Pathfinder 1E Should I kill off players who don't show?

[willvr]

.... one thing that seems to be being overlooked. There's a total of 4 I think the OP stated? Take out 2, that's a party of two. Unless you're an incredibly good GM, you'll struggle for balance unless you do some recruiting. I know you said you didn't feel able to because of the world; but I think you need to look at it.

 

[Li Shenron]

Probably your players genuinely struggle to find the time but would really want to play the game with you, and as such they don't want to give up...

...because of how the game is currently set up we CAN'T player if they don't come, all the encounters and plot hooks I have are assuming all the players show.

I have no idea how you set the game up and ended up in this situation, but I take it for granted that indeed you need all of them.

But you're making a mistake: you don't need the players, you need the characters.

So instead of killing them and have to rearrange everything in the story, take control of the PCs of missing players, for the purpose of making your plans work, effectively treating them as NPCs.

If you kill them and because of that you have to do more work to rearrange the game, you're not punishing your players, you're punishing yourself.

 

[biotech66]

I wouldn't. It doesn't make the people behind the character sheets like you very much. I'd talk to those people to see why they are not showing up. If its the hate the game, then that sucks and you might want to work with them on how to make life better for all involved. If its a now show like in my group (dialysis, life events, etc), then you just have to let the game take a back seat to real life.

 

[was]

I wouldn't kill them off. Give them some lame day job to make ends meet and have them fade into the background of a town or city. That way you can pull them out if needed or use them as fully statted NPCs.

 

[adamc]

I suggest you take a vote on the best course of action, from those present at your next session.

No point the people you do play with suffering due to people who don't turn up.

Whether this would work depends on the group, but in many cases players will not want to take responsibility for this decision, IMO. I think the DM has to be prepared make the call -- it's his game.

There are potentially a lot of interpersonal politics going on in a situation like this. Do the remaining players care if you drop the missing ones? Are there other people you could plausibly recruit? Why are the missing players missing? I think it would be worth having some conversations and figuring out the answers to these questions. If there is something you can do to clear the air and have the players show up, great. If not, you either need to recruit new players or dial down the schedule to what the group can commit to.

 

[Savage Wombat]

Whether this would work depends on the group, but in many cases players will not want to take responsibility for this decision, IMO. I think the DM has to be prepared make the call -- it's his game.

That's one of the things that's long been strange about D&D games - that the DM is somehow the one "in charge" even outside the context of the actual game. Like he's automatically the front man of the band or something.

 

[Ahnehnois]

That's one of the things that's long been strange about D&D games - that the DM is somehow the one "in charge" even outside the context of the actual game. Like he's automatically the front man of the band or something.

I don't think it's that strange. In any small group, someone will naturally take point, regardless of whether that group is playing D&D or not.

 

[Dungeoneer]

It's severely annoying the other players, who have suggested that we just move the game on without them and that if they don't show up again to have their character summarily dumped down a ravine or dragons mouth.

I'm not sure if this is the proper action, but as these players hardly even return my calls or messages I can't even talk to them about it reliably, and feel a little pressured into doing SOMETHING about it, is the suggestion the way to go or should I try something less drastic?

It's not fair to single one or two players out for punishment by killing their characters. The only fair solution is to kill the entire group.

More seriously, though, people go through phases in their lives where they might not have time to participate in a regular game, no matter how much they might want to. It's time to recruit some new players that have time in their schedules and tell your old players that they are always welcome at your table, but you will be running the game as if they'r not coming for the time being.

 

[adamc]

By the way, I don't see why this thread is labeled "Pathfinder" -- seems more like "All D&D".

 

[Morrus]

By the way, I don't see why this thread is labeled "Pathfinder" -- seems more like "All D&D".

Because he's playing Pathifinder, presumably. Why D&D? Why not "all RPGs"? Or, indeed, "all social interactions", which appears to be the core subject. Let's not worry too much about folks choose to label or title their threads.