How do you decide quorum?

[Verdigris]

Hey all,

Lately I've been realizing that as my D&D group has gone from 3 players to 5 players, we spend much less time actually playing the game than trying to find a time when we can all meet and play. We are all married and gainfully employed, but our "every other week" game plan tends to devolve into once a month and sometimes less.

We have been operating under an unspoken rule that says that we don't game unless all of us can make it. Lately I've been mulling over the possibility of loosening that up a bit.

I was wondering how all of you handle this issue. Do you just play with whoever can make it on a given night? If not, how are the absent PCs accounted for in the story?

Have any of you tried organizing your group both ways? What are the pros & cons etc.?

Discussion/advice appreciated, thanks.

 

[Nifft]

IMC we have an NPC Shield (tm). The shielded PC can do specific role and plot-required things (Track, Heal, etc.) but cannot contribute to general problem solving or any combat.

PCs in the NPC Shield (tm) aren't targeted by bad guys, random encounters, etc.. They get 1/2 to 1/3 XP.

-- Nifft

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

For a group of 5 people, I would try and play if 4 were available. If it were a particularly important session for plot purposes, I might delay in order to have everyone, but I think 1 person missing isn't too unreasonable.

In certain situations, I might play with 3 - assuming there was a sort of side-plot those 3 PC's could go on.

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

The "small game" is played when we can get 2+.

The "big game" is played when we can get 4+.

Players who are not able to make it have their characters abducted by aliens and returned back into the game with their memory erased.


Incidentally, while on the subject, doesn't the Lord of the Rings look like Gandalf's player dropped out after the Mines of Moria and had his guy taken over by a new player near the start of Two Towers?


edit: oh, and I award full base exp, but no roleplay bonuses. I don't like people falling behind.

 

[the Jester]

I run a very large party (typical games have six players, with about nine potentail pcs per game plus cohorts and the fighter npc they're traveling with if everyone were to show up). So a quorum is three pcs plus me (as dm) most of the time, and the number of characters present varies over the course of the session as people arrive or have to leave.

 

[Elodan]

Our groups uses the official definition (I think) of a quorum; one half of the total plus 1. So for 5 players a quorum would be 3.

If we can explain it logically, your character is not with the party when you cannot make it; otherwise, he or she fades into the background only doing his or her job but offering no suggestions.

We've also used several semi-regular adventuring NPCs who join our party if deemed necessary to fill in a gap.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

Incidentally, while on the subject, doesn't the Lord of the Rings look like Gandalf's player dropped out after the Mines of Moria and had his guy taken over by a new player near the start of Two Towers?

Nah, Gandalf's player just had a private session with the DM ( running FOUR seperate games in the same campaign ) and Gandlaf leveled up and scored some new swag in time for TT.

---

Although we don't like to, we'll play with 4 out of 5 players if we have been missing too many sessions. Another player runs the PC, but the unspoken rule is not to stick the PC's neck out too far. XP as normal.

 

[Dimwhit]

Our group totals 7 people (including DM). And we usually have at least 2 primary campaigns going on at once. We game once a week, regardless of who can't come. Typically, however, if 3 or more people can't make, we'll call it off. But in over 2 years, I think that's happened once or twice.

Our group is a little on the large side, so it's completely impracticle to game only when everyone is there. With 5 people in the group, I would game if 3 or 4 came, depending on the campaign and other factors.

 

[Sam]

I've got six players in my game, and it's pretty rare that everyone shows up. Normally there's one person who can't make it (work, significant other, life, etc). As long as I have four players, we play (hasn't happened that we haven't played yet). Players that aren't there have there PCs removed from the game for that session. Yeah, I know it kills the suspension of disbelief, but it works best for our group. If you don't show, you don't get XP for the session. If you don't show alot, well, I've got at least two people waiting to play....

 

[arwink]

I've got five players, and we have regular gaming days. As long as at least two people can make it, I'll run the game and invent reasons why the others aren't present. Usually, when we keep to the scheduled times, this works okay. When we start packing more games in around the edges things tend to drop off a bit.

That being said i've also recently abandoned a campaign because it was impossible to get more than two or three of the players in the same place at the same time.