Is two players too few?

[PoppySeed45]

So, regualr game is on hiatus as half the group can't attend the next session. As such, I thought, MAYBE a Traveller game. If so, then, how does the game run for two people? Assume we'll do character generation together as normal, and then jump into a scenario, all in 4-5 hours. Thoughts folks? Doable? Makes any sense?

 

[MonkeyX]

I ran Marooned in Marduk and Theory of Everything with just two players and even started Pirates of Drinax with them as well before settling at a three player level. It works well for us. Combat is rare but exploration and trade take a front seat in most adventures.

 

[Sigtrygg]

I have refereed games for only two players many times- perfectly doable.

 

[Saladman]

I agree it should work fine, especially for a one-shot. Only caveats could be around char-gen, and player approach. Make sure you're up to speed on character creation to move them through it in time, or have a few pre-gens to choose from. (One trade-off to Mongoose 2e is pre-career education options can lead to more questions.) And if your players try to play it like D&D they're going to have a hard time, but really that's true at any party size.

 

[NOLATrav]

Since it’s your first game and you have set a time limit, you may want to limit char-gen to 2 or 3 terms. That mini-game can be can be fascinating and addictive, especially for new Traveller players.

But yeah, party size shouldn’t matter. Good luck!

 

[Reisender]

You can even play Traveller solo.
Just keep in mind that fewer characters means that fewer things are covered by the skills that the group has. You can either compensate this by providing NPCs that cover the missing areas of expertise or you can tailor the adventure to what the characters are capable of.

 

[Arkathan]

For a while in high school, only three of us were into Traveller, and we'd do all nighters on weekends. No issues at all.
Later, we found a bigger group that was into it, and had a full table.