Playing with only 2 players

Malfi · March 19, 2018, 03:10:08 PM

Quote from: Beldar;1030060I've done this successfully before. Go with something simpler than you think you need. 5th edition, Pathfinder, and anything of that nature is just too slow and bloated for two players. Don't even think about 4th edition. You need to go to B/X or a clone and use the hireling rules. Try to have one of your players choose a leader type to make use of the charisma stuff. Also, make sure to use the morale rules in combat.

I would personally recommend Basic Fantasy or Labyrinth Lord. They have everything you need and they both have options for rule expansions as you learn the pace of small group D&D.

Heh! I would think with fewer people its easier to run a more bloated game. I had run a successful exalted campaign for 2-3 players, but the system just doesn't do it for me anymore.
I always thought that game like vampire, exalted and gurps worked better for fewer players while dndish osr stuff for lots of players.
I propably wont be using pathfinder because the players have very little experience with rpg's so sth simpler would work better.

Malfi · March 19, 2018, 03:26:05 PM

To summarize:
Hirelings, hirelings and hirelings! I had totally forgotten hirelings can have class levels and in ack has a price for their service up to level 14! In dcc in kinda gives you the impression that its impossible to find hirelings higher than level 1 (It isn't I just got that impression from reading the short section).
Also encounters need to be changed or maybe not. Obviously if I am not using an adventure I use common sense for what exists in my world.
I had forgotten about Godbound maybe this is a good opportunity to check it out and I will see what exemplars&eidolons.
Also anything beyond basic and 0e dnd is HERESY and heretics must burn. But I like what S'mon said about 5e and so i am tempted.

Malfi · March 19, 2018, 03:35:07 PM

To summarize:
Hirelings, hirelings and hirelings! I had totally forgotten hirelings can have class levels and in ack has a price for their service up to level 14! In dcc in kinda gives you the impression that its impossible to find hirelings higher than level 1 (It isn't I just got that impression from reading the short section).
Also encounters need to be changed or maybe not. Obviously if I am not using an adventure I use common sense for what exists in my world.
I had forgotten about Godbound maybe this is a good opportunity to check it out and I will see what exemplars&eidolons is about.
Also anything beyond basic and 0e dnd is HERESY and heretics must burn. But I like what S'mon said about 5e and so i am tempted.

jeff37923 · March 19, 2018, 05:22:40 PM

Quote from: AsenRG;1030135Anything with an "encounter budget" is a poor fit for a game with one or two players, IME.

I'd agree, but I think we are looking for fantasy gaming here, otherwise I would recommend d6 Star Wars or Traveller for solo gaming.

(solo gaming = 1 player and 1 GM, solitaire gaming = only 1 player/GM)

S'mon · March 19, 2018, 07:35:31 PM

Quote from: Malfi;1030264To summarize:
Hirelings, hirelings and hirelings!

Mind you, in 5e I've done a fair number of solo games, the Barbarian class in particular is very well suited to this due to his great resilience.

Bren · March 19, 2018, 08:01:17 PM

Quote from: Skarg;1029992I would just expect there to be NPCs as needed/wanted in the adventuring party. There almost always have been in games I've run, even when I have a large number of players. Some of or all of them can be potential PCs if a PC dies or leaves play for some reason (temporarily or permanently).

It's always worked fine for me. I enjoy running small groups or single players.

However I also generally don't play D&D or other games that expect a mix of player classes (or have character classes at all), or that expect a certain size of player group, or that make a huge distinction between PCs and NPCs.

What Skarg said.

Vidgrip · March 19, 2018, 08:09:34 PM

I played in a long-running game of 1e AD&D in which we had three players, each running two characters. It was great fun and I see no reason why it wouldn't work for two players. We did RP in 3rd person, but that's how we played back then, even with one character each.

AsenRG · March 21, 2018, 06:48:53 PM

Quote from: jeff37923;1030286I'd agree, but I think we are looking for fantasy gaming here, otherwise I would recommend d6 Star Wars or Traveller for solo gaming.

(solo gaming = 1 player and 1 GM, solitaire gaming = only 1 player/GM)

Well, then why did you recommend them? Don't 5e and PF include encounter budgets, meaning "encounter levels with a given number of encounters of a given difficulty before resting"

?
Last I checked, that notion was part of the rules in both. And frankly, the less players there are, the more the idea sucks:D!

As for fantasy, it's much easier to recommend decent fantasy systems than to pull the level-appropriate encounters out of PF or 5e, IMO;). For example, the Fabled Lands RPG, Barbarians of Lemuria, or any version of Runequest should be a good fit for a 2-players game, IME.

S'mon · March 21, 2018, 07:27:40 PM

Quote from: AsenRG;1030643As for fantasy, it's much easier to recommend decent fantasy systems than to pull the level-appropriate encounters out of PF or 5e, IMO;)

I've GM'd hundreds of sessions of 5e and 3e/PF. I have certainly never built a 5e encounter to a budget, I doubt I ever built a 3e/PF one either. It's not necessary at all.

AsenRG · March 22, 2018, 02:16:40 PM

Quote from: S'mon;1030646I've GM'd hundreds of sessions of 5e and 3e/PF. I have certainly never built a 5e encounter to a budget, I doubt I ever built a 3e/PF one either. It's not necessary at all.

Well, then the DMG lied to me:). But my experience with both systems is that most Referees that I've seen running either systems actually try to provide "balanced encounters".
And, as stated before, that sucks even harder with less players;).

S'mon · March 22, 2018, 04:14:07 PM

Quote from: AsenRG;1030798Well, then the DMG lied to me:). But my experience with both systems is that most Referees that I've seen running either systems actually try to provide "balanced encounters".
And, as stated before, that sucks even harder with less players;).

The 5e build system is so broken and yet so unnecessary that I'd say it was guilty of misrepresentation, yes.

But Challenge/XPV as a vague measure of threat level is somewhat useful, much like 1e I-X Monster Level.

Spinachcat · March 22, 2018, 08:08:34 PM

If the concern is combat with 2 PCs instead of 6 PCs, then I doubly suggest Scarlet Heroes (OSR) or Godbound (OSR Exalted) by Sine Nomine. They are both easily compatible with any TSR (or 5e) product.

jeff37923 · March 22, 2018, 10:18:35 PM

Quote from: AsenRG;1030643Well, then why did you recommend them?

Because there is already a shitload of single player and single DM adventures already out on the market for PF and 3.5/X to mine ideas from. Traveller has Solo by Zozer Games from the Cepheus Engine. d6 Star Wars is in the same boat.

Malfi · March 23, 2018, 12:13:06 PM

Quote from: S'mon;1030802The 5e build system is so broken and yet so unnecessary that I'd say it was guilty of misrepresentation, yes. But Challenge/XPV as a vague measure of threat level is somewhat useful, much like 1e I-X Monster Level.

Also CR in 3rd edition/pathfinder has much more impact in combat than Hit die in 1st edition. This is a reason why in 3rd/pathfinder you can't play around with CR too much, that said people who play these editions are still overly stuck on the encounters must balanced paradim.

Malfi · March 23, 2018, 12:14:01 PM

Quote from: Spinachcat;1030837If the concern is combat with 2 PCs instead of 6 PCs, then I doubly suggest Scarlet Heroes (OSR) or Godbound (OSR Exalted) by Sine Nomine. They are both easily compatible with any TSR (or 5e) product.

Godbound is compatible with OSR adventures?