What do you do when players don't show?

[Timeboxer]

... Then again, that's a color thing and can vary by caster.

I meant in D&D lore, not in the RAW or anything. This is not unlike how there's a bunch of this Orcus lore, which is conveniently left unaddressed in Manual of the Planes.

 

[Timeboxer]

Board games and card games have become my friend as the role playing friends get flakier and flakier. "Gee dude, I thought I told you I wasn't coming!"

I've been trying to convince my group to play Ninja Burger on the off-weeks, but they are always very "Give me D&D or give me death!" So.

 

[Crothian]

I've been trying to convince my group to play Ninja Burger on the off-weeks, but they are always very "Give me D&D or give me death!" So.

Ninja Burger is great, I started my nephew on that one.

 

[fusangite]

I played in a game in which the GM had an excellent approach to this that I have since stolen. The concept was introduced in a superhero RPG into which it fit perfectly. The idea is that when a player is away, his character is there, just "off frame." Imagining the game as a comic book, the character in question is with the party but outside the frame in which events are depicted. In all likelihood, he's fighting other villains who are also off-frame or doing something equally important.

In this off-frame state, the PC cannot take any actions that pertain to the main action, nor can he be damamged or collect experience. I have found this to be by far the cleanest solution to the problem of absent players; and it does less damage to the story than any other option.

As for questions of quorum, I generally just want a simple majority ie. 2/3, 3/4, 3/5, 4/6, 4/7.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Currently have six players.

We will play as long as three players show up. I have the character sheets for the other players. Their characters will play even if they are not there.

We have never "not played" due to absences.

While missing players is something that rears its head every now and then, it's a 1-in-6 sessions issue where we are missing more than one player in any event.

 

[Edgewood]

In our case, if we have too few players to play the game properly, we pull out the board game Runebound. Everyone has so much fun with it, that they don't mind not playing the regular D&D session. Runebound is an awsome stand alone game to play.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I've been trying to convince my group to play Ninja Burger on the off-weeks, but they are always very "Give me D&D or give me death!" So.

Well, if you're unsure of a gamer coming, just start off, "Hey, let's play some Ninja Burger until we hear from X." Usually X will call a half hour latter talking about not showing up and in the meanwhile, you've been playing Ninja Burger!

Of course my group varies, especially the group I play with on Friday but they love other types of games for the most part.

 

[Chaldfont]

I'd like to have more players, but we currently have three players and a DM. Its not uncommon for one of us to not make it (with kids, work, vacation, etc). We like to move "the spotlight" around to highlight differenct PCs and it can be tough when the DM has planned something special for the missing player.

Sometimes we hand off the PC to another player, but this is hard at higher levels (we are up to 12th now). Sometimes we say that the PC is off "doing something else", but this can make encounters tough (2 character party!).

Mostly, I try to have a 2 person side campaign going. I've used D20 Modern, Mutants & Masterminds and Spycraft for this purpose. When someone can't make it, I pull in the side campaign written for the two remaining players.

 

[Jdvn1]

I've been trying to convince my group to play Ninja Burger on the off-weeks, but they are always very "Give me D&D or give me death!" So.

... So you killed them?

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Our group will sometimes play with as few as two players, depending on the mix. In our Birthright game, my rogue and this one guy's wizard went through White Plume Mountain by ourselves; the wizard had his cohort, but that was it. It was...amusing. Went really fast, too.

We typically explain the absence of PCs mid-adventure as dysentery or some other unpleasant illness.

Brad