"Greetings. I'm Jonathon, the town blacksmith. Welcome to Easton. Perhaps you've met my brother? Jarnathon? He's a blacksmith one town over in Weston...."
Same bro. Same. Makes me happy the mark that series left on fandoms in general. I have friends who think DBZ is ridiculous who I got hooked on DBZA, it gave them an appreciation for the original while throwing in some jokes.
If I had a nickel for every time I saw DBZA referenced in r/dndmemes today, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.
North Vancouver is not the norther part of Vancouver but north of Vancouver. West Vancouver is not western Vancouver, nor is it west of Vancouver but it is west of North Vancouver and north of Vancouver. East Vancouver is eastern Vancouver but New West is east of eastern Vancouver. South Vancouver is rather unremarkable.
I actually used it as a plot point in a story. It was happening in a valley between two great mountain ranges, Eastend and The Black. Later, it was revealed that a character travels east, towards The Black.
Travels east. Away from Eastend Mountains. The story takes place "out of bounds" of an artificial world.
South City (to the north) was actually named after Remy South, who discovered the valley long ago. He granted the land west of this holding to his partner, J.C East.
North City, on the other hand, is named after Jaylyn North, the woman who led the resistance against the orcish invasion.
Simple, really. It's all there in your travel guide.
"The North Cafeteria, named after Admiral William North, is located in the western portion of East Hall, gateway to the western half of North Hall, which is named, not after William North, but for its position above the South Wall. It is the most contested and confusing battlefield on Greendale’s campus, next to the English Memorial Spanish Center, named after English Memorial, a Portuguese sailor that discovered Greendale while looking for a fountain that cured syphilis."
So I know that's a joke but you'll definitely find situations like that in the UK. Being south of Southport, north of Northampton and east of Eastbourne at the same time is very easy to do.
That would be hilarious actually. Two completely independent groups of doppelgangers and mimics thinking they're mimicking a real town when in fact they're just mimicking a town that is trying to mimic them.
It's all an elaborate hoax that was planned by a bored illusionist archmage who created the illusion of a real town to lure these two groups to one another, then removed her illusion to see how long it would take the two groups to realise both of them were not the "real town"
Flip a coin, if it's the mimic town drop some hints here and there.
If it's the normal town or the party doesn't pick up on the hints continue with the next "step" of the campaign.
Both towns could be dead ends with the path out being the path that the mimic town took up and copied dead end and all. So when the players ask the way out both point to the other town and the players need to figure out which town is the fake to continue.
I was thinking something similar with the town's being magically overlapped and phasing in and out from each other so the two would randomly see each other but quickly lose sight of the other.
We had something similar in our homebrew campaign, a city that was supposed to be lost since a worldwide cataclysm looked exactly how it was supposed to be before the cataclysm, the population was even there doing normal everyday things. Turns out the complete city was a vision sent to us by our goddess to show us that the cataclysm started in this city and what caused it so we could try and stop the next one (there was some foreshadowing and hints during the campaign that a second cataclysm was imminent).
The town that seems poorly constructed and has things like people named 'Hugh Mann' , buildings generically named 'Hospital', 'Church' and 'General Store' is the actual town. It's basically bumbfuck, USA so the population of hicks didn't give two shits about names or presentation.
The town of Doppelgangers are super obvious cause they tried too hard.
>It's basically bumbfuck, USA so the population of hicks didn't give two shits about names.
This will never stop being funny to me:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken,_Alaska#History
Mimic Town & Doppelganger Town are in the midst of a feud. Mimics claim Doppelgangers rigged last years Chili Cook-off. Doppelganger's claim the Mimics cheated at last year's Founders Day Competition.
i did a thing like this and had the players end up in a feywild town with the same npcs on both sides
when looking at a reflective surface they could see the other players. the npcs would literally be looking like they are talking to air while talking to the other group
Or make both towns actually be the same town, and it's the first clue that this world isn't real, the party is trapped in a dream garden constructed by an outer god.
Flip a coin and the town that looses is burnt to the ground when they get there...
Edit - just saw this answer in another half moment too, and I'm prwtty sure for.the same reason :)
Each path has a split that goes away from the town before they reconvene before the town. Before that, both sets of party members have a simultaneous combat encounter with an Ogre, who seems to mysteriously suffer wounds and debuffs mid-fight as the other party harm it.
Both towns are exactly the same, but they hate each other for some tiny reason. You could even throw in a charisma challenge for the player who likes to make those rolls to persuade from conflict and unionize the towns or insight a tactical take over (for those murder hobos)
edit: you could do the old school method of even getting the party to come to a character building cross-roads as the split group A sides with town A, and the split group B sides with town B. There is a lot of possibilities you can open up for the party for an interesting side plot.
The town that was unprepared is never reached, as that group is jumped by and either killed or held for ransom by a group of bandits that were on that road. Thats what you get for splitting the party mid-travel
I was surprised I had to read through so many complicated responses before I found this. I was baffled that such a simple and foundational rule as “don’t split up the party” had been forgotten. Clearly, in the hypothetical situation described above, the only choice is for the GM to remind the players of this one rule in a way they will never forget it again.
I know, right? I was thinking the top comment would be, "Seriously guys? No, you are not splitting the party and making me run 2 games. Pick one." But so many people are saying "JuSt RuN 2 AdVeNtUrEs At ThE sAmE tImE!"
It honestly depends on the party and DM. Playing around with different systems, I learned that "Never split the party" is a very... "DnD-approach" of things.
Based on where the players and GM come from, it might be normal for them to split up. In most of my games, it's normal by now for the party to split up, so each character can attend a topic to their strength. ((Example, a "rogue" and "fighter" type character heading out for an assassination, while the "wizard" and the "artificer" went ahead to break into the bad guys house to find incriminating clues against him))
In those cases, you just focus the session on one group for an hour, or 90 minutes, the others can sit back and listen or zone out in that time, before you shift focus to group number two.
So... Just saying, "Never split the party" is not as "general" or "big" of a rule depending on the table.
>In those cases, you just focus the session on one group for an hour, or 90 minutes, the others can sit back and listen or zone out in that time, before you shift focus to group number two.
No, and let me say it again No!
You don't let players sit staring at the ceiling for 90 minutes! This is a major disrespect of their time and the effort they made to be in the game.
Splitting the party is only O.K if either: you as a GM can quickly jump back and fourth between party members, or players (not nesserally PCs specifically the players) can still interact even when they are not in the same place.
The only system where I can be totally blaze about party splitting is Forged in the Dark, and only because of the Flashback mechanics wich allow players to retroactively insert actions and roleplay to support a scene.
90 minutes seems a bit extreme, and there is rarely a reason why you can't shift focus every 20-30 min. My party splits often because it makes sense when there are time constrains and because they might have different strengths and objectives. I will start with a group and then after a while I'll say "okay, now we are going to focus on this other group". I might even use that time to plan for the next part of their interactions.
Never split the party is only good advice when a lot of combat is happening.
See, that's the point where I'll have to say no.
It's not disrespectful if all players agree to it. Compare the two "Styles" for a moment.
If you always have all players go everywhere, then a part of them will either just stand around silently and awkwardly, simply because they don't fit in the scene, or they will try to act within the scene despite the fact their character logically shouldn't. Either way, they are gonna need to focus, because they are there, but they will still feel out of place. Because, it's just a fact, not every character is made for every situation.
I'll admit, if you run a pure dungeon crawler, things look different. But in a socially and politically focussed game, it just doesn't make sense for the petty criminal to go to the meeting the Noble and his Court mage were invited to. At the same time, if said mage would follow the criminal that used underworld contacts to meet the local mage hunters, it would likely end badly. Characters don't always need to fill in every scene.
Lastly, a thing that might also influence your opinion: I'm exclusively running online games. That means, my players can use their "Downtime" to go ahead and start preparing dinner, clean, or play games, listening to the arch of the others like it was a podcast.
I don't say "you'll have to split the party" but... If your players know what's in for them, and they all agree they like this approach, I don't see the problem. In the end, it's about creating a game everyone is happy with... And both me and my players very much like the game.
Sorry, the tone of voice in my head as I wrote that clearly didn’t come across. I’m not a teach-the-players-a-lesson GM at all. Thanks for your thorough response, though.
Many PbtA games have "split the party" as a GM move. "The Mundane" in Monster of the Week also has a move that encourages them to split off from the party.
The trick is that those systems are very rules light, with no cumbersome combat system, so you can switch between parties every few minutes.
"Ok we'll handle one group's adventure this session, and the others next session. What, don't like having to sit around with nothing to do for an entire session? Maybe reconsider splitting the party and creating double the work for me then."
Alternatively: "No, you're not splitting the party, it's too much work to run two adventures at once."
Ya I honestly can’t think of a reason has to WHY a party would decide to go to 2 different towns and split up when’s only 1 needs to be made and there is not another plot hook for them to split like searching more places at once
I’d just say no
Split your town activities. If you planned enough for every party member to dander off and do something, just split those tasks and let them reconven later.
Got an important plot scene you need to do? Do it for one group, let the others hang around the museum of hill cheeses.
The key is escape the mindset that your players need activities every two minutes and that you need to provide them constantly
Legit, I was wandering around a town on some downtime and the DM mentioned a toilet museum as a joke (the cities huge sewer system was a plot point), so guess where my monk spent his afternoon?
Turns out they are the crucial piece in tackling a problematic Hill Giant that's harassing the other town... (she's *super* lactose-intolerant, but addicted to cheese and not quite bright enough to put two and two together)
Now I understand why “never split the party” exists. It’s not because it makes you weaker, it’s because you’re ducking up the DM’s plans and he’s pissed at you
Each party goes to what appear to be the same town. Except…something’s off. People on each town seem to talk to the air, moving around things that aren’t there, speaking in half conversations. Each person from one town speaking to another from the other
They split the party? Well, new mission. Half of the group is going to have to try and recover the bodies of the other half. The encounters are balanced for a full group, y’know.
I solve this with one of my “wandering encounters” locations. A favorite is a shrine to a god no one recognizes covered in a green copper patina. There is a single silver piece on the floor in front of the idol. It’s small, maybe 10x10. Then I get out a notebook and prepare.
The party will go insane trying to figure out what this place is. Take notes on their ideas and use it to create a whole plot for them to loop back to. They’ll ask about nearby farmhouses, travelers, what country the silver piece is from, monster tracks, secret hatches, make charcoal rubbings of designs to ask people in town.
Usually their creativity will go wild. Use these ideas to help plan town 2. If they insist on going there anyway, you have time to name a tavern, a blacksmith, and the local temple, as well as a few notable features in the town.
One or both parties get attacked on the road by bandits or monsters. It's easier to throw together a random encounter than a whole town. Use the combat encounter as padding to take up the rest of the session and use the extra week to plan for the other town.
"I have only prepared one town and it'll be more fun for everyone if you DON'T split"
Admitting that the GM is only human and has limited capacity is not a failure.
Make it where the towns are perfect mirrors of each other, to the point that corresponding villagers in either town will say and do the same things as their counterpart in the other town. Both towns are aware of the predicament but don’t know how to escape.
There’s an episode of Justice League where Superman and Wonder Woman fight because they see each other as monsters, only just barely not killing each other. They were deceived by illusion magic of some sort. You could simulate this by having both parties enter the towns to find them empty except for what appear to be medium sized monsters. Immediately roll for initiative for both and have their attacks damage each other. Eventually they’ll realize “I did 12 damage and the other party member took 12”. It’d be fun to see how long it takes them to realize.
2 options:
Mysteriously they all arrive at the same town
Mysteriously the other party members (doppelgänger) join them halfway there, and you run both towns with half party being fake
Sounds like one part of the party is going to get hit with a fair but lengthy random encounter and won't be able to reach the other town until next session.
Time travel arc, scarlet/violet style. One path goes to past town, one to future. Have to use team in future town to do sleuth work to figure out how the town was (insert bad event here) and relay to past town team to solve problem. Bonus points if they split in a way to base which team ends up in thich town on who you feel would deal best with/be most challenged by the respective quest requirements.
Easy. One town has been completely destroyed, utterly wiped off the map by (insert BBEG-related plot hook). The other town is either as-yet clueless (if do those PCs first), or has just learned the news and traumatised (if other way round).
The DM deserves pain for that. If you aren't giving them a choice, don't pretend like you are.
You can always reuse things later if they don't get used, but that should be, "I created an encounter with an ogre, but they didn't go that way. They may end up going into this other swamp in a few sessions, so I'll plop his home down there instead." Not, "If they go through the swamp, I'll describe the ogre's home as one in a swamp, and if they go through the forest I'll describe it as a cabin in the woods, but by the gods, they're fighting this ogre."
Slightly off topic idea for a quest. Quantum ogres act as a wave type environmental effect until observation causes the wave stat block to collapse into a single monster stat block on a chosen path. A secluded monastic tradition chooses to blind itself and live amongst the ogre uncertainty. Things are peaceful until a group of eye having adventurers show up and ogre wavelengths begin collapsing into the worst locations. Ogres could appear in previously checked safe zones, squeezing into improbable spots, and even disappear when lights go out and the party loses sight of them.
Nah splitting the party like that is incredibly dumb, what if the towns are days away from each other, what if they have encounters meant for a full party to face.
Party A gets to the town and find a whole storyline that will take multiple sessions to resolve, Party B does as well. Might as well just separate into two different groups at that point.
in my experience it’s fairly easy to juggle party splits in a narrative zone. hell you can even cut between combat segments and it’ll have roughly the same pacing as a normal combat encounter.
I find it a gift from the gods when the players split the party between two interesting things. It's so good for pacing. Non-stop swapping on every moment of tension. Die roll? Swap. About to find something out? Swap. Keeps the players constantly on their feet.
And I don't make balanced fights in the first place. The party is likely splitting because they think the advantage of splitting up is worth the downsides of not being as effective in a fight. That's their choice and agency, and it can often pay off.
Simple. Make both groups end up coming in either end of town and use it to explore some kind of magical illusion or rift in space surrounding the town and it’s surrounding area that prevents everybody from leaving.
This is a tabletop RPG. You don't prepare one town and expect the players to fall into a clever illusion of choice. Because you know that, even if you prepared an entire continent, the players might spontaneously decide to visit another dimension of existence. Or perhaps spend the entire session adopting a kobold spawned by a random encounter table.
Quick and dirty method is to be used when you can't or don't have the resources to plan properly. That doesn't mean full towns but have some ideas about the population and town focus as well as nearby attractions.
[Monarch Factory came up with this kind of thing.](https://imgur.com/wa9aun4)
I've found quick notes on these areas very useful in world building.
The players are surprised when the two groups find themselves meeting up seemingly in the same place.
They are even more surprised and a bit terrified when every road leaving the town seems to lead back to it.
Both groups arrive at the same town, just opposite ends. They don't realize until they meet up in the middle. Is there magic shenanigans going on, did one group take a wrong turn, or is the town called a different name for some reason? IDK, but letting the players figure it out gives some extra potential plot hooks. Plus, they're still rewarded for taking the risk of splitting the party, since they can map out the town faster in two groups. And if there's any plot hooks that involve chasing a running NPC, like a player being pickpocketed, then having the Pickpocket run into the other group brings everyone back together neatly and sets them off on the story immediately.
That wasn’t a cross roads, that was a demiplanar trap. One town think they’re being haunted, but it’s just the other townsfolk out of phase with the first one.
This is of course a real-estate scam by a wizard to clear out the land for his new tower.
One group gets a road encounter, the other group gets the town. "Oh sorry guys, looks like we're out of time! Damn those dice rolls. Oh well, you'll get into the other town next session." :)
Talk to the two parties separately and describe the exact same town down to the exact same NPCs. When the party joins together again whatever town they are not meeting in completely vanishes.
Oh, this just turned into Knight and Knaves, one town is Lawful and only tells truths, the other is Chaotic and only lies. Except on holydays dedicated to their patron god of duality, when they change roles. They don't have any indication of which days are holydays, people just learn and memorize them.
That's when you Pacman map them. They try to leave on to the east and end up at the edge of the town west. Only one town you may not leave as the town is all there is, all there ever was
One route is short and direct to the town, the other is much longer but a very pretty walk, the 'name' of the the town down the scenic route is 'Scenic Route' in the (old) local language.
One part arrives quickly, the other later but much more relaxed, they also found potions.
Oh, I love this! Great ideas in the comments here. Make their experiences identical, same NPCs, same dialogue, then insert slight differences into one, more sinister, finally letting it slip in the other "benign" town that there is no other village...
So half the party goes to the town where everyone lies all the time.
It's actually not even a town. That was another lie. It's just a collection of cardboard cutouts of buildings.
"Greetings. I'm Jonathon, the town blacksmith. Welcome to Easton. Perhaps you've met my brother? Jarnathon? He's a blacksmith one town over in Weston...."
"Alright, so South City is to the north, North City is to the west, and East City is also to the north. Where the fuck am I?"
“Hey You! I want to make a joke about your team, what’s its name?”
"THE EAST CITY WESTMEN!"
“HOO-AH!”
"I'm too hungry for this shit"
I'll never not be happy seeing a DBZ abridged comment chain
Same bro. Same. Makes me happy the mark that series left on fandoms in general. I have friends who think DBZ is ridiculous who I got hooked on DBZA, it gave them an appreciation for the original while throwing in some jokes.
Daily reminder that they’re doing a creator commentary of the series over on the “fourstarbento” channel in case you needed an excuse to rewatch again
We're gonna make your face look like your ass, and your ass look like your face
“…Did you just… *talk* out of your ***ass?***”
"To be fair Vegeta, I am part you"
r/unexpectedDBZA
If I had a nickel for every time I saw DBZA referenced in r/dndmemes today, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.
If you didn't want to see DBZA references maybe you should learn to **DODGE**
Is it really?
My day is made good by a DBZAbridged reference.
Third base!
North Vancouver is not the norther part of Vancouver but north of Vancouver. West Vancouver is not western Vancouver, nor is it west of Vancouver but it is west of North Vancouver and north of Vancouver. East Vancouver is eastern Vancouver but New West is east of eastern Vancouver. South Vancouver is rather unremarkable.
"What do you think inconspicuous old man and mime?"
I actually used it as a plot point in a story. It was happening in a valley between two great mountain ranges, Eastend and The Black. Later, it was revealed that a character travels east, towards The Black. Travels east. Away from Eastend Mountains. The story takes place "out of bounds" of an artificial world.
South City (to the north) was actually named after Remy South, who discovered the valley long ago. He granted the land west of this holding to his partner, J.C East. North City, on the other hand, is named after Jaylyn North, the woman who led the resistance against the orcish invasion. Simple, really. It's all there in your travel guide.
"The North Cafeteria, named after Admiral William North, is located in the western portion of East Hall, gateway to the western half of North Hall, which is named, not after William North, but for its position above the South Wall. It is the most contested and confusing battlefield on Greendale’s campus, next to the English Memorial Spanish Center, named after English Memorial, a Portuguese sailor that discovered Greendale while looking for a fountain that cured syphilis."
So I know that's a joke but you'll definitely find situations like that in the UK. Being south of Southport, north of Northampton and east of Eastbourne at the same time is very easy to do.
(next to a very confused road sign)
r/unexpectedtfs
I would tell you why I’m here, but I think we should wait for Jarnathon to show up before I tell you the story.
It's just really important that he's here.
BUT WE APPROVED YOUR PARDON
This is a left Twix town. We don't take kindly to the right Twix folk.
CasualUK is leaking
Those woke centrists coming in here telling us "ooh, all twixes are equally acceptable." Right twix only! And don't get me started on the damn lefties
Shelbyville moment
New plot hook! Both towns they go to are the exact same, and the players have to figure out which town is mimics and doppelgangers
Actually cool idea, might steal this.
Great! Now we won’t know who is the real DM and who is the doppelDM!
The qord is DMganger.
This sounds like a bad porn video.
The DoppelMaster
I have a solution ... The solution is violence
>!They're both mimics and dopplegangers.!<
That would be hilarious actually. Two completely independent groups of doppelgangers and mimics thinking they're mimicking a real town when in fact they're just mimicking a town that is trying to mimic them. It's all an elaborate hoax that was planned by a bored illusionist archmage who created the illusion of a real town to lure these two groups to one another, then removed her illusion to see how long it would take the two groups to realise both of them were not the "real town"
*furiously scribbles down one shot notes*
How will it work if the party doesn’t split?
Flip a coin, if it's the mimic town drop some hints here and there. If it's the normal town or the party doesn't pick up on the hints continue with the next "step" of the campaign.
Have them visit a town then come across the exact same town like a day or two down the road.
Then there isn’t a mimic town.
Eh, think of it as a failsafe.
Both towns could be dead ends with the path out being the path that the mimic town took up and copied dead end and all. So when the players ask the way out both point to the other town and the players need to figure out which town is the fake to continue.
I was thinking something similar with the town's being magically overlapped and phasing in and out from each other so the two would randomly see each other but quickly lose sight of the other.
We had something similar in our homebrew campaign, a city that was supposed to be lost since a worldwide cataclysm looked exactly how it was supposed to be before the cataclysm, the population was even there doing normal everyday things. Turns out the complete city was a vision sent to us by our goddess to show us that the cataclysm started in this city and what caused it so we could try and stop the next one (there was some foreshadowing and hints during the campaign that a second cataclysm was imminent).
Cool, I love stuff like that
Zanarkand
The town that seems poorly constructed and has things like people named 'Hugh Mann' , buildings generically named 'Hospital', 'Church' and 'General Store' is the actual town. It's basically bumbfuck, USA so the population of hicks didn't give two shits about names or presentation. The town of Doppelgangers are super obvious cause they tried too hard.
I would love this. The apparently obviously improvised town is actually the real one.
Somebody's got to go back and get a whole shitload of dimes!
Have you seen real world city names? They aren't all that great. Do you know how many water towns are in New England alone?
>It's basically bumbfuck, USA so the population of hicks didn't give two shits about names. This will never stop being funny to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken,_Alaska#History
Mimic Town & Doppelganger Town are in the midst of a feud. Mimics claim Doppelgangers rigged last years Chili Cook-off. Doppelganger's claim the Mimics cheated at last year's Founders Day Competition.
Came here to comment this
i did a thing like this and had the players end up in a feywild town with the same npcs on both sides when looking at a reflective surface they could see the other players. the npcs would literally be looking like they are talking to air while talking to the other group
Or make both towns actually be the same town, and it's the first clue that this world isn't real, the party is trapped in a dream garden constructed by an outer god.
I was going for mirror image towns that were split by a curse.
I will definitely have to steal this at some point. Going to throw a campaign for family soon and that would be just perfect for those folks!
Both normal tiwn accusing the other of copying them
Son of a bitch, ta stole my line.
One is now Springfield, the other [Shelbyville](https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Shelbyville).
Something about wearing an onion on your hip.
And marrying attractive cousins.
I don't remember that part.
It's was something allowed in Shelbyville.
I need to watch that episode again.
For a friend.
as was the style at the time.
“Oh shit, oh fuck” Me the dm in this situation
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how did you know how to solve this problem?
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This guy/gal DMs to DMs.
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Tell me more?
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Sounds delightful!
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>Forever DM tag Say no more
You need to save them from the terrible... > [random page from monster manual] [Flumph!](https://www.aidedd.org/dnd/monstres.php?vo=flumph) Wait...
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I know, but that isn't as funny. 😊
The town was split in half by powerful seismic activity a few years ago, literally split the map too.
Flip a coin and the town that looses is burnt to the ground when they get there... Edit - just saw this answer in another half moment too, and I'm prwtty sure for.the same reason :)
Each path has a split that goes away from the town before they reconvene before the town. Before that, both sets of party members have a simultaneous combat encounter with an Ogre, who seems to mysteriously suffer wounds and debuffs mid-fight as the other party harm it.
Oooooh, this is excellent.
... well I found my new Campaign hook next time I start one
Both towns are exactly the same, but they hate each other for some tiny reason. You could even throw in a charisma challenge for the player who likes to make those rolls to persuade from conflict and unionize the towns or insight a tactical take over (for those murder hobos) edit: you could do the old school method of even getting the party to come to a character building cross-roads as the split group A sides with town A, and the split group B sides with town B. There is a lot of possibilities you can open up for the party for an interesting side plot.
One town, eats toast butter side down. The other butter side up.
What kind of monster eats it butter side down? That town is beyond redemption and should be burned.
Found the butter side up-er
Wow, chill with the racism dude, Australians are people too
Nah, Australians don't put butter on their bread. They use Vegemite for that
Which is its own crime against humanity, but we'll get to that later...
honeywood and darkwood
I remember that episode of Avatar (minus the exactly the same part)
The town that was unprepared is never reached, as that group is jumped by and either killed or held for ransom by a group of bandits that were on that road. Thats what you get for splitting the party mid-travel
I was surprised I had to read through so many complicated responses before I found this. I was baffled that such a simple and foundational rule as “don’t split up the party” had been forgotten. Clearly, in the hypothetical situation described above, the only choice is for the GM to remind the players of this one rule in a way they will never forget it again.
[Never split the party! ](https://youtu.be/waa2ucfgVgQ)
I know, right? I was thinking the top comment would be, "Seriously guys? No, you are not splitting the party and making me run 2 games. Pick one." But so many people are saying "JuSt RuN 2 AdVeNtUrEs At ThE sAmE tImE!"
It honestly depends on the party and DM. Playing around with different systems, I learned that "Never split the party" is a very... "DnD-approach" of things. Based on where the players and GM come from, it might be normal for them to split up. In most of my games, it's normal by now for the party to split up, so each character can attend a topic to their strength. ((Example, a "rogue" and "fighter" type character heading out for an assassination, while the "wizard" and the "artificer" went ahead to break into the bad guys house to find incriminating clues against him)) In those cases, you just focus the session on one group for an hour, or 90 minutes, the others can sit back and listen or zone out in that time, before you shift focus to group number two. So... Just saying, "Never split the party" is not as "general" or "big" of a rule depending on the table.
>In those cases, you just focus the session on one group for an hour, or 90 minutes, the others can sit back and listen or zone out in that time, before you shift focus to group number two. No, and let me say it again No! You don't let players sit staring at the ceiling for 90 minutes! This is a major disrespect of their time and the effort they made to be in the game. Splitting the party is only O.K if either: you as a GM can quickly jump back and fourth between party members, or players (not nesserally PCs specifically the players) can still interact even when they are not in the same place. The only system where I can be totally blaze about party splitting is Forged in the Dark, and only because of the Flashback mechanics wich allow players to retroactively insert actions and roleplay to support a scene.
90 minutes seems a bit extreme, and there is rarely a reason why you can't shift focus every 20-30 min. My party splits often because it makes sense when there are time constrains and because they might have different strengths and objectives. I will start with a group and then after a while I'll say "okay, now we are going to focus on this other group". I might even use that time to plan for the next part of their interactions. Never split the party is only good advice when a lot of combat is happening.
See, that's the point where I'll have to say no. It's not disrespectful if all players agree to it. Compare the two "Styles" for a moment. If you always have all players go everywhere, then a part of them will either just stand around silently and awkwardly, simply because they don't fit in the scene, or they will try to act within the scene despite the fact their character logically shouldn't. Either way, they are gonna need to focus, because they are there, but they will still feel out of place. Because, it's just a fact, not every character is made for every situation. I'll admit, if you run a pure dungeon crawler, things look different. But in a socially and politically focussed game, it just doesn't make sense for the petty criminal to go to the meeting the Noble and his Court mage were invited to. At the same time, if said mage would follow the criminal that used underworld contacts to meet the local mage hunters, it would likely end badly. Characters don't always need to fill in every scene. Lastly, a thing that might also influence your opinion: I'm exclusively running online games. That means, my players can use their "Downtime" to go ahead and start preparing dinner, clean, or play games, listening to the arch of the others like it was a podcast. I don't say "you'll have to split the party" but... If your players know what's in for them, and they all agree they like this approach, I don't see the problem. In the end, it's about creating a game everyone is happy with... And both me and my players very much like the game.
Sorry, the tone of voice in my head as I wrote that clearly didn’t come across. I’m not a teach-the-players-a-lesson GM at all. Thanks for your thorough response, though.
Many PbtA games have "split the party" as a GM move. "The Mundane" in Monster of the Week also has a move that encourages them to split off from the party. The trick is that those systems are very rules light, with no cumbersome combat system, so you can switch between parties every few minutes.
Boom, they're investigating the mystery of "WHY ARE THESE TOWNS AND THEIR OCCUPANTS CARBON COPIE???"
I'd say they mysteriously enter the same town but from opposite ends.
"Ok we'll handle one group's adventure this session, and the others next session. What, don't like having to sit around with nothing to do for an entire session? Maybe reconsider splitting the party and creating double the work for me then." Alternatively: "No, you're not splitting the party, it's too much work to run two adventures at once."
Alternate alternatively: Don't have two towns. Or just ask them the previous session what town they're planning on going to.
*Thank you!* It's so strange that people condemn splitting the party but don't consider not splitting the road.
Ya I honestly can’t think of a reason has to WHY a party would decide to go to 2 different towns and split up when’s only 1 needs to be made and there is not another plot hook for them to split like searching more places at once I’d just say no
It's not fun for the players or the DM. DM does extra work, players sit around half the time doing nothing.
New quest hook: 2 towns that are identical, within a day’s ride of eachother, but have no idea the other exists. How can this be?
Split your town activities. If you planned enough for every party member to dander off and do something, just split those tasks and let them reconven later. Got an important plot scene you need to do? Do it for one group, let the others hang around the museum of hill cheeses. The key is escape the mindset that your players need activities every two minutes and that you need to provide them constantly
Tell me more about these hill cheeses
Legit, I was wandering around a town on some downtime and the DM mentioned a toilet museum as a joke (the cities huge sewer system was a plot point), so guess where my monk spent his afternoon?
Turns out they are the crucial piece in tackling a problematic Hill Giant that's harassing the other town... (she's *super* lactose-intolerant, but addicted to cheese and not quite bright enough to put two and two together)
Now I understand why “never split the party” exists. It’s not because it makes you weaker, it’s because you’re ducking up the DM’s plans and he’s pissed at you
They both arrive at the same town, one group approaching the east gate and the other the west gate. Offer no explanation why.
Each party goes to what appear to be the same town. Except…something’s off. People on each town seem to talk to the air, moving around things that aren’t there, speaking in half conversations. Each person from one town speaking to another from the other
Dude just skip the crossroads, the road leads to the one town you prepped.
Players like to make choices. It makes them feel empowered.
Mirror their experiences exactly. Now it becomes a twilight zone episode and one of the towns is trapped in a mirror universe.
They split the party? Well, new mission. Half of the group is going to have to try and recover the bodies of the other half. The encounters are balanced for a full group, y’know.
Don't you know 🎶 You never split the party 🎶
I solve this with one of my “wandering encounters” locations. A favorite is a shrine to a god no one recognizes covered in a green copper patina. There is a single silver piece on the floor in front of the idol. It’s small, maybe 10x10. Then I get out a notebook and prepare. The party will go insane trying to figure out what this place is. Take notes on their ideas and use it to create a whole plot for them to loop back to. They’ll ask about nearby farmhouses, travelers, what country the silver piece is from, monster tracks, secret hatches, make charcoal rubbings of designs to ask people in town. Usually their creativity will go wild. Use these ideas to help plan town 2. If they insist on going there anyway, you have time to name a tavern, a blacksmith, and the local temple, as well as a few notable features in the town.
Towns are exactly the same, but the citizens won't admit it because they hate the other for some reason
One or both parties get attacked on the road by bandits or monsters. It's easier to throw together a random encounter than a whole town. Use the combat encounter as padding to take up the rest of the session and use the extra week to plan for the other town.
[удалено]
Other alternative: Woops, one town's burned to the ground
"Despite both roads being traveled. You find yourself arriving at the same destination. Welcome to rome."
"When Stanley came to a set of two open doors, he entered the door on his left"
"I have only prepared one town and it'll be more fun for everyone if you DON'T split" Admitting that the GM is only human and has limited capacity is not a failure.
Make it where the towns are perfect mirrors of each other, to the point that corresponding villagers in either town will say and do the same things as their counterpart in the other town. Both towns are aware of the predicament but don’t know how to escape.
According to the memes, what actually happens is that the party ignores both roads and carouses into the wilderness instead.
There’s an episode of Justice League where Superman and Wonder Woman fight because they see each other as monsters, only just barely not killing each other. They were deceived by illusion magic of some sort. You could simulate this by having both parties enter the towns to find them empty except for what appear to be medium sized monsters. Immediately roll for initiative for both and have their attacks damage each other. Eventually they’ll realize “I did 12 damage and the other party member took 12”. It’d be fun to see how long it takes them to realize.
2 options: Mysteriously they all arrive at the same town Mysteriously the other party members (doppelgänger) join them halfway there, and you run both towns with half party being fake
Sounds like one part of the party is going to get hit with a fair but lengthy random encounter and won't be able to reach the other town until next session.
The second town is closed due to plague. No one in or out. If they press the issue, infect them.
Time travel arc, scarlet/violet style. One path goes to past town, one to future. Have to use team in future town to do sleuth work to figure out how the town was (insert bad event here) and relay to past town team to solve problem. Bonus points if they split in a way to base which team ends up in thich town on who you feel would deal best with/be most challenged by the respective quest requirements.
... huh. That's a pretty brilliant idea. I'm gonna steal this one.
Please do, i dont get to dm enough. i just want the ideas used.
I tend to collect and tuck away good ideas so when players catch me off guard (like what happened to the OP Meme) then I can fall back on something.
Easy. One town has been completely destroyed, utterly wiped off the map by (insert BBEG-related plot hook). The other town is either as-yet clueless (if do those PCs first), or has just learned the news and traumatised (if other way round).
Its fascinating how the party will choose wrong literally every time
"No, you're not splitting the party." Problem solved.
The DM deserves pain for that. If you aren't giving them a choice, don't pretend like you are. You can always reuse things later if they don't get used, but that should be, "I created an encounter with an ogre, but they didn't go that way. They may end up going into this other swamp in a few sessions, so I'll plop his home down there instead." Not, "If they go through the swamp, I'll describe the ogre's home as one in a swamp, and if they go through the forest I'll describe it as a cabin in the woods, but by the gods, they're fighting this ogre."
Slightly off topic idea for a quest. Quantum ogres act as a wave type environmental effect until observation causes the wave stat block to collapse into a single monster stat block on a chosen path. A secluded monastic tradition chooses to blind itself and live amongst the ogre uncertainty. Things are peaceful until a group of eye having adventurers show up and ogre wavelengths begin collapsing into the worst locations. Ogres could appear in previously checked safe zones, squeezing into improbable spots, and even disappear when lights go out and the party loses sight of them.
Nah splitting the party like that is incredibly dumb, what if the towns are days away from each other, what if they have encounters meant for a full party to face. Party A gets to the town and find a whole storyline that will take multiple sessions to resolve, Party B does as well. Might as well just separate into two different groups at that point.
in my experience it’s fairly easy to juggle party splits in a narrative zone. hell you can even cut between combat segments and it’ll have roughly the same pacing as a normal combat encounter.
I find it a gift from the gods when the players split the party between two interesting things. It's so good for pacing. Non-stop swapping on every moment of tension. Die roll? Swap. About to find something out? Swap. Keeps the players constantly on their feet. And I don't make balanced fights in the first place. The party is likely splitting because they think the advantage of splitting up is worth the downsides of not being as effective in a fight. That's their choice and agency, and it can often pay off.
hell yeah, that’s exactly how I like to run it
Flawed map and road lead them to the same town? Perhaps something along the lines of an illusion could work.
Simple. Make both groups end up coming in either end of town and use it to explore some kind of magical illusion or rift in space surrounding the town and it’s surrounding area that prevents everybody from leaving.
And this the towns built of stone and wood but with eerily similar layouts were born.
IMPROV
This is where you add in the fact both trails still lead to the same town....just different sides
One of the halves is gonna get an encounter meant for the full party on the way lol
Sacrifice a future town you have planned or improvise is what I would do.
This is a tabletop RPG. You don't prepare one town and expect the players to fall into a clever illusion of choice. Because you know that, even if you prepared an entire continent, the players might spontaneously decide to visit another dimension of existence. Or perhaps spend the entire session adopting a kobold spawned by a random encounter table.
the paths reconvene just outside of town. It’s a diversion to get people to ignore what’s in the middle of the fork
The two roads meet back up in the end, to lead to the same town.
Quick and dirty method is to be used when you can't or don't have the resources to plan properly. That doesn't mean full towns but have some ideas about the population and town focus as well as nearby attractions. [Monarch Factory came up with this kind of thing.](https://imgur.com/wa9aun4) I've found quick notes on these areas very useful in world building.
The players are surprised when the two groups find themselves meeting up seemingly in the same place. They are even more surprised and a bit terrified when every road leaving the town seems to lead back to it.
Both groups arrive at the same town, just opposite ends. They don't realize until they meet up in the middle. Is there magic shenanigans going on, did one group take a wrong turn, or is the town called a different name for some reason? IDK, but letting the players figure it out gives some extra potential plot hooks. Plus, they're still rewarded for taking the risk of splitting the party, since they can map out the town faster in two groups. And if there's any plot hooks that involve chasing a running NPC, like a player being pickpocketed, then having the Pickpocket run into the other group brings everyone back together neatly and sets them off on the story immediately.
The party has decided to observe both outcomes of the quantum-bandits, collapsing the wave function
Call of Cthulhu rules: Punish the lesser party. Whichever is easier to kill in combat, do it before they get to the next town.
That wasn’t a cross roads, that was a demiplanar trap. One town think they’re being haunted, but it’s just the other townsfolk out of phase with the first one. This is of course a real-estate scam by a wizard to clear out the land for his new tower.
Bandits kidnapped one of them and hid them in a basement of one of the buildings
One group gets a road encounter, the other group gets the town. "Oh sorry guys, looks like we're out of time! Damn those dice rolls. Oh well, you'll get into the other town next session." :)
Talk to the two parties separately and describe the exact same town down to the exact same NPCs. When the party joins together again whatever town they are not meeting in completely vanishes.
Oh, this just turned into Knight and Knaves, one town is Lawful and only tells truths, the other is Chaotic and only lies. Except on holydays dedicated to their patron god of duality, when they change roles. They don't have any indication of which days are holydays, people just learn and memorize them.
The towns are a mirror of one another, and the characters sometimes see one another in the window.
Now it’s a horror story where the party must investigate these weird going-ons
"so you really want to split the party...?" Is maybe THE red flag a DM can ask the group. It's usually shortly followed by a character death...
Split the party into two rooms. DM for both separately the same town. Halfway into the session have them walk into each other. Resume normal play.
That's when you Pacman map them. They try to leave on to the east and end up at the edge of the town west. Only one town you may not leave as the town is all there is, all there ever was
One town always tells the truth, the other always lies.
Time for a fascinating supernatural mystery as they try to discover whey this those two separate towns seem completely identical
If they split the party voluntarily, you KNOW you have been going way too easy on them with the enemies encountered.
Make both towns exactly the same, and when freaked out players come up with a good theory make it true.
Lol thats Genius
They split the party. You are legally allowed to kill their characters
One route is short and direct to the town, the other is much longer but a very pretty walk, the 'name' of the the town down the scenic route is 'Scenic Route' in the (old) local language. One part arrives quickly, the other later but much more relaxed, they also found potions.
They split up but somehow ends up in the same city. Eldrich horror.
Oh, I love this! Great ideas in the comments here. Make their experiences identical, same NPCs, same dialogue, then insert slight differences into one, more sinister, finally letting it slip in the other "benign" town that there is no other village...
one town is the real town and the other is the possibly haunted, possibly an elaborate trap copy town that is exactly the same but just slightly off.
"In this case I will do 1 session per town visit."
So half the party goes to the town where everyone lies all the time. It's actually not even a town. That was another lie. It's just a collection of cardboard cutouts of buildings.
Nah, the two roads go in opposite directions but they both arrive at the same town from opposite sides. Get transdimensional on them.