The ultimate BBEG for any tabletop RPG is the calendar. And judging by the vast gallery of memes about this topic, that villain is nigh unbeatable. Whether our schedules are hard to align or players have important things that come up or someone in your group is just flakey, every DM has to deal with some level of absenteeism. It’s always a little bit disruptive, and sometimes it can outright kill your campaign … How do you handle it?
We all deal with this. Every game Thorin, Tony and Dave run sees players occasionally have to miss a session. We deal with it in a variety of ways, from rescheduling to running without them (there’s a ranger in The Woodstock Wanderers who hasn’t been seen since she ran off to “study dinosaurs”).
Although no one likes having players miss a game, we have ways we approach the issue and keep things moving along. In this episode, we reveal all our best advice for overcoming attendance and scheduling conflicts, including our one killer tip for getting players to commit to the next session.
2:00 A gaming club with a problem: How do players missing games impact your campaign?
10:00 Should there be a penalty for missing games? Do they still get XP? Treasure? Magic items?
17:00 The politics of players missing games – are the other players OK with it?
19:00 Information management: How do you keep a player engaged in the story and lore if they’re missing half the content?
26:00 Flexibility and FOMO: Different ways to approach players missing games
32:00 The Cannon Ball Run Gambit
35:00 Adjusting your game for lower session frequency
39:00 And now for something completely different: Try a new campaign or game with the players you have
43:00 Are you playing too often? Adjusting frequency and session length for the players you have
48:00 Why you should keep the tone lighter if players are missing or you’re playing less frequently
52:00 TTRPG scheduling tips: Our one big tip for getting the group to commit to the next session
57:00 Final thoughts
I like to think that alien overlords will be kind to us when they overthrow our governments and civilizations but keep all the fast food restaurants busy.