When the player's not there..

[garhkal]

I've searched, and though i have had some threads linking to this question, i do think we are due for an updated questioning on it..
For note here's the prior two threads i could locate..

http://www.rancorpit.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3435
More was on about what happens to gear.

http://www.rancorpit.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1344
This one more dealt with what happens to their character, when they have to LEAVE the game midway into a session..


So when you have a game starting up, say a weekly running game, and several sessions in one (or more) players call ahead of time to say "Sorry bub, can't make it this week", What do you do??

Does their character 'fade out' like in some MMORPGS where their avatar disapears cause the player logged off?
Does someone else on the table run the character (with prior OK of the missing player)?
Does the DM run him(her)?

If someone else is running them, do they get full CP for the game?
Can they be killed/seriously injured?

At what point in # of missing players do you just say "ok guys, we are below min #, so we are canxing this weeks game?"
If you do canx it, do you play something else that day, or is it canxed period, no one bother show up??
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[Falconer]

I realize this isn’t super common, but for me, if the player isn’t there, the character is not played. They stay in port/base or on ship, and we don’t even bother to explain why or what they’re doing.

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

[MrNexx]

A player who isn't there generally has their character fade into the background... if we really need them for something, they might get used (i.e. your medic character will probably have dice rolled on their behalf), but they don't fight or directly take part.
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[garhkal]

[Falconer]

[garhkal]

True, but there's often a reason why one of the others were not there. They had time to split/separate..
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[Falconer]

Likewise, the characters in the campaign have a multitude of likely reasons to separate.

Do you not generally cause in-game time to elapse between sessions?

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

[Falconer]

Well, I think we agree if it’s possible to acknowledge the split with some logical in-world explanation (or even just “We’ll meet at the shield generator at 0300”), that’s the happiest solution all around.

The difference between a novel and a game is that the latter is improvisatory, and I would argue that these real-life situations can be seen as opportunities for some clever improv. Though maybe you don’t see it that way.

All in all, the situation of a session ending in medias res doesn’t happen to me much. I always try to end it “back at base”. So perhaps my base assumptions are different; the sort of situations you’re envisioning seem to me extreme corner cases.

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

[Whill]

From one of the old threads garhkal shared...

[Wajeb Deb Kaadeb]

Yeah, I've had a situation where a missing player's character stayed at the Rebel base. The rest took off to start a new adventure that ended up taking a few sessions--maybe even five or more.

If there's no way to bring the player's character into the game logically on the next session where he does show up, I try to find something for the player to do outside of his character.

If I've got a GM run NPC with the group, I'll let the returning player play that until such time as the group rejoins with the missing character. Sometimes, there's a droid that the player plays. I've even had the player help me, as GM, and run some NPC bad guys.

This isn't always possible, though.

[garhkal]

[Falconer]