Two player campaign - how?

[misterecho]

My wargaming group has been playing 1st edition DnD for years. They don't Roleplay. its Hack and slash 100% which can be fun. However i've been delving into real roleplaying with another group who i recently met. This group is 75% RP 25% combat.

I am running D6 1e Starwars as my first GM attempt on Sunday (with new group). This is to get an idea of how keen they are on a space opera. If they enjoy i will start an Epic scale Icar campaign.

Now i know i won't have to covert anything halfway through the campaign im more keen to start. A concern i have is the fact that there is only 2 players. 1 needs to be a medic (for any hope of survival) they need a soldier type for combat. I don't want to railroad them. Any suggestions?

Feel free to move post if nessisary.

[Rob Lang]

This is a good topic and deserves its own thread. Furthermore, it needs a good reply and it's late. I'll do my best.

With small groups, you might like to add a medic as an NPC for you to play. NPCs are useful to new gamers because it gives them a yardstick - a trustworthy voice that can answer their questions in character and show them the way. This is not leading them down a garden path but giving them a point of reference.

If they don't like the idea of having an NPC, just remind them that the medic isn't that interesting to play (although my players tend to have fun with it) and Icar is damned lethal. To make your life easier, you can steal the personality of the NPC medic from a character you're very familiar with. Dr. Who as played by David Tennant might be a good one, or a cynic like one of the doctors from M*A*S*H or the plain nasty Perry Cox in Scrubs. The NPCs can then follow the characters about a bit, rather than leading them down the garden path.

Are you going to run a Scavenger like campaign?

[misterecho]

The new group is very experienced, They just want me to learn how to GM so we can all get a game. Seems fair to me

I will plunder heavily from scavanger but not play it verbatum. I like the droid medic charactor in Scav. I will adapt him to an escort type medic droid, therefore an excuse not to get involved in combat as droids shouldn't be programmed to kill (we all know how that turned out!) I especially like his acid abrasive personality. The players need him but hate him.

I will use the scavanger adventure as a starting point. a method to introduce the PCs to each other and let them learn the rules and setting. Perhaps they could sell the crapheap ship at the end for a smaller crapheap friegter, who knows yet.

[Rob Lang]

Never play anything vertbatum! Scav is meant as a starting point fo sho.

A point of nomenclature. In Icar - Droids (capital D) are the human killing machines. Automatons are the friendly robots at home and work. Dr Sorex from the Scav Setting is an Automaton. The good thing is that you can use the word Droids with some affect - just mentioning the word is like summoning the boogey man. When I get my words mixed up when GMing, the players crap themselves, it's hilarious.

[misterecho]

[Rob Lang]

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

If you're playing Star Wars, then just have a pair of Jedi (Master and Padawan?) in which case you don't really need a medic, thanks to The Force which can provide healing and numerous ways to avoid injury in the first place. Filling out the party with NPCs is generally a good idea, as you can kill one of them without ending the game - otherwise there is the problem of if you stymie the heroes, you're also blocking the game's progress.

As for other ideas - a small team of bounty hunters would have medical expenses covered by either their emplyers (part of an agency/police department) or have some equipment back on the ship. This approach would also be focused on small/defined targets (a specific criminal to bring back) as opposed to large set piece battles.

Can you tell us a little more about the idea you want to run with?

[misterecho]

I'm set for the star wars game, Its a taster to see how they like Space opera. If they like it i want to do a campaign in icar. I was just a little intimidated, due to the genral brutality of it.

[Rob Lang]

Yeah, probably wise. Star Wars is a nice stepping stone because you don't have to explain how the universe works. Unless your players have been living in a cave.

[misterecho]

I'm sure even troglodytes have seen star wars.