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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BSF" data-source="post: 4216752" data-attributes="member: 13098">Annoying, to be sure.  Common courtesy dictates that you give people notice.  If for no other reason than to stop any concern.  When I have a player that is MIA, I worry that maybe they have been in an accident or something.  Usually, we can call and locate the person.  Almost always they are running late from work, or stuck in traffic, no big deal - it happens.  Usually, the players will call to let us know they are running late, for whatever reason.  But to just not  show up, no call or anything?  Discourteous.  So what?  Run the game without the players.Yeah, I know, there are times when this is impractical.  But those really aren't that often.  It seems impractical more often than it really is impractical.  Players don't show up?  Sit down and run the game anyway.  Do the players, and thus the characters, miss out?  Sure they do.  But that is the choice they made.  I had two players do this once.  They up and decided they wanted to go to a concert that night, without telling any of us in advance.  It was a shame since I had planned events at that particular session to highlight both characters.  I had 5 other players sitting at the table that wanted to play and two players somewhere else.  Why wouldn't I run a game for those 5 players?We had a blast!  The players that were present did a lot of fun things.  They made a couple of decisions for the group, embarked on a new adventure, and we left it as a vague question as to whether the PCs of the missing players were with them.  Things like - they are watching the horses - goes a long way toward leaving the option of the PCs joining back up.  The next week, the missing players were present and brought up to speed on what the group was doing.  We spent a short period of time discussing what they missed, I gave them a couple of minutes to buy mundane supplies for the trip they had embarked on.   The players were a little sullen, but I pointed out that there were people at the game that wanted to play.  Why should 6 of us (5 players + me) not get to game just because two people wanted to do something else that night?  If they didn't like the results, they could choose not to participate in that adventure.  A little bit of perspective gave them the opportunity to realize that they had the chance to participate, but chose not to.  They were able to weigh the difference in fun for the concert and the game.  I don't know if they felt the concert was worth it, I suspect they did.  And that is fine, because the rest of us had fun too, after we got over being annoyed for a few minutes.  Don't let your enjoyment of the game be dictated by a few people showing or not showing.  The game can always be fun for the people present.  It may, however, require that the DM improvise a little more.  If you aren't the DM, be sure to give your DM that leeway.  If you are the DM, be sure to ask for that leeway from the players.Oh, and if the DM was one of the missing players - start a new game.  It is even more discourteous for the DM not to show up without any warning.</blockquote>

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