I've brought my baby back online after four years hibernation. It's super exciting, and I'm ecstatic that so many of our old crew have chosen to come back. It's actually floored me how much support we've got.
Naturally, there are those who don't have the time, resources, interest or desire to play the characters they did four years ago. In one case, a player who chose not to return had characters with intimate connections to many of my characters. This meant I had to consider her characters in updating what mine had been up to over the last four years, and how those situations had changed. I didn't want to write those characters out of the histories, as there were still more characters that were coming back and getting the stories straight would just be a nightmare.
I spoke to the player and she offered me the ability to have those particular characters adopted by other players. I declined the offer---I feel there's way too much history for anyone to be expected to cover, and I didn't think anyone would do them proper justice.
So my question is: Have you ever been in a situation where you had to exit another player's character from your character's story? How did you go about it?
I feel... very rotten in situations where I've had to portion blame for an argument/break up on a character that can't defend themselves. I've tried to make both sides as blameworthy as the other, but at the same time I don't want to throw my character into excessive turmoil for the sake of a player who isn't coming back.
What are your thoughts?