How does your group handle an absent player?

[pemerton]

Sometimes it means that they are disguised as one of the evil henchmen who were about to open fire on the rest of the PCs.

Love it!

 

[pemerton]

In our most recent session, one player had to leave about half-way through the session. His PC stayed at the bottom of the mountain, with the horses, while the rest of the PCs ascended.

 

[Piperken]

Serendipity! Also, can't emphasize how valuable the other tables are that are put out by d4 Caltrops!

Absent Adventurer: Where Have You Been?

 

[evildmguy]

I am running two games, one with six players, one with four. We decided to play if one player was missing but not if two are missing. We play remote all the time.

In the past, I had a group where one guy moved away but we wanted to include him. I set up a monitor so we could see him then had things described to him. I eventually used a VTT projected onto the table, so he could see combat easier.

In another group, I lost several people but had one, then two people remote. I had a two camera setup, where one was on the other players, one was on the battlemat. They had a camera facing themselves and one for their dice rolls.

I would say it was mixed results all around with one player on remote. With no one else to easily interact with, he became too distracted and it didn't work long term. In contrast, the two remote people, at the same place, worked very well. They could have conversations, and it was understood why their two characters had connections and why the characters at the local table had connections.

One of my current groups are all local. But. We found out that in person, we miss more than if we stay remote. We are all middle aged who don't want to get the others sick. That's enough to stay away in person but doesn't matter for remote.

I'm lucky that all of my players want to game. The penalty for missing is missing. If I'm doing xp advancement, each player gets to give one other player bonus xp for role playing or cool thing that session. The player missing doesn't get that, which can add up, but they get the base xp that I give out for the session. At most, a one level difference.

When that one person is missing, it's a combination of the character is vaguely there but not. I tend not to adjust combat and tell them that so they adjust for it. I do like the idea of giving some sort of ability they can call on due to the player's absence rather than full running of the character. I have done it many ways, though, especially with the VTT. (Foundry in my case.) I can assign the character to another player and let them run it. I have a player instance and GM instance running and sometimes I run them. I will usually ask and the group decides as a whole what the character does if something comes up related to them.

One thing that has worked for me is that I insist on weekly gaming. Players did drop out when kids were in that 6-16 range, and that's fine. One player wanted to play every other week but I pushed back. The first time he forgets which week it is, he misses out on gaming. The first time his wife forgets which week it is, it's a bigger problem. All of my (middle aged) players have agreed that weekly works best. Everyone knows dad/husband is busy that night. My wife is great in allowing me two games.

Thanks for the discussion!