adventure advice needed

[josh rotten]

ok well a have new problem

about half my group loves to really roleplay and the other half really wants to kill things so i need to do one adventure that they'll both like. i was thinking something on the lines of 'the party has to split up, some have to go stop some evil force well the other half has to go figure out what mad this evil force apear" i have that but any ideas as to how this would work. or coments on if you've ran an adventure such as this one, how did it go?

 

[wolfpunk]

You are on the right track I think. Perhaps half the party the thinking part of the party is abducted by a wizard or some such npc. They are trapped in their dungeon, lair, castle whatever. Now they have several oppurtunities to try to free themselves, they just have to come up with ways to do it. Once they are free of confinement, perhaps halls filled with traps and the like twart their attempts at simply just running away. Give them some time to come up with ways to get around the clever traps. Perhaps if the traps get them, they incapacitate the pcs rather then killing them.

The pcs wake up, once again in their cell, only this time it is harder to escape, repeat as necessary.

The other half has to find some clue that would lead them to where the pcs are being held, and they simply have to fight there way into the area where the pcs are being held. This could include minions, monsters, and of course the big boss guy who started the whole event.

The problem is keeping one half of the party interested while the other party is playing. Not too hard for the puzzle people, they will need time to consider, but making the fighters wait while the puzzle players are playing, could lead to distraction.

 

[Darklone]

uh

Hard time. You can hardly manage to keep both sides interested in the long run.

In one of the groups where I am playing (not DMing as in all the others) the DM has the same problem. One quester, two roleplayers and 3 ... well not exactly hack&slashers but ... they enjoy to game.

He has a hard time keeping everyone busy.

In my groups: I implemented more combat but gave them less time to act. 10 seconds per player to make his turn. If a player wanted to make a whirlwind attack on 5 enemies he rolled 5 different coloured d20 plus 5d(weapon) in the same colour at once and announced it.

That's harsh but that way we sometimes had a lot of combat per evening plus some decent roleplaying and questing and riddling.

 

[kengar]

Splitting up the party can get tricky. Unless you want the players to have knowledge of what the others are doing ("OK! Since they're tunneling out of the cell we should wait by the west wall of the castle!"), you have to keep making half the players go watch TV or something while you deal with the others. This is too tedious IMHO. I usually just try to design adventures that offer some of both kinds of encounters; RP & H&S. Also, there are situations where a smooth-talker might bypass the need for combat. Maybe everyone isn't doing EXACTLY what they want the whole time, but there is a balance.

 

[LostSoul]

As long as you don't map, or have slow dungeon exploration, everything should run fine.

I don't exactly know how you'd run everything so that one group was role-playing while the other was fighting, but it could be done. One group might be at the baron's court, trying to convince him that there are wererats beneath the city! while the other group is trying to get evidence to prove thier claim - evidence gained by the sword.

 

[KnowTheToe]

I have two simple recommendations for you.

1. More random monster / baddies encounters that don't relate to the plot

2. Create small combat heavy subplots to throw in the Role Play plots.

Splitting the party rarely works for a prolonged period of time.

 

[LostSoul]

Splitting the party rarely works for a prolonged period of time.

You know, I hear this all the time, but when I played Star Wars the party would split up all the time. It was never a problem, even when we had three different groups fighting in three different combats at the same time.

 

[Schmoe]

I have a couple of suggestions. First, make sure to have at least one, preferably two or more combats per evening. The combats can be brief, and they don't have to advance the plot, but they ensure that the "hackers" are entertained. As long as you follow the first suggestion, you can feel free to focus on the plot and make it as involved as you want.

Second, remember that even combats can be role-playing opportunities. Nothing prevents the villains from having conversations while they fight, and it can even make battles more dramatic. Merging the two will ensure that both sides are involved.

Also, try to be descriptive during combats. This gives the role-players the feeling that descriptions and methods are important, even during combat, which is exactly what they want.

As far as what to do for a plot that contains both, I haven't the faintest idea. Really, I think just about any plot can be adapted so that both sides of your group will enjoy themselves.