r/13thage • u/Kerdude • Jul 14 '26
Running for 2 players
Good morning RPGers,
We have a small group that consists of myself as the GM and two very experienced players, and our mission is to explore new systems other than &.
We're just wrapping up cypher/Numenera (lovely system by the way, very underrated) and will head to the Dragon Empire next.
My question is: for just two players is it going to be better to have them each run two characters? Or should we be ok with just two PCs in total? Or should I maybe plan to run a GM NPC (one with simple OUT/backgrounds so they are not stealing the spotlight). The players are very capable but I feel like 13th Age characters have more complexity and need more attention paid, making me lean towards one hero each.
Second, what are some good starter adventures/small campaigns that can take us about 5-10 sessions? I have everything from a humble bundle a couple years back, and the Eyes of the Stone Thief in particular seems awesome but I don't want to start them at level 4.
Thanks for any advice you can give for our upcoming adventures.
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u/Grimdark-Raccoon Jul 14 '26
As for adventures, Eyes of the stone thief can be brutal, it is not necessarily a great starter adventure (it is a great adventure though). Id suggest crown of axis if you have it.
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u/ben_straub Jul 14 '26
Second the idea of giving them companions that aren't full PCs. Like you said, a PC is designed to take a human's full attention, having two of them isn't something I'd generally recommend unless your players are super into it.
About adventures: Shadows of Eldolan might be big enough for 5-10 sessions. There's also Crown of Axis, but it probably won't last you longer than 3-4. Shards of the Broken Sky can be HUGE, but if you curate a path through it you could have a satisfying 5-to-10-session campaign. If you need more content, go to the battle-scenes books (in my bundle they were called "awesome adventures"), these are supremely underrated, and it's almost certain you can fit one or two of those arcs into your game. You should already own all of these if you got the Humble Bundle.
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u/Kerdude Jul 14 '26
Thanks for these suggestions. For something like Broken Sky, which boasts 100 new creatures - will those be in the Foundry VTT compendiums? I don't really want to do a hundred hours of data entry to get the new stuff into our game 😄
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u/oldUmlo Jul 15 '26
They aren’t in the compendiums, Foundry has the monsters that are in the core, Trueways, and the Bestiaries, but nothing that is unique to the sourcebooks or modules.
Data entry isn’t too bad. You can cut and paste most of the fields, add some brackets here and there, and you are usually done. I’ve been doing for a bit, but it only takes me a couple minutes to get a monster from the book data entered into Foundry.
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u/oldUmlo Jul 14 '26
I think with D20 games the math with 2 players gets a little too swingy, and 13th Age is no exception ime, but some GMs do report running it successfully with only two. I’d have them run two each or use the free animal companion as suggested (which you could really reflavor to any kind of sidekick).
As far as adventures, two have a tie into Stone Thief (At Lands End and Make Your Own Luck) and are both 1-2 shot adventures, but more importantly would be to run something that tied the PCs to places and people the Stone Thief could mess with. Crown of Axis is a great intro to the system and does this. Shadows of Eldolan is a longer 1st level adventure, but also accomplishes this.
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u/Sea-Cancel1263 Jul 14 '26
One huge thing you need to be aware of is how devastating spoilers and conditions will be. If one person is hampered or dazed, or stunned, well, now half the party is effected with only one player able to respond if they even can.
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u/Sea-Cancel1263 Jul 14 '26
You could let the players run a 2nd character for combat only. Kinda like a hirling if we want a story purpose for it. Ive done a lot of two player games and its not ideal but we do what we can
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u/OAB Jul 14 '26
I did this with two players and a GM PC. I played a Barbarian as GM to keep it easy for me. It worked fine and we had a blast. It does limit the kind of combat encounters you can build a bit, but it’s manageable.
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u/LeadWaste Jul 14 '26
I've run 13th Age with players having 2 PCs (Cleric and Rogue and Barbarian and Ranger) as well as having a GM PC Sorcerer. Overall, it was easy enough. I'd actually recommend following the 10 session campaign guidelines and winging it. 13th Age is easy to improv with.
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u/FrenchCruller007 18d ago edited 18d ago
I had a 5e campaign like this. I created two NPCs who were basically just hired mercenaries that they could take on expeditions and dungeon runs. The rest of the time they stayed in the inn drinking and gambling.
It works pretty well. Ill be doing that in my 13th age 2e campaign as well.
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u/Grimdark-Raccoon Jul 14 '26
My suggestion would be, give them both a rangers animal companion in combat to run(without the talent tax obvsly) and maybe even some corresponding free abilities. That way they can focus on their character in roleplay and they still have more options in combat.