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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greyhawk_DM" data-source="post: 1271737" data-attributes="member: 2034">My personal rule is this: if the player is not there, the pc is also not there.If the player has to leave during the game for an unexpected reason, then I or one of the other players will run the "missing" pc until we get to a relatively safe place and "drop off the pc" and the rest of the group will continue on.That way the group is not burdened with trying to figure out what a pc would do in a given situation without the player.Also I believe that the PC's "learn" just like the player does as the game goes on. In game this is represented in XP's. In the "real world" this is reperesented in real knowledge that the player has gained about the world and how it functions. To award a PC xp's while the player is not actually there to play the character will eventually set them back in terms of how to function in my campaign.Also when the player does return, he/she will set up a time with me and we will "solo" the time that the player missed in the game. That way they don't miss out on the gaming experience.As far as cohesion to running a plot...I try to design my campaigns so that they do not depend on the PC's actions per se to drive them...Basically there are things that can and will happen in my campaign and how they work out in the end may or may not be affected by the PC's actions alone. To me running it way seems help the campaign take on a semblence of "life". The PC's reacts to the world around them and in turn the world reacts to them. Or vice versa.For example...I design a group of bandits that are raiding a caravan route..This will come out in a "news bulletin" of the campaign or "tavern talk". The PC's can choose to check it out or not. Really makes no difference to me...Eventually someone will take care of the problem whether it is a PC group or an NPC group of my choosing. That way the campign grows and changes and seems alive to the PC's as they live their lives. I try to provide as many choices as I can to my group so that they have a sense of "campign reality" and not me just trying to send them on another adventure.Later....</blockquote>

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