Comments on: Two Parties, One Campaign

By: Charles Lee Carrier

Charles Lee Carrier — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:18:33 +0000

Yep, this is an excellent idea. I always thought I was an odd DM for encouraging my players to have multiple characters. Now I see that I’m not alone.

By: Chuck Benscoter

Chuck Benscoter — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 00:40:52 +0000

Running two parties in the same campaign has been the norm for our gaming group for almost three years now. The reason we run this way is not for any of the options you listed in your article. You might say we accidentally discovered he “joy” of dual parties.

When our group first started playing D&D4e we only way two players and myself. So to fill out the party roles I had each player create 2 characters. This worked out incredibly well. Later we picked a 3rd player then a forth and finally a 5th, 6th and 7th. Or each I just had them generate 2 characters. At about 4th level the party was too big so I suggested that each person pick one character to run full-time and we would come back to other character at a later date. One the players said why not have two parties. So that is what we did. Neither party has a flavor that contrasts with the other group. A few times characters of the groups have switched places.

At this moment both parties are working on two sides of the same plot that encompasses both the mortal world and the feywild. I have been giving the gift of weaving a very broad and complex plot, with multiple villains in multiple locations. The overarching storyline is beyond anything I ever thought I could write. Giants, mind flayers, dragons, elements and demons await the party. I have even incorporated the Rod of Seven Parts as a parallel story element to the main plot. Each group now searches for the pieces while dealing with the main plot line. The players love it and I am really challenged to step up my game.

This was never something I would have tried from the start but having grown into it the way we did has given each of the group members a great gaming experience.

Just as an aside, I run a very sand box style of gaming, so a lot of what is going on is drawn from the players themselves.

By: Morgan Boehringer

Morgan Boehringer — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 02:31:35 +0000

Very well developed article Jesse – well done. I am all in fagour of a change of pace and a change of perspective, plot and approach.
I remember the initial AD&D Dark Sun setting introduced the concept of “character trees” or “rosters” – (actually it kinda seem like i don’t recall well enough…) – it seemed to encourage the “interchange” concept to player characters. Another thing I like about the “themed team” approach is the fluidity of members between teams – like the X-Men, X-Force, X-Factor etc – able to switch in or out of teams as needed, and as members move on or shuffle of the mortal coil…

Some may find this breaks their verisimilitude having dedicated “teams” but the nomenclature needn’t be so overt, nor the approach too regimented. Like minds travel together, as do strange bedfellows and allies of convenience – all just more terms for groups…

By: Philo Pharynx

Philo Pharynx — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 20:54:15 +0000

We’ve been doing this for over a decade. One campaign even had four parties over it’s lifespan: The Main Team, Team Stealth, the God Squad, and the Monster Party. Team Stealth was for covert missions where subtlety was needed. The God Squad was mad of people with a strong religious theme, (mostly dvine casters but not all). The Monster Party was all made up of creatures not normally playable. The game world has evolved, and the rules have gome from D&D to Pathfinder, but we still have two groups. One is still Team Stealth (six characters with Stealth Synergy is a dangerous thing), and the other is team KABOOM! (several characters have guns, an alchemist, and an oracle of fire).

The GM for this world is the kind who always has lots of plot hooks out there waiting to get picked up. Some adventures fit one group or another better.

One issue with some of the more specialized parties is that it can be harder to find a niche. When you’ve got similar characters it can take work to keep yourself separate. In the earlier Stealth team we did this through multiclassing. Everybody had a little rogue (except the bard), but we also had druid, ranger, sorceror and fighter in there.

But specialized parties are worth it. In most games, the stealthy characters don’t get to use it that much because they would end up alone while the noisy characters sit back. Our stealth team makes that a good strategy again. And the God Squad had several healers, so that freed up the spellcasters to use the other spells on their list instead of saving them all for healing.

By: Nevenall

Nevenall — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:19:31 +0000

Jesse, nice article!

I’m thinking this could work really well for storytelling too.
For example, it can be hard to convey a sense of what’s at stake with an epic storyline, like an alien invasion, because the scope is beyond anything we have real experience with. But what if you throw in a session or two where the players take on the role of ordinary people affected by these events? Now your players aren’t fighting aliens for some abstract ideal, but for real (imaginary) people.