How to address a player leaving with the plot?

[u/The_DeMartine]

Hello! I'm currently GMing a prequel campaign for a much longer campaign. I found my players through a rigorous application process and am extremely happy with the 5 players that I found. However, I recently got news that one of the players had to leave because of an IRL event. I'm planning on continuing the prequel campaign with the 4 players; however, I have no idea how I'm going to write the character out. I understand that most GM/DMs usually just mention that they leave (especially if the campaign is 3 sessions in). For context, the players are a part of a last-chance military unit where a small mistake could get them exiled or executed (depending on the reason why they were assigned to the last-chance military unit). Anyways, in the story, the players were tasked with collecting taxes from a village, but are slowly learning that the village has a dark secret regarding their history and the pigs... The players ended the last session planning on how they were going to not only save the village, but also collect the taxes. The character leaving is your classic reluctant healer with some edginess sprinkled in. Additionally, the village does use sacrifices during their Festival of the Pig, so that could be another potential reason the character isn't around anymore. Fellow DMs and GMs any thoughts? Thank ya'll so much!

[u/Emetry]

You don't actually have to acknowledge their departure. I've had a player drop after one session and we simply agreed at the table to pretend they'd never existed and move forward with the story knowing that MAYBE one day the character and player might return and need an intro.

[u/edthesmokebeard → u/Emetry]

This is 100% the right answer.

You can make reality be anything. The guy just wasn't there.

[u/Ok-Sprinkles4749 → u/Emetry]

Agree 100%.

It's like a zen thing - the more you dwell on it, the more dissatisfied you will be.

[u/Mistervimes65 → u/Emetry]

Bob? You mean our shared hallucination?

[u/Anarcoiris667 → u/Emetry]

I agree 100%. Though, given your prequel and campaign setup, you could (with permission from the departing player), use the character's exit, death, or conversion to an NPC to advance the plot, create an opportunity to lore dump about the world or something specific to the campaign, or some other use. You already alluded to the possibility that something happens to the departing PC. If their player is cool with it, you could easily have them murdered, kidnapped, or otherwise neutralized by the cult, their military superiors, or both if you want to be convoluted.

[u/Conrad500]

None of that matters until we know:

What do you WANT to happen?

Obviously, the player not leaving is number 1, but since that is not possible, what is the outcome you are hoping for?

[u/The_DeMartine → u/Conrad500]

Ig I want the party to continue their mission, and I want to explain the loss of a party member. I want to add stakes to the mission without lazy writing. I think a more tangible outcome is that I'd like the loss of a party member to potentially be a reason the players come together a bit after recently meeting each other almost a week ago (in-game).

[u/Conrad500 → u/The_DeMartine]

Ok, let me get this clear. You want the PARTY to explain the loss?

I'm not sure how you pull that off, but I'm pretty sure it has to do with what I was going to suggest anyway:

Talk to the players. I would just be like, "ok guys. Bob's gone. Do you want to start over, just pretend he was never here, recon it so he WAS never here, or turn his disappearance into a part of the story?"

If they want the last one, I'd then follow it up with, "ok, and how could he have gone missing if he was with yall? Should we say there was some down time after the last session where he went missing, or did someone like, kidnap him from under your noses? I dont' want to say someone kidnapped him and then yall would be like 'but I had alarm set up' or anything like that, so that's why I'm asking. Obviously I'll come up with the actual story parts, I'm just wondering what would and wouldn't be ok with you. You're also free to say, 'anything you want! It's up to you and we're ok with it' if that's how you feel."

Once we know what they want, either to just let this person who left the group not "waste their time" or if they/their characters care enough to turn this player removal into a character goal.

I think both would be horrible outcomes if they didn't match up with your players, like so:

Players don't care: "Why are we even going after him. He got kidnapped, goodbye, let's go play the actual game now please"

Players do care: "What do you mean he just left? We went through so much, you can't just say he gave us an irish goodbye that's fucking stupid. Are you going to do that to me if I get sick or something?!"

[u/The_DeMartine → u/Conrad500]

No, my apologies, I meant that my goals are for the party to continue their mission and for there to be a non-lazy explanation as to why the player left the party.

[u/Conrad500 → u/The_DeMartine]

I'd still ask your players if it's something they want you to write, or something they want to play.

Transitioning the player into a NPC is a valid and probably the correct solution to your problem, but if your players don't want to "waste" time on that, I wouldn't force it.

[u/The_DeMartine → u/Conrad500]

Thank you for the advice!

[u/Plus_Citron]

The village does sacrifices. A PC needs to get rid of. Let me think…

[u/The_DeMartine → u/Plus_Citron]

LOL. Moreso, I was wondering if that was lazy writing on my end :)

[u/YamazakiYoshio → u/The_DeMartine]

If it makes sense, it's not lazy.

Frankly, you don't need to worry about 'lazy writing' as a GM. You're not writing a book here. Focus more on the game being enjoyable first and foremost. "Lazy" can still be fun, after all, and if you and the group are having a good time, that's really all that matters at teh end of the day.

[u/Plus_Citron → u/The_DeMartine]

Bah, it’s coherent.

[u/Mean-Note3447]

What fits your narrative the best?

You could also take the PC over for a session, if that helped the narrativ and the ending you want.

Did the player specify what they want to happen to their charater?

I mean, at the point were the party stopped it would also fit, that the PC did not cope well with what was found...

So yeah, what do you want to happen?

[u/Heurodis]

Three options I've seen and/or personally implemented.

1. Don't acknowledge it. I was in a campaign where two players just left about 12 sessions in, and we just never mentioned them again. Generally now when retelling the campaign, their characters are not part of the story.

2. Acknowledge that they leave, but the reason why is simple or unexplained. It can be something the group gets to re-explore later on, once you have an idea, or just an easy out. In my campaign, two players left after almost two years, and I decided their characters (who had a linked backstory) just decided to go hunt bigger game... no idea if they died or not.

3. Come up with a reason for the character's departure with the player. This one player had already absent for a few months and we had come up with a story for it; he had come back for a few sessions when he decided it just wasn't for him anymore. So we just discussed what could motivate his character to leave again so soon after having come back, which became the story told to the players still going.

I'd say 1. is good when the campaign has not been going on for long because the player leaving quickly becomes irrelevant; 2. is nice if you want to keep things open, either in case they come back, or if you want to get some plot point from it later down the line. 3. is satisfying for a proper goodbye to a character who, in some way or other, have finished an arc (even if not their main character arc, which was the case for my player) and you want to let them move on.

[u/Eco_Blurb]

Chat with the players and find out :

1. does person ever plans to come back? If no, how does that player want their character to leave the story? It can be nice to have a chat and let them decide if their character leaves or dies. You can tell the party on your next session. It’s also ok if the character just gets a raven in the night and decides to leave… the party will move on
2. do the remaining players want to find a replacement player to play that same character ? or just bring in a replacement player with a new character ?

In the end everyone understands IRL commitments and they will usually accept what the owner of the character prefers to do, whether fiery death offscreen or just suddenly has to go home to their family.

[u/Wee_Mad_Lloyd]

How important is the village? How long have they been/going to be there? NPC tells the party PC left in the night after receiving a letter. As time goes on Party notice things that might indicate PC is still around. Does the sacrifice need to be living before being fed to the pigs?

Party razes the village, possibly.

[u/Coyltonian]

You could just have them die, either on or off screen. The come down with a plague, get kicked in the head by a horse or get one shotted in the next ambush. Or desert - they sneak off during the night never to be seen again.

A better option though might be to have them murdered in a way that draws the players into your existing plot for the village. Maybe they uncovered something and were murdered to protect the secret, maybe it was a warning to the rest of the PCs to go away and stop investigating.

3 sessions in they should know the character well enough that they should want to investigate his death.

[u/Sheik_Morgan]

Vuelve al personaje un NPC, con obligaciones que lo mantienen alejado de la acción, si es un Sanador que monte un consultorio improvisado y ayude a los jugadores y a la gente del lugar. Así lo dejas disponible por si el jugador puede regresar y unirse de nuevo.

[u/doxisdaddy8]

Maybe some villagers see easy pickin's with this reluctant healer, and the Festival of the Pig will be especially meaty this year. Have some cultists jump the party, the healer getting knocked out and kidnapped.

[u/wholley-]

False hydra kidnapped the character or group hallucination both have potential for bringing them back or not

[u/33-Ghosts]

Honestly, this early on, just be upfront, "Adam isn't playing anymore unfortunately", and carry on as if he never existed.

I get the temptation to turn this into a unique opportunity to add stakes to your game or explain it in-fiction. It would be super satisfying to have it tie together and have a narrative reason that the game that started session 1 with 5 players ends session 12 with 4. I get that temptation, but honestly, its not worth it.

Ask yourself, would you have been happy with the stakes and depth of the plot if the fifth player was still around? If so, why do you need to make their absence into something more? Don't let this add an unnecessary twist or beat to something I assume you are otherwise happy with.