Lmao so my (F21) first ever actual session of my campaign as DM didn’t even happen bc one of my players didn’t even show up after we waited an hour for her and it took my other friend spamming her to get her to respond and apparently the recorded finale of the Amazing Race (that she can watch anytime she’d like to) matters more to her than my time and effort in this campaign I spent weeks planning which is pretty ****in hurtful tbh so now I’m talking with my two players who actually did show up and they’re not very happy with her either oops and I’m trying actively to not cry this sucks guys Like wtf do you do as a DM when your players just dip on you with zero prior communication or anything???
Edit: for clarity I’m playing with my three IRL friends and I haven’t played since high school and I’ve never ever DMed before (im a university student now)
Update: so my friend didn't even really apologize and I had to prompt her into actually telling me if she wanted to stay in the campaign and she was all "I never really wanted to play, I planned on stopping after this session anyways, I'm not good at it."
So yeah, that's ******* grand. Can you even play with 2 people??
There are some rules about henchmen (or sidekicks?) which you could use, so they could take a couple of those along if you feel the need to up the number of actual characters in the party.
I wouldn't worry about your friend. If they don't want to play D&D then it is better that they don't turn up and disrupt your game sessions with non-game talk anyway. :-)
Sure you can play with two people as Farling pointed out there are rules for sidekicks in the Essential Kit and in Tasha's (https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/tcoe/dungeon-masters-tools#Sidekicks) that can help you along. Also, you can scale your encounters to something more in line with two characters, and finally you can make it a Role Play focused game where combat is a rare occurrence but still engaging to the players.
So yeah, that's ******* grand. Can you even play with 2 people??
Welcome to the wonderful world of "just trying to get everybody who agreed to show up to actually show up," or "scheduling" for short.
Yeah, you can play with 2 people. You can have them make additional characters (this used to be standard 30-40 some odd years ago (so I hear)), use sidekicks (additional character lite), or reduce and rebalance encounters (more of an art than a science, kinda hard, may require on the fly HP/damage reduction).
Speaking of including an NPC ally to help balance out the party... I know that there's a lot of negativity around a "DMPC", with them being the center of a number of horror stories online. But that's more a complaint about a DM who introduces a party member who ends up being the clear main character... especially if they're significantly more powerful than the PCs, and especially especially if they're only that powerful because the DM just gave them a bunch of unbalanced homebrew skills or equipment.
That said... it's okay to have a character controlled by the DM who accompanies the party. It can be particularly helpful for new players who may not be used to the game... it's a way for the DM to offer advice or help guide the players in the direction the story is meant to go. Sometimes it can even be fun to have it be a rotating door of different NPCs that assist them in different situations
Others covered the playing with two people aspect, so I’ll just say, you’re actually going to be better off without your friend. Some people don’t like the game, and her playing begrudgingly will just make the whole experience bad for everyone. From what you wrote, she handled it poorly, but still, you are better off in the long run. Plus, now you have space if you find a new person who wants to play.
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Lmao so my (F21) first ever actual session of my campaign as DM didn’t even happen bc one of my players didn’t even show up after we waited an hour for her and it took my other friend spamming her to get her to respond and apparently the recorded finale of the Amazing Race (that she can watch anytime she’d like to) matters more to her than my time and effort in this campaign I spent weeks planning which is pretty ****in hurtful tbh so now I’m talking with my two players who actually did show up and they’re not very happy with her either oops and I’m trying actively to not cry this sucks guys Like wtf do you do as a DM when your players just dip on you with zero prior communication or anything???
Edit: for clarity I’m playing with my three IRL friends and I haven’t played since high school and I’ve never ever DMed before (im a university student now)
Update: so my friend didn't even really apologize and I had to prompt her into actually telling me if she wanted to stay in the campaign and she was all "I never really wanted to play, I planned on stopping after this session anyways, I'm not good at it."
So yeah, that's ******* grand. Can you even play with 2 people??
Yes, playing with two people is fine.
There are some rules about henchmen (or sidekicks?) which you could use, so they could take a couple of those along if you feel the need to up the number of actual characters in the party.
I wouldn't worry about your friend. If they don't want to play D&D then it is better that they don't turn up and disrupt your game sessions with non-game talk anyway. :-)
Sure you can play with two people as Farling pointed out there are rules for sidekicks in the Essential Kit and in Tasha's (https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/tcoe/dungeon-masters-tools#Sidekicks) that can help you along. Also, you can scale your encounters to something more in line with two characters, and finally you can make it a Role Play focused game where combat is a rare occurrence but still engaging to the players.
Welcome to the wonderful world of "just trying to get everybody who agreed to show up to actually show up," or "scheduling" for short.
Yeah, you can play with 2 people. You can have them make additional characters (this used to be standard 30-40 some odd years ago (so I hear)), use sidekicks (additional character lite), or reduce and rebalance encounters (more of an art than a science, kinda hard, may require on the fly HP/damage reduction).
Play with 2, it's fine, and the ideas stated above are good. She evidently doesn't want to play in the campaign.
Speaking of including an NPC ally to help balance out the party... I know that there's a lot of negativity around a "DMPC", with them being the center of a number of horror stories online. But that's more a complaint about a DM who introduces a party member who ends up being the clear main character... especially if they're significantly more powerful than the PCs, and especially especially if they're only that powerful because the DM just gave them a bunch of unbalanced homebrew skills or equipment.
That said... it's okay to have a character controlled by the DM who accompanies the party. It can be particularly helpful for new players who may not be used to the game... it's a way for the DM to offer advice or help guide the players in the direction the story is meant to go. Sometimes it can even be fun to have it be a rotating door of different NPCs that assist them in different situations
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Others covered the playing with two people aspect, so I’ll just say, you’re actually going to be better off without your friend. Some people don’t like the game, and her playing begrudgingly will just make the whole experience bad for everyone. From what you wrote, she handled it poorly, but still, you are better off in the long run.
Plus, now you have space if you find a new person who wants to play.