With the wide-ranging Compact structure, I would assume BC is quite likely to develop split-party syndrome. When the Apostate is trying to get intel in the local Administratum bureau, any CSMs present would likely worsen his chances. On the other hand side, many combats will see the squishies trying to stay out of the way as best as they can and the meeting with the Khorne berzerkers likely isn't helped by the psyker.

All in all, I foresee many situations in which the most efficient way to tackle the PCs' problems (by the way: is there any specific name for the heretic group? Dark Heresy had a cell of acolytes, DW had a squad,... ) is to split up - and in certain cases, the interplanetary nature of adventures can make those splits last quite some time.

Obviously, a split party means the GM has to divide his attention between players more than usual - and the players in turn receive less screen-time each. How are you going to deal with this situation? Make everyone stay together, no matter how much the group would benefit from acting simultaneously in multiple places? Just let them split up as they wish? Institue some artificial limitation like "no more than 2 active groups at a time"?

I'd discourage it. If there's legitimate combat encounters along the way, I'd be sure to set them up as appropriate for the whole party, even if I know they're going to split up. It damages the play experience of half or so of the players, makes things take longer, and is just in general a bad idea. Its never, ever worth it.

Of course, some people might have EXTREMELY monotask characters like Babaroth... but that's why I discourage people from playing Babaroths. I actually have a friend who was strenuously arguing to play an eversor in DH.

In my group, with D&D at least, splitting the party is usually responded to by having both halves encounter baddies that would take the whole party to best.

The DM admits this is because he hates having to run two groups at once, and we all agree it's a good reason.

If it makes sense for them to split up, then go for it. You might even want to have multiple characters per player or allow players to run minions of other characters to keep everyone involved in as many scenes as possible. I wouldn't go for heavy-handed attempts to force the group to stay together, but obviously opinions on this differ.

HappyDaze said:

That could work, but only if you have an experienced GM and a party that's really paying attention.

The group of friends that i play with tend to be a bit... well, let's just say their attention span is kinda short, and I've personally only ran two sessions before this, I don't think i could manage it, for instance.

Split party is always a problem, even for an experienced GM.

When it happens, I generally switch to narrative mode and resolve the situation as quickly as possible. I never ask people to leave the room but try to keep them interested, if not involved, as much as its possible. I even allow players to have some limited conversations, asking for advice or consulting one another in these instances. Yes, its meta-gaming but it serves to keep the group as a whole involved and I think its worth it. In modern settings you can justify it via vox-beads or whatever, but the real goal is to keep everyone invested in the activities.

I've been fortunate in avoiding the really nasty player types that try to steal the spotlight as much as they can by going off on tangents, but if I did have one I wouldn't hesitate to let consequences play out and for a bad roll to kill the character, preferably off-camera.