How often do you split up the group?

[Ghsdkgb]

The rules examples in the book largely focus around a single player (sometimes two), but my RPG experience tells me it's a LOT easier to keep the whole group together. So how often do you split up the party, and how do you handle it when you do?

[Mr. Death]

Disclaimer: I do all my tabletop gaming over IRC, so my methods may not apply to in-person gaming.

I try not to do it very often, but when it does happen, how I handle it depends on the size of the groups.

If it's one character going off on their own while the bulk of the party goes somewhere else, I'll usually follow the main party, and confer with the other person in an IM as to what they're doing. Alternatively, if the one person's miniquest is really really interesting and plot important, they get the spotlight alone for a little while.

If it's fairly even, I try to alternate it scene by scene, and move it along as quickly as I can.

Once, I had both parties get into separate conflicts simultaneously, and alternated round by round, which I think made for a pretty neat action scene.

[devonapple]

Although I've authorized myself to run scenes with a split party, and have the players' buy-in for taking up random NPCs so they can contribute to the scene, it seldom happens anymore. On occasion, a player absence will necessitate some juggling, but for the most part, it's the whole gang. Which makes for a pretty full taxicab.

[UmbraLux]

So how often do you split up the party, and how do you handle it when you do?

I can't remember the last time I instigated a party split.  However, the players do so on their own far more than I'd like.     I've even compelled them to work together on occasion.

That said, when they do go off doing separate things I take turns polling each player to see what they're doing - and to take care of any rolling.  I try to keep any single player focused time to five mins or less and try extremely hard to keep it under ten mins.  Some times I'll have a solo player write up his plan (works very well for thaumaturgy and research type scenes) while continuing with the others.  That helps minimize wait time. 

[Sanctaphrax]

All the time. In fact, having the group together is a bit of an exception.

This works well in PbP, it's occasionally annoying in RL.

[synobal]

I don't run my own game but I can speak for the Undertown group (if I can't mij will beat me). We tend to not be in a group as a general rule. Each character lives in San Francisco and has their own lives/jobs and reasons for getting entangled with the supernatural. At the start of each new campaign our GM starts each of us off on a new plot. Sometimes these plots are intended to come together other times they aren't. If how and when they do is entirely up to the players.

For example My character Jack has met all the player characters except for Tory, who as of yet has had no reason to come across Jack in anything more than a passing fashion. Jack how ever routinely contacts another Player character Edward for advice help or what ever. Jack and Edward are not an uncommon duo, Edward how ever routinely gets involved with Tory in some fashion, be it working on the same thing or at odds on the same particular problem. In fact to date there may of only been a one or two times where all the player characters had reason to come together to do something, and this was before I joined the group.

Our GM Mij manages this by running only a character or two each night and stopping there. So say Wednesday he runs Jack and Edward then Sunday he runs Tory and Filii and then the next Wednesday he runs Aine. Of course he GMs for multiple characters when they do become jointly involved in something but it isn't that common.

Sometimes characters will be working on the same thing but for different reasons and never come into contact. For example Jack is working for a white court vampire (he owed her a favor) to get a guest list for a party from her sister Antonia (a more powerful white vampire). Tory on the other hand is investigating the same White court vampire that Jack needs to get this list from and she is going it for her boss in the Yakuza. So far they haven't so much as talked to each other and Jack doesn't even know she is doing anything. Though she spotted Jack following Antonia whom she was following in her Raven form.  If they do meet or ever work together on something will be entirely up to us and the progression of the story.

[DFJunkie]

Whenever it makes sense.  When we started playing I had to occasionally force them to splitting up to do anything of substance, especially meeting contacts.  They had a more traditional gaming background, and it took a while for them to believe me when I said I wouldn’t use the fact that they were alone to hose them.  For all that their backgrounds are usually those of a sociopathic loner with a dark past PCs sure do hate doing anything without their three closest friends in tow.

That said I try to limit alone time so no one gets bored at the table.  Fortunately my players are mature and don’t get bored and restive the instant it isn’t about them, but one can only spend so long watching other people have fun (especially when it’s fun you have to act like you didn’t see) before the smart phone beckons.

[Mr. Death]

One other thing, me and a fellow GM tend to find it a good idea to split people up in order to make conflicts interesting. One of our gaming groups has 5 characters at Submerged, all of them very competent in battle (including two wizards), so when they're all together, it's very difficult to make a fight challenging without the opposition getting ridiculous.

Likewise, in the game I'm running, the two active party members had a big disparity between power levels--one was a Warden with Superb Weapons and Athletics, and rolling most of his Evocations from 5, the other was a mainly social character just coming into her wizardry power, and as such attacking and defending at lower power and rolls, so it became difficult to scale a battle that's balanced for both of them--creatures that were an even challenge to the beginner would get curbstomped by the Warden and anything that could really challenge the Warden would have been way too much for the beginner to handle.

[Katarn]

Depends on the context.

It's easier in PbP, since a GM can address multiple sub-parties in the same vote.  That said, I still discourage it unless the plot lends itself to it.  Too often, if a party splits into pairs, someone's buddy drops out and they're left to do battle against foes for two... alone.  In actual tabletop, it's risky as well because some people will invariably be sitting there for extended periods of time while you address the other sub-party.  Having an assistant GM solves this problem.

In short, it's not a great idea, but sometimes it's necessitated (ex: split to stop those fae twins), but minimize the amount of split-time if you can.  Multiple GMs (tabletop) or a stable player base (PbP) solve any issues, so solid teams should be able to weather splitting up.

[Harboe]

Well, since my DFRPG group is down to two players, I've been a bit hesitant to do so. Not much opportunity for PC-PC arguments if the other isn't present, now is there? 

That being said, I don't worry about it. As long as the players are split, I get to do that whole "switch scenes at a tense moment" deal I like to an unhealthy degree. Besides, as the old saying goes "Let's split up! We can take more damage that way." 

[noclue]

Oh god. In our last campaign, I was constantly running off on my own to bargain with a sidhe lord, or release an old god from captivity in the nevernever, or summon Titania (not recommended for the faint of heart).

[crystaril]

I am the GM of a PBP game with 5 players. (And I should probably count my DMPC Warden since he hangs out with them about half the time.) "It's time to split the party!" has become a running gag.  Basically they like to go investigate and talk to contacts and do whatever in pairs/group of 3 but when it's time for the fighting they'll *usually* come back together.  I don't mind the extra work, it means a lot of stuff happens, and the PCs all know each other and keep in phone contact with each other so they're all on top of the situation even when they aren't present for each thing.  It's also funny to see who hangs out with who, it's rarely the same couplet so I can throw different things at them.  It's also nice because if one of the players won't be around for a few days we can put them aside while the others can keep playing.