campaigns for small groups? (2-3 players)

[Agback]

In my haste I probably should have mentioned that we won't be playing D&D. We are all fairly burned out and are looking for something significantly different.

Okay, this makes it much easier. D&D's class system is to a significant extent designed to spread out spotlight time between a group of four or five players. The separation of abilities to separate classes and restriction of synergies between the 'four basic food groups' are tuned to provide that you need at lest four characters to flourish in the assumed environment. Skill-based games in general do not do this so well. Which increases the burden on the GM to keep every member of a large group engaged with a game. But means that it is easier to get a survivable package in a small party.

I have run spy campaigns, private eye campaigns, supernatural investigator campaigns, horror campaigns, epic fantasy campaigns, urban fantasy campaigns, SF police procedurals, historical fantasy campaigns, historical adventure campaigns, pulp adventure campaigns, investigtive-journalist campaigns, political thriller campaigns, etc. in probably a couple of dozen different historical periods and fictitious settings. It is all good. And a party of three or four works very well.

 

[CarlZog]

You and GlassJaw both have an open invite at our gaming table any time.

Great! See you guys next week!

I'm kidding, but I am actually going to be working a boat show in Annapolis next week.

... also - I'd love to see New England this time of year. Fall is my favorite, favorite season and I hear it's absolutely amazing up there. Maybe I'll make it up some day.

Worcester, MA gameday in two weeks! You guys should come!

 

[Agback]

Fantasy James Bond.

Or just outright James Bondage, set in the '50s, '60s, '70s, or present, with no more fantasy elements than are in the movies. You can use any GP RPG (eg. Hero System, GURPS, or d20 Modern), or the old James Bond 007 rules from Victory Games (if you can get them, and no, I'm not offering either of my copies), which are truly excellent--one of the best RPG rulesets ever published, and perhaps the best fit of rules to subject matter that I know of.

 

[Agback]

My group went from 6 players to 3 now. We actually like this way better. They each get more attention from me and they focus more on their adventures and they seem to bond a lot more as a group.

That's what I find, too. With a third of the spotlight time each, players are much more involved than with only one sixth of the spotlight time each. And any sort of plan is much more likely to require the attention and co-operation of the whole party. You don't so often have anyone's attention wander while they are waiting for attention to turn to the bit they are working on.

 

[Stormborn]

I've never had more than 3 players for any regular game I have run. Play what you want and don't worry about it. That having been said, alot of the above suggestions for campaigns work well. Alot of modern games, in any genre or system, will allow PCs to call in additional aid, or not need it at all. Its an easy step from investigative/special ops in 2005 to the same thing in 1945, 1925, 1865, or 1605, especially if you are willing to add magic into the mix. I recently ran a Delta Green-esque one shot where the PCs were agents of Dr. John Dee, the Immortal Queen's Lord High Sorcerer, sent to investigate a strange light and reports of stones falling from the sky in what turned out to be X-files meets Cthulhu meets Faeries meet War of the Worlds. The players loved it and want to come back to it later. Don't let it worry you. There is nothing that 6 can do that 3 can't. If you have 1 that might or might not show, throw in a recurring NPC that can take up the slack w/o taking on the spot light.

 

[Agback]

I recently ran a Delta Green-esque one shot where the PCs were agents of Dr. John Dee, the Immortal Queen's Lord High Sorcerer

You telepathic idea-thief, you!

I have been trying for years to interest players in a campaign in which the PCs were secret agents in the service of Sir Francis Walsingham, with Dr John Dee in something of the role of 'Q'. But sadly too many of my usual players are Catholic, and they don't go for it.

 

[Gwaihir]

Please Enlighten:

Who are Sir Francis Walsingham & Dr Dee?

And why do they offend Roman Catholics?

 

[Stormborn]

Please Enlighten:

Who are Sir Francis Walsingham & Dr Dee?

And why do they offend Roman Catholics?

John Dee: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dee

Sir Francis Walsingham: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Francis_Walsingham

I know why they would offened Roman Catholics that were their contemporaries, but as for why they do now I have no idea. Even if I did, any discussion of that would not be appropriate in these boards. If you want to ask Agback for specifics I suggest PMing or E-mailing him directly

 

[Gwaihir]

Thanks

I never considered that these might be historical figures. My education is lacking in this time frame obviously.

 

[Kristivas]

I often have 2 PCs and what I do is make a number of NPCs and let them choose 2. I'll never play more than 2 NPCs in the party and I make that clear. Hirling/cannon fodders are different.

I often come up with different lines for the NPCs (according to their alignment and int/wis scores) for the big 'puzzle' situations in an adventure, and roll among them. Sometimes they're right on the money, sometimes they suggest something that does nothing, and sometimes they suggest something terrible. I've had a near TPK because a group listened to one of their dwarven cleric's suggestions.

(Lad, ye shoul' jus' pull tha lever. I be sure it opens tha door 'ere. We Dwarves are master stonecutters an' know such things! Harumph!)

BOOM.

There were 6 options on a range of 1d20 and that was his reply if I rolled a 1 or 2. It's luck sometimes lol. Good thing he survived to heal everyone out of the negatives.