Character Points for returning PC? Suggestions/Guidelines please?

[Qoltar]

What is a good guigeline or rule of thumb on character points for returning player characters? (Players that rejoin the campaign?)

In my ongoing GURPS: Star Trek campaign one of the players took a break from the campaign back in August. He now wants to rejoin the campaign with our next session on February 13th.

In the campaign's ongoing story his character had become an alcoholic. We worked at that the character stsayed at a Starfleet base to get treatment for that.

There is the general guideline of giving a player points for an interesting backstory - what about points for creating an interesting story for a character's return?

He missed 6 to 7 game sessions. I thought about maybe giving him 1 character point for each missed session to represent 'book learning' or studying while he was stuck in a brig or on a planet reading technical journals - his character is a starship engineer.

Any advice on this folks ?

- Ed C.

[Mateus]

I liked your suggestion of 1 cp for each session. Another option is to let him evolue based on the study rules.

[vicky_molokh]

Assuming players can expect about 2 points per typical session, yeah 1 per session missed seems reasonable. Though we seem to be discussing a difference of 6 points.
Maybe you can offer a 1-on-1 opportunity to earn more points if it is really important.

[Raekai]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Maybe you can offer a 1-on-1 opportunity to earn more points if it is really important.

That would be my same advice. I try to do the same thing if at all possible.

At the same time, it really depends on how many points he missed out on. I usually award 2-3cp per session just because my sessions tend to be huge. So if one of my player has to miss a few, I will give him/her 1/5th less than the character who gained the least amount of character points, but at least 1cp (if not 1.5cp) per session.

I think the point is to be reasonable.
-You can do a 1-on-1 and I would let them make up as much as you feel is right.
-If there is a problem with that then award them cp that will keep them close, but not as much as everyone else.

Your other players had to work for their cp, but that's just my two cents.

[Aneirin]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Assuming players can expect about 2 points per typical session, yeah 1 per session missed seems reasonable. Though we seem to be discussing a difference of 6 points.
Maybe you can offer a 1-on-1 opportunity to earn more points if it is really important.

Just how far is a person willing to go for extra character points :-)

(N.B. I am aware a one on one opportunity doesn't mean...that!)

[PK]

I give new players character points equal to the average of (starting cp) and (current average cp). I'd do something similar with returning players -- give them a bonus equal to half of the cp they "missed." That keeps things fair for the players who were actually there, but prevents there from being too much of a disparity in play.

[thulben]

The next campaign I run, I'm toying around with keeping all the characters' points equal, regardless of if their player made the session or not. At the end of it, we're talking about a game. And giving everyone equal opportunity to have fun when they can make it only seems fair. And what about those players who are able to make it every session? Well... they got to experience the game!

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Aneirin

Just how far is a person willing to go for extra character points :-)

(N.B. I am aware a one on one opportunity doesn't mean...that!)

Well, it can.

Isn't it the reason our cartoonist runs almost exclusively 1-on-1 sessions? ;)

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by thulben

And what about those players who are able to make it every session? Well... they got to experience the game!

They also shared in the work, which is important. If a player just misses one or two sessions, then not getting experience for them doesn't do anything drastic to their character. If they are forced to have a long absence, then PK's formula seems good. But if they simply and consistently fail to turn up for a significant number of sessions, then I'll drop them.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by Qoltar

Any advice on this folks?

Absent the other players objecting? I'd just give his character the points necessary to put it equal in point-value to the other characters and call it a day. If the other players object, then I'd let them sit down and hash out what they consider to be fair and then go with that.

"_returningPlayer wants to play again. His character is a bit behind in terms of points. I'm going to go ahead and give him the points needed to catch up. Any objections?"

If no objections are raised, "Cool. Spend your points, _returningPlayer, while we finish getting setup for tonight's game."

If objections are raised, "Cool. Y'all figure out what you consider to be fair while I finish getting setup for tonight's game."