Hi, I'm a new DM. Some friends and I are going to be starting a campaign soon, and they wanted to start it. The thing is, we currently have only two players, and two undecided. How the heck do I DM for two people while also leaving room in the campaign for the undecided people without feeling like this tiny party has several holes?
Also just general DM advice, since this'll be my first time.
This is not as hard as it might seem. You can totally run with two people. You might consider adding a sidekick even if it's just temporary. You just need to scale your encounters appropriately and let the sidekick fill in the gap. If the other two join, you can just naritively add them into the story any way you'd like and remove the sidekick as needed. Maybe they walk into a tavern or are prisoners in a dungeon the other players are working through. Maybe they just run into each other in the woods. It doesn't matter. Also, the party doesn't have to have skills that cover every aspect of game play. You can give them magic items, or in town resources to fill those gaps. If they lack healing, make potions easy to aquire. If they strength, make a mercenary available to hire. Not having all the things makes it so players have to be more creative in their solutions which makes the game more fun as well.
The first thing to consider is if the campaign will run published adventures or homebrewed ones designed by the DM? There is no minimum player requirement in D&D there's even solo adventure, or for 1+ players etc...but the general assumption of most published adventures in 5E assumes 4 players characters. Some adventures even includes guidelines to run with less than 4, usually reducing the number of monsters or challenge,
So the campaign can involve just 2 PC, or more of which the extra one are characters that the players or the DM control.
There is also sidekick that can be used to round up a party, which are special NPC build a little simpler.
"Dragon of Icespire Peak" is a starter adventure that has DM tools to run it for as few as 1 player. It has sidekick rules that would allow you to play with only 2 people now and remove sidekicks if other players join. It sounds kind of perfect for your situation.
Buddy cops with side characters that come in and out. They are hired to investigate the murder of a young noblewoman in a corrupt medieval port city. Hopefully the two characters complement each other (Muscle and charm/brains, etc.). There are so many movies you can use as inspiration that feature a primary relationship between two characters
If people are going to end up coming in and out of the game, sometimes stuff will happen before a good point to add or remove the character. Let the other players control the character during combat while you control them for any non combat stuff they have to do.
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Hi, I'm a new DM. Some friends and I are going to be starting a campaign soon, and they wanted to start it. The thing is, we currently have only two players, and two undecided. How the heck do I DM for two people while also leaving room in the campaign for the undecided people without feeling like this tiny party has several holes?
Also just general DM advice, since this'll be my first time.
This is not as hard as it might seem. You can totally run with two people. You might consider adding a sidekick even if it's just temporary. You just need to scale your encounters appropriately and let the sidekick fill in the gap. If the other two join, you can just naritively add them into the story any way you'd like and remove the sidekick as needed. Maybe they walk into a tavern or are prisoners in a dungeon the other players are working through. Maybe they just run into each other in the woods. It doesn't matter. Also, the party doesn't have to have skills that cover every aspect of game play. You can give them magic items, or in town resources to fill those gaps. If they lack healing, make potions easy to aquire. If they strength, make a mercenary available to hire. Not having all the things makes it so players have to be more creative in their solutions which makes the game more fun as well.
I'va got three eaasy steps for you!
1. Introduce NPC early on in the campaign
2. Give him/her a role in the your group. Map Charter is always a good pick.
3. Roleplay him/her well, making the character feel alive. This should eventually fill the gap until you find someone else to join!
I do campaigns the are beginner friendly! If you are interested, contact me at: drploppleiv@gmail.com
The first thing to consider is if the campaign will run published adventures or homebrewed ones designed by the DM? There is no minimum player requirement in D&D there's even solo adventure, or for 1+ players etc...but the general assumption of most published adventures in 5E assumes 4 players characters. Some adventures even includes guidelines to run with less than 4, usually reducing the number of monsters or challenge,
So the campaign can involve just 2 PC, or more of which the extra one are characters that the players or the DM control.
There is also sidekick that can be used to round up a party, which are special NPC build a little simpler.
"Dragon of Icespire Peak" is a starter adventure that has DM tools to run it for as few as 1 player. It has sidekick rules that would allow you to play with only 2 people now and remove sidekicks if other players join. It sounds kind of perfect for your situation.
Great, thank you for the tips!
Buddy cops with side characters that come in and out. They are hired to investigate the murder of a young noblewoman in a corrupt medieval port city. Hopefully the two characters complement each other (Muscle and charm/brains, etc.). There are so many movies you can use as inspiration that feature a primary relationship between two characters
If people are going to end up coming in and out of the game, sometimes stuff will happen before a good point to add or remove the character. Let the other players control the character during combat while you control them for any non combat stuff they have to do.