Hail adventurers! Once again, after many months have gone by, I have yet another question!!!
Quite a few of my party members are missing from my campaign, and I was wondering how I should go about DMing my campaign without the most important characters?! One character has a direct link to great military power, while the other has a strong link with a powerful and world-ending artifact. What should I do?
*I don't like to play without the others, because it takes more time in trying to explain where the absent ones were upon their return.
I usually use the abscent player's character as an NPC when in the middle of an adventure (for one or two games only). If I know in advance that the player won't be present for a few games, then I exclude his character from the adventure. All absent players don't get any share of "the XP pool" at the end of the game (the XP pool being 1/4 of all xp earned by the group divided by shares, which are won by being present, good role-playing, good ideas and even massive-damage-dealing-critical-hits).
Ultradan
I usually use the abscent player's character as an NPC when in the middle of an adventure (for one or two games only). If I know in advance that the player won't be present for a few games, then I exclude his character from the adventure. All absent players don't get any share of "the XP pool" at the end of the game (the XP pool being 1/4 of all xp earned by the group divided by shares, which are won by being present, good role-playing, good ideas and even massive-damage-dealing-critical-hits).
Ultradan
Hmm, that's a good idea actually for the Xp. Plus also for the adventure.. I never thought of it. *sweatdrop* I'm usually bending and turning to get one players character out of the adventure if the player isn't there. Until I bump into an keeping it IC wall.
I usually use the abscent player's character as an NPC when in the middle of an adventure (for one or two games only). If I know in advance that the player won't be present for a few games, then I exclude his character from the adventure. All absent players don't get any share of "the XP pool" at the end of the game (the XP pool being 1/4 of all xp earned by the group divided by shares, which are won by being present, good role-playing, good ideas and even massive-damage-dealing-critical-hits).
Ultradan
Hail Ultradan! Unfortunately for me, my group is a bit hard to control, and it is very hard for me to DM as it is, so NPCing anyone of the important characters is very hard for me. I can understand for a few games, but there's always the risk of the Player disliking what has happened to them.
Hail Ultradan! Unfortunately for me, my group is a bit hard to control, and it is very hard for me to DM as it is, so NPCing anyone of the important characters is very hard for me. I can understand for a few games, but there's always the risk of the Player disliking what has happened to them.
Ah, but get this...
When I say use the abscent player's character as an NPC, I mean the character is there, and is sort of under the other players' control, with me having the final word of course (wouldn't want the other players to use him as cannon fodder). I don't even bother to roll dice when he gets into a fight, I just assume he takes care of his part of buisness and "damage" him depending how the battle went...
If everybody got out without a scratch, so did he. If the group had a hard time and one member got killed, he might be under 10 hit points. If at least half the present PCs died in the fight, he dies too. And if the player doesn't like it, too damn bad, he should of been there!
This, in my experience, is the easiest way to handle abscent players. I've been playing like this for at least ten years and my players know what to expect when they miss a session.
Ultradan
I tend to run a few different games at a time, for exactly that reason. That way, if I know that players A and B frequently can't make it, we have another game to do on the days they're not available, and when they come back then we play the game everyone is in. That way you can accomodate the scheduals of your players and at the same time you have the opportunity to try out a few different settings without having to wait for a whole campaign to get finished before you try another.
Now it gets more complex if its not the same guys every time--but should work well if, as you mentioned, there's a couple of key people who are out at the same times. Personally our group is crazy. We have a guy who's only available every third Thurday, and a player who is usually only available Saturdays after 5--unless Saturday is a day off, and a player in choir who periodically has rehersals or performances, oh and another guy who lives an hour drive away who has trouble getting permission from his significant other to come down and so can usually only make it every third weekend or so. It gets pretty weird sometimes, but we have a game schedual for each. Crazy, but it works well for our group. At least we always have lots of games going!
Quite a few of my party members are missing from my campaign, and I was wondering how I should go about DMing my campaign without the most important characters?!
*I don't like to play without the others, because it takes more time in trying to explain where the absent ones were upon their return.
You just answered your own question. You don't.
First off, you have to decide from the get-go whether it's more important for you and the group to have consistant game times or to have everyone there. You ain't gonna get both. Pick one.
Once you pick one, stick with it and be willing to make the sacrifices it takes to stick with it. If the priority is eveyone there, then it means cancelled sessions and lots of time inbetween games. If the priority is consistent gaming, then it means GAME ON regardless of who shows up (the strip in the last Dragon of the kid DMing for his dolls comes to mind).
If the person with the military connection isn't there, then the players need to come up with another way to achieve the goal...
If the guy with the big bang artifact isn't there, then the group needs to figure out something else...
...and you need to be flexible in allowing those other options.
'Cause when your central players start to see that you mean business about going forward with or without them, and they start getting cut out of money, XPs, and the other players start learning they can fill in the hole just fine on their own... guess what? Those central players start getting more consistent in showing up. And if they don't, you still have a good group and a good game happening.
As for it taking a long time to explain an absence... no it doesn't. If you're committed to going forward whether all players are there or not, then your group needs to suspend disbelief and not demand realistic, plausable explanations for why they're popping in and out. PC was captured by a scout and took a while to escape. Got distracted by a bunny and wandered off.. took a while to find the group. Said "ohh! shiny!" when he saw a glint down the left corridor when everyone else when right. Brainwashed by the Zhentarim. Ran off to follow Ilmater but didn't like that whole "pain" thing. Transported to a pocket dimension by a bored wandering (raging?) fairy dragon while eveyone was asleep.
...lots of possibilities.