
Spinkler |
So my group isn't very consistent, some people work shift work, some are young people with a love life, and I have a baby that needs babysitting which doesn't always work out and I'm wondering what the best way to handle the situation is.
I'm the groups major DM, and we're all very new to this. We've only been playing weekly sessions for about 7 or 8 weeks. I've had one of the other members DM for a couple of weeks while I played, and this felt really awkward to me. I don't want to come across like I'm having a power trip or anything, but I feel like I'm having the most success when I'm the only DM for this set of characters. I've got more experience playing table top RPGs than the rest of the guys, and even though this has been my first time as DM everyone seems to be having a great time and I feel like I'm quite natural at it even though I'm still coming to terms with a lot of the core/basic rules. The other DM ended up handing out overpowered items which have since been deleted (at the groups request), and allowed people to upgrade to prestige classes way too early due to not reading the rules/prerequisites properly and in general things got quite out of whack. Over the last few weeks as a group we've made an effort to reverse all these changes and things are finally back to normal.
I can't make it this week and they'll have him as DM again, but this time I won't even be there and I kind of feel it's my responsibility to keep everything on track for the most part. We've just started "Rise of the Runelords" after doing the beginner box quest and some custom quests prior, so the characters are already somewhat overpowered for the content we're doing, and balancing pre-designed encounters like Rise of the Runelords is proving difficult for me given my lack of experience.
I've suggested people roll alts to play with the other DM, so that each DM has explicit control over his story lines and the party involved but haven't heard what they think about this idea yet. They weren't impressed a few weeks ago when I suggested re-rolling new characters to start Rise of the Runelords with and everyone ended up using their original characters (which I was happy with in the end) anyway.
I'm hoping some experienced DMs can offer some pointers here. Should I just be happy with them using their characters wherever/whenever they want and just do my best dealing with the balancing act when I DM? How do other groups handle this kind of thing? I kind of feel it's my responsibility as DM to allow them to use whichever characters they have in my campaigns and I feel it should be my problem dealing with balance, but I just don't know how to yet.
Sorry for the rambling and lengthy post. If there's any points that I should elaborate on in order to get some clear feedback just let me know and I'll try to be concise. Thanks to you all. :)
edit: I should also mention that we're having trouble maintaining exactly the same group each week. Most weeks we have at least one player who can't make it, and I presume this is a common problem with tabletop RPGs... I'm wondering how other groups handle this as well, what with everyone's levels starting to vary quite considerably.

Humphrey Boggard |

+1 to Ioaba's post.
I would work with the other GM and produce one shots that fill in the backstory of the NPCs. Say a tavern keeper is a former adventurer - the PCs could play a one shot that describes that keeper and his friends banding together twenty years ago to save the town from a different threat. Changes in the alternate storyline propagate through to the setting of the AP in minor ways (e.g., a portrait of a fallen companion on the wall of the tavern).
You could use it as a great story telling device - a continuous plotline involving the adventure path broken up by poignant moments of a minor character's life which reinforce the them of the main story while allowing riskier elements (character deaths, failure in general).

Gallo |

In my group we have three people who can DM. The Kingmaker DM has created side quests for each character that he fits in throughout the AP. If the DM were away we could easily come up with a side quest to cover his absence.
It would not be too hard for one of your other group members who can DM to prepare similar side quests so that if you are away he can run the group through on of them. That way the core Runelords stuff only occurs when you are there but an absence does not mess the group around.

Spinkler |
Thanks for your replies, guys, some fantastic ideas. If they were to run a side quest in my absence what would be the best way to handle xp/items and not having the characters get too far ahead of the AP? Should I just allow this to happen and compensate by raising the CR for the encounters by adding more enemies?
I had an idea of maybe getting the other DM to play "prequel" stories that could really help them flesh out their characters backgrounds. This is the first time many of them have role played like this, so the back story isn't very strong and I thought this could help them. Again, though, I just don't know how to handle xp, or the items they already have... Obviously if their characters are playing in the "past" then they can't use items they haven't acquired yet...

Gallo |

We don't award XP, but rather the DM levels us up at appropriate points through the AP.
As far as treasure goes, at the end of each side quest there is a major piece of treasure for the relevant player but other than that no huge quantities so we don't get unbalanced.
You could set the major reward for each player but only reveal the details to the nominated DM.

![]() |

1)Make sure everybody knows gaming in a group asks for a certain commitment (of time). Sadly, it won't work otherwise. If somebody would rather shedule from day to day he won't be able to work within a group where other commitments (work, family etc.) make that impossible for some players.
2)Get a shift plan from those who work in shifts (and from other players with non-flexible shedules). Compare the plans, shedule the game around the possible dates as far ahead as possible.
If your group wants to game together, the other players will try (as far as possible) plan around those dates.
3)If the plan has too little gametime for your taste, look who could (or would) be playing on days 'blocked' by players workshifts. Make different characters for short games (pathfinder society scenarios, different RPGs, Boardgames etc.)
You will still get the occasional 'downtime' due to unforseen circumstances, but you should be able to get a consistent group together.

WeirdGM66 |

For starters I think that feytharn has a few good suggestions, I am currently running a game with 4 players plus my self and we try and run every sunday at a set time, to accomadate all of our schedules. We do miss a few weeks from time to time, but we do try to play on a reguler basis.
When writing any adventures I try not to make them require any paticuler charater or write in alternate ways to find the same clues/ items/ facts/ etc. Understand I rarely use pre made adventures for my games as it tends to need almost as much work for me as writing one from the start.

Kydeem de'Morcaine |

When you game with grown ups no-shows are common. They happen all the time in my group and I am the biggest problem with that. Sometimes I just have to work late and there is no way around it. Or I had to work late the last 3 nights and am just too darn tired to be pleasant gaming company. Similar things happen with the others though not as often.
They key unwritten rule is to let people know as soon as possible. If I findout I will be working late, I send a text to the host so they don't wait on me.
The way we handle it in game is to just put that character on hold and he contibutes nothing except necessary skills. Ex: my char is a wizard the only full caster in the group. So if I can't make it, the wiz is assumed to be following the group but doesn't contribute unless his skills are absolutely needed. If the group has to have a detect magic, item identified, or dispel magic cast; they assume the wiz did it but he doesn't contribute to (or get xps for) fights or social encounters. When the player running the rogue can't make it, the rogue is sort of half there. He isn't scouting or backstabing, but if we need a lock picked we roll that for his skill check. It helps if people will leave readable character sheets at the hosts house so others can look something up.
This works pretty well for us.
As far as the other GM is concerned. If he never gets a chance to practice, he will never get better. Let him try sometimes and tell him what went well. Don't put him down over the mistakes, he probably realizes them as well.

![]() |

With that level of inconsistency, I'd say go PFS. It's the only way I can game regularly these days; it is made to handle the "life happens" stuff of adulthood. People can continually rotate GMs, and those that make it the most often can "slow track" (take half XP-gold) so as not to get too far ahead.