Running Dual/Mirrored Campaigns

[GunnarGreybeard]

Just curious if anyone has run the same campaign but with 2 different groups (not related but truly independent campaigns that do not impact each other in any way)? Right now I have an old school PnP group I play with off and on (becoming more off than on these days but I digress) and was considering starting a new game up using FG.. Since I already have most of the story/background worked out that should save considerable time this go around. I would think it would be difficult to keep the stories unique (without story overlap) to each group but maybe that's just me.

Anyone done or is currently doing something like this? Any tips or feedback on the pros and cons?

[Griogre]

I've done it several times. Basically unless you railroad them or its an adventure path or series of modules the longer you run the game, typically the more the parties diverge. Particularly in the beginning, there is a lot less prep work, but unless you have a lot of stuff prepared a head of times the parties tend to head off in different directions so you will end up more prep work over time.

My experience is also some parties level faster than others as well so you will end up with one you need to do more work for. However you can cannibalize stuff from which ever party is in the lead for the slower one so you will end up doing less work than for two totally seperate parties in different worlds.

[Dracenfels]

I actually did this too. I had a campaign on Saturdays and Sunday nights. I started one a few months before the other and since the Saturday group did things pretty quickly they actually reached the same area of the Horned Hold (Thunderspire Labyrinth module) at one point. By this point I was getting burned out because it wasn't the matter that they did things differently...and they did do things very differently...for me it was keeping both groups separate in my head...I'd run into the problem of not being able to differentiate which group found which hidden weapon or did what extra side quest or what have you...so I'd keep mixing the two very different story lines. For instance one group clobbered the goblins of the Chamber of Eyes while the other group got overwhelmed and actually got enslaved by them... Had to send a search party to rescue them and well it was pretty fun hehe but it was getting complicated differentiating between the two so I actually opened rifts in time and merged the two groups when they got to the same area of the hold. It was fun when the two group shared the two very distinct stories with each other.

[lachancery]

Just curious if anyone has run the same campaign but with 2 different groups (not related but truly independent campaigns that do not impact each other in any way)? Since I already have most of the story/background worked out that should save considerable time this go around. I would think it would be difficult to keep the stories unique (without story overlap) to each group but maybe that's just me.

Anyone done or is currently doing something like this? Any tips or feedback on the pros and cons?
That is what I am doing for my Middle-Earth/RMC games. Both started in Bree in the same time frame. As Griogre mentioned, the second group has already taken a different direction than the first one after two sessions.

The biggest pro for me is that I get to reuse some of the world material/background I work on, like maps, NPCs, organizations, mood images, artifacts/items, etc. I can be "more prepared" with less effort. I am not trying to reuse the stories as is though; both parties each have their own self-direction. I don't know if some of the great moments that have happened in the first game will be seen in the second one...

With Hârn, you'd get similar benefits from running your games in the same regions and time, fleshing out NPCs, guilds, villages, orders, and reusing them between games. Your material would likely improve over time, and your comfort with is as well, so you'd deliver a more immersive experience.

The only con I see is you might eventually feel like a fresh start, to shake things up.

[GunnarGreybeard]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, it has been helpful.


...for me it was keeping both groups separate in my head...I'd run into the problem of not being able to differentiate which group found which hidden weapon or did what extra side quest or what have you...so I'd keep mixing the two very different story lines. That is probably my biggest concern, keeping track of everything without giving information to one group they shouldn't know so they are given a heads up trouble might be headed their way or where a certain item might be found, etc.


With Hârn, you'd get similar benefits from running your games in the same regions and time, fleshing out NPCs, guilds, villages, orders, and reusing them between games. Your material would likely improve over time, and your comfort with is as well, so you'd deliver a more immersive experience. Since I am planning to use Hârn the background material is there, probably moreso than with other campaign worlds which is good. As the groups progress though, the campaign data will probably grow exponentially but I think I have the tools in place to keep most things sorted.

My next big problem, assembling another group via FG that matches my available game times. :D

[Griogre]

One thing that will help you with two parties make sure you run separate FG campaigns with them. Use modules for campaign data. If you have access to it OneNote is really good for keeping track of where things are different for each party.

In response to shaking things up to keep thing fresh I did do some different things with different parties like have an NPC be a villain with one group and a hero with another. Like Dacenfels, I ran the H module series with different groups.

One of the nice thing about running the same world is that when your lead party has done something, you may get an idea about wouldn't it be cool to do something a bit different - and you can then try your idea on the second party. That can be a lot of fun as a GM and keep things fresh since you get a chance to try out things on the second party.

[Mirloc]

Best time I had doing this was to run 2 separate games, one group playing the 'good guys' and the other playing the 'bad guys'. In the beginning neither group knew about the other until the 'good guys' showed up to find a dungeon completely looted out more than once. They started poking about and discovered evidence of another adventuring party. eventually it culminated in a showdown. All in all quite entertaining, but a royal PITA to setup and run.