[Twilight Time] "Don't Split the Party!"?

[Heather Grove]

October 7, 2002 - "Don't Split the Party!"?
Volume 3, Issue 14

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Good morning!

This month we take on one of the long-held tenets of roleplaying - 
"don't split the party," and come up with a typical ambiguous answer: 
"maybe."

There are plenty of new articles on the web site this month, including 
the last two planned articles in the "Masks of Lady Eva" series. Next 
we plan to take on more of the Barakah articles, as well as a couple 
of odd topics here and there. We also have a review of a d20 ebook. As 
usual, check the new link listing below this article to find links to 
these articles and more.

Meanwhile, having a house seems to be infecting us - I'm taking up 
gardening in small doses. It remains to be seen whether my "brown 
thumb" causes the flowers and the new baby lilac bushes to die. I 
guess we'll find out in the Spring! Happy gaming...

Have a great afternoon,
Heather

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"Don't Split the Party!"?

I vaguely remember an old joke in which one listed out the top ten 
rules of roleplaying, and nearly every other one was "Don't split the 
party!" - in other words, keep all of the player characters (PCs) 
together and in the same place at the same time. Recently I saw this 
guideline repeated in a gaming article for game masters (GMs) written 
by an industry author, and that got me thinking. Today we're going to 
look at why this became such an important guideline, what value it 
still has - and what value it *doesn't* have.


Why So Important?

#1. Strategy: When most of what your party is doing is 
dungeon-crawling, keeping the party together is simple common sense. 
In a maze of twisty passages, all alike, it's terribly easy for 
characters to get lost and never find their way back to each other. 
And when they're separated for any length of time, it's much easier 
for monsters to kill everyone. This goes double in a game where you 
have character classes, and thus, not having a single character (the 
thief, who needs to find and disarm traps, or the cleric, who's needed 
to heal people) in the right place at the right time can get you killed.

#2. For Ease of Play: Splitting the party can be a headache for the GM 
- he has to keep track of multiple separate groups, somehow figure out 
the relative timing of the groups' actions, and just generally keep 
track of two or three times as many things at once.

#3. To Avoid Boredom: Splitting the party means that at any given 
time, only one group of PCs can be in the spotlight and acting. Other 
players are just sitting around and watching. If the players are good 
at entertaining each other, and if the GM is good about switching the 
spotlight around frequently, this isn't necessarily a tragedy. But 
often this can end up with bored players who are frustrated because 
they're just watching the game, not playing in it.

#4. Party Coherence: A party that splits up a lot is sometimes a sign 
of a party that lacks coherence, and that can cause a lot of other 
problems. If the party isn't coherent enough, it can be much more 
difficult to get everyone involved in plots and keep everyone 
interested and excited in the game.

#5. Planned Events: If the GM likes to plan events related to the 
plot, then having the PCs split up could throw a real kink into his 
plans, particularly if he isn't very good at improvising.


When You Shouldn't Split the Party

"Don't split the party" makes a good general, loose philosophy. It's 
good to remember that the party needs to act together in large part in 
order to keep the game interesting.

If the party is doing a lot of "dungeon-crawling" and the like, then 
yes, it often does make good strategy to keep the party together. This 
is also the case in very dangerous game worlds where lone characters 
are more likely to get targeted for robberies, muggings, and the like. 
It's also the case in most games based on narrowly-defined character 
classes, where characters can get killed just because they don't have 
the right kind of character with them.

If the GM likes to run very tightly-plotted games with scripted 
story-lines and lots of planned events, and has trouble improvising 
when PCs leave the beaten path, then splitting the party unexpectedly 
is likely to throw heavy kinks into his plans. If his players enjoy 
the game he runs, then they might not want to split up too much. It'll 
only frustrate the GM and lead to confusion and boredom when he isn't 
sure how to react to what the players are doing.

If there are players in the game who have a tendency to "hog the 
spotlight," and who tend to do boring things when they go off alone 
rather than things that would entertain the rest of the group, then 
trying not to split the party can definitely help to keep everyone 
entertained.


When You Can Split the Party

Despite all of the reasons why the "don't split the party" directive 
came into being, some very good reasons for *not* following it have 
also come into being.

Sometimes it just doesn't make any sense for the group to stay 
together. A more sound strategy might involve sending a couple members 
of the party around behind the enemy. Or leaving two PCs to watch the 
tied-up spies while the others go to fetch help. A non-player 
character (NPC) might not want to talk to a horde of eight people at 
once. A PC might not want to have a very personal conversation with an 
NPC in front of seven onlookers.

The moment games started to include character background and personal 
plot, it was inevitable that characters might want to do some things 
privately or on their own. Fighting against this too hard is like 
trying to fit a square peg into a round hole - it's trying to make 
these games into something they aren't. Games set in the modern world 
are also harder to reconcile with the "don't split the party" rule. 
After all, you don't spend every waking moment of every single day 
with the same group of people, do you? (Okay, there are some 
situations where it works, but not many.)

There's nothing wrong with splitting up the party occasionally, as 
long as it doesn't get excessive. The players should make sure their 
characters have a good reason for going off on their own. They should 
try to make sure they're paying attention to everyone else around the 
gaming table and thinking about their fellow players' fun as well as 
their own. Let's go through the "why so important" items one at a time 
here:

#1. Strategy: Well, strategy is rather subjective. Sometimes sticking 
together is a good strategy, and sometimes splitting up is better for 
whatever reason. Players should do what they think is best, but err on 
the side of keeping the party together when possible.

#2. For Ease of Play: It's best not to split the party up for long 
periods of time, or split the party up into more than two or, at most, 
three groups. The more the party splits up, and the longer the 
characters spend apart, the harder life gets for the GM. Short periods 
of time apart, however, really shouldn't be a problem.

#3. To Avoid Boredom: Again, time apart should remain relatively 
short. Individuals shouldn't hog the GM's time and attention - they 
should give him a chance to switch around between groups frequently 
enough to keep everyone interested. (Along those lines, they should 
try not to go off and do things while other characters are asleep or 
out of the action if they can avoid it. That keeps players sidelined 
for longer.) Players should try to be entertaining and engaging about 
what they're doing, if possible; keep boring actions to a minimum. 
Characters should have a good reason for going off on their own, 
rather than doing it just because they feel like it. They should also 
get back with the rest of the party as soon as they can. Players don't 
have to go to extremes here, but they should keep each other in mind.

#4. Party Coherence: Players should design and play their characters 
in ways that encourage party play. Characters should have reasons to 
work with the other members of the party; they should not be loners. 
Characters should have reason to be interested in other party members' 
activities and plots. However, that doesn't mean they can't have 
personal plots and personal interests - they just have to be willing 
to share these things with the rest of the party after a certain point.

#5. Planned Events: Players can't necessarily anticipate a GM's 
planned game events. As long as players keep their party together when 
feasible and reasonable, then the rest should be up to the GM. 
Learning to improvise while GMing isn't nearly as difficult as it 
sounds; here are a couple of articles to help:
http://www.burningvoid.com/users/heather/roleplaying/Essays/improvfreewill.html
http://www.burningvoid.com/users/heather/roleplaying/Essays/itricksfreewill.html

Besides, improvisation is often the key to a truly satisfying game!


Number of Players

Splitting the party tends to be easier on very small gaming groups. If 
your game only has two players, it's easy for the GM to keep track of 
both and switch back and forth between them often. If your game has 
twelve, then it's harder to keep track of groups that splinter off. 
And since six sidelined players are much more likely to start chatting 
and getting distracted than one player is, you have a much higher risk 
of failing to entertain the other players. The more players you have 
in one room, the more you need to try to keep them together when possible.


A Few Guidelines for Players

Do try to keep the party together when there's no good reason to do 
otherwise - it makes things easier on the GM, and decreases the amount 
of time that players spend sidelined and bored.

Do try to pay attention to the players around you. Do they look bored? 
Then try to draw them into the action more. Make sure you're taking 
the fun of everyone else into account, as well as your own fun. 
"Slant" your character's actions. (For more information, see our old 
article:
http://www.burningvoid.com/users/heather/roleplaying/Essays/slant-actions.html 
)

If you're playing a game that calls for personal plots and characters 
with depth, then do allow yourself (and others) to have personal 
moments away from the other characters. As long as it isn't carried to 
extreme, or used to keep other players out of the action, then there 
isn't anything wrong with this.


I've seen games carried to both extremes. I've seen games where the 
party was practically a gestalt, with few individual feelings or 
interests, because that would (horrors!) lead to situations where the 
party might split up. By and large, those games weren't incredibly 
engaging and didn't particularly pull people in. (Although if you 
really enjoy party-oriented hack-and-slash gaming, there's nothing 
wrong with that. If everyone's into it, it can be a lot of fun!)

I've also seen players wait until other players' characters were 
asleep, then go off and spend two hours of the game night doing boring 
things that they had no good reason to keep to themselves, resulting 
in everyone else feeling frustrated and resentful.

As in most things, the key is moderation. Allow PCs to have their 
personal moments, but remember that a game is about a group of players 
and their characters, not about individuals. Take advantage of all 
that neat character background, but remember that you're playing a 
game that requires certain conventions to be followed at least 
minimally in order for all of the players to have fun.

Roleplaying is a social activity, and you need to take that into 
account. If you want to play solo, then find a GM who's willing to do 
that - don't shanghai someone else's game and try to keep it to 
yourself. If you're a GM who's afraid that any split in the party 
could ruin your carefully-planned plot, then learn more about 
improvisation and the creation of adaptable material - and, like your 
players, remember that everyone's there to have fun. Create some 
dramatic personal moments for players' individual characters and 
they're likely to feel more personally involved with the game.

In other words, split the party - with care.


What's Your Opinion?:

Comments on this issue's topic? Suggestions? Tips? Special topic 
requests? Drop me a line at (heather at burningvoid.com). If I pass any 
of your suggestions on (either through the newsletter or the RPG 
resources page), I'll attribute them to you. Be sure to tell me if you 
don't want me to use your name and/or comments!

The next issue is coming in just a few weeks - late October or early 
November.

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SITE UPDATE:

Burning Void Roleplaying Resources:
http://www.burningvoid.com/users/heather/roleplaying/resources.html

http://www.burningvoid.com/users/heather/roleplaying/Essays/hmcollect.html
Additional NPC Collection tables for "HackMaster" - also usable for 
other fantasy genre games such as "D&D."

http://www.burningvoid.com/users/heather/roleplaying/Reviews/0902-2.html
Jeffrey Howard's review of "City Guide: Coffer of Coins," a d20 
sourcebook of merchants from Dark Quest Games.

http://www.burningvoid.com/users/heather/roleplaying/Essays/evamask6.html
The Masks of Lady Eva VI: Adapting the Masks to Your Campaign
Plenty of tips & hints to help you adapt our series on magical masks 
to your own game - no matter what genre you're playing in!

http://www.burningvoid.com/users/heather/roleplaying/Essays/evamask7.html
The Masks of Lady Eva VII: Plot Seeds
A handful of plot seeds to help you find new and interesting ways to 
make use of the masks from the previous six articles. This is the last 
planned article in this series!


Burning Void Writers' Resources:
http://www.burningvoid.com/users/heather/writing/resources.html

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ProFantasy Software Releases CC2Pro!
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ProFantasy has released a new version of Campaign Cartographer called 
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DRAGONMEET GETS DORKIER
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Dragonmeet, London's friendliest games event, is proud to announce it 
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Dragonmeet will also be running the amazing Game in a Day: a team of 
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can join in. Will it be any good? Is it even possible? Are we 
completely mad to try it? Whatever happens, it'll be a unique 
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Dragonmeet takes place on Saturday 30th November, at Kensington Town 
Hall in London. Doors open at 10am. More information and online 
ticket-booking are available at http://www.dragonmeet.com


PEP Writers' Contest II

Write a 500-word (or less) story that begins with this sentence: She 
sat on her suitcase waiting for a taxi.

Prizes: First Prize = Up to $10,000.00, Second Prize  = Up to 
$5,000.00, Third Prize  = Up to $2,500.00 (See website, noted below, 
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Submissions: All entries must be prose (no poetry please), written and 
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Entry Fee: $25.00 (USD)

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Questions: mailto:donna at thewritecoach.com or call 1-800-235-6156
Visit http://www.thewritecoach.com/contest.htm for complete contest 
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2003 Bernheim Fellowship Programs
Application Deadline: December 31, 2002

Bernheim is pleased to announce that we are accepting applications for 
the annual Bernheim fellowships:

Artist In Residence (for visual artists working in any medium)
Writer In Residence (for writers working in any genre)

The goal in all of Bernheim's activities is to help realize its 
mission of strengthening the bond between people and nature by finding 
new ways to connect nature with people's everyday lives.  An excellent 
way to do this is through the arts. To that end, Bernheim awards two 
fellowships annually, one to a writer and one to a visual artist. Each 
fellow has the unique opportunity to live and work at Bernheim for 
three months to create original work that is informed by nature. 
Bernheim provides housing, studio space, and a generous stipend to 
each artist.

Details about guidelines and application procedures are available on 
our website: http://www.bernheim.org/arts.htm


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