2 person party Advice

[Old Gumphrey]

We also have only 2 players at the moment, so we are each controlling 2 PC's and the DM runs for 4. Another idea I had that we're trying very soon is to have one PC, but double its uses of encounter & daily powers, double its HP, give it two turns per round, and treat the two characters as a 4-man party. A character can consider itself an ally under this system.

 

[mach1.9pants]

We ran like that last (2 players each with 2 PCs) but it didn't work. We are not hardcore and there were too many powers for the guys to memorise so a lot of delay in choosing and going through powers by the time we got to 10th (and stopped). It also stymied RP it being hard to keep 2 characters interacting with each other when you are doing both sides of the conversation. If and when my 4E game starts again I will be running 2 PCs and scaling everything, thanks for the hints in here, bookmarked.

 

[renau1g]

I ran a game for my wife (gf at the time) a few years ago and she controlled 2 PC's and I controlled 1 DMPC. It was odd because I couldn't interact well with my DMPC and the NPC's and here two PC's couldn't RP together well.

 

[Robtheman]

A few ideas:

Have them be part of some organization (imperial guards, organized crime rings, etc.). This helps in the following ways:
- Allows you to try out a variety of types of encounters and environments during the first few sessions to see what works for the group (including yourself of course).
- Creates natural acceptance of any number of helpers NPCs that can be used to drive the plot and provide a unique type of assistance that help with the types of situations you place them in.

Go for story driven, RP heavy sessions. The 4e system doesn't break with fewer players numbers, but it really is not as exciting.

Know lots about the game world so they can improvise successfully. The smaller the group the more likely they will go off the reservation, in my opinion.

Really play up the environment. A small group means fewer distractions, so really focus on immersion.

Take the chance to make magical gear really really magical and significant. You can afford to invest the time in that since you have two players. I enjoy having a players actions result in enchantments or specifically neat rewards.

Consider using a 3d6 with exploding dice on 6's. This would mean the players could achieve some amazingly high rolls, resulting in world changing effects (if it makes sense).

Consider using "Stunt Cards" that let a player spend a healing surge or something else to do something awesome that their class could theoretically do. Use page 42 to adjudicate. This might help them get past particularly difficult encounters as you learn to calibrate to the smaller party size. Also, it makes them feel special and brings some roleplaying into the encounters.

Try and build up the personalities of the bad guys. Have one liners for them and encourage banter during combat. Consider letting the bad guys get away or "resurrect" more than you would during normal campaigns.

If you need ideas for how the baddies interact with the good guy duo, consider reading some comic books. Batman and Robin, for instance?

Okay sir, that's all I have today. Hopefully it was helpful.

Edit:
I nearly forgot. If running a game for your wife I recommend reading the Adventures of Kandi and Pepper.
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19905354/Lessons_from_DMing_with_my_GF?pg=1

A fan of the DM has created a table of contents for that monstrous thread. The entire thing is gold, but the stuff on Kandi and Pepper (the DMs girlfriend and her animal companion) might help as you develop a more personal campaign for your two players.

 

[Mavrik]

Closed Loop - I run a two player campaign with a Rogue and Bard, that works well...I keep the locale small an intimate... started out as a city campaign, stayed in the neighbour hood etc.. did some locale adventures, lets you tailor encounters for role playing as well as combat

 

[renau1g]

I'm considering the Council of Thieves AP from Paizo as its an all urban campaign...we'll see. Thanks for the info everyone.

 

[Herschel]

I'd go hybrid defender/striker, a Genasi Barbarian/Swordmage would be rockin'. Mark mechanic, extra attacks, good melee basic, good defenses....Ranged attackers are an issue, but something always will be with only two party members unless you have a ranged companion character like a throw & stab ranger.

 

[Robtheman]

In regards to using an existing module.

With a party of two you have the opportunity to make up a very unique and special story that is based entirely around the choices and values of your players.

Playing a module, while great for providing background material, would require you to heavily modify encounters that are built for parties of 4-6 PCs. You'd also be providing a ready made plot, losing the opportunity for the players back stories and in game decisions to create the tale.

It's hard to mold a story around 5 players, but with two you can really afford to improvise. In fact that's my favorite part.

I realize this is not what you asked for, but I'd like to encourage you to take the campaign environment and NPCs from that module and use it to build a world your players can explore, but scrap the plot unless it fits with your players interests and goals.

That is just my opinion and of course this assumes you have the time to brew it all up in your head.

 

[renau1g]

Aye, if I had the time I'd certainly do that, unfortunately, having a young family (and one on the way), plus a promotion at work = more expectations, don't allow much (if any) time for this. Actually, my wife's PC already had her background all set and when I discussed the adventure and hooks they synched up perfectly with her which was awesome.

 

[Pseudopsyche]

I think the Paizo AP could work well. I think having a small party is actually a benefit when converting adventures from 3E, since the expected number of monsters is smaller. Switching systems does mean you'll want to be flexible with substituting 3E monsters with 4E ones.

If you go with a 4E module designed for five, do consider adding a companion character. One thing I want to try when I finally start my solo campaign with my wife is to have a companion character that I role-play outside of combat and that she can run in combat, if she wants. The idea is to borrow the general scheme from video games such as Dragon Age: she controls the main character and handles all the interaction with NPCs. She can converse with the companions outside of combat but control them directly in combat (or leave them under "auto" DM/AI control).

The reason to add a third party member is that you can easily scale an encounter down from five PCs to three PCs by removing two levels from every monster. (I think this should more or less work even for 1st-level monsters; they just lose the HP and attack/defense scores as normal.) But going from five PCs to two kind of pushes the +/-4 guidelines for adjusting levels. Even then, you probably just need to remove a monster or two, then drop two levels.