Multi-Party Adventuring
written by Donat P. Fevre
July 7th, 2008 · 1 Comment
While D&D is usually focused on just a single party going out and adventuring together, it may be a bit unrealistic that all those characters are always hanging around with each other. And the situations in which they meet may also be a bit unrealistic.
Also, for the Dungeon Master, while keeping all the characters in a single group may be a bit easier to manage, it can eventually get a little stale, especially if they’ve been trudging through one dungeon for a very long time.
One tactic I’ve been seeing used very well has been to allow players start their characters off in different places in your campaign world. By doing this, you allow those characters to have a bit more realistic of a start. Not only that, but now you essentially have to juggle between different adventures, since characters are now running around without being together.
While this may initially be a bit difficult to manage, it may actually make things easier for you, as the Dungeon Master, to handle. The one Dungeon Master I’ve been playing with recently has actually told me that it’s easier on him because it brings up a fresh plate for him every time he switches to the next adventuring group. It’s probably this freshness that helps him come up with new ideas on the fly, since I seem to have this habit of walking or running away from his adventure hooks. 
However, multi-party adventuring isn’t just for the DM. Even though players may be adventuring in different parts of the campaign world, they can still listen to the stories of the other other characters when the turn passes to the other players.
To give you all an example, my character in the most recent campaign I’m playing in started off in the city of Sharn in the Eberron setting. Meanwhile, another character started in Flamekeep in Thrane, and yet another in Karrlakton in Karnath.
While my character was going around in Sharn stealing stuff, and then fleeing the city to get away from the guard, the character in Thrane was getting conscripted into the army and being sent to invade Karnath. While all that was happening, the third character was in the middle of the city that was being demolished by an airship battle overhead.
I’ll leave you all to use your imaginations to see how well this can go. But I hope you can see how awesome doing this can be! 
Topics: D&D General
Here’s a few practical tips that I have used when running a game that does not assume a party structure:
1. Ask every player (or group of players whose characters are together) in order: “What do you do?”. After this, adjudicate what they do in arbitrary order, as long as it remains brief. If it takes a long time, skip to the next player or ask another question.
I have no idea how this works in a game like D&D with extremely long battles.
2. Give palyers time to think. If someone is in a tough situation, is facing a puzzle, or was hit with a plot revelation, skip to the next player. This takes pressure off players and provides useful cliffhangers.
3. Let uninvolved players play NPCs (or monsters or familiars). “The guard just wants to keep his job and stay alive. First level fighter. Understands some elven. Has a family.” Doing this with significant NPCs is interesting and fun, but takes guts and does not work in all playstyles.