Whoever said, “don’t split the party,” was a player. Splitting the party is bad news for players because it makes them vulnerable to their enemies. United they are powerful. Divided they are weak. As Dungeon Master you should endeavor to split the party. It is the player’s job to resist.

Why Split the Party?

Every villain from the lowliest kobold to the deadliest dragon wants to live and to win. On their road to survival or the fulfillment of nefarious plots the most difficult challenge your villains will face is the players. Every enemy will attack, retreat and plan its lair according to its own advantage. They will likewise fight to live and to win when the players come calling.

All of the villains know that picking the players off one at a time is the easiest way to defeat them. Not because they are controlled by the Dungeon Master but because they have common sense and instinct. The heroes are not the first to knock down the villains door. They’ve earned their place in the ecosystem with blood and cunning.

It’s fair to say that sometimes the villains simply won’t have the opportunity to split the party. Maybe they’re on the move or staying in a hastily prepared camp or the heroes have managed to surprise them. That’s okay. You don’t have to split the party all of the time — only when it makes sense.

When to Split the Party?

It only makes sense to split the party when doing so enhances your story or is the natural result of the player’s choices. As that is wonderfully vague let’s consider two examples.

The players quietly search the crypts beneath Ravenloft hoping to avoid the attention of Strahd whose voice they can hear in a nearby family tomb. The clatter of a bottle on the floor draws their attention to another in the crypt. They see Strahd’s henchman, Rahadin, retrieve the weapon for which they search. Rahadin notices the players in turn and flees. Some give chase for fear of losing the weapon while others delay for fear Strahd will attack from behind. Both are right.

The players promise a lord to return his kidnapped child. As the story unfolds they learn the lord killed his wife in a fit of rage; the child isn’t his. It turns out the kidnapper is the ghost of the dead mother and the living biological father is willing to raise it with her. Will the players fulfill their promise or break it?
How to Manage the Split

Managing a party split with all players in combat is as simple as staying in initiative order. If I find some members of my party are in combat while others are exploring or role-playing I tend to keep everyone in initiative order and keep the non-combat interactions to the same time frame as a combat action. Since the combat and non-combat actions are presumably related this keeps the pace going and adds pressure to complete social or exploration interactions. For the sake of continuity you may find it valuable to let all players in the non-combat action take their turn at the same initiative count.

If two or more groups have formed and each are pursuing a social or exploration interactions then you have to juggle the groups. This varies greatly in complexity based on your players’ personalities and the amount of groups but your greatest asset is you. Make sure each group feels like they’re getting the same amount of attention and achieving something and the split will be successful.

For example if one group is exploring an area break it into smaller areas and move on when they choose to leave the smaller area. If a group is talking to NPCs make sure each of them gets to ask at least one question before moving on. Always try to break at a moment when the group you’re focused on is interested in what’s next. Anticipation will keep them at the table waiting their turn.

When the split is Overused

Now that your players know you can handle the split they may try to abuse it. They may decide to handle all problems as smaller teams or they may decide to go off in individual directions. If that turns out to be the case its time to remind them the world is a difficult if not deadly place.
For players who want private attention during game time its best to keep it to the beginning of a session before everyone has settled in. Player’s requiring more individual attention are going to have to email you or hang out another time. You will have to strictly enforce this. Remember table time is team time.

For a group that’s decided to solve every problem as smaller teams its time to make all of your encounters more difficult. They don’t need to be deadly just hard enough to make the players group up to solve them. Don’t scale combat encounters you intend for the whole group to the smaller group. If one group aces all the social interactions with roles then invent some NPCs who favor the traits of characters in other groups. Don’t take away abilities like Rangers being the best trackers. Just make sure what the Ranger finds is too difficult to face alone.

Splitting the party is a great tool for story telling and encounter building. When used properly is can make an easy opponent deadly and create player only role-playing opportunities that you can observe and use to design further encounters.