tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2858586393857050613.post4039168529812184206..comments2024-01-26T11:56:46.170+10:30Comments on ST Wild: On Roleplaying: Split Parties Made EasyShannonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00456068019298922261noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2858586393857050613.post-22577591657220637472012-11-18T02:30:31.781+10:302012-11-18T02:30:31.781+10:30This is one of those things that I always hear cau...This is one of those things that I always hear cause problems for other GMs but which my group just takes as a natural extension of how we play the game.<br /><br />I think it's basically because our group is quite small, quite close-knit, and very happy with metagaming. As a result we don't really see much difference between a scene where the players are all in one room and taking it in turns to interact with the same NPCs, and a scene in which the players are all in different rooms and taking it in turns to interact with different NPCs.<br /><br />If there's one "trick" I use for this kind of thing, it's to use cuts between groups as a pacing aid. Rather than doing "the scene where A and B break into the house" followed by "the scene where C and D go to the library" I'll do "A and B approach the house and look for a way in / C and D start poking through the stacks / A and B find themselves in a spooky basement / C and D find a mysterious book" and so on. Instead of playing through the entire conversation with NPC 1, for the first group and then the entire conversation with NPC 2 for the second group, I split between them just at the point when the players *really want to know* what NPC 1 or NPC 2 says next (this also gives me more time to think).<br /><br />I think a lot of this comes down to group culture, if your players hate to mix in character and out of character knowledge, then they might feel obliged to sit quietly and pay no attention while the other group is acting, if they're more causal about it then a lot of barriers simply disappear.Dan Hhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05711867728179306264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2858586393857050613.post-31133190563902245302012-11-16T08:03:48.434+10:302012-11-16T08:03:48.434+10:30Nice. It's always good to hear a success stor...Nice. It's always good to hear a success story.Shannonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00456068019298922261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2858586393857050613.post-3812614427172868162012-11-15T22:05:16.967+10:302012-11-15T22:05:16.967+10:30This happened to me a couple of days back. Two pla...This happened to me a couple of days back. Two players peeled off to do some investiagtion while the other four had a job to do. I just split the group of players, actually shunting them away a table, and tole them I'd be with them soon and to plan what they were doing. Five minutes later, I informed the larger group that I needed to check in with the others, and to think about what they wanted to do when I got back. I did this a few times, no longer than ten minutes with each group, until the smaller group had accomplished everything they wanted, but the larger lot still had stuff to do. I invited the two lads to hover and observe, just to save explaining it all back to them later - meta gaming a little, but it did no harm - and it also gave them something to do.<br /><br />About twenty minutes later, the two groups were back together, but because I had been constantly switching between the two, and setting up the expectation that they should be talking about the game, it went off without a hitch. thesethingsthatiwritehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06983724061115538291noreply@blogger.com