Solution 1: Hirelings/Mercenaries. Solution 2: One shots! time to play that new shadow dark game. Solution 3: Nothing, progress the story like nothing has happened, and if the party TPKs, the missing player gets to come back and be a mentor/sage character~ Solution 4: No Backstories, can't be in the middle of the "missing character's arch", if there is no arch ... works best with an open world. Solution 5: Replace them, this giant yawning portal rises from the ground and spits out a new adventurer, similar or same level as the party.
You can always use a goon squad. We have put people in base camp. Every session starts and ends at base camp. There was no session that ended in the dungeon or in the middle of something. A clear and factual expedition log helps the next patrol catch up on what happened.
@@SusCalvin right should have worded number 4 better, but the solution is more built into the game you're running, which is open world. Still a possible solution.
@@justinblocker730 You can still have great fun stories with your PCs. This method just gives attending players a lot more impact. A player who isn't there isn't moving their personal character along. Then your story will be the bloke who did their part on and off. Which is still pretty great, I don't like to hound people. I think the group can have a strong story going, like the greater story of how Jesus came to the Moon or the tale of a street gang's rise from a defunct trade guild to a hidden army. This story keeps going even if an individual PC is not there a given day.
It's great when a player could show up, play a wandering hero for one or two sessions at a time. There is no great arc to fit them into, just episodic tales.
Most of my friends are power gamers seeking a power fantasy story. Long ago, I got in the habit of designing stories without ticking clocks and combat encounters for one fewer player at the table anyway. Generally, we fill extremely low head count sessions by taking a long rest, levelling up, backtracking through the dungeon looking for secrets, taking "downtime" actions and the like. The players that are there get caught up on their paperwork, rest up and usually get some kind of bonus for the next session. If the situation persists past one session, I like to invoke the ancient forbidden rite of "scouting ahead" - whereby players can use stealth, scrying, or taking prisoners to learn about future encounters and get their "Batman plus prep time" on. So far its worked okay. But it really does break down when a player is missing in an adventure tied to developing their specific character or the villain is something like a Lich that's capable of (and expected to) be fighting strategically and reinforcing its defenses.
Run a mini game from a different perspective. The players take on the role of new cultists & have the undesirable task of clearing out the flooded tunnels. Make them play level 0 & make it extra brutal. Some will die but they don't lose their main chars. It will be exciting! or the players act as monsterous mercs & raid the village their main characters just liberated 3 sessions ago. or, it could be part of history in the region, a glimpse at how those woods they travelled through became haunted 300 years ago. If you don't finish it, you can return to it next time someone is off.
Great video, sir! 🔥 With all the games I've been in as either a player or GM, I've experienced this being handled in many ways. Currently, in the groups I'm in, we generally cancel if more than 2 players are going to miss. If 2 are out, it depends on the story. Critical moments? Cancel. More dungeon crawling (or similar)? Game on! That said, I was literally thinking about this earlier today! I think I might start running side quests, and run them like 1-shots. So whoever shows up might even feel like they got a reward for being at the table. 🎉
Good way to do it. It's what I do myself. I've been down two players for a month or so (unforeseen life changes that are more than likely temporary). Now normally I could pivot, but they are literally about to fight a homebrew boss and minions. But there is literally no way for them to leave the big chasm they just found, nor can I, or the other three players run their PC's. Yay me, hahaha. But catastrophe's like above aside, this method has served me well. That and a plethora of one shots that I have to run instead.
@@1n20DnD Yep, so it's just been one shots since. Not like the logical party will leave the chasm that just opened up in the ground filled with statues from the lost civilization they've been uncovering.
The absent PC spends some downtime making something to sell or use. The party frees an NPC/Sidekick and continues to adventure. When the PC returns, the NPC suddenly turns into a wererat and must be slain.
we usually go the route of the dm taking over the player, he still engages sometimes as the player if there is an opportunity that seems fit or fit he group needs them to do something, but mostly stays inactive except for combat. i record the sessions with permissions of the players and write an extensive recap of the session's if there was an extensive shoppin session or lets say the player's had time before going off to a quest to interact with a city i would brief the player: You shopped today this was in the store do you wanna buy anything? You have about 3 hours time in this city is there some one you wanted to visit or something you wanted to do before uniting as a group again and leaving for the quest? IF it's a arc sensitive session, we reschedule to a week later and play a oneshot instead, (i usually have at least one oneshot ready to go at any given moment to be able to react on that last notice cancels that happen from time to time, because life can just be like that. ) Edit: We also only cancel sessions if we are less than 4 players. (our full group is 6 people so we have quiet a bit of bolstering in terms of canceling sessions)
It can be rough. There are only three players in the group I DM for and we play for several weeks every other month. When one is missing, I usually just play the character for them although it is with the understanding that the character will not be in full form. Basic abilities and attacks maybe some spells if they have them. Otherwise, we have to cancel and lose out on precious game time. Always seems to be at the last minute just an hour or two before game time when the cancellation happens too.
I hate it when characters poof in and out of a game world. Breaks verisimilitude. That's the old school style of a campaign, but I dislike it. I would much rather have a party that plays together rather than a mix of players. Have another player run them, or NPC them and run them yourself. With 4-5 players, I cancel if two or more are going to miss, or it's a pivotal moment. NPCing them is not the same as having them poof. You don't need to pull punches because they are another target and damage sink. Even with basic actions, they can still contribute quite a bit. If it's an important enough battle that they may die, you should probably skip the session until everyone can be there.
They're still around. Maybe sitting in base camp mening their pants. The player can specify if they do some other downtime thing. They could do some downtime project if the player specifies it. Base camp should be a small platoon of people anyways. They can decide their bloke wanders off to another adventure or to town. Then they're not gone either, they are just not in the immediate viscinity.
The focus of the story is on these 2 characters this week & the others are backgrounded. The same thing happens in movies where the story focuses on a particular person for a scene or two, the others are still there in the background but not actively participating. It can work really well if the DM explains this rather than ignoring the missing characters, which I agree is a bit jarring.
As long as the party isn't stuck in the middle of a combat, there's always room for a "flashback" or a "campfire" scene where characters trade stories about their past (complete with skill challenges and combat encounters) in exchange for small benefits like inspiration points, xp, or bonus character traits.
You know I am really not sure, i should look into it. You don't have to though, plenty of games over on startplaying you could take a look at. I am currently playing in a Keys to the golden vault campaign and have a great time.
It can be done with patience. But let's face it, DnD is meant for group (at least a GM and 1 player) play. It's way more fun. Is playing solo something you're really interested in?
