I was in the middle of a campaign and one of PC's went on a 6 month vacation to China and unfortunately, he is not available to skype in. He wanted to become a force sensitive, and before he left, we talked about him maybe getting kidnapped by a force sensitive assassins guild/enclave and them training him. That way he could come back in 6 months and level up his character to match the rest of the group.

The problem is that we did not leave off in a place where I have a lot of wiggle room for that to happen. They are on an ancient ghost ship in wild space. A corporation has tasked them with clearing out the ship while trying to keep most of the tech intact. There is ancient, evolved monsters on the ship. Some are similar to rakghouls. I can't figure out a way to get him off this ship. I thought maybe a rakghoul could drag him away and he goes missing. Maybe a secondary back-up squad can come join them and one of the members is an assassin looking out for recruits. His character is a togruta so I can't just suck him out into space.

Any creative ideas out there or something that has worked well for people in the past?

Any help is greatly appreciated as I'm new to GMing.

Honest opinion: don't overthink it. Trust the MacGuffin. Your players will forgive you for not anticipating a plot hook for someone who ups and leaves your campaign.

One MacGuffin I have used before is the "unforeseen disaster" scenario. Your Rakghoul idea could work, but I tend to go for something more environmental and unrelated to particular individuals (even individual monsters). So: the ancient ghost ship is obviously unstable. Togruta has been sent to the port side to extract valuable tech, but while doing so, the structure of the port side of the ship shifts and settles and ancient emergency seals come crashing down to prevent a breach -- trapping Togruta buddy on that side. At that very moment: rakghouls attack! No time to save Togruta, because they're busy surviving. When the dust settles, it looks like the port side of the ship has actually vented into space -- but they can't be sure. There are still ancient escape pods on that side, and they might be usable.

Etc.

Unbeknownst the heroes the evil cult substituted a clone decoy duplicate before they ever left for the ghost ship adventure and he was kidnapped and spirited away before that.

Hmm, that makes pre-meditated a little tough. I'm old school and would have some mystery tech explode and teleport/time displace him some place else. If you play the 'wake up 2 years ago on planet x (convenintly the next stop for the other players) there is all the time in the world to train up that force stuff. SciFi tv tropes for the win! Hope you find something fun for everyone, good luck!

Plus, if they haven't explored the entire ship, you could have assassin cult use the derelict as a training ground. Party runs into force sensitive assassins hunting rakghouls. Party member cut off. Hope the assassins rescued him, cause we can't get to him now!

Those are all really great ideas! Thanks!

Or, you could just not worry about it, and have the character just mysteriously disappear. No clues. He was there one moment, then they turned around and he was gone.

Then the player could fill in the missing details when he returns.

Or, you could just not worry about it, and have the character just mysteriously disappear. No clues. He was there one moment, then they turned around and he was gone.

Then the player could fill in the missing details when he returns.

Doh! Ninjas! I should have though of that!

Doh! Ninjas! I should have though of that!

Ninjas are not just physically stealthy, they are psychologically stealthy. The reason you didn't think about it is that ninjas disappear from your mind when you are not directly confronting them.

-POOF!-

Like so.

Doh! Ninjas! I should have though of that!

Ninjas are not just physically stealthy, they are psychologically stealthy. The reason you didn't think about it is that ninjas disappear from your mind when you are not directly confronting them.

-POOF!-

Like so.

So does that mean The Silence are ninjas, or that all ninjas are Silence?

He pulls a Poe Dameron and just shows up later.

Doh! Ninjas! I should have though of that!

Ninjas are not just physically stealthy, they are psychologically stealthy. The reason you didn't think about it is that ninjas disappear from your mind when you are not directly confronting them.

-POOF!-

Like so.

Oh, so THAT'S what those hash marks on my arm mean!

(subtitle: Amy Pond with hash marks on her face because she's keeping track of The Silence, because anyone who sees them immediately forgets about them after looking away)

The nice thing about star wars, and the ships in universe, is that they are really big, have lots of vertical and seemingly bottomless pits, and no workplace safety standards at all. Someone could easily pull a "Bucky Barnes" down one of these shafts.

Well, the team got to this abandoned ship on their own ship, right? Leave this fellow back on board to guard the ship - and then at the worse possible time without warning, he leaves with their ship, abandoning his friends.

Well, the team got to this abandoned ship on their own ship, right? Leave this fellow back on board to guard the ship - and then at the worse possible time without warning, he leaves with their ship, abandoning his friends.

This, with no explanation as to why. They only find out the whys much later in a dramatic pilot episode, or something.

Escape pods! and force foreshadowing, he was lead to the escape pod by the force before it malfunctioning and detaching, leaving him seperated from the group.

Or alternatively go for the less exciting ending and having him leave at the next port. Sometimes people lose the spark on the journey of life and need to find time to rejoin the path anew.

I wold go with:

The player was separated from the group some how. He ends up in a "life raft" type escape ship. Ejects from major ship. Lands on a planet with a holocron, or old jedi master who is hiding, or perhaps even just a force sensitive sensei type.

Learns the ways of the force, whilst working on getting the ship fixed to rejoin the crew. Locals are helping if the player isn't a techie type.

Rejoins the group having had a great adventure and connecting with the force along the way.

Personally i have never met a force using assassin who did not have:

1. Shroud

2. Now you see me...

3. Misdirect

4. Cloaked or stealthy ship

So he's been tracking the pc's for awhile using shroud and misdirect to avoid dectection possibly even planted a hyperspace beacon on the pc's ship. Followed them to the derelict where he kidnapped the missing player and using his awesome misdirect and now you see me shroud combo kidnaps him literally right in front of them and they don't remember a thing.

Yes then follow the silence from doctor who for leaving clues that eventually lead them in 6 months or so to recover the missing player.

Or alternatively go for the less exciting ending and having him leave at the next port. Sometimes people lose the spark on the journey of life and need to find time to rejoin the path anew.

Agreed. The story of the absent player's character shouldn't be potentially more interesting than what's actually happening with the players at the table.

I'd set it up as opportunity for a future hook. PC goes missing on the ghostship with no explanation (maybe some clues depending if you have an idea how to reintegrate); party has to accept the loss (maybe you even collaborate with the player to say he is going to start a new character when he returns); when your player returns, the party discovers he was alive the whole time (left on ship and escaped to nearby low tech planet after the party left, gone feral from isolation on the cleared ghost ship, hid in a statis system on the ghost ship, whatever); 1 session adventure to find him; 1 session adventure to escape with him; when they find him, you can use the intervening time to explain how he has gained experience. Maybe he discovered something interesting that leads to the next adenture...

Oh, if you do decide to have the player come back with a new character, you have the makings of a great nemesis that has history with the party. Who hates to be abandoned, eh?

So here's what I did: The Force called to him and pulled him down a hall. He got separated from the group. It lead him to a large escape pod where he had a vision of his past and was confronted with a truth his character was attempting to deny. The Force activated the escape pod and jettisoned him into space. He'll be picked up/land on a planet in wild space and be trained by a force sensitive assassin enclave.

It was tough because he was already on the ship and they had cleared two rooms, and I have strong feelings about GMs not controlling the PC's actions and story (thanks Apocalypse World). Using the Force to control him was an easy way around that. Plus I gave the other two force sensitives PCs visions as well and the ancient ghost ship got an extra layer of creepy because it was strong with the dark side of the force.

Thanks for all the help. It made the game better for all the other PCs as well!