Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 CFK Apr 24, 2015 0:56:51	So, I'm running HotdQ with a total of 5 players, and currently there in the 1st quarter of episode 6, in the middle of the castle. But since 2 of the 5 players cancelled for the next session, i'm going to do a side quest instead of the normal adventure, so the other players don't have to miss out on mutch of the adventure. When all PC's are asleep, a cloud of smoke and "POOF", into a dream-stated-side-quest.   But how do you, my fellow DM's approach this. Do you scale down the adventure to make it fit the players that aren't there? Do you create a side quest? Do you have another trick up your robe?   In a city or plain it's easy, but what about in the middle of a dungeon or castle?   (I'm not looking for help, just like to know and discuss how you all approach this!)
#2 Coredump00 Apr 24, 2015 7:06:36	Every Home campaign I have been in... all PCs were always there.  If the *player* couldn't make it, then the PC was sort of on 'auto-pilot' for the session.  Sometimes the DM controlled the PC, sometimes another player, often kind of a 'group' endeavor.     For AL...it happens all of the time.  Its kind of annoying, but its the nature of the beast.  You just need to roll with it.
#3 Regin_Vargtass Apr 24, 2015 7:39:37	One suggestion is to play out a parallel one-shot story that has some connection to the main story. Prepare new characters beforehand and play away!
#4 Bloodscythe Apr 24, 2015 9:10:52	I'd likely just progress the story normally and have the other 2 PCs on auto-pilot since it's a combat heavy/roleplay light section of the adventure.  You might want to throw in extra random encounters or tweak the adventure slightly so that the missing people don't miss out on an "important" battle.  Maybe push that encounter until the next session by padding the session with other obstacles/encounters.   It's a bit strange to send them off on a side quest while already in the castle.  I wouldn't remove them from the castle necessarily... you could incorporate a hostage situation or a puzzle or other such distraction that keeps them from progressing too quickly through the main story until the other players can join at a later session, assuming they can attend the next session.
#5 CCS Apr 24, 2015 9:19:48	The game I'm currently running recently saw the party spend the night drinking & carousing with a tribe of sayters. Our Dragonborn sorcerer woke up the next AM holding a bottle of fine magical wine that says "Shake well before opening". This bottle is unbreakable, always full, & if shaken acts as a Wand of Wonder when unstopped. He LOVES using this this. Anyways, being a bottle full of chaos, another of its properties is that when a player can't make it to the game? Their character gets sucked inside & floats around in a bubble. Only being released when the player returns.
#6 Ranthalan Apr 24, 2015 9:55:09	This is something that should be determined at the start of the campaign.  Life happens and people will miss sessions.  My table's rules is Quorum are 60% and if a player misses a session, they designate who will control their character.  The story goes on as it normally would.
#7 EmpactWB Apr 24, 2015 13:10:19	The only time it has happened so far. In my current game, the missing character was taken by a bear spirit to gain his totem for his Barbarian 3 features, which he and I worked through in emails, and the spirit deposited him in a place where he wanted the PCs to converge to wipe out some pirates working for a big bad the PCs haven't encountered yet. It's working out pretty well for the adventure as a whole.
#8 Barky Apr 24, 2015 15:44:57	A few ideas:   -- I've reduced strenght of the encounters at times and rolled with it. -- I've rearranged the dungeon on the fly, swapping the next room full of monsters with a different room that's full of puzzles, traps, & clues and ran that part instead. Then run the monster-room when more players are at the table. -- I've run at full-strenght opponents, but telegraphed it so the handful of players would see they're outnumbered and try something else. This works well with my players because they seem to enjoy finding alternative ways to solve things. -- Consider keeping a few 2-4 player tabletop games in the house, and setting aside D&D for a night. NO MONOPOLY FOR  CHRISSAKES! :-)   Good luck.
#9 BRJN Apr 24, 2015 17:31:32	My HotDQ group is about to face something even more world-shattering than the Spellplague: the end of the school year ! Main DM will not be coming to town during the summer (lives in a small village just over the horizon from the big city) Backup DM is a barkeep and most people like to drink around dusk. Group has varied from 3 to 9 players, based on who has what going on in life / homework. Group may evaporate down to one PC (Wizard) plus a half-PC (Cleric / chauffeur / mom) plus me as DM.   Still thinking about how to handle RoT with a group, and as a solo adventure.
#10 Archon007 Apr 26, 2015 12:04:37	BRJN wrote:
#11 Ralif_Redhammer Apr 27, 2015 7:46:12	I pretty much quickly scale the next adventure as planned for whatever number of PCs show up. I used to worry about sidequests, but decided that that wasn’t fair to the players that showed up. I almost felt like I was punishing them for being dedicated attendees.    The characters pop in and out as the players attend. There are some jokes at the beginning of the session (“What the heck am I doing here?”), but it saves time having to either work in their introduction or having them sit things out until I can work them back in.
#12 CFK Apr 27, 2015 23:20:30	Ralif_Redhammer wrote:
#13 Rya.Reisender Apr 28, 2015 1:13:36	Inside a dungeon, I personally just progress the story normally. The characters of the unavailable characters are either on auto-pilot or played by me or the other players take them over for that session (as I play virtually, the others can always read up what happened when they are back).   If the current situation allows it, I might pop in a situational side-quest, which could be as simple as finding their wagon that is suddenly gone because they forgot to tie up the oxen.   If you really don't want the other players to miss out on something, I actually like the idea of making a side-story with different characters as mentioned earlier, even though I haven't done this myself yet.
#14 mrpopstar Apr 28, 2015 5:10:07	Coredump00 wrote:
#15 Barky Apr 30, 2015 2:37:26	I never control a player's character in their absence (unless it was already in control for in-game reasons like suggestion). I think it's bad manners and prone to trouble.   Just put them in "time out", run the session like they're not there.   Good players will adjust for the lack of party balance, you may have to nudge them with advice to help them out if they're new.   You also need to give them a chance to succeed with non-standard tactics when they're unbalanced.