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Splitting Up The Party
Eventually, it happens in almost every game: the party is forced to split up for one reason or another. Here are some tips to keep in mind when splitting up the party:
Keep the scenes short. When the party is split up, it’s ideal to keep the scenes as short as possible, and switch back and forth between the sub-groups as often as possible. The longer people are waiting the play, the more bored they will become, and the more likely fatigue is to set in. As a rule, I try not to keep anyone waiting more than fifteen or twenty minutes to play again.
Next Session Finish. If the group is being split into two, and the session is either nearing its close or the party will be split up for some time, it may be a good idea to send half the group home for the night, and intend to do their scenes at the start of the next session, perhaps before the others arrive.
Party Division Means Talent Division. When splitting up the party, keep in mind that you are also splitting up the party’s talents and abilities - meaning that they should be able to accomplish their respective goals even without the other party members.
Fill Out The Groups With NPCs. This can be especially useful is the party splitting up was not by choice, i.e. if several PCs were captured and must now be rescued. By adding in NPCs, you provide players with the talents that they might be missing due to the party being split up, and you also create an opportunity for the players of the missing PCs to still participate in the game by temporarily assuming control of the NPCs.
Beware Telepathy and Teleports. If the party split up voluntarily, there is a high likelihood that they will be able to communicate, especially if they have access to magic, psionics, or advanced technology. It is also quite possible that they will have access to instant, near-instant, or extremely fast transportation, which can allow the party to reunite quickly. If you have proceeded further with one sub-group than another, it is possible that one will call in the other for reinforcements - this can negate actions which the group has previously role-played out and completed.
Division of Rewards. Be sure that the rewards are divided evenly among the group, if one set gains a lot more experience than the other, this can create an unbalance in the party. Additionally, there can be problems if equipment is not divided evenly or fairly among the group.
Make Sure It Fits. Splitting up the party should ideally be somewhat rare, and something that only happens when it fits the story, simply because it can cause a large number of potential problems which likely would never come up if the party did not split up.
How do you handle splitting up the party?
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7 Responses to “Splitting Up The Party”
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Have decided to do this more often but in a different way.
For example, I plan to have ’solo’ missions for each PC where the other players will take the roles of NPCs who are there as support. Since each PC gets his own solo mish, it should work out nicely.
In a similar vein, I may use POV-shift (what LameMage of ars ludi calls NormalVision) to have the PCs play some NPCs to witness some events firsthand rather than from a Gather Info check or whathaveyou. Am hoping it will increase the drama and tension.
(Which you actually covered under Fill Out the Group… doh!)
I like that idea of the POV-shift… I’ll definitely be using that in my next Call of Cthulhu campaign, if not sooner.
The number one rule when splitting up the party:
Don’t.
Don’t put yourself in a position where you have to, and don’t put the players in a position where they should. In fact, go out of your way and tell your players that you will never screw them over for sticking together as opposed to splitting up.
Ian,
Your thoughts may indeed work well for many games, especially those which are more combat oriented as opposed to drama or story oriented games, which such constrictions simply feel completely inappropriate.
Also - do you mean don’t split up the party, or don’t split up the players?
Splitting up can be extremely entertaining if done right. However, this almost always requires some planning ahead. Spontaneous splits can work, too, but that’s where the most potential for boredom and non-fluid gameplay is.
When splitting up a group (either in two smaller groups or as each character for themselves) I take extremely short turns for each subgroup, far less than 15 minutes. I often explain or introduce a single event per turn, then switch over to the next group after a mini-cliffhanger. This not only entertains the others while they’re waiting, but also allows for the grouplets to think about a situation before they’re called on next time.
This works well with combat scenes, too. Especially when you can manage to arrange for all groups to enter combat at the same time. This turn-based model works in almost any scenario.
So, splitting up can be fun!
Udo’s last blog post..The Hillary we know
Ian, I don’t see it as “screwing” anybody over. Whether the group sticks together or not (often they’re separated by force though) should be treated as a drama element.
I would go so far and say that The Split works even better in drama- or story-driven games than hack-and-slay ones. Just encourage them to play it out and use the turn-based system. Try it!
Udo’s last blog post..The Hillary we know