Hey, I play in D&D games without my bestie no problem. However, I don't play in D&D games with people who gaslight my bestie in an attempt to ostracise them. If you didn't do that, I wouldn't have left. You don't need to play with them. You don't get to decide that I don't play with them.

As a person who spent a lot of time feeling rejected and unsure of why people were happy to be my acquaintance but not my friend, never getting any explanation why I wasn't good enough (the answer was undiagnosed autism and the trouble with social skills that comes with that), ghosting with no explanation hurts me in my soul. I get why people do it though. How do you know if it's a person who was clueless to what their bad behavior and is desperate to have literally anyone tell them what they do wrong so they can change, or someone who will flip out and get violent or stalkery or super spiteful towards group members once ejected from the group? How do you know it will not spiral into some giant drama, especially if you were wrong or others disagree about if their behavior was objectionable? Conflict avoidance, whether for justified reasons or not, is very very common.

It can also backfire if the other players decide they like them more than you, so they refuse to join the new campaign since the removed player isn't there. You could lie and tell them the removed player just decided to back out, but since the players like each other, it won't be long until they start asking why they left, and then everyone knows the truth.

I think ghosting is a bit much. I know it sucks to bring the player aside and have the talk if something isn't going quite right, but I'd usually much prefer to allow them to try and course correct a bit. One of the first times I ever joined a DnD campaign I got ghosted and it sucked. I wouldn't want to inflict that feeling on other players if I could help it.

Much easier to prematurely end the campaign because the DM is "busy with a lot of stuff" but then he does a one shot with the exact same group minus one person - Then what do you know - The one shot went so well that they want to turn it into a full campaign. Oh but, they invited a new player who is joining their new campaign and its the "just right" amount of players and they can't really add anyone else right now, especially the person excluded, but maybe next time?

*Grew a mustache and a mullet* *Got a job at Chick-Fil-A* *Citing "artistic differences"* *The band broke up in May* *And in June reformed without me* *And they got a different name* *I nuked another grandma's apple pie* *And hung my head in shame*

Much easier to prematurely end the campaign because the DM is "busy with a lot of stuff" but then he does a one shot with the exact same group minus one person - Then what do you know - The one shot went so well that they want to turn it into a full campaign. Oh but, they invited a new player who is joining their new campaign and its the "just right" amount of players and they can't really add anyone else right now, especially the person excluded, but maybe next time?

Ah man, I haven't listened to Ben Folds in years. Thanks for the reminder.