Sessions

The Magic Circle

Game space is not the same as “real world” space.

Per 2017 tradition (as it has served us well), it is strongly recommended that entry into the game proper (after all prep and housekeeping are complete) involves a ritual: a formal, ceremonial recognition of the transition from the “real world” to the mythical, narrative domain of D&D (while not absolutely necessary, the Dungeon Master suggests that this includes a round of Single Islay Malt Scotch Whisky, accompanied by the toast,”With this Libation, we enter the Magic Circle!”)

The Session

The Magic Circle can be thought of as a sort of “sacred space.” For this reason, as well as some practical ones, it’s best to try to avoid defiling it with some of the more unfortunate aspects of everyday “real world” life (e.g., phones).

In the tradition of “less is more,” we should try to stick to the essentials during a session: humans, conversation … paper, pencils, dice and a minimal gameboard.

Electronic devices are less than ideal, though sometimes referring to this rulebook is necessary. But why not memorize the basics and make notes or print the more obscure rules for a given character? And things like equipment lists can be found in either the Pathfinder or 5e books.

Session start and end times for a given day (i.e., magic circle entry and exit) should be chosen and communicated in advance and the group should make every reasonable effort to stick to them, with the understanding that the magic circle can only be maintained as long as all the expected players are present.

Absent Players

It has become clear that maintaining regular sessions with six busy individuals is a major challenge: the desired goal of having all players present for every session has proven prohibitive. So we must adapt.

The key question here is how to maintain a robust narrative, keeping the integrity of each character intact. Here’s our current process for handling absent players:

• While we should always try to have everyone present, in order to keep the campaign going we’ll compromise and still run sessions if one (but not more than one) player is unable to attend.
• If one player is going to miss a session, there are two options for dealing with the “orphaned” character (the desired option should be communicated in advance of the session):
  1. If the party is “between outings,” e.g., in town, the player may decide that his or her character will be away from the party, perhaps doing something like meeting with a local guild, doing magical research or going on a mead bender at the local tavern. Depending on the activity there may be XP or some other reward earned for this, at the DM’s discretion. The rest of the party may embark on an adventure in the meantime; the player and DM should discuss how the “orphaned” character will rejoin the party if it runs longer than the time the payer in question is absent.
  2. If the party is “in the field,” i.e. in circumstances where it would not make sense for a character to simply disappear: each player character may have a designated alternate owner, chosen by the character’s owner with the agreement of the alternate. The owner should provide some instructions as to how the character should be run (this may be in confidence) with the understanding that while the alternate will run the character in keeping with any instructions from the owner, safety is not guaranteed! In rare circumstances the alternate owner could be the DM, but this is not preferable.

The primary goal is to maintain appropriate narrative continuity based on the party’s current circumstances. The best way to do this, of course, is to have everyone present. But it may actually turn out that having an absent player (character) could make for some interesting narrative dynamics. In LOTR, for example, Gandalf would come and go … and things would be very different when he wasn’t around!  Similarly, what if, for instance, the party decides to explore a local dragon’s lair, but the party’s stalwart cleric is unexpectedly staying behind studying in the local castle library for a few days? … might call for a change in strategy – no? – to go out in the field without the usual supply of Cure Wounds spells?

Some additional notes relating to sessions (and players, absent or present) can be found in The Adventure.