Intermittent players

There are always some players in a group that will show up only once in a while, but might not have the will to play regularly (like, every week). Sometimes, it´s better not to play with them. But in some cases, for whatever reason, the group doesn´t mind having such players in a campaign.

The question is: how to deal with them (in AW, not in general)?
Let´s suppose they create their character, they play once, they have the PC take stakes within an ongoing conflict, change it, etc., but next session they aren´t here, or probably they play once and they don´t like the game. What to do?

-Having them "disappear" feels weird to me, as the character has already a part in what´s going on, so normally it will feel awkward, to say the least. Still, if we do this, the best thing to do would be to have a brief talk with the player, make up a reason for the PC to be absent once in a while, so that it feels as natural as possible. When the player shows up again, you make him roll for a love letter, maybe tell the other players what´s been his character doing all this time (maybe not, or let them ask him during session itself), and job done.
This would be the standard solution, I think. Are there other alternatives?

-Have a one-shot player within an ongoing campaign turn a known NPC into a PC. You inform him about his past, general motivations, relationship with other PCs, but he´s free to do what he wants from then on. I think that "minor", not so important NPCs are better for this, but I can imagine a player taking a former NPC hardholder, it would be quite a surprise. Next sessions, the PC turns back into an NPC, but taking into account the previous events. Should that player ever show up againt, he takes another NPC, maybe, or the same one if still alive.

-If the player will be absent for some time, and for whatever reason the character can´t just fade into the background, you may sit with the player so that he tells you, briefly, how to run his character while he´s absent. It wouldn´t be a PC run by the MC, since he´d work as an NPC for the whole session, perhaps with a minimum protection like, say, having death occur only at 3-harm, or a -1 when acting with X stat against them (like, a gunlugger: -1 to roll +HARD against him). Other possibility might be to have his death, should it happen while he´s absent, be apparent and not real (if possible). He´ll show again next time, despite all odds, badly hurt and all, but alive.

This hasn´t happened yet in my group, but I have a friend (newcomer to the hobby) who doesn´t want to sit and play every week, but she still loves the game and wants to play every now and then (in fact, she says she doesn´t love the whole hobby, she just loves AW :P). I´d like to have her come when she wants, pick a character, have fun, and then come again another time, no pressure or schedule. Have you already dealt with this issue? If so, what have you done? What do you think of the ideas I´ve wrote above?

I'm not sure about general rules, but for your specific situation, maybe suggest she takes a character like Driver, Chopper or even Operator. Then, when she's absent, just say the character is somewhere else doing their usual thing.

AW is the perfect game for this!

If you're just starting a game, have your holding (and therefore all PCs) tied to a certain place (instead of a traveling band), and then make sure everyone's together for the 1st Session and hopefully second session. After that, play regularly (weekly, every 3rd Saturday, whatever you schedule) and if one person can't make it, that PC is just busy with other stuff that session.

That's part of what makes the threats so great; they don't all hinge on the same things, so if a key person to one threat has to work late, there's another threat that targets someone who *can* play that night. We had a person join in, play a hocus for a few sessions, and then have to drop out. It worked for us because there were enough other threats and stories going on that the hocus and his followers could just move to NPC status fairly easily.

You are also on the right track here: "When the player shows up again, you make him roll for a love letter, maybe tell the other players what´s been his character doing all this time (maybe not, or let them ask him during session itself), and job done." This works well for the groups I've run with. Sometimes it's a no-go! Someone key to that session can't make it, gets sick or whatever, and so we wind up re-scheduling. Not the end of the world.

After reading this thread, I started thinking about a playbook that was based on the idea that the character went somewhere else now and then, like The Trader, The Eremite, The Vagabond or The Explorer  perhaps. These guys would have a reason to come and go, and the player would be able to skip sessions because of that.

The rules/moves in a playbook like that could be made in such a way that they helped the player get into the fun faster. The rules could maybe even be based upon what has happened in the sessions that the player has missed (don't ask me how it would work, but it could help the player by giving her/him reasons to be there).

I don't know if it's a good idea at all, but I thought it couldn't hurt writing it down atleast!

I think most of the existing splats already have reasons why the character might be off doing a thing; they have gigs, jobs, stuff to take care of, people to keep happy, whatever. When I have to deal with players missing, here's what I'm thinking, above and beyond the established reasons they might be busy elsewhere in the holding: we gotta eat.

Any PC not on screen, I assume to be working their gigs, doing their job, or trying to help bring in some sort of food. Seriously, I like to ask the player what the PC was doing next time the player can be there, but I don't sweat it that much.

It helps if your sessions end with the current action wrapped up rather than in the middle of things.  One of us couldn't make it to our last session, and it was really helpful that it made sense for time to have passed and the missing PC to be somewhere else.  Most of our sessions have not been so conveniently structured, so we would wind up pulling out Fiasco or some other one shot when a player couldn't come.