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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Merkuri" data-source="post: 5337946" data-attributes="member: 41321">For my current group we decided to rotate DMs every adventure, and we needed a way to explain why one PC would disappear and a new PC would appear each session (we didn't want to get into a habit of having DMPCs).  We agreed that our PCs were part of a larger adventurer's guild.  A slightly different subset of that larger guild would come on each adventure.If a PC needed to leave for some reason we would just say that the guild called him away, or he had something else to attend to, and if a new PC arrived we said the guild had sent them to join us.A few times when a PC has been absent for one session (that ends up being only a few hours of in-character time) we find something else for them to do.  For example, the last adventure we were on involved guarding some children.  When a pair of players couldn't make it to the game we decided that those PCs would stay behind and guard the children.A few years ago when we were playing through the World's Largest Dungeon our DM created "The Box", which was modeled after the Luggage in the Discworld books.  The Box would appear at random and snap up PCs or spit them out.  This was a simple way to explain what happened to PCs when their player was gone - the PC got taken by The Box.The thing is, though, anything you do regularly like that will eventually become a running gag, whether it's The Box or an attack of dysentery.  If you want it to be something believable or serious then you need to deal with the situations as they come and find some way to ad-lib it in.  The PC gets lost, or gets kidnapped, or takes a side quest, or found out their parents died, or decides to join a circus, or anything that takes them out of the picture for a few hours/days/weeks.  The trick is to make sure it's different each time.  If it's the same thing every time it will become funny whether you want it to or not.Another alternative is to just fade the PCs in and out.  When the player isn't there, act like the PC never existed.  When the player comes back, the PC has been there all along.  I have never actually tried this tactic myself and it might not work with all parties, but I've been told that it's surprisingly easy to get used to.  I might try it the next game I run.  It's certainly the simplest solution, though some simulationist players or people who highly prize realism may never warm up to it.</blockquote>

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