campaigns for small groups? (2-3 players)

[genshou]

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.

Trust a dwarf...

Note that I have a particularly elven mindset, so that's exactly what I would have said after the smoke cleared.

 

[Shades of Green]

For groups of less than four, seriously consider using the Gestalt rules, and adjust your CRs to account for the smaller party. This allows them to play the class that they really want, while still having the four basic food groups...

Also, be a bit more generous with the magic items, as these can account for a lot. Even a Gestalted Elf with only one level of Wizard can make use of any arcane magic item found!

From where are Gestalt rules? If I do not posses that book, I'll just double all CRs (i.e. 1/2 CR becomes 1 CR) to account for my two-player party's relatively greater challange to defeat each foe than a four-person group.

 

[Agback]

Please Enlighten:

Who are Sir Francis Walsingham & Dr Dee?

And why do they offend Roman Catholics?

Sir Francis Walsingham was a courtier at the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England, who held various offices such as MP for Surrey, ambassador to France, and Secretary of State (a job he shared with Sir Thomas Smith). Secretly, he was the master of the English spy network, which operated both in foreign countries and in other countries, notably Scotland, the Netherlands, France, and Spain.

Dr John Dee was an English mathematician, astrologer, philosopher, alchemist, mystic, and reputed magician. He was a consultant (astrologer) to Queen Elizabeth, and was in fact employed by Walsingham to break codes.

They both lived and flourished during the Reformation, a time when the struggle between Catholicism and Protestantism was a high matter of state, and often amounted to open war. The rights and wrongs of the situtaion are complicated and contentious, but the summary is that Queen Elizabeth was a Protestant whose claim to the throne was denied by the Pope on a point of canon law. Catholic rulers plotted invasions to overthrow her, secret agents of the Church and Catholic powers fomented conspiracies among English Catholics to assassinate or overthrow the Queen and massacre Protestant courtiers, and the Pope issued a fatwah calling on Catholics assassinate Elizabeth and offering them the rewards of martyrdom if they died trying. The Protestant government of England, facing massacre and religious persecution if these plot succeeded, took vigorous measures to defend itself and its members. And these as a matter of course shaded through injustices and oppressions based on suspicion to persecutions driven by religious bigotry.

Asking Catholics to play agents of Sir Francis Walsingham is a bit like asking Communists to play FBI agents under J Edgar Hoover.

 

[genshou]

From where are Gestalt rules? If I do not posses that book, I'll just double all CRs (i.e. 1/2 CR becomes 1 CR) to account for my two-player party's relatively greater challange to defeat each foe than a four-person group.

So a CR 10 would be a CR 20 to your party?

The problem is that doubling the actual number of a CR only doubles its power if the CR is 2 or below. At CR 3 and above, increasing CR by 2 is equivalent to doubling its power.

If you have two party members, don't change the CR of the monsters. Just change the monsters you are using so their CR is 2 lower than the party level. The the two 5th-level PCs get the EXP for defeating a CR 3, and split it in half. They get plenty of experience and everyone is happy.

 

[Stormborn]

From where are Gestalt rules? If I do not posses that book, I'll just double all CRs (i.e. 1/2 CR becomes 1 CR) to account for my two-player party's relatively greater challange to defeat each foe than a four-person group.

Changing the CR that way wouldn't result in an accurate system. Gestalt rules were in Unearthed Arcana and can be found here: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/gestaltCharacters.htm

Edit: Personally I don't think those rules are needed with 2-3 players, but could be a fun alternative.

 

[Gwaihir]

We run a gestalt campaign. In the past when we played weekly you would get a variety of characters because we would start new campaigns fairly frequently--Two DMs each running a game two weeks at a time, and several campaigns that fizzled rather fast. So, It works out pretty good because we have a small group and now only get to play once per month. For this reason, Prior to starting my current campaign I toyed with a setup similar to Ars Magica where each player got to play several characters, but decided to try gestalt instead.