And Then There Were Two

[Warwolf]

When I had my regular Rifts campaign my players were always geeking out about the latest class or race they wanted to try. Not wanting to clip their wings, I would often let them make and introduce new characters. This had its pros and cons, but taken as a whole I'd say that it can be successful (especially if your players are relatively experienced).

When I was allowing it we regularly had 5-7 players with some playing up to 3 characters in an adventure, so it wasn't unheard of to run with 15-20 characters. With that many it can be easy to lose focus, have combat take hours, etc. With 6 characters you shouldn't have too much trouble, though. I've also found that players might not get into their characters quite as deep when playing multiples, but make sure they have a solid concept for each one and that issue should at least be mitigated.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

[Alrik Vas]

I'd let them have a character stable. You know, they can have three or four, but choose different characters for different jobs or missions, then you as the GM NPC their other characters when it's absolutely necessary that they be present, and when it isn't necessary, they're just off doing other things (drinking at the bar, working on a deal to repair their gear etc). This way someone could play three different characters in the same session, but no need to do it all at once.

[Warshield73]

Way back 20 years ago when we were playing 1st edition Robotech Macross era every player had two characters. One was a fighter (VT pilot, Destroid pilot, military specialist) the other was a support (electrical or mechanical engineer, field scientist). It worked OK, but really they only played one character, they just ran the other one.

[arouetta]

I've seen it, it takes a special player to pull it off. Most people it ends up being roll-playing (the same personality, no matter which character is dominant). You need a player who can switch complete personas like Imelda Marcos switches shoes. Such players either have a very active fantasy life, are slightly out of it in real life, or both.

[Lord Death]

Back in the day I had this one friend who played a psi-stacker and the four dogboys. He had voice 4 each pc and a personality for each pc.....somethimes he would sit there an argue with himself (the pc's) trying to plan a attack or at the bar while drinking or who was going to beat up the npc....yea ir was a great time watching him do all that an keep straight face while he was in the moment.... GREAT TIMES

[Rimmerdal]

Me and a friend do that for a D&D basic game. We have the characters often do separate adventures based on class or character goals. to help make the game smoother we have an Inn and a horde 18 goblins and 2 Hobgoblins as well. Plus were thinking of a monster/Humanoid game using some of our goblins..Since "bill & ted" or two goblins that follow our characters have so far survived as black dragon bait..

so yes it can work. also give you a chance to be a player and rotate GM duty.

[Lt Gargoyle]

My groups have done it in the past. And some players were able to truely pull it off. But over all I have found that most players Run and focus on the primary PC and the other just sits back and is used to give extra attacks and take the hits. So I think it has to be a player by player call.
However I do like the idea of having the player pool so if a players character is injured or even killed, they have an immediate back up who could be called upon to jump in. Especially in larger groups. In a group of three or four, its almost needed in some games.

[tuvermage]

I once allowed a player to run two characters at the same time. I normally don't, because most just run one character with two bodies type thing. This player actually played two different characters. They had different personalities, goals and ambitions. There were several interesting moments, one of which both characters fought each other. The player was actually rolled two D20 attacking and defending while the rest of us watched. The interesting part was they were very different characters that opposed each other more than they agreed. It was interesting watching a player foil his own plans.

[Myrrhibis]

Have you ever had you're players run two characters at a time? How did that work out for you?

I ask because I'm contemplating the idea. I have a group of three players, each running a Demi-god character, each banished to Phase World. They will eventually get out of Center, and into a starship, They may (hopefully) acquire their own ship.

So I was thinking the PCs could come up with some Runner/Space Pirate/Spacer type characters, so that when their Demi-god characters went out to hire a crew, this new set of characters would be the ones that got hired.

I just didn't want NPCs doing all the work (in space) for them.

Depends on the player's familiarity with the OCC/RCCs - and the overall rules of the system & world.

I have often played 2 characters over the past 25 years of playing PB.
-with rare exception Each character had been played solo previously to establish their 'feel'
-usually was intended for specific mission/campaign section where the PC group was lacking type of character (group had no decent magic-user/psychic/bookworm) or we lost players mid-campaign & wanted to keep going.

A few of my group's other members can play 2 PCs with little problem. For others, even keeping on top of ONE PC is a challenge.

[Myrrhibis]

I've seen it, it takes a special player to pull it off. Most people it ends up being roll-playing (the same personality, no matter which character is dominant). You need a player who can switch complete personas like Imelda Marcos switches shoes. Such players either have a very active fantasy life, are slightly out of it in real life, or both.

Yup - my bi-weekly 4 hr fantasy life is strong ^_^

But agree that for many it becomes ROLL playing.

Hence why my group prefers to have each PC having been played solo previously (or perhaps 1 newbie-character, any others previously played).

I tend to make sure I have accents (even if bad ones - and I do get ragged on when I've forgotten to have a PC talk with it), &/or a different way/tone of speaking.

There's a couple folks who are banned from playing multiples b/c you can't tell the difference except what they're doing/roLLing.