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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!houxm!hou2g!scott
From: scott@hou2g.UUCP (The Brennan Monster)
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: Re: Multiple characters
Message-ID: <728@hou2g.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 9-Dec-85 13:39:51 EST
Article-I.D.: hou2g.728
Posted: Mon Dec  9 13:39:51 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 10-Dec-85 07:13:23 EST
References: <1767@uwmacc.UUCP>
Organization: The Sol Cometary Halo
Lines: 64


>>1) It requires all of a player's attention to play ONE character to the best
>>   of their ability...

I could use this argument to prove that no one can play the game
at all.  I mean, if the player is playing a character, who is playing
the player? :-).  I like to think I can think of a few things at once.

>>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

Does each of the PCs/people you DM get individual notes from you for
virtually everything?  If not, how can you keep one player from "knowing"
what another's character experienced?  Seems to be the same problem to me.

>>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.

Unfortunately, often true.  Not inevitable, however.  One rule of thumb I
try to use in my dungeons is that everyone should try to have one spell-
casting PC and one fighter type.  That way, chances are you have at least
one character that's useful in each situation.


>   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.

My very first character (Dwarf Fighter--alas, poor Puck) died very early
in my gaming "career".  Instead of sitting around the rest of the evening,
I was worked into the dungeon almost immediately--this can be easily and 
believably done by a competent DM.  In the above case, the party came across
a bottle filled with vapors.  Upon releasing the vapors (by throwing it against
a distant wall--they weren't COMPLETELY stupid), the party was surprised
to see a figure condense out of the fog--Mordru, a first-level mage imprisoned
by the fella whose dungeon we were ransacking.  Ol' Mordy (yours truly) was 
more than happy to help the party, under the circumstances.  Etc., etc.

For this reason, it might be a good idea to keep a few extra characters 
rolled up, and then you can insert them "on the fly".  With high-level 
characters?..it mightn't work as well, although you have to do SOMETHING 
when your only PC dies in an 11th level castle.

Another idea is to let the PC-less character play an NPC, at least for
the duration.  Provided one is available.

			Consumable substances for cerebral activity,

			Scott J. Berry
			ihnp4!hou2g!scott