Brennin Magalus
First Post
Psion said:
If you were my old DM, you would add an NPC pet or two that is adroit at upstaging the PCs.
Throwing in NPCs to help along small parties
- Thread starter Psion
- Start date
If you were my old DM, you would add an NPC pet or two that is adroit at upstaging the PCs.
Brennin Magalus
First Post
Impeesa said:This is me.
This is me making my will save vs. dirty comment.
--Impeesa--
Tee hee. Get your mind out of the gutter so diaglo's can float by.
if at least two players show up we continue from last weeks stop, having the misseng players characters played by the present ones.
if only one or no players (or no me as dm) come then obviously the game is canceld.
oh, and if the party is too small for a permanent lack of players then some times i join a npc to the party.
if only one or no players (or no me as dm) come then obviously the game is canceld.
oh, and if the party is too small for a permanent lack of players then some times i join a npc to the party.
Last edited:
Cancel
I agree with other posters that you should cancel. Especially as it was a major battle. In my campaign, we will usually play even if one of the five players cannot make it. But if more than one drops out then we schedule another time. In fact, due to RL commitments, we usually try to find a couple of dates for the coming month where we can all play and schedule our games for these times.
Bigwilly
I agree with other posters that you should cancel. Especially as it was a major battle. In my campaign, we will usually play even if one of the five players cannot make it. But if more than one drops out then we schedule another time. In fact, due to RL commitments, we usually try to find a couple of dates for the coming month where we can all play and schedule our games for these times.
Bigwilly
ivocaliban
First Post
I chose "other" because I always play with small parties. Because of my location and a general lack of gamers in the area I rarely have a campaign featuring more than two players. Usually, it's just one. So, if one person cancels...it generally means the game is cancelled. D&D Solitaire isn't much fun after all. Nonetheless, I'm in that small group of individuals who very much prefers small numbers of players. So, if I was running a group with say four people and only one showed up, I'd probably be more comfortable running a session with that one individual. If the group was tied up in the middle of something that made the others necessary, I might play a "flashback" for the remaining player's character, filling in his/her background.
As for NPCs, my games are awash with NPCs. I've created hundreds of them in my most recent campaign and when the PC(s) travel to most cities there's someone they know or have met before ready with a name and history. There are also quite a few adventuring NPCs to round out the party. This leaves the PC(s) free to be central to the story and never leaves a player feeling slighted because the focus of the game is elsewhere.
As for NPCs, my games are awash with NPCs. I've created hundreds of them in my most recent campaign and when the PC(s) travel to most cities there's someone they know or have met before ready with a name and history. There are also quite a few adventuring NPCs to round out the party. This leaves the PC(s) free to be central to the story and never leaves a player feeling slighted because the focus of the game is elsewhere.
Hello,
I have my players continually update a backup copy of their character sheets, which we use whenever one (or in rare cases) two people can't make it, with those players in attendance splitting up the duty of running the missing player's PCs/Cohorts.
Part of the reason I do this is to motivate my players to "always be there," because the story/campaign doesn't stop when they’re absent.
J. Grenemyer
I have my players continually update a backup copy of their character sheets, which we use whenever one (or in rare cases) two people can't make it, with those players in attendance splitting up the duty of running the missing player's PCs/Cohorts.
Part of the reason I do this is to motivate my players to "always be there," because the story/campaign doesn't stop when they’re absent.
J. Grenemyer
arche
First Post
We do a mix of things depending on who's absent. I started our group with the expectation that not everyone would make it every time and therefore meet every few weeks.
We have one player who rarely ever makes it to the games, but is always welcome because he's just great to have there. I keep his record sheet up to date as best as possible and bring it with me in case he can make a game. The entire group is fine with the explanations we've used to have him come and go from adventures when I just have too much to do to NPC him. Yes it's a bit less "realistic", but we all agree to it because we're committed to keep the game open for him (he's one of the originals who replied to my game group ad a couple of years ago).
The other players are pretty regular and rarely ever have to miss. If we can't schedule for all to be there then sometimes we'll just distribute the character to be played by someone else and put him in a background role.
If that's not possible or I really want everyone to be there, I'll just run a "One Time" adventure. Last time, I used a random character generator and had the players use them to quickly get into an adventure. We may even just try a new system (d20 Modern).
So, I plan to be flexible when necessary. Since we schedule games well in advance, I usually know ahead of time when someone won't be there. Also the players are willing to see beyond some "strange" appearances at times. In fact it's become one of the more fun parts of the game when we come up with interesting things for the player to have been doing or how they got caught up.
We have one player who rarely ever makes it to the games, but is always welcome because he's just great to have there. I keep his record sheet up to date as best as possible and bring it with me in case he can make a game. The entire group is fine with the explanations we've used to have him come and go from adventures when I just have too much to do to NPC him. Yes it's a bit less "realistic", but we all agree to it because we're committed to keep the game open for him (he's one of the originals who replied to my game group ad a couple of years ago).
The other players are pretty regular and rarely ever have to miss. If we can't schedule for all to be there then sometimes we'll just distribute the character to be played by someone else and put him in a background role.
If that's not possible or I really want everyone to be there, I'll just run a "One Time" adventure. Last time, I used a random character generator and had the players use them to quickly get into an adventure. We may even just try a new system (d20 Modern).
So, I plan to be flexible when necessary. Since we schedule games well in advance, I usually know ahead of time when someone won't be there. Also the players are willing to see beyond some "strange" appearances at times. In fact it's become one of the more fun parts of the game when we come up with interesting things for the player to have been doing or how they got caught up.
shilsen
Adventurer
If you are my current DM, you run the entire campaign (not just a session) for a 4-member PC party without changing anything from your original plans for a 7-member PC party, making sure to provide lots of NPCs (who either outnumber the PCs or are more powerful, or both) so that half of each combat consists of watching the DM roll dice for NPCs. Oh joy!Brennin Magalus said:
Silver Moon
Adventurer
We generally play anyway. Only if a majority of the players aren't going to be there do we ever cancel. With the Red Sox in the World Series we won't be playing this Sunday (or the following if it goes to a Game Seven) but things like that are the exception rather than the rule.
