New to Old School Gaming

[Rymbeld]

Hi guys,
I'm new to all this. I downloaded the no-art LL .pdf and I've read the thing (and much of the old DnD rulebooks); I've put up some flyers and may be starting up a game soon. Unfortunately I've only found two to three players.

So, any tips? I'm planning on having people roll up characters and then throw them into the Morlock Shaman's dungeon, and seeing how things go.

[samwise7]

Actually, two or three people can work out well if you are just getting back into things. Have them each make a retainer as well as their main character (or just roll them up yourself and hand them out). The retainers helped out a lot in my game when I only had 2 players. Plus, I told my players that if their main character died, they could play their retainer. The retainers get half a share of XP in my game, so it is better than starting out at 1st level again. After two sessions I've killed off one of the retainers so far, the main characters have been pretty lucky so far.

I jotted the main rules I knew I would forget on 3x5 cards, so I could easily flip to what I needed. That, or highlight the crap out of your LL PDF once you print it. There really aren't many rules, so even after a couple of read throughs you should be alright.

Have fun.

[Blood axe]

2 or 3 players is fine. Three is better, but you can even have a game with only one other players. There was an adventure in an old Dungeon mag azine called "The Wooden Mouse" where a Thief character had to steal a magic item as initiation to join a Guild. One player, One GM- thats it.

[jasmith]

My preferred number of players is 3 to 5, so if you've snagged three, I say go for it!

[gentleman john]

Three players? Go for it. For the past two months I've been existing on two players. You can have a good session with any number of players; you just have to tailor your adventures if you don't have as many.

[kiltedyaksman]

I'd take 2-3 dedicated players over a bunch of so-so interested folks. You are good to go.

If you are setting up a longstanding campaign, always end each session back at town. This makes play easy for drop-ins and drop-outs.

[samwise7]

Good point about always ending up back at town. That makes it episodic in nature, and people can drop in for just one game as well to see if they like RPGs (if you are trying to get newbies into the game). Having some pregenerated characters already made works well for someone new to the game too.

[Blood axe]

I'd take 2-3 dedicated players over a bunch of so-so interested folks. You are good to go.

If you are setting up a longstanding campaign, always end each session back at town. This makes play easy for drop-ins and drop-outs.

Great idea.

If a player drops you can also kill them.
If a new player starts they can be a rescued prisoner.

[scadgrad]

I played from 79 to mid 81 with only 2 players. My current campaign has 2 players and myself as LL. Here's how we work it:

PCs get a primary and a secondary character and probably a hireling (retainer) or two along the way. I supplemented their 4 characters by rolling up an Elf ally (they lacked an arcane spell caster) who is there as comic relief and the occasional Sleep spell. In this fashion, you'll have a very robust party that should be able to handle whatever you throw at them, or at the very least, have a reasonable chance of survival as they perish in amusing fashion.

[kiltedyaksman]

Similar to Scadgrad I too run a PC/NPC as well. This character makes no decisions. He normally acts as an extra body and the mouth of the DM if needed.

It also works well if you plan on rotating DMs.