I'm running a game in which the characters have temporarily split into two groups: those who were willing to leave their weapons at the door (Group 1: 4 players), and those who were not (Group 2: 2 players). The characters who remained outside went off to explore another part of the setting.
I've been running games since '79, but oddly enough in all that time not once have I had a group separated for longer than a single session (usually the split-ups are the results of intra-party disagreements, and then I pick off the lone, rebellious straggler like predators do on Discovery Channel). So far I think I've been handling it ok: when one group reached a cliffhanger moment, I switched to the other group. Unfortunately, this resulted in one group getting a disproportionate amount of play time. I have considered time-boxing each group, maybe half an hour at a time for each group, but I worry that this will quash the cliffhanger dynamic we have achieved.
The other challenge is the classic time warp problem. Group 1 is embroiled in a vicious melee with a dozen total participants, while Group 2 is exploring. Group 1 is crawling at a snail's pace at six in-game seconds every half-hour (estimating here: I've never timed our combat), while Group 2 covers a lot of in-game time very quickly.
The players haven't complained about any of it. In fact, I received a lot of positive feedback last session (even though I was completely unprepared for Group 2 to go off the reservation). I'm just trying to think ahead to avoid any potential pitfalls.
Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
If you are getting positive feedback then people are having fun. Keep doing that. IN the end thats what its about.
There really is no 'right' way to handle this, there are alot of challenges. I usually try hard not to let the party split up long, and will try to bring them back together as soon as I can. Obviously sometimes this is unavoidable.
A wise dm once told me
Him: "How many pcs does it take to screw in a lightbulb?"
Me: "Hmmm, i gue"
Him: "All of them, dont split the party!"
usually the split-ups are the results of intra-party disagreements, and then I pick off the lone, rebellious straggler like predators do on Discovery Channel
This made my morning.
Is the positive feedback from both groups? If so, I'd suggest keep on keepin' on. Keep your ears open for any growing frustration that may not have become manifest yet, and keep doing what appears to be successful.
Alternatively, meet separately with the group embroiled in the melee to resolve as much of it as you can or have them show up to the game earlier than the other group. That will help you balance the times, I think. That is, unless group 2 likes to watch group 1 playing too. Some people really do like spectating in these circumstances too.
|
If it was me, I'd just tell group 2 to take a week off next week and enjoy time with their other friends/family. I'd make every effort to wrap group 1 up in that time and get them back together ASAP.
Otherwise, you're destined to face this problem over multiple weeks, with the attention received by group 1 and the time issue getting worse and worse as you go.
Alternatively, talk to group 2 about possibly running a monster/NPC in the combat. That way they get to try to beat up on their buddies!
Alternatively, talk to group 2 about possibly running a monster/NPC in the combat. That way they get to try to beat up on their buddies!
That's what I was going to suggest.
Alternatively, talk to group 2 about possibly running a monster/NPC in the combat. That way they get to try to beat up on their buddies!That's what I was going to suggest.
Yes. This is good, they may like this quite a bit.
Mastering a split party is one of the hardest parts, especially dealing with the time differential.
But, if there are no complaints, just keep doing what you are doing.
...and good job!
weave the scenarios together so that you can run combat with both group simultaneously. It no harder than running the combat with them together, except for the description of enemies and scenes, but if you do it right, it can make for an awesome experience.
I once ran a shadowrun game like that, each player had their own independently running scene with combats or encounters. I would run each scene for a few moments, then stop and break into someone else's. I even managed to have NPCs in the seperate scenes begin and end each other sentences a few times (that took some planning and a whole lot of luck in roleplaying), gave it a very cinematic quality. Then when one character got to a combat, I put them on hold while I got the next chracter to theirs and then ran all the combats simultaneously. One character didn't have a combat and was touring a chemical plant as a fire marshall, so it was pretty funny to have these high-adrenaline gun-fu fights mixed in with;
"Did you know this fire exit isn't up to code?"
"DRAGON FACE KICK *BLAM, BLAM, BLAM!!!!!!!"
"You'll need to check that your chemicals mixers have all the appropriate safety tags and are registered quarterly..."
"HEY TROG!!! COUNT THE SHELLS!!!!!!"
A wise dm once told me
Him: "How many pcs does it take to screw in a lightbulb?"
Me: "Hmmm, i gue"
Him: "All of them, dont split the party!"
Amen. Live by this after letting the party split once. What a headache that turned out to be!
Once or twice per campaign, I actually try and have the group split up and play on seperate nights. It has to be something major though, like one group heading off to the swamps to search for that rare artifact that can help the group against the invading bad guys/monsters while the other half of the group hold their ground and help the village hold back the incomming force until the artefact arrives (always in the nick of time). Or something along those lines. Makes me think of thos old GI JOE cartoons where they would split up into three or four groups in order to recover either rare elements or fragmented pieces of a fallen satelite before Cobra got their hands on them.
For regular mini-group-splits, like when a rogues or ranger decides to scout ahead, I usually have the gang remain at the table and rapid-play with the scout. Most of the times, this translates into giving some sort of fore-sight into the next battle (and maybe even a surprise round!) or a little bonus to the group.
Ultradan
In the end, it's also the player's job to 'push' the story foreward, and splitting up the group, or constantly seperating oneself from the adventuring party isn't constructive to the group goal.
Ultradan