From:	Mark Steedman <M.J.Steedman@***.RGU.AC.UK>
Subject:	Re: question
Date:	Tue, 22 Jul 1997 13:51:34 GMT

Avenger writes

> >Just one simple, not too important question to all those who play
> >shadowrun regularly...
> >What If a player is missing at one session? Do you let another one
> >play his character? Or do you think of a way to let the character
> >disappear for some time?
>
> If a player is missing, I will usually make the character disappear as well.
I prefer this approach if at all possible. I tend to aim on finishing
adventures around the end of sessions so missing players characters
can do something else during a run but this does not always work.

> The reasons are two fold. First it ensures that the character survives
> until the player returns, preventing abuse by the other players or accidents
> associated with mistakes.
The general policy i and most i know take is similar if a character
has to be there (left off in middle of a firefight or middle of an
adventure where they couldn't reasonably catch a cold or something)
is to put them in the background. Abuse isn't really a problem but
poor dice rolling killing another players character or unlucky
tactical calls are a real danger. Rear guard duty when you are pretty
sure the danger comming form the front is another solution.

> The second thing is that I don't feel another
> player, or even GM can do justice to someone elses character. Very few
> people think, act and behave alike, which all comes together to indicate
> that the character would not be played accurately.
>
> Oh yes, I know there aree all the arguments "Yeah but I've played with this
> character for years and I've known the player since he was born and.... and
> .... bzzzt, sorry, it doesn't matter, people think differently, the
> imposter may attempt to make the same decision as the missing player, but
> it's very unlikely that it will be accurate.
>
Agreed. A reason to force such characters into the background and/or
for firefights have them hang about covering the characters who
usually apply the most similar tactics. Roleplaying other peoples
characters is just not really a working propostion to any depth, sure
for casual stuff it could be done if they know the character well but
descision time for risky descisions no way, as you say people are
different.

> As regards problems with stats, most GMs I know personally keep copies of
> the character sheets. It sounds like a way of checking on the players, but
It's actually pretty useless for that unless you want to waste a lot
of game time checking up on your players. I and most GM's i know
prefer to keep character sheets, if for no other reason than it
minimises the 'i left it at home' syndrome. Players are wellcome to
thier own copy though.

> in matter of fact, it makes scenario design much easier, because the
> characters background and statistics are too hand to facilitate design,
> allowing a scenario/game world that reflects the characters better and
> allows them to interact within that world's parameters. it also means the
> GM has a direct source of information concerning the characters, which can
> help immeasurablly towards NPC/PC interaction - especially with contacts.
>
Very very true. I often curse players that wandered off with them, i
cannot check who has what contact, vital things like armour scores
(helps massively if you are trying to set up a good fight to know
what they are in order to get the balance you want sometimes, with
5/6 syndrome SR is particularly bad for this, AK98 vs armour jacket
is lethal, HK227 vs same is a nasty but survivable if sensible -
assuming burst fire regular ammo)

Mark