The perfect gaming group

Greetings to you all. I have finally joined the renowned "Forge" forums.

Inspired by a thread I have just read, I felt obliged to enter a group of individuals that not only managed to gel together but really involve themselves in the game to the point that once play started, they stayed in character (no chatting) until the session finished.

The group dubbed themselves The Crystal Companions due to the adventure that brought them together. The three players were involved in a larger gaming group that I ran during my university days. It just so happened, that over time these three accidently formed a tight group and I continued to play with them separately from the rest of the players.

It was the best thing I ever did!

I think the group dynamics were the best I have seen in my 12 years of GMing. What made the dynamics so good? Well, this is what I think.

First and foremost, the players were 2 men and 1 woman. The two men played elves, of differing cultures but had great comrady being both of the same kindred. The woman was a human mage. I think this mix of men and women in the game helped alot. Had I had three men or three women playing, one of the three would have been left out. But because my third player was a woman, she still gained attention from the other two players even though the two men were great mates.

The second reason for the great cohesion would be the fact that all the party members held the same ideals of being good hearted and thwarting evil. They weren't out for themselves. They would sacrifice themselves to protect one another. By the way, this makes it very challenging and exciting to GM. Imagine, no internal fighting...very hard to beat a party that sticks together.

The third reason was the range of skills the party had.
One player was an elfin archer, devastating from a distance and very quick and agile.
The second player was an elfin forester. He liked to call his role in the party "the skirmisher" He could use both the bow and the sword well, but was not as good a shot as the archer. He also became the tracker of the party.
The third player provided the filler for the hole that the party had. She was a human mage. Her magic was used when all else failed.
So tactically they were sound. They could assault an enemy from a distance with arrows and arcane fury. If the enemy managed to close in, the forester would unsheath his blade and hold them off, while the mage levitated (to clear herself from danger) to continue the magical assault from above. The archer would continue his ranged attack, or simply out run aggressors.
Believe me it was impressive to watch this group work together. It was not just combat that saw the party gel to overcome an obstacle. Many of my well laid plans were thwarted by their teamwork over the 3 years they played. Fantastic group...I miss them.

Unfortunately, we grow up, one player is now a father of one, with another on the way, and another player is overseas. Oh, well.

Of course this group has convinced me that three players is the perfect number for greating a dynamic, fun group that can get through anything.

I hope I didn't bore you all too much :)