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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!gatech!seismo!uwvax!uwmacc!oyster
From: oyster@uwmacc.UUCP (Vicious Oyster)
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: Re: Multiple characters
Message-ID: <1767@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 6-Dec-85 14:02:41 EST
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.1767
Posted: Fri Dec  6 14:02:41 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 8-Dec-85 03:19:27 EST
References: <440@ucdavis.UUCP>
Reply-To: oyster@uwmacc.UUCP (Vicious Oyster)
Distribution: net
Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center
Lines: 38

In article <440@ucdavis.UUCP> ccs007@ucdavis.UUCP (Cionex) writes:
>
>1) It requires all of a player's attention to play ONE character to the best
>   of their ability...

>2) ...
>   No matter what the intentions of the player, knowledge seems to 'seep'
>   from the brain of one character to the other, which can lead to nearly
>   inconquerable problems of who knew what when.

>3) Favoritism always rears its ugly head.  I have yet to see a player who is
>   running two (or, in truly sick cases, more) pcs consider them both equals.
>   Invariably, one character acts considerably more than the other, and the
>   neglected pc becomes a waste of time and energy.
>
   I agree to much of the above, but still think having a single player run 2
characters is a good idea in situations where there are not a lot of players
(i.e 3-4).  I've played this way a lot, and DMed it a bit, and my experience
shows that each player will have a main character, who they play to the best
of their ability, and they'll have the secondary character, which is sorta like
an NPC which the DM doesn't have to worry about playing.  It makes play more
balanced to be able to have, f'rinstance, more than one fighter or cleric,
and it leaves the DM with more time and energy to spend on the interesting
parts of the game, rather than directing yet another NPC.
   Some people have brought up the fact that with only one character, if that
character dies early on in the gaming session, they just sit and twiddle their
thumbs.  This happened to me early in my gaming career, and nearly caused me
to give it up ("If this is how exciting it is, I'd rather be watching
'Dallas'!").  With a subsequent DM, we each had a backup character to use in
such occasions, and when the main character was doing something like 
researching a spell.  Of course, the backup character had to be able to fit
in with the happenings.  If the party was down a dungeon or in the middle of
a desert, the character couldn't just appear; he/she would have to meet them
in a town, or possibly "on the road."  This worked fairly well, probably
because the DM kept things lively (pun), and the supporting cast didn't
have to show up very often.

 - Joel ({allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!oyster)