When I write as a GM, I incorporate all of my players into the story and evolve the narrative around their characters’ backgrounds, actions, etc. So, when a player doesn’t show up regularly, it has a tendency to disrupt or even halt the game’s progress. The smaller the group, the more serious this issue becomes. I’ve had gaming groups implode over this.

So what sorts of rules or understandings does your group have in place to offset the void left when a player doesn’t show up to the game? Does the absent player become an NPC under the GM’s control? Do you just ignore the fact that the PC carrying the magical Orb of Whatsit is off on holiday when the king demands the Orb to save the kingdom?

Obviously, we all have real-life stuff that crops up from time to time that can prevent us from playing, but if I can commit to writing and running the game each week (barring life’s little emergencies), I don’t feel I’m being unfair to expect the same from my players.

So, GMs…what are your thoughts?

When I write as a GM, I incorporate all of my players into the story and evolve the narrative around their characters’ backgrounds, actions, etc. So, when a player doesn’t show up regularly, it has a tendency to disrupt or even halt the game’s progress. The smaller the group, the more serious this issue becomes. I’ve had gaming groups implode over this.

So what sorts of rules or understandings does your group have in place to offset the void left when a player doesn’t show up to the game? Does the absent player become an NPC under the GM’s control? Do you just ignore the fact that the PC carrying the magical Orb of Whatsit is off on holiday when the king demands the Orb to save the kingdom?

Obviously, we all have real-life stuff that crops up from time to time that can prevent us from playing, but if I can commit to writing and running the game each week (barring life’s little emergencies), I don’t feel I’m being unfair to expect the same from my players.

So, GMs…what are your thoughts?

When I write as a GM, I incorporate all of my players into the story and evolve the narrative around their characters’ backgrounds, actions, etc. So, when a player doesn’t show up regularly, it has a tendency to disrupt or even halt the game’s progress. The smaller the group, the more serious this issue becomes. I’ve had gaming groups implode over this.

So what sorts of rules or understandings does your group have in place to offset the void left when a player doesn’t show up to the game? Does the absent player become an NPC under the GM’s control? Do you just ignore the fact that the PC carrying the magical Orb of Whatsit is off on holiday when the king demands the Orb to save the kingdom?

Obviously, we all have real-life stuff that crops up from time to time that can prevent us from playing, but if I can commit to writing and running the game each week (barring life’s little emergencies), I don’t feel I’m being unfair to expect the same from my players.

So, GMs…what are your thoughts?

When I write as a GM, I incorporate all of my players into the story and evolve the narrative around their characters’ backgrounds, actions, etc. So, when a player doesn’t show up regularly, it has a tendency to disrupt or even halt the game’s progress. The smaller the group, the more serious this issue becomes. I’ve had gaming groups implode over this.

So what sorts of rules or understandings does your group have in place to offset the void left when a player doesn’t show up to the game? Does the absent player become an NPC under the GM’s control? Do you just ignore the fact that the PC carrying the magical Orb of Whatsit is off on holiday when the king demands the Orb to save the kingdom?

Obviously, we all have real-life stuff that crops up from time to time that can prevent us from playing, but if I can commit to writing and running the game each week (barring life’s little emergencies), I don’t feel I’m being unfair to expect the same from my players.

So, GMs…what are your thoughts?

In session 0 we set a quorum. “We play if there are at least 2 of 4 players here,” for example.

During a session, if some players don’t make it, we’ll decide on the spot what to do. This is typically either “They take care of some of their own business” or “we play them by committee”. Rarely, it’s “the GM plays them.”

In a recent game of mine, one of the PCs bailed. His character backstory said he owned a small business, and since the session started in a low tension scene, we said he had to go take care of that.

In a game where we picked up in the middle of a fight, we decided to play the wizard by committee. It was a little slower than normal, but it worked. After the fight was over, they didn’t do much other than a few committee approved skill checks. I wouldn’t typically make big story decisions or put the character in serious danger when the player was absent.

It’s also important to set attendance rules. Are you okay with people showing up whenever? Or do you want to set an expectation that people will be there every week barring emergencies? Those are two different, valid, modes. For a game that’s trying to have an arc, and not just monster of the week or a dungeon crawl, having players frequently missing can be disruptive. I typically bring that up in session 0, and say that if someone repeatedly misses sessions it might not be the game for them at this time.

In my most recent game, we started joking about all of the players inadvertently having come under a curse where they randomly become cardboard cutouts of themselves. It’s created some really funny moments – “Oh! It’s raining! Kolton is going to get wet!” Or opens the trunk “holy hells! I forgot Laios was folded up back here. Hey buddy, don’t mind these potions.” Closes the trunk

But in other games, yeah, we don’t usually name where the player has gone. It’s just a moment of them being sorta there but quiet.

When I write as a GM, I incorporate all of my players into the story and evolve the narrative around their characters’ backgrounds, actions, etc. So, when a player doesn’t show up regularly, it has a tendency to disrupt or even halt the game’s progress. The smaller the group, the more serious this issue becomes. I’ve had gaming groups implode over this.

So what sorts of rules or understandings does your group have in place to offset the void left when a player doesn’t show up to the game? Does the absent player become an NPC under the GM’s control? Do you just ignore the fact that the PC carrying the magical Orb of Whatsit is off on holiday when the king demands the Orb to save the kingdom?

Obviously, we all have real-life stuff that crops up from time to time that can prevent us from playing, but if I can commit to writing and running the game each week (barring life’s little emergencies), I don’t feel I’m being unfair to expect the same from my players.

So, GMs…what are your thoughts?

I am new to running a group but generally i’ve picked up a couple things:

• One is having a loose schedule, and just scheduling games for days when everyone agrees that they can make it. Don’t try to force a weekly schedule or whatever. I’m sure that works for some groups of dedicated nerds, but for most of us this is just one hobby in an array of other hobbies and interests. Better to treat it like a rolling game night, than to treat it like weekly band practice.
• The other is dividing your crew into “core cast” and “guest roles”. Some players are just more flaky or less dedicated than others. Your “guest roles” need to have a good narrative reason why they are in-and-out. I think i’m having an easier time with this because my game is Blades in the Dark, where the party is a gang of scoundrels. Scores usually start and end within a single session, so it is easy to write around a scoundrel or two that is only available for some missions. When they are gone, they are off on other solo missions, or they are indulging their vice or whatever. I understand that this is more challenging if you are playing an RPG with multi-session dungeon crawls. Maybe the character chose to take an alternate route through the dungeon, or they were knocked out or something?

Do you just ignore the fact that the PC carrying the magical Orb of Whatsit is off on holiday when the king demands the Orb to save the kingdom?

I think a key part of this is not giving key items to guest role characters.

Respectfully, the “just schedule it when people are good” is the quickest way to a game dissolving because no one’s times work for anyone else. If it’s managed to work for you, incredible, you are very lucky, but that’s such bad general group advice. The key to groups staying together long term is picking a day and being consistent with it.

These days we have been going by the rule:

• If you are here you have always been here
• If you are not here you have never existed

The people I play with are far too inconsistent and we have to take what we can get. Complicating things too much is just another barrier that we don’t need. We do have a decent sized group with a couple of reliable players, so this is probably easier to do with this group than with a smaller one.

Note: We are all pushing 50 and are pretty busy with work and family, which is a big contribution to the flakiness.

When I write as a GM, I incorporate all of my players into the story and evolve the narrative around their characters’ backgrounds, actions, etc. So, when a player doesn’t show up regularly, it has a tendency to disrupt or even halt the game’s progress. The smaller the group, the more serious this issue becomes. I’ve had gaming groups implode over this.

So what sorts of rules or understandings does your group have in place to offset the void left when a player doesn’t show up to the game? Does the absent player become an NPC under the GM’s control? Do you just ignore the fact that the PC carrying the magical Orb of Whatsit is off on holiday when the king demands the Orb to save the kingdom?

Obviously, we all have real-life stuff that crops up from time to time that can prevent us from playing, but if I can commit to writing and running the game each week (barring life’s little emergencies), I don’t feel I’m being unfair to expect the same from my players.

So, GMs…what are your thoughts?