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<blockquote data-quote="Swarmkeeper" data-source="post: 7476922" data-attributes="member: 6921763">The best thing that happened to me as a DM was discovering West Marches style of campaigns.&nbsp; You don't need the same four players to show up each time to run the adventure.&nbsp; Each session is discrete and can have any combo of the player pool present.&nbsp; Heck, I've even run sessions for just one player.&nbsp; You can successfully have different levels of characters playing together.&nbsp; You could have new players playing with more experienced players against lower threats.&nbsp; Or against higher threats.&nbsp; More experienced players could even create new 1st level characters to accompany the new players' 1st level characters on a simple mission.&nbsp; Then when the new characters are a little less squishy, they might join some of the beefier leveled-up PCs on more dangerous quests.&nbsp; Players can enjoy a &quot;back-up&quot; character in this way if they want.&nbsp; Or not.&nbsp; The permutations are plentiful.&nbsp; Character deaths happen, and not just due to level discrepancy.&nbsp; Sometimes the party needs to retreat if there is a deadly threat to the group - and then send a more prepared strike force at some point in the future that is well-equipped for the challenge the first group discovered (if it is still there!).&nbsp; We don't need to award &quot;catch up&quot; XP in some arbitrary or &quot;unearned&quot; manner.&nbsp; High level characters can find fun in exploration or interaction along with low level characters.&nbsp; It's not all about chasing increasingly higher XP each session as the campaign progresses.&nbsp; It's about having fun.That said, in another campaign we just had a new player join and I had him start at 1 level lower than current lowest member of the party (which ended up being level 5).&nbsp; It worked just fine and everyone had fun.&nbsp; The rule for that campaign is that if a PC irrevocably dies, a new PC can be created two levels lower than the dead one.&nbsp; Players are ok with that and have been fine with the varied levels of the PCs for the almost two years we've been at it..&nbsp; In another recently completed Curse of Strahd campaign, however, I made up some out-of-session reasons for an oft-absent player to &quot;catch up&quot; to keep all four players at the same XP level.&nbsp; Other times, we played the absent character as a party NPC.&nbsp; It just made bookkeeping easier for that particular group.&nbsp; It worked fine and everyone had fun.So, I've experimented with the leveling up strategy a bit.&nbsp; All of these variations seem to work well and do not diminish the enjoyment at our tables.&nbsp; YMMV.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Swarmkeeper, post: 7476922, member: 6921763"] The best thing that happened to me as a DM was discovering West Marches style of campaigns. You don't need the same four players to show up each time to run the adventure. Each session is discrete and can have any combo of the player pool present. Heck, I've even run sessions for just one player. You can successfully have different levels of characters playing together. You could have new players playing with more experienced players against lower threats. Or against higher threats. More experienced players could even create new 1st level characters to accompany the new players' 1st level characters on a simple mission. Then when the new characters are a little less squishy, they might join some of the beefier leveled-up PCs on more dangerous quests. Players can enjoy a "back-up" character in this way if they want. Or not. The permutations are plentiful. Character deaths happen, and not just due to level discrepancy. Sometimes the party needs to retreat if there is a deadly threat to the group - and then send a more prepared strike force at some point in the future that is well-equipped for the challenge the first group discovered (if it is still there!). We don't need to award "catch up" XP in some arbitrary or "unearned" manner. High level characters can find fun in exploration or interaction along with low level characters. It's not all about chasing increasingly higher XP each session as the campaign progresses. It's about having fun. That said, in another campaign we just had a new player join and I had him start at 1 level lower than current lowest member of the party (which ended up being level 5). It worked just fine and everyone had fun. The rule for that campaign is that if a PC irrevocably dies, a new PC can be created two levels lower than the dead one. Players are ok with that and have been fine with the varied levels of the PCs for the almost two years we've been at it.. In another recently completed Curse of Strahd campaign, however, I made up some out-of-session reasons for an oft-absent player to "catch up" to keep all four players at the same XP level. Other times, we played the absent character as a party NPC. It just made bookkeeping easier for that particular group. It worked fine and everyone had fun. So, I've experimented with the leveling up strategy a bit. All of these variations seem to work well and do not diminish the enjoyment at our tables. YMMV. [/QUOTE]

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