Downsizing my group

[pukunui]

Hi folks,

Me again. I had six players, but one recently dropped out, and I'm now fully expecting three others to follow him. That'll leave me with two. Now, I actually prefer smaller, more intimate social settings to larger ones, so I'm cool with only having two. And they're the two who were most enthusiastic about the game anyway, so I think it'll still be lots of fun.

All I'm really wondering at this point is how to proceed with a smaller group. Should I:

1) Scale down all of the encounters and everything for just two PCs
2) Have each player run two PCs
3) Pad out the group with GMPCs/NPC minions


Whaddaya reckon? I'm running a prefab campaign (Star Wars Saga Edition: Dawn of Defiance), so I'd rather not do the first one if I can avoid it. And I might eventually look to recruiting another player or two. Still, opinions please. What works and what doesn't. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each option. Are there any pitfalls I should be aware of. And so on.


Thanks in advance,
Jonathan

 

[Hussar]

I find that players playing more than one PC leads to having one PC with a personality and a silent partner(s). It can be very difficult to have two characters being developed at the same time.

I do like having lots of mooks/minions though. Depends on the system whether that's a good idea or not.

 

[Super Pony]

I would recommend adding another PC that the two players can build together and then they can take turns running the "third wheel." If they are both invested in the well-being of the character right from char-gen it will bring out more than just another pile of stats. It helps if the third PC is a necessity class with some exagerated personality and physical features that makes them easy to roleplay (even if it does limit depth of character to a certain extent...hey we all love Chewbacca)

Then create a party NPC/GM PC that you run. Shouldering the load can do wonders in a small group. Otherwise you get diluted characters or a GM that has to "wash and dry" so to speak with multiple party NPC's as well as the regular load of GM tasks.

 

[pukunui]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

On the one hand, I don't really have a problem with one PC taking a backseat to another personality-wise and the like. However, on the other hand, I really like Super Pony's suggestion of a sort of "party" PC created by both players.

That being said, I'm not sure my players would be that interested in doing the initial building of the PC. They're not the most mechanically minded players. They're more in it for the story. So they'd probably be OK with me building one for them, but they'd be happy to control the PC during play and probably even make the level-up choices.

And I think rather than make a bonafide GMPC, I'll just fill in any gaps in the party with NPC minions, most likely droids. So like if none of the PCs are good at healing, I'll let them have a medical droid. If none of them are good with mechanics, I'll let them have an astromech droid. And so on. I'd most likely let the players make all the rolls for these minions, but I'd have the final say over what they do and what they say and so forth (although I'd definitely make them take a backseat to the actual PCs).

 

[King Nate]

Maybe give them each an animal companion that acts immediately after the main character in the initiative order?

 

[pukunui]

That's an option too. The last SWSE book, The Unknown Regions, introduced some loose rules for introducing animal companions into the campaign. Plus, one of my players is pretty inexperienced - she's only ever played PbP D&D 3.0, and so she made a Star Wars character that was loosely based on the 3.x ranger class ... except that at the time I had 7 players, so I thought an animal companion would be a bit too much. Now, though, I might let her have one.

Thanks for the suggestions so far everyone! Keep 'em coming!

 

[Starfox]

This depends ultimately on what kind of games you run. In a straight dungeon bash, you could make them "sergeants" and give them some NPCs or even monsters to run. If you're doing 4E, having one fully fleshed out character and 1-3 NPC-statted characters should work well. Just make the NPC's healing surges an encounter resource. Similar tactics and simplified stats can work in other games too. Give them each a pet monster or simplified NPC follower.

If your game is more story-based, with plots and intrigue, this might not work so well. In such stories, personality is more important anyway, and with fewer players each gets more camera time, which in turn makes things easier to play and more interesting. Run a standard game, or possibly give the PCs a wider scope of abilities (gestalt characters in 3.5 work well for this).

 

[pukunui]

I'm running a Star Wars Saga Edition game, so it's supposed to be mostly pulp action/adventure space fantasy stuff with a sprinkling of intrigue and the like. The Dawn of Defiance adventure path consists of 10 adventures, each with a different feel and theme. The idea was to present all the different kinds of campaigns you could run using the SWSE rules. The module I'm running right now has a sort of James Bond "Casino Royale" feel to it, with the PCs trying to track down an elusive Hutt gangster during an intergalactic "poker" tournament.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Six is my 'happy zone', so I would be looking for more players.

With two players... I might move more toward mysteries, politics, and intrigue and away from combat.

The Auld Grump

 

[Flatus Maximus]

I ran DoD with two players. Each player had a main character and a droid. Worked out pretty well. We got to about level 8, at which point we switched back to D&D for awhile.