Any tips for running OSR games like becmi with very small parties of 2-3 players? Considering padding with hirelings but I don't want to put them in no win scenarios

I've run all sorts of modules with smaller groups.

Some things done without toning down the encounters. All learned from Keep on the Borderlands.

A: NPCs assigned to the quest.
B: Henchmen, Hirelings, Retainers, Mercenaries.

And most importantly C: Remind the players that they may be able to negotiate with some encounters. Or sneak, trick, or other non-combat methods to get to the objective. Think about what some of these encounters might want or be willing to bargain for.

D: KO & Capture rather than kill the PCs. Ransom is another option.

Custom monsters. I have used the Random Esoteric Creature Generator to great effect at smaller tables.

Two characters per player is one way. 

I don't mean hirelings or NPCs.  Full characters.  Rules lite games are great for this. 

Greetings!

Yeah, having the Players run more than one Player Character is always good. In combination with that--or if the Players are mortified of running more than one Player Character--then it is easy enough to fill out the ranks with NPC's. I usually add one, two, three, or four NPC's to a character group, and things work out just fine.

An advantage in the DM running several NPC's is obviously, providing much needed skills and expertise for the group that otherwise might be woefully short on Character Classes A, B, or C; Secondly, having such NPC's in the group allow for an expanded social network, feeding the Player Characters information, deepening their relationships, just all kinds of good dynamics come from it.

And no, I don't run NPC's as perfect know-it-all characters. Sometimes, they are wrong, or there are some subjects and areas of knowledge that they just don't know much about, if anything. In their areas of expertise, however, and as people, I generally play the NPC's in the group as solid, trustworthy, and competent.

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

Yeah something rules light like becmi or RC, I would just allow full fledged characters, hell even as npcs I'd probably hand em the stat blocks and tell em to run em in combat. Dm would have final say in suicidal actions but otherwise extras like on savage worlds. Not sure if that style translates to RC or any other osr game.

Because we seldom have more than 4 players, the players almost always run multiple PCs, usually 2, sometimes even 3.  Not a big deal in OSR games or BECMI, especially at lower levels.  Slightly more tricky at high levels, but can still work.  Because of this, we seldom use hirelings or henchmen, though that's certainly an option too.

Quote from: weirdguy564 on April 07, 2022, 09:24:08 PM
Two characters per player is one way. 

I don't mean hirelings or NPCs.  Full characters.  Rules lite games are great for this.

1 Martial character, and 1 Caster per player.  2 full characters.

Quote from: weirdguy564 on April 07, 2022, 09:24:08 PM
Two characters per player is one way. 

I don't mean hirelings or NPCs.  Full characters.  Rules lite games are great for this. 

Agree with this, even when there are more players.  Multiple PCs per player has a lot of advantages.  Mainly 1) if your PC dies you are not out of the game, and 2) the party can split without half of the players sitting around bored while you handle the other half.  There are real disadvantages too, but overall it's has a very positive effect.

Quote from: Ocule on April 07, 2022, 08:10:03 PM
Any tips for running OSR games like becmi with very small parties of 2-3 players? Considering padding with hirelings but I don't want to put them in no win scenarios

System matters a lot in these cases, for OSR games I'd suggest looking at the articles "Dogs as Dungeon Sidekicks", "Meatshields!", and "Labyrinth Minions" if you want to pack your Players'party with extras. "Black Streams Solo Heroes" is a good variant if you want the Players to be able to run through a dungeon with just themselves and stand a good chance of surviving. Of course, you could always go Hard Mode and just send them in without any extras or rules mods, just maybe give them some extra levels and life saving magic (potions of healing and such).

A note on no win scenarios. They happen. It is up to the Players to identify when they should not engage in combat, or when to retreat if they do, or when to use diplomacy or just run like Hell. You as DM can provide all of the signs that the Players should Not Do That but they will occasionally get Ate Up With Stupid and do it anyways causing them to roll up new characters. Don't sweat the TPK.

As other have been saying, my recommendation would be 2 characters per player, plus NPCs to fill up the ranks to at least six or seven, more if youre's starting out fresh at 1st level.

I'll fourth (or fifth or whatever it's up to now) that the easiest approach is to add a second PC for each player. This even worked with the complexity in 4E thanks to the Essentials classes. You took whatever you wanted for one PC, then snagged an Essentials  class for your second because they had minimal tracking required.

The general rule of thumb was that one of the PCs had to be a merc or otherwise disinterested party (in the sense of having goals or motivations beyond wealth or loyalty to the other PC) just so the players only had to focus on on one personality and set of motivations.

I even built an optional rule into my own system to upgrade the companion NPCs you could select from your background boons to be simple, but fully independent, characters for smaller player groups (you could also hire mercenaries, but they're more fragile than PCs or companions). I recommend it to GM's for any group with three or fewer players.

Are you using published modules that have certain assumptions, or are you constructing the adventures from scratch?

If it's the latter you can do a bit of encounter balance design, even though that's considered antithetical to the OSR for some. Give them party-size appropriate challenges (roughly) just like you would give them roughly level-appropriate challenges.

I wanted to explore some of the classic adventure modules as well

Quote from: Ocule on April 09, 2022, 05:22:18 PM
I wanted to explore some of the classic adventure modules as well

Here's some good stuff on Labyrinth Minions from Lord Kilgore.