How do you handle players who arrive late and players who leave early?

[malraux]

C'mon now- the 'fade in' and 'fade out' don't mean "that guy doesn't exist right now," they mean "that guy's scouting ahead/securing camp/watching the mounts/guarding the rear/pooping in the room we already cleared out/got the flu/etc".

Exactly. It's like in TV shows where some characters aren't on screen that week. No one feels the need to point out that Londo isn't around, because he is around, just not doing anything interesting enough for the camera to focus on.

 

[Truename]

Exactly. It's like in TV shows where some characters aren't on screen that week. No one feels the need to point out that Londo isn't around, because he is around, just not doing anything interesting enough for the camera to focus on.

Yes. In my group, missing player's characters are assumed to be "off camera" but still present and taking part in combat, etc. If they arrive in the middle of the fight, they come "on camera"--and so do the monsters they were presumed to be fighting.

I find 4e extremely easy to dynamically adjust to the player's presence. If I have to do it on the fly, it's as simple as adding or removing one of the "middle of the road" monsters. The flavor of the combat changes, but that's okay.

 

[Ahrimon]

C'mon now- the 'fade in' and 'fade out' don't mean "that guy doesn't exist right now," they mean "that guy's scouting ahead/securing camp/watching the mounts/guarding the rear/pooping in the room we already cleared out/got the flu/etc".

I was just taking the "doesn't exist" part and taking it to a humorous extreme.

 

[nai_cha]

It means less D&D, but I think it also means more quality D&D when you have it. Personally, I have accepted it as one of those things you have to do to be a grown up.

Heh, I guess that's what we all get for suddenly deciding to play D&D now instead of starting in high school like everybody else. Funnily enough this partly started because we joke around that we're getting "old" and don't have the stamina for happy hour + hit the clubs till breakfast anymore.

Thanks thus far for all the suggestions, the serious AND the humourous ones. Currently, the running story is the ranger is soooooooo good at stealthily scouting ahead that now, no one knows where she is, and the bard just has an abysmal sense of direction.

 

[Minifig]

the bard just has an abysmal sense of direction.

It's a good thing Bard's are known for their Charisma and music than their direction then.. eh?

 

[eamon]

We let other players play the character sheets. The other players stick to at-wills, mostly (except for leaders), which works fine. The people taking an extra PC are generally the more die-hard players anyhow, so this kind of caters to everyone's tastes.

However, we also use the fade-in-fade-out technique, particularly when there's a reasonable explanation we can come up with. You know, the indomitable fighter running away from a squirrel, the reserved eladrin wizard getting drunk trying to impress the barmaid, that kind of thing .