I know from 2nd, and 3rd we ran some games with Players doubling up on PC's some games needed it. It was kind of a stop gap measure as we looked for more players typically, so It can be done, and be fun, but yeah some of the interaction between players and DM and players is lost.

You can always run a NPC yourself as well (though make it smaller background character) like a healer, or hireling etc., something to give another body to attack and possibly give the Players a fuller time with thier character/s.



Candi
What are companion characters? this is interesting as I may be in the same boat with only 2 PC's soon in a game, and I am thinking of ways to handel it as well myself.

They're like miniature PC's that scale and grow in the same way monsters do (so they don't require gear) and they are made to be an extra body, an extra bit of damage in combat and above all else not to overshadow the PCs.

They have generic "Roles" a single at-will power, an encounter power and derived statistics based on role and race.

They're simple enough for a player to run in combat without detracting from their main character (the ones i made for my PCs I was able to fit onto one side of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper all nicely typset with a short blurb about 'how to RP them in combat').

The DMG2 for 4th ed covers the entire concept in about 4 pages (starting at the magical page 32). [/i]

interesting thoughts....maybe my approach is too specific and that may be what is causing the play to seem boring. well what i created the one awesome game sessions was not epic at all actually. but the battle sequences were very "action packed"

battle:

1. fort being seiged by orcs (catapult manned outside of fort). players snuck up on orcs using tree camouflage. hillarious btw as it panned out

2. bandits robbing horse drawn wagon. stipulation was that when a player tried to jump up on unmanned wagon, it scared the horse and the horse took off in the opposite direction with one bandit and player on wagon. had to roll for balance and combat and all kinds of crap. player ended up falling off wagon, i turned wagon around, and player threw log in my path and sent me flying. awesome fight

3. i created a game called "stone smack". basically a version of Cannonball or whatever it was called from the show American Gladiators back in the day...sorta. 2 gnomes that i named Pit and Pot, were in a forest clearing playing the game. basically you get on a wooden stump about 4 feet off the ground and with a log in hand, you smack the stone dangling from a rope above and try to knock the other player off. it was a cool idea but my rules were a little broken. anyway....it ended up with one of my players (dragonborn) jumping off his wooden stump, and grabbing one of the gnomes by the ankles and shaking him till he dropped the map they were seeking. awesome!


so that was my awesome game session and all the players loved it. my next one kinda sucked and im not sure why.

Hulkster, what was it do you think about the game that you ran that was "epic" that the other games didn't have?

I think the single best session I've run with my group wasn't the "saving the world, epic battle against the king of all dragons" - in fact that session was pretty bland, they beat up a dragon and ate pizza. The best session we've had was the game when the party investigated some random cultists... Why was it the best? The investigation was RP heavy, and once the action started it never stopped - twists and finally it ended with a wagon chase through the city - that is the players chasing a wagon loaded with people and bad guys shooting them with exploding arrows.

It was epic for my group because it had something for everyone, our resident Sherlock Holmes got to unravel a mystery, my RP fanatic got some deep character development and table time, and the action was fun and exciting. It was a great session only because it had something for everyone, and everyone had fun.


As for your question about the DMG2 - it's the Dungeon Master's Guide 2 4e rulebook. Can you download it? Well, WotC doesn't offer pdf anything anymore and that's all I will say on that. Do you have to buy it? No, but I will say it's a better supplement than the DMG1 for a dungeon master (in my opinion). Can you manage companion characters (or something like them) without? Sure, find a monster of equal level or one lower than your PC's (standard, not an elite!) and fix it's HP to be on par with the PCs and give him a few healing surges. Print out the stat block and hand it to a player!

Totally agree with Robby. Don't plan too many fine details as the players will either blow right by them or do things exactly the opposite of how you planned. Just set loose scenarios with interesting characters and let THEM tell the story. Reactionary DMing, for me, is much more rewarding than directing PCs.

I am currently running a group of two players and myself as DM. It seems to work fine. They are currently 3rd level. I just allot the correct amount of XP and try not to put more than 4 or 5 baddies on the table at a time. Don't forget to scale back treasure as well.

I'd figure out what your players want. I have one who insisted on being Dragon Born... so I think up ways to get him to use his Dragon breath in each sitting... ( = Minions).

If you toss in some simple stuff, the EPIC stuff will stand out more.

Try weaving in a good story line. A good villian keeps them coming back.

I'm DMing a group which has pretty straight forward goals.. But I supplied them with a cute cudly Goblin Rogue to befriend. After the Goblin prooves his worth and everyone is back in town, trouble brews.

One night in the Tavern... the Wizard suddenly pitches over, unconscious, and a woman is running for the door. The fighters give chase... The first out the door gets an arrow in the chest. Its a gusher, but he goes for this new foe... as he nears the archer, she spins on her heal shifts and drops another arrow in his chest. He falls without even getting to swing. His friend binds his wounds. The Archer and assasin get away.

On returning home, the Goblin (Grolip) is found dead... dispatched cruelly (the dagger in his chest held a note, "PS. He begged") There is another clue... a small metal buckle in his curled up little hand...

Now its personal. The PCs want revenge.

Watching a beautiful bard sing one night (mood music helped here), a PC notices the bard's missing a small metal buckle.

The villians? 10th level Vampiric Eladrin Bard, 6th Level Changling Rogue (Trickster), and 6th Level Changeling Ranger Archer. Using the Character Creator its easy to create a villian which really makes for a dynamic encounter. i.e. Most of my villians have cool 'reactionary' trigger powers. Who cares if its a Daily the villian only gets to use it once! The fights ARE EPIC.

PS. They defeated the bard with a nice public fight, she got to use her words of rebuke... but in the end, she died and her things crumbled to dust. (In 30 days she will rise again. This villian is intended to survive until the players are 10th level themselves.)

PPS. Runaway Stagecoach I'll have to try that some time.