In my experience players sent out of the gaming room (unconsious pc, split party etc) usually end up on a bed reading.
I´m thinking there should be something fun and useful for them to do. Maybe they could draw a town map, or make npc´s or something.
Any ideas?

Interesting question, what should Players do when they come to play in a game and then get told that they can not play in the game?

I would probably suggest playing some kind of game on their phone.

Quote from: Shasarak;1143585Interesting question, what should Players do when they come to play in a game and then get told that they can not play in the game?

I would probably suggest playing some kind of game on their phone.

I was going to suggest putting them to wash the dishes.

Snack run.  Pop Popcorn.  Vandalize the DMs car for leaving them out.

I don't. I think the versimilitude of having PCs not aware of what the others are doing due to being split up, etc is not worth the disengagement.

I find most players will 'play along' when the groups reform. Not completely, they can't help it, but a bit of effort is all I expect.

Avoid the situation in the first place?  Or make it so quick they don't have time to do anything else.  Honestly, I have never in my many years of gaming done this.  I can only imagine doing it in a game focused on PvP intrigue, and in that case I'd send out a couple of players together so they could conspire while I'm handling whatever with the other players.

Quote from: GeekyBugle;1143588I was going to suggest putting them to wash the dishes.

I am sure that they would get right on to that.

Hmm. We had a PC get disintegrated during one adventure, and our solution was to hand off the hireling's character sheet to her and let her run them till we could get her character resurrected.

Quote from: Ghostmaker;1143605Hmm. We had a PC get disintegrated during one adventure, and our solution was to hand off the hireling's character sheet to her and let her run them till we could get her character resurrected.

Alternatively, if no ally NPCs are present for the player(s) to take control over, hand them one or more enemy NPCs or creatures and let them wreck havoc on the party. Have them make all the rolls for enemies, and let them make full use of their abilities. If you hand them a goblin rogue with stealth abilities, let them sneak around and ambush the party to full effect. Let them make those sneak attacks if they manage to get the drop on them. Then award them XP (applicable to their PC) as if they participated in the engagement at the end, with bonus XP for good ideas or planning while playing the enemies. Tell them about the bonus XP beforehand to encourage them to be brutal and don't hold back on their teammates--they're playing the enemy camp for now, act like it!

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1143594I don't. I think the versimilitude of having PCs not aware of what the others are doing due to being split up, etc is not worth the disengagement.

This. I've sent players out of the room, in the past, but I no longer do so. If you're playing in my game I assume you're mature enough to separate player knowledge and PC knowledge for the sake of the game. I suppose there could be some corner-case kind of exception where the lack of player knowledge is *critical*, but I don't find those ever really come up in my games.

Don't send players out of the room.

Quote from: Philotomy Jurament;1143627This. I've sent players out of the room, in the past, but I no longer do so. If you're playing in my game I assume you're mature enough to separate player knowledge and PC knowledge for the sake of the game. I suppose there could be some corner-case kind of exception where the lack of player knowledge is *critical*, but I don't find those ever really come up in my games.

Same.  If I have to send the player out of the room to get them to roleplay their character, then the player needs to improve.  The player won't get much of a chance to improve if so sent.

Plus, there is a secondary, "audience" level of being in a RPG session.  A good player ought to be able to occasionally fade out of the picture as simply a member of the audience and appreciate the game at that level.  It just shouldn't last too long, as that is contrary to why we are there.

Quote from: S'mon;1143633Don't send players out of the room.

this.

I have done in the past, but not for 20 years or so.

If Players cannot separate Player Knowledge from Character Knowledge, why are they playing?

One thing they can do is go home.