Howdy folks! Happy Christmas weekend!
Today I'm going to talk about one of the ways we can move a huge group through the stages of encounters in an RPG. Yes, I'm going to tackle that bugbear - splitting up the group.
We have a large regular turnout here at the Wargate, and sometimes all those characters can't be doing the same thing at the same time. Forcing that can take it's toll on your verisimilitude, but fortunately you don't have to worry about it anymore. Using a theory I call "Shrodinger's Doan" and using the scientific principle (or at least a hollowed out idea) you too can run split groups in the same session with relative ease.
Sometimes groups become split apart by chance or misfortune, and sometimes they do it by design. No matter how it happens, you'll eventually have to narrate actions from different groups happening in different locales but at the same point of game time. This can happen during any narrative action, but is most prevalent during combat.
It can be jarring to have to bounce between each player as you would normally, as they are in different scenes and the setups can be very different. Also, it sometimes leads to a lot of player confusion in a larger group that has seven or more players, and therefore actions, going on. Therefore, I believe the best way of dealing with these sorts of situations is to deal with them entirely separately from one another with each individual group..
When one group strays from another, focus on one group above the others for a while. Leave the others in sort of a "momentary pause", sort of like you see in movies and on television. Something dramatic happens to one group, whose members are left at that spot ready to jump into the action from that point. Switch to the other group and take their actions and resolve the scene, then go back to the group you left on pause. It's really that simple, but technique issues arrive when certain questions pop up.
What happens if one group's outcome is dependent on another? What if they need to accomplish a certain action in a certain combat round at the same time?
This answer might be hollow, but my advice is try to avoid those situations. Try not to engineer a scenario so it's hinged on actions like this, as it can be a nightmare to run unless you happen to have a second GM and table to help with the book keeping.
It's not just the book keeping, however, that can drag this sort of thing down. You have to maintain a steady pace of entertainment to keep the whole group engaged. While one group is waiting, keep the immersion steady by asking members of the second group questions about their combat readiness, or any other dramatic inquiry that might engage the player in that scene. Kind of like rolling dice behind the GM screen for no reason other than to get your player's attention.
It's ok to leave one group on cliffhanger for a few minutes while you resolve a certain set of actions for another. In fact, you will probably have to deal with this sort of split in your group at some point. Don't worry too much about it, and split the groups up so they can be dealt with one at a time. If one group's goal must happen before the other, you know which group to focus on first. If not, go with the smaller group - these can usually be dealt with as a minor "off" scene before you return to the larger group, and other players tend to have the attention span to remain interested in smaller vignettes.
I'll leave you with an short example from one of Captain Video's Hunting Humans game:
Agent Doan manned the helicopter bay's machinegun, fixing it on the guard towers and making sure they had their heads down. There was a rocket or two, but no problem. The rest of the team disembarked the heli as we sat it down in the middle of the compound. In a few short seconds, the assault team was away - but we had one issue. Who was going to stay with the chopper?
Doan volunteered, and as the assault team entered the building the guards on the compound's perimeter regained their composure and closed in on the vulnerable helicopter with Agent Doan inside.
What happens next is where the art form begins. Remember when I said smaller groups should be done first? That's just a rule of thumb. In this example, the action follows the assault team inside the compound. Thus, Shrodinger's Doan - is Doan alive when the assault team returns to the chopper, or is he dead?
For purposes of the scenario above, it was dramatically superior to follow the assault team - since Agent Doan's untimely demise would definitely change the course of the mission and would have immediately prompted metagame responses - such as returning to secure the chopper. The Storyteller decided to resolve Agent Doan's battle around the helicopter after the assault team had exited the building, out of time with the other group. This was a longer stretch of downtime for Doan's player (me!) but in the end it was a great example of split groups.
Even though one group was like eight and the other was only one.
We're going to be in session on Christmas Day this year, so if you're in the neighborhood and want to stop by for a game or two feel free! It's the last weekend for our Q4 game, so get in the final battles this weekend and prepare for the New Year - which will be filled with more games than the last two combined!
We've grown a lot in the last year and a half, and we're only gaining momentum. My sincere thanks goes out to everyone who's made that possible and contributed to our club by participating in our games. Next year's going to be fantastic for the Wargate!
See you on Game Day!
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