I know there have been posts about this in the past so if you happen to know where they are leave a link for me please.

I have just recently learned one of my player PCs will not be joining us anymore as he is swamped with all kinds of stuff this semester, and that only leaves two committed players. I did have a session with just the two of them and it was actually a lot of fun, but I've never GMed or generally played with such a small group before.

I want to get the game going again, the two and I really enjoyed it, but what do I need to do on my end to make a two player campaign fun, challenging but not super hard, and engaging?

(I only ask because I've generally GMed for groups of 4-6, so 2 is a difference for me. Let me know what you all think, I'm kind of freaking out here, thanks)

The action economy changes significantly so be mindful of their opposition.

Rules of thumb:

Combat changes: 1 minion group per PC max, and if you include a separate Rival, the minion group dice pool should be much weaker than the players' dice pool. Minion groups of 2 or 3 is about the most you can do. This means your group will never really take on large numbers of NPCs. You can give the illusion of them handling hordes through chases, or give the PCs ways to take out or block off most of the horde; but it does change the flavour a bit and puts more of an emphasis on stealth and trickery and other means of combat avoidance.

Non-combat stays the same: compare the dice pools of the opposition and adjust accordingly.

On the plus side this also means that you'll be able to shine the spotlight on either character more than you would with a large group, so keep that in mind and definitely capitalize on it!

On the plus side this also means that you'll be able to shine the spotlight on either character more than you would with a large group, so keep that in mind and definitely capitalize on it!

This was my experience early on as well, before the group got larger. The other thing is, with only 2 players, they had a pretty good understanding of each other's strengths and weaknesses, and they worked well together. I seem to have lost that with a larger group.

Back when I was playing Saga Edition, I started a campaign with only two players because half the group didn't show up on opening night. I decided to play as a PC as well as GMing. Luckily, I always keep a few stock starting-level characters on-hand for whatever system I am playing at the time. I went with a Wookiee, and kept my dialogue to roars and growls. Essentially, I was combat support and didn't take the spotlight away from them. I found it to be tiring in the long-run to play both sides of the table. It could be a lot to keep track of, but it kept the game going until more people could join us.

In my experience, it is tough for a GM to play a support NPC for a long period of time. But a small party is more likely to require some outside assistance on occasion.

You want to keep the focus on the PCs and not your support NPC, but you do want to give them the necessary amount of support they should be getting.

IMO, droids can be better at this than other characters, because they can more easily fade into the background, and you can more easily explain why they might have a weird combination of skills and/or talents.

But letting the players control the support NPCs (with GM approval), and especially have the players do the dice rolling for the support NPCs, I think that could be a method that would be better balanced.

I should note it's pretty easy for a player to run two characters in this game. My son ran a droid as a sidekick to his main PC, but the droid was a full-fledged character that gained XP, etc.

I should note it's pretty easy for a player to run two characters in this game. My son ran a droid as a sidekick to his main PC, but the droid was a full-fledged character that gained XP, etc.

Same with minions who are hired or otherwise persuaded to help the PCs. The merc soldier in my party occasionally hired on rookies from his old unit as backup. It gave him lots of opportunities to use Leadership skill and command talents.

Back in the campaign I played as a PC in a few weeks ago our GM let us control the NPCs and make their rolls, which I was thinking of doing for mine.

Basically I was going to have my two PCs be able to hire on help from specialists, who would hang out at their base of operations until needed, cuz I love giving my players options. I would roleplay as the NPCs just to help out my players who aren't exactly great at that yet, but they'd be making all the rolls like you guys said.

It'll get to a point where they can think "Ok, we're going on a sabotage mission, so our mechanic ally might me more important to this mission than our survivalist ally, we'll take him with us, see what happens." They'll have numerous options but only one NPC can journey with them outside their hideout, a la KotOR