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<blockquote data-quote="scourger" data-source="post: 3519517" data-attributes="member: 12328">I'm trying an epsiodic style now with my D&amp;D game.&nbsp; A few weeks ago, when 2 players didn't show, their characters stayed at the inn that was central to the adventure.&nbsp; Unfortunately, the remaining 2 players played as if they were a full party, making some decisions that led to the death of one and retreat of the other.&nbsp; Then, they got the other 2 characters roused and defeated the foe.&nbsp; For me, that session highlights the inherent difficulty of using D&amp;D as an episodic game.&nbsp; It is sort of assumed that a party has 4 characters in 4 niches in terms of capabilities.&nbsp; I tried to scale the encounters, but it just didn't work.&nbsp; Plus, I think it frustrates the heck out of my tactical players when a character with certain abilities is not present just because the player is absent.&nbsp; I had a much, much easier time of it with Savage Worlds running the Tour of Darkness campaign.&nbsp; That game was a military campaign set in the Viet Nam War with some supernatural elements.&nbsp; The rules basically kept all the characters around the same power level, even the replacements, and the command structure meant they went on a certain mission at each game session.&nbsp; I would love to find a way to import those elements to D&amp;D, but I haven't found it yet; short of running a game with no magic-wielding player characters (which I did for a pirate D&amp;D game).&nbsp; I have had some success with episodic play in other d20 games.&nbsp; Specifically Judge Dredd d20 and Omega World d20 accommodated that style pretty well for me.&nbsp; There again, those are kind of like D&amp;D with the magic filed off.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="scourger, post: 3519517, member: 12328"] I'm trying an epsiodic style now with my [I]D&D[/I] game. A few weeks ago, when 2 players didn't show, their characters stayed at the inn that was central to the adventure. Unfortunately, the remaining 2 players played as if they were a full party, making some decisions that led to the death of one and retreat of the other. Then, they got the other 2 characters roused and defeated the foe. For me, that session highlights the inherent difficulty of using [I]D&D[/I] as an episodic game. It is sort of assumed that a party has 4 characters in 4 niches in terms of capabilities. I tried to scale the encounters, but it just didn't work. Plus, I think it frustrates the heck out of my tactical players when a character with certain abilities is not present just because the player is absent. I had a much, much easier time of it with [I]Savage Worlds[/I] running the [I]Tour of Darkness[/I] campaign. That game was a military campaign set in the Viet Nam War with some supernatural elements. The rules basically kept all the characters around the same power level, even the replacements, and the command structure meant they went on a certain mission at each game session. I would love to find a way to import those elements to [I]D&D[/I], but I haven't found it yet; short of running a game with no magic-wielding player characters (which I did for a pirate [I]D&D[/I] game). I have had some success with episodic play in other d20 games. Specifically [I]Judge Dredd d20[/I] and [I]Omega World d20[/I] accommodated that style pretty well for me. There again, those are kind of like [I]D&D[/I] with the magic filed off. [/QUOTE]

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