Why punish a player if they can't come to the game?

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

When they drop by I make sure to have an NPC for them to run, or have made a pre-determined arrangement for them to stand in for another player that cannot make it.

What level NPC do you give them to play? Is it roughly in-line with the "dedicated" players' PCs?

How does this differ from the "absentee" player creating his own character, keeping it at the level the NPC would be (whatever that is), and only playing occasionally?

 

[ThirdWizard]

Ok, a gaming group agrees to meet once a week. Then player A only shows up 5 times in a 3 month period of time. Players B, C, D, and E show up 90% of the time. I would suggest to player A that he or she find a campaign that meets once a month. Also if the other players wanted, we could do a separate campaign that meets once a month while running the original campaign with players B thru E weekly.

I wouldn't. They would be welcome when they could make it. And have been.

Ok, next point. Didn't your players get good at what they do rpg-wise, by actually playing the game? Add up all the experience they ever earned by actually playing the game. I'll bet that is a big number.

I don't care if its a big number. Why the obsession with big numbers??? I don't care what their XP total would be, why do you? I'm totally lost here. What does this have to do in any way with players getting or not getting XP for missing sessions?

 

[rgard]

may be. i started dming in 1981. are we of the same or different generations?

Probably the same generation. Started playing in 1976 and dming in 1979.

 

[el-remmen]

What level NPC do you give them to play? Is it roughly in-line with the "dedicated" players' PCs?

Whatever is appropriate to the story. It could be a 2nd level character when everyone else is 10th - it could be a 15th level character. It depends.

How does this differ from the "absentee" player creating his own character, keeping it at the level the NPC would be (whatever that is), and only playing occasionally?

Verisimitude.

You cannot always assure that the campaign is going to be in a place that it makes sense for this particular person to be able to appear and dissappear at the whim of a timeline that does not coincide with the game timeline.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Very simulationist. I grok that. In my games, PCs of absentee players are played by other players, with all the bane and boon that comes with it.

Yes, and if it wasn't for the problems I've experienced with letting PCs be played by other players, I'd allow it with full XP myself.

But as I've said:

1) Players have the character sheets and if they miss, they likely don't have time to bring it by my house before the game.

2) *I* don't want to run their character when DMing

3) Other players take too long when playing characters they are unfamiliar with, slowing the game to a crawl

4) I was really angry that one time my character died when my party decided to use burning hands on the ogre that was grappling me and the person playing me failed 3 saving throws in a row, killing me. I would have told them not to use the spell if I was at risk of death, but they figured "don't worry, he'll likely make the save". We didn't have enough money to bring me back to life. I really liked my character.

 

[rgard]

I wouldn't. They would be welcome when they could make it. And have been.



I don't care if its a big number. Why the obsession with big numbers??? I don't care what their XP total would be, why do you? I'm totally lost here. What does this have to do in any way with players getting or not getting XP for missing sessions?

Hmmm...I tried. Sorry that you remain lost.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[swrushing]

But, on the other hand, I have to ask: why should there be no in-game REWARD for people who do show up, who do make the time to play, and who are always there?

because the "in game" world events are governed by what happens in-game, not by what happens out here.

For a player, the reward of showing up is getting the fun of playing.

For the character, the rewards in game he sees are thos derived from events and choices and actions that happen in the game. he doesn't get one set of reactions if Bob's hands move his figure on wednesday but a different set if Barry moves it the next week. NPCs react to the character, not the player.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

What about a player/character joining a game at mid-level? That character has also done nothing for their XP.

In this case, it is just a prerequisite for playing. The character DID earn his XP, he just wasn't played by a player when he did so.

Which is why I said previously, if the lack of XP got so bad for a player that he could no longer survive the enemies in the game, I would increase his level artificially. I haven't had to do this yet, no one's missed enough sessions to be more than 2 levels behind, which is acceptable to me.

 

[Abraxas]

Ok, a gaming group agrees to meet once a week. Then player A only shows up 5 times in a 3 month period of time. Players B, C, D, and E show up 90% of the time. I would suggest to player A that he or she find a campaign that meets once a month. Also if the other players wanted, we could do a separate campaign that meets once a month while running the original campaign with players B thru E weekly.

I game with my friends and would never suggest this - in fact we had one player who's job and family commitments allowed him to play only once every other month or so - we just bumped his character up and continued with the game - because we had fun playing the game together and it was fun for all of us when he could make it.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Hmmm...I tried. Sorry that you remain lost.

Why the hostility?

EDIT: Forget it. Sorry, that I remain lost.