campaigns for small groups? (2-3 players)

[Varianor Abroad]

He can't move until after the October Gameday in Wistah.

A fun variant on Queen D's suggestion is to run each campaign as the children of the prior adventurers. Or advance it a hundred years so the PCs are now the great heroes of the past.

 

[Gwaihir]

I've always been interested in running a solo or near solo campaign. I was close once, A D&D version of Indiana Jones.

In addition to this and the 007 style thing I saw above, other ideas would include:

A star trek style space game: Captain & First Officer.
A super hero styled game. Captain America & The Falcon!
A mage centered game that focuses more on discovery of spells/components/mysteries than combat/Exploration.

 

[Crothian]

What a group of 8 people can ionvestigate, a group of two can to. Encoubnters might need modified and the character will have to handle more roles but a 2 person party's campaign is really not much different then any other.

 

[CarlZog]

I think that you should move to the DC area and just play with us, GlassJaw.

Hey, wait a second! As one of Glassjaw's remaining three, I protest. You're a shameless player thief, QD!

Carl

 

[CarlZog]

I think Varianor hit it right on the head. When you think of fantasy and modern entertainment (books, movies, TV shows) that support this kind of campaign - those are the styles. The Matrix, Master and Commander, James Bond, KEW's Kane, Robin Hood and others...most of them have a primary protagonist with an important side-kick integral to the story, with most other players (NPCs) on the periphery making occassional appearences.

I've been thinking along these lines, too, with the caveat being that the two characters are more evenly complementary, as opposed to one taking a side-kick role to the other one. Brains-and-brawn partnerships, or just different skill sets, can go a long way. With the option to add some supporting NPCs, the world is wide open.

I've also been thinking along the lines of a two-man detective agency. Could be modern, could be classic 1930s noir, could be a Bladerunner-esque future setting.

Firefly and the pending release of Serenity is fueling my brain with other gritty freelancer sci-fi stuff too.

Carl

 

[radferth]

Glassjaw:

Why don't you pull out those Iron Hero/Conan hybrid rules of your and run Howardesqe campaign. Or any city-based thing (two wandering around the city is actually more plausable than 5 or 6). My personal suggestion is the players are members of criminal gang at war with its rival gang(s). This works in just about any genre (S&S, fantasy, modern, future). I would like to point out that this suggestion has nothing to do with the fact that my wife just rented the latest season of Sopranos out on DVD.

 

[GlassJaw]

I think that you should move to the DC area and just play with us, GlassJaw.

I suppose to could move down to DC but New England is really beautiful this time of year...

Why don't you pull out those Iron Hero/Conan hybrid rules

Grim Tales, not Iron Heroes! How dare you make such a mistake?!

Or any city-based thing (two wandering around the city is actually more plausable than 5 or 6). My personal suggestion is the players are members of criminal gang at war with its rival gang(s). This works in just about any genre (S&S, fantasy, modern, future). I would like to point out that this suggestion has nothing to do with the fact that my wife just rented the latest season of Sopranos out on DVD.

Cool ideas. I've actually been thinking about something similar. The campaign I had in mind when I put together my ruleset was a dark and gritty, city-based steampunk campaign. My idea was that the players each run a primary character. When they are role-playing or making decisions, it's assumed their primary characters are the ones involved. However, I would allow each player to create a couple more characters that would serve as contacts. As jobs or adventures came up, they could hire their contacts as needed to fill out their skillset.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

Hey, wait a second! As one of Glassjaw's remaining three, I protest. You're a shameless player thief, QD!

Carl

I'm very sneaky and very devious! *makes a very sneaky and very devious face*

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

... 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.

 

[EdL]

Or you could watch a lot of Hercules and/or Xena and go from there.

 

[genshou]

Or you could watch a lot of Hercules and/or Xena and go from there.

*gasp* Ed! Hello!

Gestalt rules are excellent in many d20 System rulesets, though they don't work well with the d20 Modern class structure. Are you going with d20 System?

It's more on the players than it is on you, IMO. Throw the same challenges at them for the most part, but remember that they are only three people and therefore can't do the work of six people.