What to do on a PFS Module

[qwerty1971]

So I have a low level module going on PbP. Five players started the module in mid October and progressed to Part Three in the module. Three players are still active and trying, however the other two players have not posted since November 6th and November 10th respectively. I have PM'd them and no response yet. I do realize RL takes priority but they just dropped with no explanation.

What is the recommended process to drop them and add new players?
Will the new players still receive credit for the module via PFS if they enter in Part Three?
The intent was to create an active PFS team to run through a module progression.
Many thanks.

[DM Papa.DRB]

I have flagged this to be moved to the Pathfinder Society forums. PFS has its own rules for credit for a module, etc. and can best be answered by the folks over there.

If this was a non-PFS game, you should just update the recruitment thread and ask for two new players of the type of class(es) you need and go from there.

-- david

[GM Lamplighter]

Yeah, this is why I only run single scenarios in PbP, and even then you get people dropping.

If a player "leaves the table", you issue them the Chronicle at that point, missing whatever they didn't participate in. The rest of the table continues on, just as if those PCs had died. Yep, it gets harder for them, but they can continue if they want.

[The Masked Ferret]

Also, if 3 players are all that is left, you could give them a Pre-gen to run, and the table would still be legal.

[The Fox]

Ask the other three players what they want. If they want to continue on, they should be allowed to. If they feel they can't continue without help, it might be hard to find players to play only the end of a module. Add a Pregen character to help them out instead.

Edit: I am getting ninja'd on all of my posts today by The Masked Ferret.

[GM Lamplighter]

I don't think you can add PCs (or NPCs) to replace those who have left/died, just like you don't adjust APL once the game is going. Unfortunately, this happens a lot more in PbP, and it would be nice to ahve an actual ruling on how to handle it that doesn't penalize the players who stick it out.

[The Fox]

I've had two F2F games where players left after the first encounter with only 3 players remaining. In both cases, I added the Pregen that most closely resembled the character who left. If I'm faced with such a situation again, I would do the same. There is no reason that the three people that stuck around should need to play on Hard Mode just because some other person has a curfew.

If there's four or five players left, yeah let them keep on keeping on.

At that particular location, we are not allowed to tell any players that they may not play under any circumstances. But we have a couple players who come every week and need to leave after an hour or two, every week. The only way we've seen to deal with this issue is to let them start the scenario, then replace them with Pregens when they leave.

[grandpoobah]

Page 31 of the PSRGG provides for players missing sessions during a module (or adventure path). I think the OP can add new players for the final third of the module/AP (but not for a normal 4-5 hour scenario). The GM should issue partial credit (either 1/3 or 2/3) to the players that dropped, and 1/3 credit for any new players that join.

Relevant Text::

Players who do not complete each game session earn 1/3
fewer gold pieces, 1 less XP and 1 less Prestige Point for
each session missed. This also applies to players who join
later sessions ; they receive 1/3 fewer gold pieces, 1 fewer
XP and Prestige Point for each session missed. In both
cases, players earn a minimum of 1/3 gold pieces, 1 XP and
1 Prestige Point. If a character earns more XP than she
needs to reach her next level, she may not choose to switch
advancement tracks at the new level earned.

bolded text emphasis mine.

[Zin Z'arin]

The Fox wrote:

At that particular location, we are not allowed to tell any players that they may not play under any circumstances. But we have a couple players who come every week and need to leave after an hour or two, every week. The only way we've seen to deal with this issue is to let them start the scenario, then replace them with Pregens when they leave.

I hope you've been issuing them 0 xp chronicle sheets for their efforts. You may not be able to ban them from play, but they're certainly not sticking around long enough to earn credit for the scenarios either.

[roll4initiative]

Uhh. This thread is 6 years old. I'm sure they got it figured out.

[Hilary Moon Murphy]

Yep, we learned a lot as a region since then. The PBP VOs are really good about finding replacement players (or GMs) and sorting out questions exactly like these.

Hmm