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Post by dmwishidbeen on Oct 23, 2017 17:46:01 GMT
Im wondering if i can get some suggestions on an issue that came up with my game i am running, We have been playing for about 10 sessions now and one of our players quit his job and started another one that conflicts with out game time, we normally run on mondays from 6ish-10ish depending on how everything goes. We chose that because of my work being oncall untill late every other day. The new job the player is starting he is being stubborn about being he is leaving at 9 no matter what wherever we are. 2 of the other players have no issue with cutting him out because of it and they still want to enjoy it and not be dictated on when it ends by them.
Question 1 is what would be the best way to bring it up to them about phasing their character out.
Question 2 their group consists of a ranger (archery) rouge, wizard and druid(moon). The player who is running the druid is there "tank" and phasing them out might be difficult with their set up, not a huge fan of throwing in a DMPC as i dont want to take anything away from them. Any thoughts on how i could balance their group?
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Post by James on Oct 26, 2017 1:37:04 GMT
First, I'm assuming scheduling your games to end at 9 is not a viable option for reasons other than 2 other players not wanting to be dictated to. Do you need to have a 4-hour block to keep the other players interested? I've found even 3-hour blocks can be fairly productive gaming sessions. Can you bump the schedule up an hour?
If you want or need to move forward with dismissing him, try looking up advice on how to end a relationship. The gist of what you'll find is you ought to be direct and honest. Don't beat around the bush or sugarcoat things, but don't be brutal about it either. There's probably going to be some hurt feelings no matter how tactfully you approach it, so be prepared for that. If the person lashes out, understand it's probably coming from a hurt place.
If this will leave you with only 2 players as your post implies, I think your best option is to recruit another, hopefully one willing to take on the tank role. Failing that, here are some other options:
a) If the players can handle it, let them run multiple PCs. I've done this in 2-person one shots, where each player controlled a "talker" and a "quiet type." b) Rangers can be tanky. Ask the player if he's willing to take on that role, and if he is, provide him the tools necessary to fill it. This could either mean a respec to choose appropriate class features or granting him magic items to shore up his defensive attributes. c) DMPCs are much maligned, but their presence can be enjoyable (or at least tolerated) when handled correctly. There's an entire episode here dedicated to the topic, and I'm pretty sure there's more than one thread that touches on it. The big thing is to avoid stealing the spotlight from the PCs. A mute fighter with a defensive build could fill the vacancy without being intrusive. d) Redesign encounters to account for the lack of a tank. An example would be monsters that use primarily ranged attacks in terrain that favors PCs for acquiring cover. That said, 5e isn't as dependent on "combat roles" as previous editions. Players may need to adjust their approach to combat regardless, e.g. the wizard might want to consider creature conjuring spells to grant the rogue sneak attack.
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Post by clark on Oct 26, 2017 15:25:32 GMT
1 — I think just a simple, frank conversation should do it. Just say that staying until 9 just isn't enough for the game you want to run, that you're sorry schedules didn't work out, and then offer to open up a dialogue on a satisfactory exit for his character. If he gets upset, that's a different issue. But let's assume he understands, then just have a nice play session next time that honors the time you've all spent together.
2 — I think part of that should be up to your remaining PCs on how they want to solve that problem. Trust the ingenuity of your players and you might not have to solve it for them. They might enjoy a new challenge in making their different composition work.
I know you're nervous about getting an DMNPC, and it sounds like the reason is you don't want to overshadow them. I think it's pretty easy to avoid that. You could just choose not to level them up. Or level up only HP and not stats/features/etc. There's lots of ways to keep them from taking the spotlight in combat.
If your players aren't changing their tactics or aren't investing in magic items or hirelings specifically to compensate for their missing party member, you could step in. I would suggest something like making a quest where at the end they find themselves in the possession of a golem. This makes it super easy on you because you don't have to RP at all, the golem just wordlessly does what they tell it to do. I really like this idea, but I do think you ought to try not fixing their problem for a while, let your players have fun solving this for themselves.
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