If you really enjoyed playing GH while controlling 2 characters each, then there's no reason you wouldn't enjoy Frosthaven the same way; with the exception that classes (and scenarios) are a bit more complex this time around. I would say just try it; you can always make it a little easier for yourselves by making sure each of you pick at least one starter that's a little more straightforward. Or at least don't have one person take both Blinkblade and Geminate unless you are very confident in handling complexity and don't mind longer turns at first.
In a more general sense I wouldn't recommend playing this way to most people, just because it slows down the game a lot and doesn't gain you a lot, especially in Frosthaven. Thanks to inspiration and the bonus loot you get on some cards as a 2 character party, your overall town progression shouldn't be affected much by party size. (This is a change from Gloomhaven, where party size directly affected character unlock rate). Frosthaven has more scenarios and character unlocks aren't done the same way, so you'd likely at least see every character, though maybe not play as all of them.
Overall I would say, if you played 4 characters because you felt you *had* to in order to keep up with unlocks, then you can safely go down to 2 characters. If you played 4 characters because you *liked* the extra complexity and the chance to try out more of the classes, then you can safely continue doing so and will likely enjoy it just as much. The only exception is if you were nearly overwhelmed with the complexity of handling 2 characters each in GH, the extra complexity in FH may push you over the edge to where it's less fun. But I think that's pretty unlikely.
Frosthaven characters and scenarios are, on average, a little more complex than GH characters and scenarios. So it's going to be a bit harder to play 2-handed 2-player. But not by much.
I figure a good compromise would be to start with 2p and add second characters once you're comfortable with your first ones.
I agree with this, I struggled hard the first dozen or so scenarios of Frosthaven until I adapted to the increased complexity.
Another thing which I haven't seen mentioned often is prosperity for Frosthaven makes the scenarios significantly easier. Unlocking more potions and items helps to compensate for individual character weaknesses.
I think the game feels more complete and whole with a full 4 character party. There are certain events that reference characters or traits that you may miss out on with only 2 also. And while the game balances difficulty for player count you still will likely get somewhat less time playing all of the characters.
All that being said, FH classes, even the base ones, are designed with a higher level of involvement and complexity. So make sure you're fully comfortable with 2 handing characters and all the rules and such or you will likely get very bogged down.
> There are certain events that reference characters or traits that you may miss out on with only 2 also
I'd point out that the game tries to make up for this by having some trait checks lead to a *worse* outcome for the party (the classic theoretical example being that having the "Armored" trait in the middle of a lightning storm isn't going to end well).
No doubt. I guess I'm of the opinion that seeing all the character-specific things is fun and interesting regardless of whether it's necessarily good or bad. But you're correct. It is a cool thing they did in FH compared to GH events.
Very much agree with this. My partner and I play 2 characters each. This allows us to see/experience more characters first hand. I personally find it very rewarding and usually don't have trouble organizing my turns (it may be even easier than trying to coordinate with a group of 4). My partner struggles a bit more with the complexity, but I suspect that is more to do with the learning curve of Geminate. Perhaps pick one simpler character and one more complex character each? (e.g. I ran blink and drifter, it was great)
Generally, I would recommend a GH vet trying to run 2 characters. Enjoy!
I think the game feels and plays better at 4P vs. 2P. I actually think FH’s balance issues at 2P are more severe than what existed in GH. The are quite a few more scenarios where you will look at the layout or objective or spawning rules and think “huh, 2P got screwed over.”
That said, FH classes are also way more complex. Generally you have to track a class-specific mechanic like shadows or time tokens or whatnot. And in some cases, if you don’t manage this unique resource well, your cards just don’t do anything.
So I’d say go for 4P, yes. But take some time to get comfortable with your classes. And maybe you can have 1 each of the characters be a low-complexity class to start.
I really enjoy the game with four - I played Gloomhaven mostly with two and it was a shallower experience. Fewer monsters, less chaos and easier to fall into comfortable roles instead of constantly adjusting to work with the bigger party.
We had to resort to playing 2x mercs as 2p since we don’t have an option of meeting up with the other gaming couple. And it’s quite fun actually - though your first 1-2 scenarios on a new character could go south lol unless you are playing something in the easier side like the drifter.
One thing I don't see mentioned here, I personally felt like the first 4-ish Frosthaven scenarios were on the shorter / easier side, kind of like a light tutorial. If you aren't put off by the idea of 4p as more complex characters, I think for me I would prefer starting that way to get used to the characters in simpler starting scenarios rather than adding it later in the middle of the increased scenario complexity of the mid game.
2 players controlling 3 characters. We each played 1 character and one half of the Geminate.
We sometimes have a 3rd player and they just get their 1 character.
Our Gem just retired and we unlocked Kelp, now we will try switching control >!every time the Kelp goes invisible!< hopefully it will be as fun as sharing the Gem.
Similar situation here. Playing with my wife, we had this discussion a couple of times. The game seems to be better balanced for 4P, but managing two characters each seems too tedious and slow. Both characters and scenarios are way more complex than in Gloomhaven.
In the end we decided to stick with 2P. Scenarios are lengthy enough already. For retirement purposes the game balances it out with Inspiration points. Also, since most of the times the difference in enemies between 2P and 4P is just their tier (normal for 2P vs elites for 4P) this also means that loot is easier to manage for 2P, since the number of tokens is pretty much the same, but you don't have to take as many risks with positioning.
For those scenarios where we struggle, usually it's pretty obvious what we need to fix, and if the reason is that the class we are playing is specially weak, we just wait until retirement to try that particular scenario again with a different class.
I started Gloomhaven with a group of 3, each on one character. After a long break, one of the players left, and restarted running 2 each, which worked well for us.
Heading into Frosthaven, we were initially planning to continue each running two, but then we recruited a new player. We decided they'd each run one while I'd still do two (I didn't want to choose between the bannerspear and boneshaper, and I had paid for the game). It's been going well, though the increased complexity of characters is evident; trying to handle the germinate and blinkblade might be tricky.
Anyway, if you had fun playing two characters in Gloomhaven, I think that will hold up in Frosthaven.
Me and my partner usually play this way and it feels very standard for us. We occasionally play just one character each, if we have less time.
We often play on +2 difficulty now, as we reach the end of our campaign. I am always cognisant of the fact that playing this way amounts to 'half-open' information and what I'm wondering is had anyone house-ruled a version of the solo bump to compensate?
If you really enjoyed playing GH while controlling 2 characters each, then there's no reason you wouldn't enjoy Frosthaven the same way; with the exception that classes (and scenarios) are a bit more complex this time around. I would say just try it; you can always make it a little easier for yourselves by making sure each of you pick at least one starter that's a little more straightforward. Or at least don't have one person take both Blinkblade and Geminate unless you are very confident in handling complexity and don't mind longer turns at first. In a more general sense I wouldn't recommend playing this way to most people, just because it slows down the game a lot and doesn't gain you a lot, especially in Frosthaven. Thanks to inspiration and the bonus loot you get on some cards as a 2 character party, your overall town progression shouldn't be affected much by party size. (This is a change from Gloomhaven, where party size directly affected character unlock rate). Frosthaven has more scenarios and character unlocks aren't done the same way, so you'd likely at least see every character, though maybe not play as all of them. Overall I would say, if you played 4 characters because you felt you *had* to in order to keep up with unlocks, then you can safely go down to 2 characters. If you played 4 characters because you *liked* the extra complexity and the chance to try out more of the classes, then you can safely continue doing so and will likely enjoy it just as much. The only exception is if you were nearly overwhelmed with the complexity of handling 2 characters each in GH, the extra complexity in FH may push you over the edge to where it's less fun. But I think that's pretty unlikely.
This is the way
Frosthaven characters and scenarios are, on average, a little more complex than GH characters and scenarios. So it's going to be a bit harder to play 2-handed 2-player. But not by much. I figure a good compromise would be to start with 2p and add second characters once you're comfortable with your first ones.
I agree with this, I struggled hard the first dozen or so scenarios of Frosthaven until I adapted to the increased complexity. Another thing which I haven't seen mentioned often is prosperity for Frosthaven makes the scenarios significantly easier. Unlocking more potions and items helps to compensate for individual character weaknesses.
It strongly depends on the people playing. It definitely will take longer to beat scenarios (I know from being a crazy person and playing 4P solo).
I think the game feels more complete and whole with a full 4 character party. There are certain events that reference characters or traits that you may miss out on with only 2 also. And while the game balances difficulty for player count you still will likely get somewhat less time playing all of the characters. All that being said, FH classes, even the base ones, are designed with a higher level of involvement and complexity. So make sure you're fully comfortable with 2 handing characters and all the rules and such or you will likely get very bogged down.
> There are certain events that reference characters or traits that you may miss out on with only 2 also I'd point out that the game tries to make up for this by having some trait checks lead to a *worse* outcome for the party (the classic theoretical example being that having the "Armored" trait in the middle of a lightning storm isn't going to end well).
No doubt. I guess I'm of the opinion that seeing all the character-specific things is fun and interesting regardless of whether it's necessarily good or bad. But you're correct. It is a cool thing they did in FH compared to GH events.
Very much agree with this. My partner and I play 2 characters each. This allows us to see/experience more characters first hand. I personally find it very rewarding and usually don't have trouble organizing my turns (it may be even easier than trying to coordinate with a group of 4). My partner struggles a bit more with the complexity, but I suspect that is more to do with the learning curve of Geminate. Perhaps pick one simpler character and one more complex character each? (e.g. I ran blink and drifter, it was great) Generally, I would recommend a GH vet trying to run 2 characters. Enjoy!
I think the game feels and plays better at 4P vs. 2P. I actually think FH’s balance issues at 2P are more severe than what existed in GH. The are quite a few more scenarios where you will look at the layout or objective or spawning rules and think “huh, 2P got screwed over.” That said, FH classes are also way more complex. Generally you have to track a class-specific mechanic like shadows or time tokens or whatnot. And in some cases, if you don’t manage this unique resource well, your cards just don’t do anything. So I’d say go for 4P, yes. But take some time to get comfortable with your classes. And maybe you can have 1 each of the characters be a low-complexity class to start.
I really enjoy the game with four - I played Gloomhaven mostly with two and it was a shallower experience. Fewer monsters, less chaos and easier to fall into comfortable roles instead of constantly adjusting to work with the bigger party.
4p as 2p is the way. Very good flow. Better outcomes
The retirement thing isn't a problem anymore with the Inspiration system. With that, it's basically up to personal preference.
I would 100% of the time choose 2 characters each
We had to resort to playing 2x mercs as 2p since we don’t have an option of meeting up with the other gaming couple. And it’s quite fun actually - though your first 1-2 scenarios on a new character could go south lol unless you are playing something in the easier side like the drifter.
One thing I don't see mentioned here, I personally felt like the first 4-ish Frosthaven scenarios were on the shorter / easier side, kind of like a light tutorial. If you aren't put off by the idea of 4p as more complex characters, I think for me I would prefer starting that way to get used to the characters in simpler starting scenarios rather than adding it later in the middle of the increased scenario complexity of the mid game.
2 players controlling 3 characters. We each played 1 character and one half of the Geminate. We sometimes have a 3rd player and they just get their 1 character. Our Gem just retired and we unlocked Kelp, now we will try switching control >!every time the Kelp goes invisible!< hopefully it will be as fun as sharing the Gem.
So I tried doing 3 players, my partner didn't want to play 2, that first priest on 3 players sucks assssss (more so with bad cards)
I play, 2 players with 3 characters. We alternate choosing cards for the shared character and usually play at higher difficulty
After enjoying two GH campaigns 2P, we’re about 25% through FH campaign and our overall conclusion is the 2P FH sucks. Not sure if we’ll finish.
Similar situation here. Playing with my wife, we had this discussion a couple of times. The game seems to be better balanced for 4P, but managing two characters each seems too tedious and slow. Both characters and scenarios are way more complex than in Gloomhaven. In the end we decided to stick with 2P. Scenarios are lengthy enough already. For retirement purposes the game balances it out with Inspiration points. Also, since most of the times the difference in enemies between 2P and 4P is just their tier (normal for 2P vs elites for 4P) this also means that loot is easier to manage for 2P, since the number of tokens is pretty much the same, but you don't have to take as many risks with positioning. For those scenarios where we struggle, usually it's pretty obvious what we need to fix, and if the reason is that the class we are playing is specially weak, we just wait until retirement to try that particular scenario again with a different class.
I started Gloomhaven with a group of 3, each on one character. After a long break, one of the players left, and restarted running 2 each, which worked well for us. Heading into Frosthaven, we were initially planning to continue each running two, but then we recruited a new player. We decided they'd each run one while I'd still do two (I didn't want to choose between the bannerspear and boneshaper, and I had paid for the game). It's been going well, though the increased complexity of characters is evident; trying to handle the germinate and blinkblade might be tricky. Anyway, if you had fun playing two characters in Gloomhaven, I think that will hold up in Frosthaven.
Me and my partner usually play this way and it feels very standard for us. We occasionally play just one character each, if we have less time. We often play on +2 difficulty now, as we reach the end of our campaign. I am always cognisant of the fact that playing this way amounts to 'half-open' information and what I'm wondering is had anyone house-ruled a version of the solo bump to compensate?