What do you do when a Player dies?

[Knaves Quill]

A group I'm a player/GM in had a player die a couple years ago. The GM at the time was running Rime of the Frostmaiden with many '80s slashing vibes added, being that he is a huge fan of that horror subset, as was this player. The player that passed away was his best friend, quite singularly. They are been buddies since they were children, and at the time were in their late 40s. It was sad for all of us, but devastating for the GM.

It was very sudden, and we took a break from the game of course, but eventually got back to it, with the deceased player getting an in-setting send-off for their character. It was bittersweet, but everyone approved.

 

[Composer99]

As it happens, I shared a story about this sort of thing in depth a year and a half ago.

My wife passed in the summer of 2021. She'd been playing in two D&D games since her cancer came back in the spring of 2019. When she passed, the "kids" game - players were my wife, our son, one of my wife's best friends, and two kids of another bestie - went on hiatus for a few months. The "adults" game - players were my brother, my wife, me and my brother's best friend, one of my cousins, and two other family friends - continued on.

Since then, we restarted the kids game with a new setting and new characters. The adults game went on, with my late wife's character making a guest appearance as I detailed in the linked story, managing the final blow on Tiamat. My brother is now running a 5e Spelljammer game for the adults game group, which has been going on since early 2024.

I'm glad that, even posthumous as it was, my late wife's D&D career ended on such a high note.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Condolences. I lost a player - and a friend - when I was in high school. Alan was camping with a friend and they went for a walk. Never came back. Got lost and starved to death in the mountains.

Me and all of Alan and Rich's friends were pretty broken up by this. The ongoing game he was in died; we could bring ourselves to play it. It was a few months before I could play anything. Eventually we got going again with new games, but those specific games never resumed.

My son's middle name is Alan, after Alan.

That's a tough one (they all are, but still). My deepest sympathies.