RPGs meant to be played with three players

Jonas (he/him)

(jasri)

Germany
Bovenden
Niedersachsen

so many plans...

...not enough time

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Some RPGs are mechanically meant to be played with a specific group size. The designers usually mention this in the rules, although they sometimes offer a workaround for different group sizes.

This list is for such games. Note that this is not about your personal preference regarding number of players, but mechanical designs. "Three players" includes the GM, if the game uses a GM.

It seems love triangles are a good backdrop for 3-player-rpgs.

This list is sorted alphabetically, by title.

Geeklists for RPGs with a certain number of players:
Roleplaying Games for two players
2P RPG, games suitable for at least two players
RPG'ing with your wife-or games for two with no DM.
RPGs meant to be played with three players - this list
RPGs meant to be played with four players
RPGs meant to be played with five players

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Edited Wed Jun 12, 2013 7:16 pm
Posted Sat Jun 8, 2013 9:28 am

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1. RPG: Afternoon Delight [Average Rating:0.00 Unranked]

He wished you all fun in 2021 and his name was

(Stelio)

United Kingdom
Redhill
Surrey

Support comes in many forms: community involvement, forum posts, submitting data, running PbF games, word-of-mouth advertising, financial donations... All these are vital to this site, and you have my sincere thanks for participating in any of them.

Currently: planning.

Jason Morningstar's entry into The Role-playing Poem Challenge. A live action role-playing game for three players with predetermined characters. One of the characters has a rough script to follow and takes the responsibility for timing the game. The other two characters interact freely.

The characters are the wife and girlfriend of a recently-deceased man who has died during sex with the girlfriend. The timekeeper is a police officer on the scene. The scene itself is of the two women sitting outside of the motel room in which the man lies dead as the police collect their forensic evidence.

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2. RPG: Gizmo and Krash: Tag-team Heroes [Average Rating:0.00 Unranked]

Jonas (he/him)

(jasri)

Germany
Bovenden
Niedersachsen

so many plans...

...not enough time

Designer summary

designed by

Iffix Y Santaph

(XendoBreckett)

Have you tried Dyad?

A game for 2 or 3 players.

On a desert planet with two suns, a pair of alien teenagers, a curious reptilian and a somewhat irritable ursid, awaken to find that they have vague memories of one another but not much else. As they try to discover what has left them stranded in the desert, they unearth a treacherous secret.

GAME MECHANICS:
[...] The game has players acting as both the Platform Master and the character of their choice. All that is necessary to switch roles with your ally is to declare “Tag”, at which point, the player becomes the Platform Master and vice-versa.

Gizmo and Krash is a story-driven game. You can tell the story however you wish, as the Platform Master, so long as the story is coherent and fun for both players. Behind the door there may be an alien monster waiting to get out, or there may be a teleportation chamber ready to take you to another world.

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3. RPG: Lovecraftian Shorts [Average Rating:10.00 Unranked]

Jonas (he/him)

(jasri)

Germany
Bovenden
Niedersachsen

so many plans...

...not enough time

From the book:

Lovecraftian Shorts RPG is a story telling game for exactly three people. Once you've sat down with two friends and explained how to play, this game is likely to take between twenty and forty minutes to play, making it an ideal "filler" type game. However if you really enjoy the game and let yourselves go, you can easily double that time.

This game differs from a traditional Role Playing Game in many ways, the most important of which is that it does not have any Games-Master/Keeper/Dungeon- Lord, no single person is in control of the story. Instead all three players take an equal role in creating and describing the story, both the overall plot and the detail in each scene. There will always be nine scenes in a Lovecraftian Short, and each player will take the lead in at least three scenes with the other players adding their smaller contributions. Each scene will culminate in challenge and a die roll.

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4. RPG: Pineapple Salad [Average Rating:0.00 Unranked]

Jonas (he/him)

(jasri)

Germany
Bovenden
Niedersachsen

so many plans...

...not enough time

From the Game's Introduction:

Pineapple Salad is a GM-less roleplaying game for 3 players. It is based on the popular anime subgenre in which a mecha pilot and a singer become involved in a love triangle against the backdrop of a military conflict. It is assumed that players are conversant with GM-less RPGs, scene framing, and polyhedral dice, and have watched a couple of episodes of Macross / Robotech.

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5. RPG: Shakespeare's Daughters [Average Rating:0.00 Unranked]

Jonas (he/him)

(jasri)

Germany
Bovenden
Niedersachsen

so many plans...

...not enough time

Author's description

Shakespeare’s Daughters is a fantasy coming of age game about Shakespeare’s real life daughters, Susanna and Judith. In the game the two real girls are submerged into a world of Shakespearean drama from which they must escape, hopefully having learned something about themselves in the process.

There are three players in the game, The Playwright, who sets the stage and adjudicates and otherwise keeps the characters engaged, and two Actors, each taking on the role of one of Shakespeare’s daughters.

This game was an entry into the Game Chef competition 2011.

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6. RPG: Shooting the Moon [Average Rating:7.25 Unranked]

Jonas (he/him)

(jasri)

Germany
Bovenden
Niedersachsen

so many plans...

...not enough time

meant for two or three players:

From the author of Breaking the Ice, Shooting the Moon is a collaborative role-playing game, with a love triangle at its heart. Players take the roles of two characters pursuing a shared Beloved and play out the roadblocks and hurdles the characters face on their path to true love or to the somewhere else that love may lead them.

Two Suitors compete for the affection of a shared Beloved, who has overwhelming odds of their own to face. United and divided by their shared fates and intertwined destinies--the game will let you see what these three characters are made of, and what they will do for love.

Quick and easy, Shooting the Moon can be played in one to two hours with no prior preparation required. It is a two or three player game. (From the publisher's site)

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7. RPG: Tears in Rain [Average Rating:0.00 Unranked]

Jonas (he/him)

(jasri)

Germany
Bovenden
Niedersachsen

so many plans...

...not enough time

Three players in turn take the role of a single character, the others playing apparitions from his past that have needs (three "Milestones" to which the scenes progress).

Author's description

Tears in Rain takes place aboard the deep-space research vessel Coyote. Somewhere along the ship’s journey, the Coyote drifted into an uncharted asteroid field - resulting in serious damage to the ship’s power and life-support systems. All ten of the ship’s cryosleep chambers are compromised and failing.

Players take turns playing the role of a single crew member, slowly suffocating in their cryosleep chamber. The crewmember is still in a medically induced coma and can do nothing to rectify the situation. This game is all about the twilight moments before death.

This game was an entry into the Game Chef competition 2012.

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8. RPG: What You Wish For [Average Rating:8.00 Unranked]

Pete

(IndyRick)

United Kingdom
Oxford
Oxfordshire

Brofist

I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox

Explore the hopes and memories of everyday people, who are dissatisfied and directionless.

Reflect upon their past

Dream about their future

Move forward with their life

What You Wish For is a structured freeform roleplaying game for exactly 3 players.

I reviewed the game here: Aah, Bisto!

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