How Many Players In Your Game, Then and Now

Lanefan · Nov 2, 2006

First of a series, to replicate (or not) WotC's 3e market research. This one deals with number of players in a game pre- and post-3e.

Please vote twice, once in the first series of 8 choices for your experiences prior to 3e, and again for your 3e experiences. Vote for the number of PLAYERS (do NOT include the DM!) at the table on a night when everyone showed up, for the majority of the campaigns you were in. (or, if there's vast differences, vote once for each campaign...)

Lanefan

Herobizkit · Nov 2, 2006

Prior to 3e I was still in high school and then university. In high school I had a regular group of friends who'd play almost every weekend, and sometimes two or three times during the week on holidays. Some even followed me to university a few years later, since for some reason the city I'm in attracts everyone from my hometown.

Also, in a weird twist of fate, I ended up unknowingly moved in next door to one of my old friends. Needless to say, D&D was a common drinking activity then.

By the time 3e rolled along, all of my regular players moved on/moved home, and I became more engrossed in relationships and other hobbies outside of gaming (natch!). One of my oldest friends is still around; I actually moved in with him recently. We always played solo games on and off, and we became very fickle gamers as a result... we tried getting into a few random groups here and there but none of them suited our playing style. Now he's going off to Afghanistan in a month, and I'll be player-less. To be honest, it's the least of my worries but I will miss the game. Maybe I'll upgrade my computer and try World of Warcraft or bury myself in the new Final Fantasy 12.

Sejs · Nov 2, 2006

Pre-3e: 3 players and a DM. There was also a big open-to-all game at the FLGS back when it was still around, that fluctuated wildly, but got upwards of 10+ players at the table at any given time. Frankly I don't know how the DM pulled it off week after week. Man was a DMing machine. Great guy, too. The big open game owed its numbers to where it took place rather than the edition, so I left it out of the voting.

Post-3e: 5 players and a DM, normally. Occasionally guest players will drop in if scheduling permits.

Hypersmurf · Nov 2, 2006

Our 1E group was fairly fluid - people would take turns DMing, there was no overarching structure, players might run a different PC for each adventure. And there were often 8+ players in a party.

In 3E, we've tended more towards structured campaigns with a single DM and 4 PCs. Partly, I think, because coordinating the schedules of 5 people is hard enough - trying to do it with many more would be a nightmare...

-Hyp.

Crothian · Nov 2, 2006

Had about 5 players then and have 5 players now. Had games that were solos and had games with up to 16 people in them though.

SWBaxter · Nov 2, 2006

Average has been 3-4 throughout my RPG career (1979 to present). Occasionally more, but the main difference way back when was that I'd have a rotating crew of 6-8 players, where 2-3 would show up every session and 1-2 more would make it from the rest of the group, as opposed to nowadays when I aim for a steady group of 4 who are willing to make every session.

Wik · Nov 2, 2006

It's more or less the same - 4 players, on average, regardless of system. That being said, way back when, I ran a 2e game that had almost 15 or 16 players at one point. Would NEVER do that now.

Darkwolf445 · Nov 2, 2006

My groups were always smaller in the old days. I think, and am glad, that 3.x and the internet have spread the game, and rpgs in general, to more people.

rose4100 · Nov 2, 2006

i didn't play before 3e but my group has 6 people in it right now. Any more than that and things get complicated. I once played in a campaign with 13 people at our local gaming store (Allgoods, Halifax). It was fun but we spent too much time figuring out what people was doing. Plus it was difficult for our DM to create battles which were challanging without having creatures which would slaughter us.