The party splits. How to continue the story?

How to Avoid Fragmentation in the Party: Tips for GMs

Let's start with an example: you're the GM of the campaign, and after a long carriage journey, the party finally reaches the long-awaited "next city." Here, the players and their characters decide to split up because each of them has something to do: one needs to make an offering at their church, another needs to repair their equipment, someone else wants to earn extra money by pickpocketing or plying their trade, and another character has shopping to do, and so on.

So, you start fulfilling the first character's request, then move on to the next, and then the next, ensuring everyone gets to carry out their chosen action. Five hours go by, filled with chatter and errands, but the story hasn't progressed. The first player on the list has probably spent 4 hours and 50 minutes listening, bored, to the others as they explore the city like frantic tourists.

The session ends, and:

The story hasn't moved forward.

Half the players have started playing on their phones, bored by the endless individual chatter.

The GM is panicking because, despite their best efforts, they couldn't create a continuous narrative, and the session devolved into a fragmented list of "I do this" and "I do that."

If you've encountered a situation like this, don't despair. Sooner or later, every GM will face similar challenges, especially in the beginning.

How to Create Party Cohesion

Let me share an example from my recent experience, which aligns perfectly with today's topic. I'll compare an asynchronous narrative with a group-focused one, making slight adjustments to the story to create "a party cohesion moment."

Asynchronous Example

The campaign has just begun, and the group needs to embark on a long sea voyage. They decide to "rent" a ship for transport. During the journey, they come across a merchant vessel sinking after a pirate attack and rescue the few survivors. Among them is a merchant hiding in the cargo hold, holding a precious jewel meant as a birthday gift for a noble in the next city. Once they reach the city, the merchant disappears to arrange a meeting with the nobility. While waiting for the summons, the party has time to regroup and explore the city. However, the party is not cohesive, splits up, and the previously described situation unfolds.

This story could work, but there's a key point to consider: the campaign has just started, so the characters haven't had shared experiences yet. Throwing them into a big city with time to kill almost inevitably leads to splitting up.

How to Create a Party Cohesion Moment

Let's revisit the same scenario, tweaking one element of the story:

The campaign has just begun, and the group needs to embark on a long sea voyage. They decide to "rent" a ship for transport. During the journey, they encounter an island with a merchant vessel wrecked on the rocks after a pirate attack. The few survivors have taken refuge in the dense vegetation but, upon seeing a "civilian" ship, come out seeking help. Among them is a merchant whose precious jewel, intended as a birthday gift for a noble family in the next city, has been stolen. Somewhere on the island is the pirates' hideout, and if the party can retrieve the jewel, the merchant offers to let them keep all the other treasures the pirates stole from him.

In this second example, the story takes a different turn. Instead of scattering the party by "throwing" them into a city, they are presented with an opportunity to act together. This scenario provides a shared moment for the group.

At this point, the action can unfold in different ways: it could be an investigative session to locate the hideout, a hazardous session of sneaking through traps, or, as is often the case, an all-out brawl to retrieve the treasure.

Individual Narrative vs. Group Narrative

Role-playing games should be the ultimate form of group storytelling. The GM sets the stage for the story, but it’s the players who add all the pieces to complete it. The story can take an entirely unexpected turn compared to its original conception, but the art of improvisation must always be present in the various situations.

Players, and especially the GM, are the actors, authors, and architects of a campaign's success or failure. Frankly, unless it’s absolutely relevant, no one cares about the bard "Sigmund of Trenvistal" spending three of a five-hour session haggling with a merchant to save 10 silver coins on a new lute. Always remember: the narrative belongs to the group, not the individual.

This doesn’t mean you should eliminate moments that highlight a single player over the others, but it’s much more satisfying to do so during epic actions, brilliant solutions, or pivotal moments—not during a visit to the city park.

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Managing Gameplay Time

A typical game session lasts between 3 and 6 hours, and if you’re lucky, you play once or more a week. Interactions between a single PC (player character) and NPCs (non-player characters) are certainly important. However, the story belongs to the group, as a group. Try to set a time limit for individual moments and focus on the party’s shared actions. If a game session lasts 4 hours, a good balance would be to dedicate at least 3 hours to shared actions and no more than 1 hour to individual character moments.

What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

Happy adventuring, and may the D20 be merciful!