Absent Friends

I had no RPG this weekend. My usual Deadlands game was canceled on account of one of the players moving. At first we canceled because we thought we'd be helping him move to a new apartment. Then, surprisingly, it turned out he was leaving town for Montana. It's been a strange week. But, that's beside the point...

The question on my mind at this gaming blog is how to proceed with one fewer player? The player in question was one of 5 in the campaign. His character represents a sizable portion of the group's actual firepower. I've got about 6 subplots going on in the game, and he was the major player in 2 of them. His character was a little bit crazy, had a quasi-evil source of power (he's a Huckster), and sometimes got in conflicts with the Blessed PCs (all this on top of the 2 subplots). So it feels like the group just lost noticable shares of it's color and diversity.

What's more, this particular player was the one who suggested we play Deadlands in the first place. He's definitely the player who knows the most about the setting, and has the most excitement for it.

So, I need to consider whether or not to continue the campaign. I could make the character's exit a part of the plot, or NPC him, or head generally towards wrapping it up in a couple sessions. If we continue it, should we add another player to fill his slot? There's a lot to think about.