D&D 5E Is it ok to split the party?

[Earth2Carnifex]

This is something I actually do once a year or so. Each player gets a whole game to themselves while the rest take the night off. We usually do it during the summer when we tend to miss a lot of games anyway. It usually takes shape around "The party has stopped at this town and you have all went your different ways for the night...", everyone's story takes place during the same time period and they all come back together a little worse for the wear in the morning. The idea behind the exercise is to allow development of the character outside of the group dynamic, develop personal plot points and getting one on one face time with the GM. I ask each player to provide me with a sentence or two plot line they would like me to develop and I run with it from there. Everyone usually comes away happy.

 

[Sunseeker]

Not while running them simultaneously. I would probably insist that a party split means that each player makes a second character, to make a full party on both sides, then switch back and forth between "groups" as is necessary for the story and the game.

 

[ccs]

If you think you're up to it, the story supports it, & your players would enjoy it? Then give t a shot.

It's not at all uncommon in my on games for the characters to get split up. (often through their own actions)
I've had characters on different lvs/rooms of dungeons, miles apart, different cities, different continents/time-zones, different planes, even different centuries.

I don't usually run separate adventures for them. Instead I simply go around the table giving each player roughly the same # of minutes. I don't do this in any set order, & I have no problem pausing something with one person in order to pick up with another. Sometimes the players not directly involved will play NPCs/monsters, sometimes not. It depends upon the player.
I absolutely don't mind if the players see what's going on in each others "scenes". What's going on is part of the story. I WANT the players to know the story & I'll trust them to use what they know appropriately as far as IC/OOC info is concerned.

 

[Psikerlord#]

We had some 1 on 1 sessions in our recent dark sun game (just one session each player), and it was terrific actually. Had a blast during the session, and then later when we regrouped, telling each other about what we did

So I think it can definitely work, but I suspect best as a one off or rare thing.

 

[Iry]

There's nothing wrong with it if you can handle the extra workload and keep your players engaged during the whole process. But I am bad at multitasking, so I outright ask my players not to split the party.