Comments on: Split the Party

By: Hayden

Hayden — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:02:26 +0000

Wow, i’m shocked! In my eyes, splitting up has always been a GOOD thing. I can hardly remember a gaming session where it did not occur. Maybe I’ve just been fortunate by having a good DM, but man, I feel that some of the most interesting events can happen when splitting up.

For instance, I played a fighter in a campaign where we were sent into the Medical Springs Sanitarium which was currently haunted and being used as the site for the Devil’s summoning. (the old owner’s obliviously sat at the front desk thinking that it was being “remodeled”)

Anyways, the place was really creepy, and as we were walking along a carpeted hallway, the carpet entangled me and sucked me underneath to a lower floor. I faced an evil girl at the end of the hall who had her back to me, and my god, my fighter has never been such a wuss in the entire campaign! I had to find my way back to the party, meanwhile they faced threats of their own.

I think it may be because in all of my games, fear is a factor. I’ve adopted my uncle’s (my previous DM) technique of using fear and separation to help with the pacing issues of splitting up. Also, cliff hangers within the game can be created while split up. One player decides to split up and find a girl he saw earlier. While he’s away the town bell rings and the rest of the party sees the girl, while the split up player was just told that he sees a familiar looking lady with her back turned to him and he just instructed me that he spins her around and kisses her. Oops.

I can see where splitting up could become problematic, but if it’s done right I think it is actually beneficial and rewarding. I mean, its like combat. Players are sitting waiting for there turn, right? Thats how I treat split-ups, as combat instances. As long as there’s the excitement of battle, or the excitement of SOMETHING for all the players to watch or enjoy, they won’t notice the absence in waiting. Trust me!!!

By: Sarah Darkmagic

Sarah Darkmagic — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:08:57 +0000

The Motto is “Never Split the Party” for a Reason…

One of my players has a great blog about his experiences and thoughts regarding D&D and recently he wrote an entry about something that happened in one of our sessions. Due to how the session evolved, he felt that his character would do something c…

By: Poll Results — Dungeon's Master

Poll Results — Dungeon's Master — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:18:59 +0000

[...] Split the Party [...]

By: Ameron

Ameron — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:06:23 +0000

@Rook
Pitting an encounter designed for the full party against a smaller group that’s opted to split up is nasty. I love it.

I think you’ve come to the same conclusion as my group: if you’re going to split up then both groups need equal play time and the focus should shift back and forth frequently until they meet up again. Thanks for your feedback.

@skallawag
Titling this article “Split the Party” was no accident. I found it an amusing coincidence that I’d have this positive experience about splitting the party so close to the release of the PHB2 given their slogan “Never Split the Party.”

By: skallawag

skallawag — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:44:14 +0000

It's actually pretty amusing that you have this blog post right before the release of Player's Handbook 2. Just looking again at the slogan of Dungeon and Dragons of "Never Split the Party," I couldn't help but chuckle. They even have it built into the URL http://www.wizards.com/dnd/neversplittheparty/index.asp

By: Rook

Rook — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:28:01 +0000

I’ve been fortunate in that my groups are usually very weary of splitting up. I think they’re scared of what I’ll throw at them while they’re fewer in numbers. In the few times they have, I’ve made it a point to flip back and forth between groups as often as possible so that no one is out of the action for too long. This is particularly important with young players with short attention spans.

For sure, it is important to leave each group with a “mini-cliffhanger” as you called it (I like that term), usually a decision to make or a “surprise” development for them to chew on. So yes, while splitting up isn’t desirable, it is doable with the right approach.

By: Ameron

Ameron — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:55:42 +0000

@skallawag
I remember how poorly that game turned out. It was the last time I toyed with the idea of letting the party split up. Which is why I was so impressed when splitting up worked so well in the example above. Splitting up works so rarely that I’d rather not encourage it then take the risk that it might work. My apologies skallawag, that adventure idea blew up in my face and taught me a valuable lesson as a DM.

By: skallawag

skallawag — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:51:10 +0000

I think the worst gaming session I ever had was when the DM put me in a cage at the beginning of the night and the point of the whole evening was to rescue me. I was sitting around doing nothing and I don’t think I came to a few sessions after that.

I would condone splitting the party at all costs as it never ends up with a good result in the end.