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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7949835" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>Yep.</p><p></p><p>Ideally in this case I'd want to run Alpha on one night of the week, Beta on another and Delta on another (and in days of old was even able to pull this off once in a while!). Best I've done lately - and even that not for some years now - is to have two groups going, one on Fridays, one on Sundays. (now it's just Sundays)</p><p></p><p>You hit one key element: player overlap between groups. In your example Emmett is in all three, meaning his PCs can interweave between groups now and then and provide the reason for the others to know (or at least know of) each other.</p><p></p><p>Here I can chime in with a few direct answers to [USER=6779196]@Charlaquin[/USER] 's questions.</p><p></p><p>First, at the table during any given session 95% of the time thing look feel and play exactly the same as they otherwise would. You're playing the party you're playing in whatever adventure they're in, etc.</p><p></p><p>However, the other 5% is where the fun starts. There's four types of sessions that can be unusual:</p><p></p><p>- sessions (usually downtime) where multiple parties are in the same place at the same time and can thus meet, interact, etc. If it's all or almost all the same players just with multiple PCs this is easy; if it's groups with very little player overlap then you're probably doing a lot by email that week. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>- sessions (usually downtime) where multiple parties could be in the same place at the same time but because one or more groups hasn't been played up to that point yet you're not sure. These are messy. I can't count the times I've said to a group "Well, you make it back to town but I-as-DM have no idea what other characters are here right now, other than A, B and C who retired here full-time."</p><p></p><p>- sessions where for game-time reasons you-as-DM have to force one group to stop and jump to another group so you can catch them up in time. This is I think what [USER=1210]@the Jester[/USER] means by "screwy timeline issues"; you have to stay right on top of game time for all involved, and if a group starts lagging behind you've got to speed them up while if a group gets too far ahead you've got to put them on hold. Ditto for indivudal retired or inactive PCs, but these are usually much easier to update.</p><p></p><p>- sessions where something affects the entire group at once e.g. an attack on a shared home base when multiple parties are in from the field. Here you might end up running a combined-group session or two to deal with the one situation before they split out again.</p><p></p><p>Most of the time these days how it goes is we run one party through an adventure or two, then put that group on hold and jump to another group doing something different during that same stretch of in-game time. One result of this is that in-game time does end up passing MUCH more slowly than real time; my current campaign has been going for 11 years real but the leading group just got to 5 years game time since the campaign began.</p><p></p><p>Very much yes, even including having one group go back to the site of another group's previous adventure but for a different reason.</p><p></p><p>Almost completely agreed.</p><p></p><p>Running multiple groups through the same adventure isn't a problem provided anything after the first is framed as a "return to" and it's acknowledged that the treasure taken out by the first group through won't have magically reappeared for the second.</p><p></p><p>Another big factor IME is whether the groups can find a way to generate a common shared home base (at a halfway-central location!) where they can share and-or pool resources, swap out members, trade items, and so forth; and can also serve as a retired characters home. In different campaigns I've seen this germinate from a castle given as a royal reward, a pub built by a PC (and then greatly augmented by others) specifically as a group meeting point, and a keep given by a Deck card.</p><p></p><p>This is where player overlap can become huge.</p><p></p><p>I have a file in my computer for this, though I rarely print it out. But tracking who is where in game time is vitally important.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7949835, member: 29398"] Yep. Ideally in this case I'd want to run Alpha on one night of the week, Beta on another and Delta on another (and in days of old was even able to pull this off once in a while!). Best I've done lately - and even that not for some years now - is to have two groups going, one on Fridays, one on Sundays. (now it's just Sundays) You hit one key element: player overlap between groups. In your example Emmett is in all three, meaning his PCs can interweave between groups now and then and provide the reason for the others to know (or at least know of) each other. Here I can chime in with a few direct answers to [USER=6779196]@Charlaquin[/USER] 's questions. First, at the table during any given session 95% of the time thing look feel and play exactly the same as they otherwise would. You're playing the party you're playing in whatever adventure they're in, etc. However, the other 5% is where the fun starts. There's four types of sessions that can be unusual: - sessions (usually downtime) where multiple parties are in the same place at the same time and can thus meet, interact, etc. If it's all or almost all the same players just with multiple PCs this is easy; if it's groups with very little player overlap then you're probably doing a lot by email that week. :) - sessions (usually downtime) where multiple parties could be in the same place at the same time but because one or more groups hasn't been played up to that point yet you're not sure. These are messy. I can't count the times I've said to a group "Well, you make it back to town but I-as-DM have no idea what other characters are here right now, other than A, B and C who retired here full-time." - sessions where for game-time reasons you-as-DM have to force one group to stop and jump to another group so you can catch them up in time. This is I think what [USER=1210]@the Jester[/USER] means by "screwy timeline issues"; you have to stay right on top of game time for all involved, and if a group starts lagging behind you've got to speed them up while if a group gets too far ahead you've got to put them on hold. Ditto for indivudal retired or inactive PCs, but these are usually much easier to update. - sessions where something affects the entire group at once e.g. an attack on a shared home base when multiple parties are in from the field. Here you might end up running a combined-group session or two to deal with the one situation before they split out again. Most of the time these days how it goes is we run one party through an adventure or two, then put that group on hold and jump to another group doing something different during that same stretch of in-game time. One result of this is that in-game time does end up passing MUCH more slowly than real time; my current campaign has been going for 11 years real but the leading group just got to 5 years game time since the campaign began. Very much yes, even including having one group go back to the site of another group's previous adventure but for a different reason. Almost completely agreed. Running multiple groups through the same adventure isn't a problem provided anything after the first is framed as a "return to" and it's acknowledged that the treasure taken out by the first group through won't have magically reappeared for the second. Another big factor IME is whether the groups can find a way to generate a common shared home base (at a halfway-central location!) where they can share and-or pool resources, swap out members, trade items, and so forth; and can also serve as a retired characters home. In different campaigns I've seen this germinate from a castle given as a royal reward, a pub built by a PC (and then greatly augmented by others) specifically as a group meeting point, and a keep given by a Deck card. This is where player overlap can become huge. I have a file in my computer for this, though I rarely print it out. But tracking who is where in game time is vitally important. [/QUOTE]
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