I go this way, you go that way

James McMurray · September 11, 2007, 02:51:53 PM

One of the toughest challenges for running a game is splitting the party up. How do you handle it?

J Arcane · September 11, 2007, 02:56:14 PM

Make all the encounters tough enough that they need the full party's strength to deal with it. They'll learn quick enough.

Unless it's downtime, in-town mode, in which case a split up can be to your advantage, as you can focus on the players individually while the others take a break to have a smoke, get a snack, or what have you.

That's how my D&D group always handled it. There was one set piece battle where the party split up a bit, but it was only momentarily, and the entire fight was handled as one scene at various spots around the church, so it really didnt' matter much.

flyingmice · September 11, 2007, 02:57:31 PM

Quote from: James McMurrayOne of the toughest challenges for running a game is splitting the party up. How do you handle it?

I find an axe answers nicely.

-clash

Serious Paul · September 11, 2007, 03:24:19 PM

This is one of the hardest things to deal with. A lot of times players come up with complex plans that involve splitting the party into multiple pieces. Especially in games like Shadowrun, where making use of things like Snipers, and ranged combat magics is really to your advantage.

I have no catch all solution-we run cut scenes, trying to jump between the two or more groups frequent enough to keep everyones attention. Sometimes we have long enough cuts where the other group takes a break, and discusses the game, gets food whatever.

I think splits are realistic, but hard to deal with at times.

TonyLB · September 11, 2007, 03:33:32 PM

Personally, I try to make sure that the players who don't have characters present in a given scene still have some reason to be interested and invested in what's going on. Methods vary, depending upon what's going on and who the people are ... but, for instance, you can have players take on NPC roles so that they have something to do. Or they can make side-bets with other uninvolved players ("Bet you 500XP that he ends up getting his ass handed to him by these goblins," "I'll take that action!"), or whatever else keeps them engaged with what's happening.

Aos · September 11, 2007, 03:48:14 PM

I just let it roll. The split screen (as we call it) has never bothered me. often "group b" makes sandwiches or gets beer, or steps into the next room to BS while "group a" does its thing, and visversa. some people do character schetches, or have a little time with the rule book. I've only dealt with a couple of players who are bothered by it.

dar · September 11, 2007, 03:53:45 PM

If they should absolutely not know what is going on, then yes, actually split up the players and have the groups take turns.

Otherwise do a kind of long form combat round. Don't actually go into combat mode, but go from player to player as if you were in combat, sorta.

Handle it much like you would handle two groups of players dealing with two different monsters. Depending on the nature of the combat it almost doesn't matter if they are in the same room or across the universe from each other.

Edit: oops... gotta read those other posts first... cut scenes... thats a much clearer way to look at it.

Serious Paul · September 11, 2007, 04:01:06 PM

Quote from: AosI've only dealt with a couple of players who are bothered by it.

I've rarely had a player who has a problem with it, as most of my players are pretty mature gamers and know that sometimes this happens. It bothers me more than it does them, because as the Game Master I feel responsible for ensuring that they all have fun.

Gunslinger · September 11, 2007, 04:18:55 PM

If it's at the end of the session, I might just run the two groups seperately at their convenience. If I'm running with a character pool, I may actually have the players start another session with another group of characters. I've always liked trying to break up the party as much as possible.

Koltar · September 11, 2007, 04:20:54 PM

Quote from: James McMurrayOne of the toughest challenges for running a game is splitting the party up. How do you handle it?

My group does that quite often.

You learn to handle it.

One trick is at the table I actually say out loud in "camera-speak" things like "Fade Out, back to the other guys for a bit ..." , or "Meanwhile at the bar where we left the gun pointed at Kilroy's nose there is black blur in the background...."
You just try to shift back and forth and give each group of players as much equal time as you can.

One time , a player said "I can wait a few minutes, I wanna see how his scene turns out " . She was admitting she was on the edge of her seat like she was watching a good TV show or movie.

- Ed C.

Aos · September 11, 2007, 04:23:29 PM

Quote from: Serious PaulI've rarely had a player who has a problem with it, as most of my players are pretty mature gamers and know that sometimes this happens. It bothers me more than it does them, because as the Game Master I feel responsible for ensuring that they all have fun.

Completely understandable (and commendable) on your part. I wish i could suggest something helpful. Bring along a stack of old comics or playboy mags?

Serious Paul · September 11, 2007, 04:26:20 PM

Heh.

As long as they don't break out the game boy or play station I can live with whatever it takes to get through these breaks.

jgants · September 11, 2007, 05:44:37 PM

I think my players have lost the will to split up. The PCs have discovered that bad things usually happen when the group splits up.

That said, split ups still happen. Right now, the group is split up into 6 different locations (but all in the same "dungeon").

I've had 3 or so different groups off doing different things before. And at one point, the group was split for two or three months worth of real time.

I try and switch back and forth a lot between the different groups when it happens. I hate for people to sit there with nothing to do. But sometimes it's fairly inevitable.

Kyle Aaron · September 11, 2007, 06:31:20 PM

I begin by discouraging it by saying, "woohoo, excellent! I love it when players split the party!" I follow that up by switching between the groups reasonably often. If A and B go off, then in their absence something will happen to C and D. An enemy or someone who wants to give them some confidential information or ask them for something may have been watching and waiting for a chance to see them on their own.

ancientgamer · September 11, 2007, 09:46:53 PM

I would just make sure each group was getting equal time (even go far as to use an egg timer or something for time pressure). I also think a good transition does wonder in that situition. Finally, make sure everyone has something to do. If someone is doing a long-term action (it takes one week to research the tome) then perhaps a small random encounter or something might help as well.