how would you deal with the character of a player who leaves the game?

[alsih2o]

There was one time when a PC got possessed by a demon in Warhammer, which is basically the same thing as dying, and the player got in a snit and stomped out, though the rest of us didn't know why. The GM recruited a new player to take over the PC-as-demon. We went for like 4 or 5 sessions with the rest of us thinking the PC was just acting strange because of the new player, until the degeneration caught up with him.
That new player was... alsih2o.
And now you know the rest of the story.

ahhh....good times

 

[Silver Moon]

In our game, he becomes a sex slave to a large ogre, but that's just us.

Not just you, that actually happened in our game, about two months after the player departed. It was a Cloud Giant rather than a Large Ogre, and the "sex slave" part was not explicitally stated, although it was clearly implied. Never saw that character again.

 

[bwgwl]

I voted other. The character just leaves as soon as possible, with a minimum of explanation.

that's how i'll do it (got a player leaving my campaign right now).

"bye guys. see ya later."

running the former PC as an NPC isn't an option for me -- i dislike "party" NPCs with a passion.

death is also out of the question -- then i wouldn't be able to bring the character back for cameos later.

simply forgetting the character just seems kinda weird.

 

[andrew]

For me, it always depends on both the in-game and out of game circumstances. Since the player sounds like she's leaving on good terms, I'd be inclined to treat her old character respectfully. Consider Mrs Horn in Sagiro's storyhour if you follow it. (Say, I guess she's gone now consider the recent plot turns. Kinda sad.)

I'd keep her with the party until the earliest plausible opportunity to get her out of there, but I wouldn't sever contact. Perhaps her patron requires her services on another project. Let the PCs occasionally hear from her (or at least of her) to keep the feeling of a dynamic world alive.

When the PCs are stopped at an inn on the way to the Temple of No Return, someone at the bar recognizes them from a description given by a ranger that was passing through and buys them a drink. As the party decides to confront the hobgoblin threat by taking out their beholder overlord, let them get word that their old partner is leading a group against the hobgoblin raiding parties. The next time the PCs pass through the Forbidden Forest, they run into a grizzled ranger with a grudge against some young upstart.

As events elsewhere in the campaign world escalate, you can use the ranger as a reminder to the PCs that they're not alone in the world and to reinforce the themes you're using. Even better, get the old player to do some play-by-email stuff with just you. It would probably be fun for both of you and a neat way to explore another part of your game and a different game style.

 

[Brekke]

We had a player leave he's girlfriend was making to many demands on his time. Since we were not sure if he was coming back and we didn't want to kill his PC if he was the DM had him be called by his God to fight a war on another plane. In a heavy role playing game like ours we had to have some kind of decent ending.