Allow me to address an earlier question, as I have no small experience with a very similar situation...
LilMissKittyn said:
And now for my first naive question:
What's the best way to work transient PC's into a campaign? (People that can't play all the time, but still want to be able to play).
LilMissKittyn said:
...So, I guess my real question is, what do you do with transient characters in a mistrustful and irresponsible group?
I work a rotating shift. Depending on the week, I work days, evenings or midnight shifts, and I work three out of every five weekends. This made it a little tricky to join in regularly scheduled gaming sessions. Since my schedule is very predictable, we finally decided to run two games... One that I play in during the three weekends I don't work, and another that I don't play in during the two weekends I do work... That's your first option, if the missing players are always the same people and are relatively predictable in their absences.
If not, then a second option is what we tried before we decided to play two different games... Make certain the character of the part-time player is a member of a guild or secret society. Part of the catch of bekonging to this guild is that fact that the members are always 'on call' for guild missions and such.
Each member of the guild carries an identification badge... an amulet or ring or some such... which is enchanted with a permanent Refuge spell. Whenever the guild requires the services of the PC, they activate the Refuge badge, instantly teleporting the PC back to the guild hall right in the middle of whatever he had been doing. When the guild is finished with him, they scry out his friends for him, and teleport him back.
Instant out, instant in. No need to explain what he'd been doing... "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." And you can even award him some basic XP for the adventures he has off-stage, if you want.
Y.O.Morales said:
I've been thinking for a while about the possibility of hosting the DMF in its own website (however, we must change the name to Game Master Foundation or otherwise we'll get a nice letter from WotC's lawyers). How that sounds?
If it's a viable option, I could help in setting up the website, but my aid will have to wait as I'm currently building my own personal website too.
If you're interested, I'd like to extend an invitation to all of you to the
Rat Bastard DM's Club.
We run a message board that's solely devoted to everything you want to accomplish with the DMF. The actual RBDMC is a private forum, where we can discuss and suggest adventure plans without worrying about our players sneeking peeks; it is roughly analogous to your DMF counsel. The Crucible Forum is open to the public, however, and anyone is welcome to join in and post; The Crucible serves the exact same purpose as the DMF.
We're always looking for more traffic on our boards. If nothing else, it can be a good example of how to put your own web-site/message-boards together, should you so choose.