How to best run a "buddy cop" game

[Herobizkit]

I have two players. I have talked them into playing a "buddy cop" type of game, ie where the two heroes who are opposites in some way share the spotlight as the "main" character.

It's possible that one player will create a "mystic from the Far East" / Arabic themed Sorcerer. No real discussion as to the other one as yet.

I plan on setting the scene in Eberron. I'm told that the world was designed with Film Noir in mind, so a detective/whodunit/investigation kind of game would be right up its alley. I'd also focus a lot on the characters' relations with other NPCs.

What I'm aiming for is a dram-com (about as kooky as Whedon with about as much investigation as 'Supernatural') with a small but frequently seen core of NPCs working in a larger area.

Also, at some point, I'm going to put them in Dark Sun via a portal, and I have a story all worked out regarding Warforged and their role in portal exploration. It's a decidedly UN-kooky storyline, so I won't be springing it on them until later.

Lots of rambles, but bottom line, I'd interested if Pathfinder or 4e will give me what I'm looking for. And beyond that, ANY information that will help me give them stuff to do would be helpful.

 

[Mark CMG]

Neat! You might have to wait for more info from the players for much of it, since it is likely to be character driven in many respects. Maybe start the campaign off with some RPing about their backstory, how they met, what they have in common and their differences, strengths and weaknesses, etc. You can build up points of reference to seed the various adventures that you run over the course of the whole campaign. Be sure to be part of the RPing with lots of NPCs, many of which you can come up with as they riff on ideas for the backgrounds. These can pop up from time to time during useful or awkward moments and add lots of depth to the game while helping tie it all together. It might sound simple, but be sure to prompt them during this early RPing for nouns, as every person, place, and thing they add will come in handy for you later. Have fun!

 

[Randomthoughts]

Lots of rambles, but bottom line, I'd interested if Pathfinder or 4e will give me what I'm looking for. And beyond that, ANY information that will help me give them stuff to do would be helpful.

Cool setting. I'm not really familiar with Pathfinder, but I run a 4e Dark Sun campaign right now. From a character creation standpoint, the classes are pretty balanced, so both "buddies" won't outshine the other (at least in combat). They are also designed with specific roles in mind. But since there also also a ton of options to chose from (themes, backgrounds, feats), I've found it easy to make PCs that dip into two roles (like a Striker/Defender) pretty well. i'd make sure they both do decent damage to avoid really long battles (a Defender/Striker and Leader/Striker make a good duo). Finally, I've found 4e characters to be pretty powerful and robust (read: hard to kill), if you like that kind of campaign (and a buddy cop campaign is along those lines).

As for running the game, a buddy cop campaign focuses on roleplaying (I would think) and less on combat. So 4e is great for set piece battles (and the tactical interplay between the PCs) but I'd avoid the grind of running mind-numbing battle after battle.

Another area I'd look out for is Skill Challenges. I personally like them, but I also experiment with different types (there's quite a bit of advice/ideas on them now). I'd also consider giving each the same number of skills (so both could equally shine in this arena). My typical adventure is usually one battle (that lasts 1-2 hours) and the rest are skill challenges or pure role-playing. A buddy cop game seems it would fit that mold too.

What 4e doesn't have is some "contact" system. So, I'd either look to see if one is out there, or make one up.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

 

[Morrus]

Buddy movies are tough. They rely solely on a uniques and magical chemistry between two very skilled an professional actors. It's a particular formala which - unlike most movie formulae - is entirely chemistry dependent. Gibson and Glover had it. Starsky and Hutch did, too. But two random gamers are unlikely to.

That's not saying they won't, or can't. But setting up a campaign based on a particular natural character chemistry is a risk. It could pay off well, but I can't help feeling that requires a lot of luck. I don't feel it's likely that two gamers are going to naturally replicate what two scripted actors did.

Forgive my stupid phone typos Technology isn't quite there yet!

 

[Nytmare]

Buddy movies are tough. They rely solely on a uniques and magical chemistry between two very skilled an professional actors.

I ran two buddy cop games, and both of them managed to work out; and I think that the only reason why the "buddy" aspect managed to shine through was because in both games, both of the players adopted and built off of existing buddy cop duos.

I didn't realize it at first, but I actually ended up subconsciously building an armful of NPCs out of the supporting casts from both movies too.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

You may want to consider using the Gumshoe system or taking a page from its philosophy. When it comes to investigations the PCs automatically find pertinent clues as long as they have an appropriate skill and it's up to the PCs to figure out what the clues mean. By taking the burden of finding clues out of the equation it might give the players more opportunity to focus on putting the pieces together and playing off of each other in that buddy cop sort of way.

More importantly I think that you need to have a third player sit in every once and a while as a loud mouthed, blonde halfling named Leo Getz.

 

[Herobizkit]

Still in the works, I haven't yet settled on an edition. From a DM standpoint, 4e is so much easier to run than Pathfinder, plus it still has some "new car" smell since I've barely touched it and it's already on its way out. On the other hand, Pathfinder is what they're playing in right now and they like the system a little better.