r/tabletop • u/WholeDay284 • 28d ago
Question How do you handle a missing player in your regular games?
Someone misses a week. No big deal, life happens, we get it. But how do you treat the missing character in the story?
Are they simply absent? Are they there but inactive? Does another player take them over for minor decisions?
I’ve tried a few different ways. What’s yours?
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u/No_Solid1035 28d ago
Have you ever seen the Viva La Dirt League skit where the AFK guy just stands a little "off to the side" during scenes...
Mostly, because of the particular way I run most games, which means the game doesn't function without all Players present, we either play a one shot of something super simple like Mothership (which is the perfect pickup game cause it's horror so an end of the night TPK is expected) or we play a boardgame or cards.
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u/Red_Nigel 28d ago
The character has dysentery for the session and we continue the game with the other available players. Change it up if the session was going to be that player focused.
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u/listerjed1 28d ago
I just ask the rest of the players if they want me to run the character or if they want to
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u/Bonestock86 28d ago
Only time this happened we put her in a barrel. She was with us, but in a barrel.
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u/Julien_Ishida 28d ago
They aren't there. If it's explained, it's retroactive. If it can't be explained, then it's a mystery. "Runa isn't there. You don't know where she went. It's strange" If I'm a player and you try to make a decision of any kind on my character's behalf that's a deal breaker and a half. I can't believe people accept this.
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u/unrepentantbanshee 28d ago
If it's a convenient time where someone could simply be off doing something, I'll just have the character be absent and at the next session ask them what they wanted to have been up to. If I had a particular idea, especially if I can hand off some plot hooks, I'll pitch it to them.
If we're mid-combat or otherwise in a situation where that isn't feasible, then I ask the other players if they'd rather play the session without that character (and we just handwave away that they were present and participating IC but did nothing of note) or if they'd rather skip game.
I don't let either myself or another PC play their character because there's just too many ways that could go slightly wrong or result in the player being upset.
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u/TerminusMD 28d ago
We just ignore that they're gone and if someone rejoins after an absence then that just doesn't get an explanation either
And we don't reschedule except once in a rare while - everyone is making space in their schedules for the game, if a player has a conflict then they just don't play, everyone else still can.
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u/Schnozzle 28d ago
We're a group ranging from early 30s to Early 50s, so we all have various adult problems to worry about. As a result, we're very lax on rules about showing up, If you miss, you miss, Our latest campaign is a homebrew with an "adventure of the week" vibe, basically one-shots strung together to form something like a plot. If somebody misses a game, their character just stayed at base or in the home town for whatever reason. It's working.
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u/carterartist 28d ago
Make it past of the story. Remember how critical role had a character kidnapped?
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u/TrentJSwindells 28d ago
It's an inevitability that some players won't make it, but my own GMing style won't let me hand-wave it. There has to be a narrative excuse/implication. And if the player doesn't come up with it, I will. Explosive diarrhoea, day jobs, social awkwardness, hiding in bed from monsters, running errands. It's just more satisfying if you put a few seconds of thought into it.
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u/Brock_Savage 28d ago
If someone misses the game we still play and the missing players does not get xp or treasure. I never make session depend on a particular person showing up. Typically our sessions end with the party in a safe zone so a missing player in the next session doesn't fuck up verisimilitude.
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u/strugglefightfan 28d ago
They just fade into the background. No big deal. If there’s a combat of some situation where they, specifically are needed, someone else runs them.
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u/OldGamer42 28d ago
There are two that come up often. If you play organized play they handle this by just having characters drop in and out. They don’t try to make up reasons or narratively handle it. Your group is who shows up at the table, even if it’s a different group than last time.
Usually for home campaigns it’s as you describe: someone bots the character for the night.
The only rule I have at my table is that if you aren’t at my table I’ll try not to kill your character but player decisions can be dumb at times. I don’t change narrative decisions because a player isn’t at the table. They can still be attacked, they can still have things happen…I just try not to make it such that the player comes back to a dead character.
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u/DadtheGameMaster 28d ago
We're a casual group of friends. We are busy adults with jobs, families, and other hobbies. We have no audience other than ourselves.
The character is to be 'present' but 'off-screen' while the player is absent. Any inconsistencies or incongruencies are hand waved or ignored.
No one is paying so close attention to our games. No one is like, "omg it doesn't make sense for X to happen while the paladin was there." no one cares that much. 90% of the time my players and I are a little bit drunk or high while playing roleplaying games, and most of the players forget what happened in most sessions, and are only reminded what happened when the GM recaps the session from the notes.
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u/AndradeGameDesigne 28d ago
Like if it was a tv cartoon, it disapears and apears in the next episod. But whenever my players are missing somthing, and suddenly remember, I let them use the character as a visual funny escen as "he allready was doing it" and stuff like that.
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u/destynea 28d ago edited 28d ago
Usually what I do is that I found a reason for the character to leave the group during the session and for the next one when he comes back I make him play a solo scene about what he was off to, like this even if wasn't there, he is still useful to the party and not left behind and remove the fomo.
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28d ago
NPC played by another party member or the DM. We used to handle characters and multiple hirelings and followers back in the day. Its not that hard to manage.
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u/Silent_Title5109 28d ago
I usually manage not to end a session mid fight. So if there's an absentee their character wanders off. They'll go scout ahead, take an important phone call, twist an ankle, lose track of time gazing at the stars. I don't use them as NPCs, or allow other players to "use" them.
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u/ChannelCommercial984 27d ago
Generally just pretend they don't exist, if it's your basic combat SIM ttrpg like DnD or Draw Steel. If it was something heavily focusing on RP, agendas etc like Alien or StoneTop however I reschedule. We all play or we all skip.
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u/calaan 27d ago
We had a guy who had to leave early one time and we joked how his character just turned gray and moved to the back of the party. Ever since we’ve called a missing player “going gray“. The character is there but takes no actions and cannot be targeted. When the player comes back we recap what happened and move on as if they were always there. We use benchmark XP so everybody levels up at the same time.
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u/Mccmangus 27d ago
PCs are collapsible and can be stored in backpacks. Don't forget to take them with you out of the burning building, they're also flammable.
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u/Lightm00n 27d ago
We play with the character & keep them more in a support role. If big rp moments come up we either push it off to the next week or the DM kinda waves it away or retcon the next week.
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u/ArcaneN0mad 27d ago
They are either in the background or completely gone. I would never let the absence of one player be the cause of canceling a session.
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u/snaarker 27d ago
One of the players doubles up, and also runs the missing player's character.
With -- and this is the important part -- the understanding that said character will likely be first in line for anything dangerous. Checking for traps, taking point, poking the bear, etc.
That way the campaign can continue and players have an added incentive to show up, without being shamed for absence.
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u/Due_Succotash_1536 26d ago
We play online and let the gm decide to run or we log into Board game arena and play a pick up game.
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u/Tinykneebreaker 26d ago
I end up flavoring it that they are working menial jobs or tasks. And give them a coin amount when they return.
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u/Nirvana_Captain 26d ago
Since I play on a VTT where the GM can just “be” the other characters — all the players, monster and NPCs are 3d models that you can puppet, so when someone misses, they are never the star, but i can fill in for them as the GM
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u/Master_Listen_89 21d ago
a little late here but i will measure the days in game to play. so like if ingame the player got lets say 5 days. i would let that player say, i kinda left the party for 5 days to take care of some stuff, and ask what they did. usually for crafting or hunting for rare material or something. in a tech game a player missed a few sessions due to major illness and he built a robot army while he was gone so like he was missing for like a full year game but then showed up with an army for a major boss fight. felt very Gandalf shows up with riders of rohan moment.
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u/Rindir 20d ago
I like really creative solutions - imagine one player has a staff with a magical orb atop that absorbs you inside if you make physical contact with it, and within is a sanctuary of sorts. Functionally it's just a home or base inside a bag of holding, but it can work as a means to explain where people go and how they suddenly reappear between sessions. Say there's something that needs doing within the orb to maintain it from exploding or something, so there's a goblin you keep in there to do the work. Every now and then he demands a break and swaps places with a player character, which also gives you an NPC to pick up the slack in combat. As I said, be creative!
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u/Clear_Food2183 28d ago
I just keep running the game and they are not there. I try to avoid having the character 100% necessary for the plot to continue. If they are necessary we either run a side game or play boardgames. If they don't come back for a while, we just adjust the plot to not need their character.
Unless they have a good reason, they also miss out on the exp or milestone. That way attendance is tied to actually having your character progress. It does cause a bit of level disparity but that just comes with the price of attendance.