NOOB TRAPS: Splitting The Party (Player Advice)

Splitting Up The Party/Scouting/Being the Lone Assassin/Being the “Protagonist”

A problem noobs run into is what I call TV Blinders. You see a character on TV and want to play him, which is okay, except most TV characters don’t work on a team. Most protagonists wind up doing things alone while the rest of the cast is in a supporting role, or off camera entirely. So when you split up the party, run off as the scout, set yourself up as a lone assassin to kill the bad guy, or in general do anything that leaves everyone else sitting around for hours waiting for a chance to do something, you suck.

Not only do you suck, but everyone else will hate you, even if you do succeed in assassinating the Big Bad. Especially if you succeed and hog all the XP. That’s not to say that scouting sucks, but as a noob, avoid any concept, any tactic, or any power combo that involves going into another room and making the DM run back and forth to run the game.

That said, I’ve run sessions for only one player, but that’s was separate from my normal weekly game session. But that is up to your DM and his gaming style and how much time he has free to devote to the game.