The Irregulars

[jdrakeh]

Okay, most of us over 30 have been there -- you have a play group, a great play group, even. Every player is well-versed with the rules that you're using, they all get on well as people, they all get on well as characters. You can never get them into the same room at one time.

So, I've seen some suggstions that there are ways to structure an adventure so as to not be reliant on the participation of all characters/players every week. I'm familiar with the heavy-handed stuff like magical deus ex devices and having the DM assume control of a PC, but what about more subtle methods of handling this issue?

Do you run multiple storylines simultaneously? Do you utilize an episodic adventure structure? How do you structure your adventures to accommodate real life? How do you deal with irregular schedules and absent players/characters?

 

[kensanata]

Option one is that I make sure that there is a "safe haven" of sorts, for example a city where they rented rooms, or the magician's stronghold where the wizards are assumed to study. Then I try really hard to have every session end a few hours travel from the safe haven.

Next session, we just make up reasons why some of them had to leave and others where able to join. Sometimes these excuses end up being story hooks.

Lately though, in an extended dungeon crawl, we started just not caring and it was fun nonetheless. We usually joke that this is movie in preproduction, and some of the scenes have characters missing or extras. So when the session starts, there are continuity problems with the script, the camera pans the other way, and suddenly there's a ranger where just a few seconds ago we had a sorcerer. Oh well...

Not perfect from a "supension of disbelief" point of view, but if your players are Ok with it, why not?

 

[robberbaron]

If someone can't turn up his character holds the horses or late due to digestive problems.

We just forget about it until he rejoins the party.

 

[boerngrim]

A few years ago I was running a game with anywhere from 4 to 8 players at any given session. There were many times when one or more people couldn't make it. We just sort of left the character in limbo untill they returned. It was the only way to keep the game going without having to spend a lot of time doing assides to catch people up.
I had to draw a line with one player who was habitully late to sessions. We had an aggreed upon start time, and this one guy kept arriving anywhere from one to three hours late. One time I just told him I wouldn't be able to work him into the story that day. He got mad and left, but the disruption to the game, and headache to me was gone. (Turns out after the fact he was cheating on his wife and telling her he was at D&D, while he was with the other woman.)

Another guy in the same group once sacked out on the couch and slept through an entire session. We couldn't rouse him for anything. When the game ended the guy he rode with finally got him awake and he actually asked me how much xp he got! I just laughed out loud.

 

[Glyfair]

Do you utilize an episodic adventure structure?

If you are up to this, it can be the best and most fulfilling under these circumstances.

A GM in my area was going to run a fantasy "Mission: Impossible" series. The known regular player would have had the Jim Phelps role of organizer. Then he would choose the team to go on the mission based on what he needed (within the gameplay story).

It never got off the ground, so I'm not sure how it would have worked. The germ of the idea is there for me to do sometime.

 

[boerngrim]

The idea of episodic sessions does have advantages for a group with chaotic schedules. The Star Trek rpg by Last Unicorn encoraged it. I've never been able to put it into practice though.

 

[Edgewood]

Our group pretty much high level (20th) and while the players would all gather together on a regular basis, there were some times when one or two could not make it. As a result, I would have those that would come, bring in their characters but of a lower level, and I would run a flashback episode. It would always be a one shot adventure that would last for only one session, and would be lean toward more of a character development kind of story. If the PC dies I have a high powrered NPC Cleric cast true resurrection on them.

The players say they love these one shot flashbacks as it really allows them to dig deeper into their character.

Also, I have a copy of their characters saved at each level so I just print them off and bring them with me to the session.

 

[jdrakeh]

See, I almost wonder if doing something like Heroes wouldn't work -- an episodic structure, but with focus on individual story arcs (where the PCs aren't constantly at each other's side). Granted, you couldn't run a common linear adventure like this, though I do think that the idea has some merit.

 

[scourger]

I'm trying an epsiodic style now with my D&D game. A few weeks ago, when 2 players didn't show, their characters stayed at the inn that was central to the adventure. Unfortunately, the remaining 2 players played as if they were a full party, making some decisions that led to the death of one and retreat of the other. Then, they got the other 2 characters roused and defeated the foe. For me, that session highlights the inherent difficulty of using D&D as an episodic game. It is sort of assumed that a party has 4 characters in 4 niches in terms of capabilities. I tried to scale the encounters, but it just didn't work. Plus, I think it frustrates the heck out of my tactical players when a character with certain abilities is not present just because the player is absent.

I had a much, much easier time of it with Savage Worlds running the Tour of Darkness campaign. That game was a military campaign set in the Viet Nam War with some supernatural elements. The rules basically kept all the characters around the same power level, even the replacements, and the command structure meant they went on a certain mission at each game session. I would love to find a way to import those elements to D&D, but I haven't found it yet; short of running a game with no magic-wielding player characters (which I did for a pirate D&D game).

I have had some success with episodic play in other d20 games. Specifically Judge Dredd d20 and Omega World d20 accommodated that style pretty well for me. There again, those are kind of like D&D with the magic filed off.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Most of my current groups have this problem- divergent schedules, kids, family emergencies, etc.

When we're deep in a dungeon, we opt for something like a "food poisoning" or "he retreated for supplies" or something similarly "plausible."

However, one thing I've used in the past is the Caravan model. If the PCs are just members of a large, sprawling caravan, those who are present can have adventures while "X" is riding ahead to arrange for quarters in a tavern, or on kitchen detail. I've run adventures in Caravan campaigns with as few as 3 of 10 people present- concievably, 1 on 1 gaming would have been possible.