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Message: <blockquote data-quote="garriotr" data-source="post: 6136152" data-attributes="member: 6746786">Greetings! I have a couple of questions on how to set up combat-oriented campaigns for 2 players. It is going to be a long post, because I really want to get into this but the situation is not very common. I would appreciate any advice you could share! I am planning on playing with my friend, hopefully for at least a couple of months; there will be only two of us. We are both rather new to pnp DnD (some basic knowledge from crpgs; also, we have read through 3.5e phb).I have also searched through the similar threads on the internet and the common answers were the following:- it can be done, it can be fun, but still a different type of game than a full party would have- it is not advised to play as more than 2 characters - it's better to use combat-oriented campaigns, especially the ones oriented for 1 player I have no problem with dropping the roleplaying aspect a little bit and concentrate on the encounters and fights since 1. it is understandable that the former will be less engaging with just two players; 2. we are both more interested in tactical combat anyway. Now to the specific questions:  0. I have looked at some books (e.g., "Roleplaying Game Starter Set", "Dungeons & Dragons Basic Game", "Dungeon Crawl Classics") that have some great beginner combat-based encounters and I think that's a good way to start. But what is the best way to set this up, in general? Maybe we should take turns being a GM? Should a GM also control a character? What about total number of characters? How would being a GM and a player at the same time work out? (the GM would know all the checks\rolls\traps, right? Or should we just keep the campaign book open and read it as we progress?).   1. We went for 3.5ed because we at least know the basics of dnd from crpgs and we own several books already. I've heard that 4ed is more combat-based than 3ed, should we consider switching to that edition? Or maybe stick to 3.5 and then make a transition to Pathfinder? Maybe some other system (not d&d) would work better?  2. Are there any good campaign videos\channels that would be partially applicable to my situation? Any general recommendations on books\videos?  3. I've looked through the 4ed differences and what I liked was the amount of abilities a fighter has. However, having read through the 3.5 phb, I am also very excited to try out all those grapples, tripping and disarms. As I understand, you can also perform almost any action like trying to throw sand to render the opponent blind, so you can make your fighter more than just an autoattack machine.   But I am still very confused on what exactly you can do as a fighter (for instance, what actions could I perform instead grapple\trip\disarm when facing animals). Is there any guide\tips for playing an interesting fighter? Maybe some campaign videos featuring a detailed melee combat scene? I've also read that some books (for the fighter it was a "complete fighter" or something like that) introduce additional feats. Should I use them as well or should I just stick to phb? The more possibilities in combat and character planning the better. What about other types of characters? (ranged, mages). How could you diversify your actions during the combat (something like grappling\tripping)? Again, any recommendations on tutorials\books\videos covering this? I know that a lot depends on the imagination, but having some basic examples\guidelines would certainly help.  4. Is it worth using a virtual tabletop program like MapTools? I have no problem with drawing maps by hand and writing all the numbers on paper, but those tools provide some nice visualization features, like player vision depending on light level. I hope you will help us getting into PnP RPGs, even if our way of playing would lack in diversity or other features a full party campaign could have.  Thanks in advance!</blockquote>

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