by oddbod
I have a core group of two friends that show up for pretty much every game night, but then a group of three others that show up maybe half the time.How easy would it be to start a campaign with four of them (and me as overlord) and then continue playing regularly, knowing that not every player will show up for every session?
Would it be better to just commit to a 3-player campaign with the two that always show up? Or would it be easy enough to play some quests with just the two heroes, and the rest with a varying number of players?
I haven't played 1st or 2nd edition yet, and am trying to decide whether to buy it. But I really want it for the campaign, rather than the basic game over and over.
We have experience with this variable group playing an actual RPG, because as GM I could just drop characters in and out of the story as needed.
Could I do something similar here, and maybe just assign missed XP between sessions to bring an intermittent player "up to speed" with the regular players? Or would the game's mechanics make that difficult?
Also, what about different players playing the same hero for different quests? It doesn't seem like an RPG where you wouldn't want someone else playing your character, as they might screw it up.