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Nick H
United States
Oregon
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I generally only have one person to play games with on a regular basis and saw on the box it supports two people. I assume that's one PC and one GM; my question, is there any fun in the system playing with just two people?
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Luke Stirling
Australia
Southbank
Victoria
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That really depends on the personalities of the people involved. When I was much younger, I used to run adventures after school with a friend who lived nearby. We lived a bit of a ways away from the others we played with at school, but we couldn't get enough D&D back then (mid-late 80s).
Now I will still occasionally do it for a side-story of a campaign, but rarely. Still, there's no reason that can't be your exclusive mode of play if you want it to be.
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Dave Bernazzani (@rpggeek)
United States
Plainville
Massachusetts
I wish to provide legendary service to the RPG community to help grow our hobby and enrich the lives of gamers everywhere.
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Vampyur wrote: I generally only have one person to play games with on a regular basis and saw on the box it supports two people. I assume that's one PC and one GM; my question, is there any fun in the system playing with just two people?
Pathfinder will work with just 1GM and 1P (see One on One Adventures Compendium) but adding that second player (or third) is where RPGs really shine. Having the players be able to bounce ideas off eachother, interact with eachother and play off eachothers strengths and weaknesses is a big part. So it will work 1GM, 1P but is a better experience with 1GM, 2P or 3P (up to about 5P ... with 6 or more it starts to get a little unwieldy, IMO although some people play with 8 or more players).
Dave
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Steven Robert
United States
Altadena
California
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I agree with the answers above - it can be done but won't be ideal. I'd say that if you are experienced with RPGs this will be easier; the Box itself doesn't have any guidelines for how to make the experience better with just one player.
There are two solutions to the single player problem. First, have the player run a single character (or PC); that means you'll have to adjust the adventures you run. For example, the adventure included here (and the one in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Beginner Box GM Kit) won't work at all, they'll be much too difficult for a single player. Also, the game makes some strong assumptions that PCs can heal themselves for longer staying power - but that requires a cleric PC. If your player doesn't want to run one, you'll have to find some way to get the player healing. And another example - the GM guide explains how to build and balance your own adventures...but assumes you have four PCs. It'll take some trial and error to figure out what works for a single character.
Another option is to let the player run more than one PC. In that case, their attention is divided, so it's a tougher job both in the mechanics (having to track abilities/health many PCs) and story (harder to focus on character development). But it'll make the GM's job much easier.
Neither solution is ideal, but if you are excited about these sorts of stories you will still have a fun time! It'll just be more work.
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Jeff Johnson
United States
Harrisonburg
Virginia
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(I play old school, so your mileage may vary.)
I have run a single player game with one guy running four PC's plus several men-at-arms. This can be a little dry unless you treat it as being a pen and paper implementation of a computerized role playing game.
I run my kids and they have a few characters each.... Suddenly, every decision becomes amusing. Who's character will open the door? How will they divide the treasure? (Like when my daughter not only gets the potions, but gets my son's halfling to taste it for her... heh.)
Six player anything is an entirely different thing. It can be epically rad awesome when the players are playing off each other-- a gm just has to hold it togtether, stand back, and let them loose. At the same time... the most horribly embarrasingly bad sessions become a possibility as well.
If you want more players... get good with an ongoing single player campaign. It is much easier for random people to drop into something that is already up and running-- plus, when you do get them, all the kinks will be worked out.
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Wéi (韋) Wǔ (伍)
United States
Encinitas
California
Dim Sum, the bestest meal of the day
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Sorry if this highjacking this thread but I think it goes along with original question. I'm an old school RPGer also. In the old days we sometimes play 1-player games with the DM playing different NPCs. In a full blown Pathfinder game, I see it difficult for the GM a character. But how about the DM running the pre-gens in the Beginner Box?
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Freelance Police
United States
Palo Alto
California
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One-on-one allows you more *roleplaying*. With one player, they can now hog the spotlight and the game can focus *entirely* on them. City adventures, or adventures involving NPCs are very good one-on-one. I would suggest the free Pathfinder W0: Horror at Daggar Rock, as a good one-on-one adventure, although you might want to scale down the NPCs or make the PC stronger.
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The Harnish
Germany
Duisburg
NRW
Cult of The Harnish Leader
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I think you could make it work, largely by avoiding what it's best at(heroic adventuring with a group). If you're exclusively playing one-on-one there are a lot better games to play IMO: Burning Wheel works great one-on-one and much of its learning curve is sped up because it's just 2 people involved.
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The GM could also play a character.
What helps here is to have that character an idiot/half-wit who can back the other player up in combat but who does not take part in much of the thinking/planning, as obviously the GM knows the correct course of action. Thus a half-orc barbarian or fighter with low intelligence/wisdom is called for.
This also allows the secondary player a bit of 'company' and the freedom to choose a class that requires a tank to protect it. This second character is almost shared between the GM and the player with the player prompting this character when to use skills.
eg:
Elf: Snapper do you think you could break down that door?
Orc: Um, can do... Snapper smash! 1d20 = (9) = 9
Elf: Pah, you have failed me again retch! Go a lit on the naughty step.
Orc: Sorry master. We are the original odd couple.
Dependent upon who you play with and how complicated you want the scenario.
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