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Really fun video. Getting a consistent group together is probably the hardest part of running a game. If you can enjoy a game with even as few as one or two players, that can work well.
I use a few tricks to keep groups going:
- Have six full-time players.
- Have two "on call" players – these are players who are interested but might not be able to commit regularly and are willing to jump in when a spot is open.
- Run with as few as four. This means it takes five people cancelling before you can't run a game.
- Run at a consistent time each week.
- Run shorter games – I go for 3 hours.
That's helped me keep multiple groups going for ten years with one group consistent for about 20 years.
My solution is to run with as few as 2+me (the DM), and use a play structure that doesn't require the same players to be present at every session. We always end rhe session in a safe location (town, safehouse, etc). If someone can't make it, they're just in suspended animation along with their gear and hirelings/retainers until they're back.
Just not sweating the fact that it's a game has gotten me a very consistent game every two weeks like clockwork.
I like six players, run with three, if you can't make it someone runs your character. If three can't make it everyone runs two characters.
You don't even need to have someone else running their character. Just say that the character is busy/drunk/sick whatever match their role-play. Or simply have an agreement with the PC that despite being unrealistic for the sake of the game, nobody will wonder why a character can be absent in the middle of space or a dungeon without any justification.
I understand that in game with a big focus on party balance/tactic it may-be different but this kind of the game is the exception not hte norm