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From: ekblaw@uiucdcsp.CS.UIUC.EDU
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: Re: Multiple PC's per player
Message-ID: <6700010@uiucdcsp>
Date: Wed, 8-Jan-86 13:24:00 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucdcsp.6700010
Posted: Wed Jan  8 13:24:00 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Jan-86 05:22:00 EST
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Nf-From: uiucdcsp.CS.UIUC.EDU!ekblaw    Jan  8 12:24:00 1986


Which Robert, my friend?  I am not knocking the multiple character per player
ideal, provided (as you said) it does not go overboard.  Usually, the way I
handle it is as follows:

1.  If less than five players are participating in a campaign, I allow those
	who wish it to have two characters (I limit it to two per player).
	My only contraint is that the characters are diverse, ie. a thief
	and a priest, a fighter and a thief, an elf and an orc, etc.  This
	prevents cooperation between the two characters towards the benefit
	of the player as a whole.  If I am GMing players I know well and trust,
	I lower the amount of diversity between the characters, as I know 
	that the players are good enough to avoid problems of "information
	leakage" and "unconscious cooperation."

2.  If five or six players are participating, I allow players with lower level
	characters to have a second one rolled up that comes along with the
	party as an NPC, whom I play if the character is needed.  If the
	player's first character is killed, that player can then use the
	second character.  This way, the second character knows all the infor-
	mation that the rest of the party does (as the character was with
	the group), yet is a seperate entity from the first character, who is
	now dead.

I have been playing D&D for nearly ten years now (good Lord, has it been that
long?  I am getting old!), and the above method has worked the best for myself
(as both a player and GM) of all the methods myself and my gaming buddies have
tried.

Robert A. Ekblaw