're running by session it doesn't hurt the PC as much. And if a level split occurs, use the FR XP guidelines, they do alot to help parties catch up (and also account slightly for the oddity of a level 1 putzoman getting xp for party kills out of range).

Now if the player said 'it's ok for Soandso to play my character', I don't know. It's slightly unfair for the other guy to be put in that position and have to multitask (although it really isn't as hard). That and I'm unsure as to how it'd affect xp/gp. For the most part, I don't think it would really matter (char gets their normal xp, and party handles loot anyway).

Does remind me of one of my older games though, used to have about 3 people who would regularly show up, out of a cast of about 10 or so. Net result was pretty much just that non-present players weren't present. Of course, now that I think about it, I don't remember ever getting experience in that game either, was fun though .

 

[Tewligan]

Every remaining barbarian warrior starts shooting arrows at the wizard until there's only a bloody corpse flowing in the sky...

Two words for this: cool visual.

 

[Maerdwyn]

When one person in our 6 player group can't make it, we go the "immortal wallflower" route

When two or more are absent, we play boardgames. Last week it was Carcasssone, which was a blast.

Tonight, though, everyone is supposed to make it, and I, unfortunately for the PCs, get to show off the beholder mini I sculpted

 

[Pharaxes]

I run without the missing character, and reward only half the XP and treasure to the missing character when he returns. This punishes the missing player, but not to the extreme - it rarely makes much of a difference in the long run of a campaign unless said player misses a LOT.

For the most part I do the same, except I don't give any treasure.

 

[ichabod]

I have another player run the character, with the understanding that I will over-rule any actions I think are out of character. However, when they join my group, each player gets a "get out of hell free" card, which is good for one true ressurection if you're character dies while you are not present. Full xp are given, and while treasure division is done by the players, they split it even also.

This allows me to keep continuity, not punish players for thinking life is more important than a game, and not worry about killing off their character while they're away.

 

[Haradim]

'A' session? Probably not, despite somewhat grouchy threats to that effect Such PCs usually disappear, and gain no XP/treasure.

More than one? Well, things get risky after that. I must say I have very little tolerance for unreliable players; if you say you are going to play, myself and the other players do expect you to be around. We don't have a lot of players (usually 3 at best), so if someone goes missing, that's a third of the party's resources gone. That can make it hard to properly plan an adventure, and makes it particularly bad if someone drops out in the middle of a multi-session adventure.

Overall, I'd rather eject someone who cannot have a definite schedule (even if it means having 1 or 2 players left) than try to play and keep weaving them in and out. I know it would annoy me to no end, and I'm sure the other players wouldn't be too impressed either. My SW game before Christmas fell apart because I wanted to keep one unreliable player involved, but it was either eject him or put the game on hold.

Turns out I should have outright removed him rather than waiting the month and a half for him to be able to play again; I lost interest in my own game! I won't be making the same mistake with my L5R d10 game; if someone can't show, maybe they just shouldn't be playing at all.

Not the kindest way to go about it, but...

 

[ForceUser]

If a player misses a session I run his character as an NPC and play him in-character as best I can. He may die; who knows? But no, I don't vinidictively kill the PCs of players who miss a session. That is immature. If I feel someone is missing too many sessions I just have a chat with them about it and try to work something out.

 

[Moe Ronalds]

Usually when someone is gone their character fades away until they become useful. I divide the XP and treasure among the remaining players, but then I give the absent player equal to whateveryone else got. This is really just a lot easier to me, more fun for the player, and not mean.

 

[MerricB]

I just take out my frustrations on the other PCs and kill them all. That way, they'll explain to the missing player the foolishness of his actions...



Cheers!