Recently in a situation where half the party left for work/scheduling reasons. I was able to find new players, but the issue I'm having is how to introduce them into a campaign that has been going on for half a year. There are two aspects to this: narrative and logistics.
Narratively, I was building up to a significant plot reveal regarding an NPC. Without saying too much, I wanted the party to bond and gel together before springing the plot reveal since it requires the players to make some moral choices on behalf of their characters. Introducing a bunch of new characters makes this trickier to do without splitting up the party emotionally.
Logistically, the party is in a secluded area on a secret mission. They had spent an earlier session shopping specifically for this mission. How do i handle the equipment bought for this mission by the PCs who have dropped out? I had given the party a collective pool of money to do so. It feels a bit weird to throw new PCs into this mission when they did not get the opportunity to prepare for it by making decisions about what to buy.
Any helpful tips on how to handle this change-over?
I think the best suggestion I have is to let the new party members have their own introductory adventure that leads into this one. If that works by you I’d be happy to brain storm some suggestions. You could even let the original players join as completely different characters to make sure everyone was included.
Retcon a little bit. You could do this by literally ignoring the shopping/prep session and starting there (or just before) fresh, or by pausing where you are currently and doing a one/two shot out of the current timeline where the current party members do something together prior to that, and then pick up the story where you left it with the new characters arriving.
Abandon/change the current mission and put the story on ice for a bit. Your players have been planning, so this might not feel great to them, but could add a twist into the plan that causes things to go wrong and mean it's not fully played through (and could use the complication to introduce new characters quickly).
... start a new campaign! Not ideal, but sometimes stories become so connected to the characters that losing half of them is too much.
I'd say, simply, PC's contact their quest-giver, explaining that half their group has left to pursue attractive (read: Safe) careers in dirtfarming - and the quest-giver sends reinforcements.
'Well, I did get a couple more applications back when I hired you. I didn't think much of this lot, but ... well, at least they're better than nothing, right? Best of luck to you, is all I can say!'
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
I think the best suggestion I have is to let the new party members have their own introductory adventure that leads into this one. If that works by you I’d be happy to brain storm some suggestions. You could even let the original players join as completely different characters to make sure everyone was included.
Did I mention "secluded area" and "secret mission"? I think I did.
i agree completely with a "meanwhile, elsewhere...!" adventure. back the timeline up a week or so, the new folks pick new characters, the old guard picks temporary one-shot characters, and everyone goes on a little whirlwind adventure that hopefully explains some things and sets the tone. when that's done, slide the new-new characters into the pot with the old-old characters were simmering in and you're good.
depending on your adventure, there might need to be some clever way to reconnect and explain away the shift change. maybe the previous team tripped an artifact off-screen and only a few were are able to be pulled from a time-stop vortex. maybe the one-shot characters bravely trade places or agree to stay behind to find a solution while everyone else rushes off to do plot. in that way you still keep those abandoned characters (and the one-shotters) stored fresh and crisp for next time a wayward old player wanders sheepishly in or if you need a brainwashed former ally turned enemy callback.
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unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: providefeedback!
Did I mention "secluded area" and "secret mission"? I think I did.
And that would make a difference, because ....?? Let's say this was a James Bond movie. That should qualify for both secret mission, and secluded area.
Does that mean that Q couldn't fly Felix Leiter in by helidrop?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Recently in a situation where half the party left for work/scheduling reasons. I was able to find new players, but the issue I'm having is how to introduce them into a campaign that has been going on for half a year. There are two aspects to this: narrative and logistics.
Narratively, I was building up to a significant plot reveal regarding an NPC. Without saying too much, I wanted the party to bond and gel together before springing the plot reveal since it requires the players to make some moral choices on behalf of their characters. Introducing a bunch of new characters makes this trickier to do without splitting up the party emotionally.
Logistically, the party is in a secluded area on a secret mission. They had spent an earlier session shopping specifically for this mission. How do i handle the equipment bought for this mission by the PCs who have dropped out? I had given the party a collective pool of money to do so. It feels a bit weird to throw new PCs into this mission when they did not get the opportunity to prepare for it by making decisions about what to buy.
Any helpful tips on how to handle this change-over?
Retcon. The new characters were also on the mission, alongside the current and departed characters. They were introduced to the party by the quest-giver.
At that point you have several options:
The new additions were off doing their own part of the mission, after which they'd meet up with the party
The new additions were always with the party, and were doing "stuff" just off-camera until now
The departed members have to split off from the main task around now to accomplish a side task
The departed members get themselves killed off right about now
The departed members are still there until the end of the mission, they're just doing "stuff" off-camera
Mix and match as you see fit to go with the in-game situation, but with your description of the setup, there's no "clean" way to manage the replacement, so you have to do some meta-surgery to the fiction.
Did I mention "secluded area" and "secret mission"? I think I did.
And that would make a difference, because ....?? Let's say this was a James Bond movie. That should qualify for both secret mission, and secluded area.
Does that mean that Q couldn't fly Felix Leiter in by helidrop?
Helicopters are really loud and any similarly large flying contraptions would pretty much mess up the "secret" aspect of the mission. The point is Not to draw attention to the PCs' mission and location. Anything large enough to transport multiple Medium sized creatures flying through the air is bound to draw attention. That applies the same to an adult dragon or multiple griffons or an airship.
This is such a nuisance and detracts from whatever actual adventure the characters have embarked upon. Did you concern yourself with how to have the departing players' characters leave in a believable, story related manner? I suspect not. Unless you did, why are you worrying about how to introduce new characters in a believable, story related manner? Players leaving the table is a meta problem that is best solved with a meta solution. I propose a hand wave. BAM, they are just there--the simple reverse of how most characters are just no longer there when their players have real life get in the way.
Helicopters are really loud and any similarly large flying contraptions would pretty much mess up the "secret" aspect of the mission. The point is Not to draw attention to the PCs' mission and location. Anything large enough to transport multiple Medium sized creatures flying through the air is bound to draw attention. That applies the same to an adult dragon or multiple griffons or an airship.
I think maybe you're simply not reading my original post. I hope you realise that I didn't mention any of the problems you have? No dragons, griffons, airships, nothing.
Look, if you dislike the idea, you can disregard it, or tell me you don't like it. But I give a helpful suggestion, and you react like I insulted you in some way. Please don't do that. If it's totally unreasonable for the PC's to de-infiltrate and go back to the mission giver - or for them to contact the mission giver, who might then teleport reinforcements in, then so be it. But you're asking me to guess this, because no such problems are mentioned in your original post.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Logistically the newcomers could have any number of reasons for being in the area. An old ruin buried deep in the middle of nowhere, simply passing through the region from point A to point B, a separate group, tasked by some other quest giver, to attend the area for a related issue. Being remote and secluded doesn't mean 4 people on the planet know it exists. Being remote doesn't preclude people from coming through for any number of reasons. Pick one that makes sense and drop the new players into it.
Existing players can run across them in a wide variety of ways. Taking shelter in a crumbled ruin for the night and the newcomers arrive as they are setting up. One group finds he other's camp from the night before, prompting a search to find who else is in this supposedly "empty" area. I agree with the notion of a 1-2 session prelude with the new members to meld them in and maybe nudge them into the story a bit.
Finally, I'd suggest a little less sarcastic tone when rejecting ideas. If you've got nothing, then anything here is better than what you came up with. Sarcasm or poor tone in replies will be a deterrent for anyone else to reply.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Did I mention "secluded area" and "secret mission"? I think I did.
And that would make a difference, because ....?? Let's say this was a James Bond movie. That should qualify for both secret mission, and secluded area.
Does that mean that Q couldn't fly Felix Leiter in by helidrop?
Helicopters are really loud and any similarly large flying contraptions would pretty much mess up the "secret" aspect of the mission. The point is Not to draw attention to the PCs' mission and location. Anything large enough to transport multiple Medium sized creatures flying through the air is bound to draw attention. That applies the same to an adult dragon or multiple griffons or an airship.
helicopters? when you could instead shrink them down, mailed as a letter? or polymorph them into gulls? or frozen in ice with featherfall potion then catapulted across borders during a midnight thunder storm? or perhaps a well paid xorn burrows them up from the underdark? or maybe they can work remotely through illusion-veiled puppet golems? or perhaps they were already there the whole time as deep under cover agents with new intel?! any of that! ...if the real answer wasn't that the leaving members all drink tainted shape-change potion which accidentally converts them permanently into the newbies. that one.
helicopters? smh.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: providefeedback!
Guys, they're using the helicopter within an example, not as the solution. Acromos is saying that there could still be ways that the reinforcements (new characters) join, even if the place is secluded and its a secret mission (if one set of people can get there and know about it, surely the person who sent them on that mission can tell others how to get there and help the originals, right?)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
Helicopters are really loud and any similarly large flying contraptions would pretty much mess up the "secret" aspect of the mission. The point is Not to draw attention to the PCs' mission and location. Anything large enough to transport multiple Medium sized creatures flying through the air is bound to draw attention. That applies the same to an adult dragon or multiple griffons or an airship.
I think maybe you're simply not reading my original post. I hope you realise that I didn't mention any of the problems you have? No dragons, griffons, airships, nothing.
Look, if you dislike the idea, you can disregard it, or tell me you don't like it. But I give a helpful suggestion, and you react like I insulted you in some way. Please don't do that. If it's totally unreasonable for the PC's to de-infiltrate and go back to the mission giver - or for them to contact the mission giver, who might then teleport reinforcements in, then so be it. But you're asking me to guess this, because no such problems are mentioned in your original post.
Sorry, I'm not trying to disparage your suggestion. I mentioned dragons and griffons, etc. because those would be the fantasy world equivalent of a helicopter.
Anyway, for a variety of reasons Teleport is unreliable, as is "de-infiltration" since that A) communicates that the party has failed already on some major level when that has not actually happened and B) returning to home base at this point also puts their cargo at risk of discovery, which would cause the quest-giver (who has a lot of power) to get mad at them. I'm not going to punish the party for some meta-game occurrence that was not their fault.
I know you did not mention this, but for reference, the party is also too low level for a spell Sending to communicate back to "home base" anyway.
This is such a nuisance and detracts from whatever actual adventure the characters have embarked upon. Did you concern yourself with how to have the departing players' characters leave in a believable, story related manner? I suspect not. Unless you did, why are you worrying about how to introduce new characters in a believable, story related manner? Players leaving the table is a meta problem that is best solved with a meta solution. I propose a hand wave. BAM, they are just there--the simple reverse of how most characters are just no longer there when their players have real life get in the way.
Well, after reading these suggestions and thought about it some more, I understand that some amount of "hand of God (the DM)" is probably necessary. The issue is that I set up some of the earlier encounters as a way to allow the players to bond with their characters and each other in a natural way. Suddenly plopping down several totally new players erases much of the work I did earlier to try to build that bond. Like I stated in the first post, one of the major issues is that, for character and plot development purposes, the party will be faced with a moral quandry soon. I don't want the players to deal with a moral quandry that might get them arguing with each other IRL before I've given them a chance to bond as people and as PCs.
I think the best suggestion I have is to let the new party members have their own introductory adventure that leads into this one. If that works by you I’d be happy to brain storm some suggestions. You could even let the original players join as completely different characters to make sure everyone was included.
Did I mention "secluded area" and "secret mission"? I think I did.
i agree completely with a "meanwhile, elsewhere...!" adventure. back the timeline up a week or so, the new folks pick new characters, the old guard picks temporary one-shot characters, and everyone goes on a little whirlwind adventure that hopefully explains some things and sets the tone. when that's done, slide the new-new characters into the pot with the old-old characters were simmering in and you're good.
depending on your adventure, there might need to be some clever way to reconnect and explain away the shift change. maybe the previous team tripped an artifact off-screen and only a few were are able to be pulled from a time-stop vortex. maybe the one-shot characters bravely trade places or agree to stay behind to find a solution while everyone else rushes off to do plot. in that way you still keep those abandoned characters (and the one-shotters) stored fresh and crisp for next time a wayward old player wanders sheepishly in or if you need a brainwashed former ally turned enemy callback.
I've decided that this makes the most sense. I'm going to interrupt the current plot to have the new players meet the old ones via a different one-shot type of quest. The old players will be given temporary PCs to play. Then I will retcon the new players into the place of the ones who left , pretending that the PCs of the players who left were never there in the first place.
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Recently in a situation where half the party left for work/scheduling reasons. I was able to find new players, but the issue I'm having is how to introduce them into a campaign that has been going on for half a year. There are two aspects to this: narrative and logistics.
Narratively, I was building up to a significant plot reveal regarding an NPC. Without saying too much, I wanted the party to bond and gel together before springing the plot reveal since it requires the players to make some moral choices on behalf of their characters. Introducing a bunch of new characters makes this trickier to do without splitting up the party emotionally.
Logistically, the party is in a secluded area on a secret mission. They had spent an earlier session shopping specifically for this mission. How do i handle the equipment bought for this mission by the PCs who have dropped out? I had given the party a collective pool of money to do so. It feels a bit weird to throw new PCs into this mission when they did not get the opportunity to prepare for it by making decisions about what to buy.
Any helpful tips on how to handle this change-over?
I think the best suggestion I have is to let the new party members have their own introductory adventure that leads into this one. If that works by you I’d be happy to brain storm some suggestions. You could even let the original players join as completely different characters to make sure everyone was included.
Eh, I feel the best options here are:
I'd say, simply, PC's contact their quest-giver, explaining that half their group has left to pursue attractive (read: Safe) careers in dirtfarming - and the quest-giver sends reinforcements.
'Well, I did get a couple more applications back when I hired you. I didn't think much of this lot, but ... well, at least they're better than nothing, right? Best of luck to you, is all I can say!'
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Did I mention "secluded area" and "secret mission"? I think I did.
i agree completely with a "meanwhile, elsewhere...!" adventure. back the timeline up a week or so, the new folks pick new characters, the old guard picks temporary one-shot characters, and everyone goes on a little whirlwind adventure that hopefully explains some things and sets the tone. when that's done, slide the new-new characters into the pot with the old-old characters were simmering in and you're good.
depending on your adventure, there might need to be some clever way to reconnect and explain away the shift change. maybe the previous team tripped an artifact off-screen and only a few were are able to be pulled from a time-stop vortex. maybe the one-shot characters bravely trade places or agree to stay behind to find a solution while everyone else rushes off to do plot. in that way you still keep those abandoned characters (and the one-shotters) stored fresh and crisp for next time a wayward old player wanders sheepishly in or if you need a brainwashed former ally turned enemy callback.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
And that would make a difference, because ....?? Let's say this was a James Bond movie. That should qualify for both secret mission, and secluded area.
Does that mean that Q couldn't fly Felix Leiter in by helidrop?
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Retcon. The new characters were also on the mission, alongside the current and departed characters. They were introduced to the party by the quest-giver.
At that point you have several options:
Mix and match as you see fit to go with the in-game situation, but with your description of the setup, there's no "clean" way to manage the replacement, so you have to do some meta-surgery to the fiction.
Helicopters are really loud and any similarly large flying contraptions would pretty much mess up the "secret" aspect of the mission. The point is Not to draw attention to the PCs' mission and location. Anything large enough to transport multiple Medium sized creatures flying through the air is bound to draw attention. That applies the same to an adult dragon or multiple griffons or an airship.
This is such a nuisance and detracts from whatever actual adventure the characters have embarked upon. Did you concern yourself with how to have the departing players' characters leave in a believable, story related manner? I suspect not. Unless you did, why are you worrying about how to introduce new characters in a believable, story related manner? Players leaving the table is a meta problem that is best solved with a meta solution. I propose a hand wave. BAM, they are just there--the simple reverse of how most characters are just no longer there when their players have real life get in the way.
I think maybe you're simply not reading my original post. I hope you realise that I didn't mention any of the problems you have? No dragons, griffons, airships, nothing.
Look, if you dislike the idea, you can disregard it, or tell me you don't like it. But I give a helpful suggestion, and you react like I insulted you in some way. Please don't do that. If it's totally unreasonable for the PC's to de-infiltrate and go back to the mission giver - or for them to contact the mission giver, who might then teleport reinforcements in, then so be it. But you're asking me to guess this, because no such problems are mentioned in your original post.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Logistically the newcomers could have any number of reasons for being in the area. An old ruin buried deep in the middle of nowhere, simply passing through the region from point A to point B, a separate group, tasked by some other quest giver, to attend the area for a related issue. Being remote and secluded doesn't mean 4 people on the planet know it exists. Being remote doesn't preclude people from coming through for any number of reasons. Pick one that makes sense and drop the new players into it.
Existing players can run across them in a wide variety of ways. Taking shelter in a crumbled ruin for the night and the newcomers arrive as they are setting up. One group finds he other's camp from the night before, prompting a search to find who else is in this supposedly "empty" area. I agree with the notion of a 1-2 session prelude with the new members to meld them in and maybe nudge them into the story a bit.
Finally, I'd suggest a little less sarcastic tone when rejecting ideas. If you've got nothing, then anything here is better than what you came up with. Sarcasm or poor tone in replies will be a deterrent for anyone else to reply.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
helicopters? when you could instead shrink them down, mailed as a letter? or polymorph them into gulls? or frozen in ice with featherfall potion then catapulted across borders during a midnight thunder storm? or perhaps a well paid xorn burrows them up from the underdark? or maybe they can work remotely through illusion-veiled puppet golems? or perhaps they were already there the whole time as deep under cover agents with new intel?! any of that! ...if the real answer wasn't that the leaving members all drink tainted shape-change potion which accidentally converts them permanently into the newbies. that one.
helicopters? smh.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
Guys, they're using the helicopter within an example, not as the solution. Acromos is saying that there could still be ways that the reinforcements (new characters) join, even if the place is secluded and its a secret mission (if one set of people can get there and know about it, surely the person who sent them on that mission can tell others how to get there and help the originals, right?)
'The Cleverness of mushrooms always surprises me!' - Ivern Bramblefoot.
I'll worldbuild for your DnD games!
Just a D&D enjoyer, check out my fiverr page if you need any worldbuilding done for ya!
Sorry, I'm not trying to disparage your suggestion. I mentioned dragons and griffons, etc. because those would be the fantasy world equivalent of a helicopter.
Anyway, for a variety of reasons Teleport is unreliable, as is "de-infiltration" since that A) communicates that the party has failed already on some major level when that has not actually happened and B) returning to home base at this point also puts their cargo at risk of discovery, which would cause the quest-giver (who has a lot of power) to get mad at them. I'm not going to punish the party for some meta-game occurrence that was not their fault.
I know you did not mention this, but for reference, the party is also too low level for a spell Sending to communicate back to "home base" anyway.
Well, after reading these suggestions and thought about it some more, I understand that some amount of "hand of God (the DM)" is probably necessary. The issue is that I set up some of the earlier encounters as a way to allow the players to bond with their characters and each other in a natural way. Suddenly plopping down several totally new players erases much of the work I did earlier to try to build that bond. Like I stated in the first post, one of the major issues is that, for character and plot development purposes, the party will be faced with a moral quandry soon. I don't want the players to deal with a moral quandry that might get them arguing with each other IRL before I've given them a chance to bond as people and as PCs.
I've decided that this makes the most sense. I'm going to interrupt the current plot to have the new players meet the old ones via a different one-shot type of quest. The old players will be given temporary PCs to play. Then I will retcon the new players into the place of the ones who left , pretending that the PCs of the players who left were never there in the first place.