#RPGaDay2021 - Day 7 - Big Victories with Small Groups

 Day 7 of #RPGaDay gave me pause, "SMALL".

Prior to our Monday night online game, we were a group that met, at best, once a month.  Coordinating the dates was difficult, and driving distances in hours, so we strove to ensure at least five people (including GM) could make it. 

Despite now having online players stretching from Boston to the Jersey Shore, and a regular time, the first rule of organizing a game is that everything is going to go off the rails.  

When our first DM, Jeff, couldn't make a session, or just couldn't muster the intestinal fortitude to deal with us, I began breaking out Illuminati University (IOU) using Risus.  Two hours is perfect for a game like that, in person or online.

As Jeff turned the GM reins over to me, there was a lot of scheduling upheaval.  With players coming and going as they pleased, it was time to shift the game over Basic D&D and Adventures in Gulluvia, it was a delicate balance setting up a quaint setting and running balanced encounters for only two or three PCs.  I left the campaign open for future discovery, even if the storyline ended on a dour note. 

The greatest example of improvised small-scale filler scenarios is Bo'Non'as and Oopsa.   Originally throw-away NPCs for my Star Wars d6 campaign, I allowed my players to run them to clear up a story prologue. 

Given the response from the players for that little exercise, a simple return to the Kurbanda tribes and that odd duo were in order.  There were enough loose ends from the normal PCs' adventure of the planet (moon) that it was easy to cloak them in mystery for a primitive race of hominids. 

In the last year, there have been seven sessions where we only had two players, or a critical player was missing.  In those instances, it was a perfect time to dust off the old idea book, have players randomly choose to play either Bo'Non'as (aka The Warlord of the Kurabanda), Oopsa (aka the Seer of the Chosen One), or near the end, Uh'aul (aka Porter of the Plantains).  It was enough light-hearted fun that I could rehash old tropes that I could not get away with in any "serious" game.   Space Gods, the Wizard of Oz, Game of Thrones references, even a chance to answer the deep philosophical questions, such as, "If a pregnant woman is swimming, is she a submarine?"

The Kurabanda Oopsa

Alas, my backlog of Star Wars Actual Plays means the the B&O episodes aren't scheduled to post until November, but I hope you come back and read them when they posts.  They're a hoot.

Also a shout-out to James D'Amato.  Not only are his podcasts must-listens, but his Ultimate RPG Guide books are a treasure trove of ideas.  I've actively used his Coffee Shop micro-game on numerous occasions, including using the basic template to build an entire dark, yet zany COVID-related game.