Players stay out! DM needs advice! MANY PLAYERS!

Hello Everyone!! I have just started a new DnD game recently and I have had 8 friends want to play. I didnt want to turn anyone away, so now I am about to begin a campaign with 8 players. Now, I am not new to the game by any means, I have been running games for years, but I am certainly not used to having this many players! Do any of you have any suggestions for running a huge game like this? Any advice is greatly appreciated as always. Also, does anyone know where that thread on cool campaign starting scenarios went to? Ya know the one that had the players start out by getting petrified by a medusa or something, seem to have lost the thread, any links would be awesome. Thanks a lot!

I'm in a similar situation actually. I've been running this group, at about this size, for about 18 months now. It only became a problem this Saturday. Though there seemed to be a little more conflict among the players (not the characters) than usual so hopefully it's a one time thing.

But some of the players used the oportunity to let me know they think the group is a little too big. Which probably means it's been a problem for longer than I thought. I've decided to put a hold on any new players but don't plan on kicking anyone out. It should start to thin down as RL draws players away.

Do yourself a favor and outlaw Leadership ASAP. Eight players can quickly become twelve or more later on down the road once you count in all of those pesky cohorts. With eight players there shouldn't be any need for cohorts anyway.

Were in such a gaming group once. Nominally, we were 10 people or so. But because we had always a lot of people who didn't show up, the party size was usually just right. *sigh* Those were the days: Nowadays we have half the number of players, but they still are absent as frequently....

I have some advice for you:

Ask the players whether a party of that size is OK with them. Make clear that this will mean that the individuals will have less time. If they have a problem with that, I suggest that they are to be split, and make 2 parties (maybe someone else DM's the second?) But try it out first, if it's not so bad, leave it be.

Make sure that everyone will get some time: It will be more difficult than usual, cause there are twice as many people warring for your attention as there are usuall. Make sure everyone can do what he has to in the city (and so on), and that noone soaks up too much time (in a party as large as that, you can't have single players going on errands that take up half an hour)

The encounters need to be more difficult than normal, for you have more players. But make sure that you won't use creatures with higher CR's - use more creatures instead. If you'd usually (with a normal party of four) give them one young adult red dragon, make it two now. 2 Golems become 4 Golems.
The exception to the rule might be when you already have masses of enemies. Those you can instead upgrade (unless you want insane big fights). So the 20 2nd-level goblins will become 20 4th-level goblins.

rootbeergnome, the only real advice I can give you is to try to keep things moving along, and to make sure that nobody goes too long with being able to take a direct role in the action. I've got seven in my group (one of them with a cohort), and that gets tough sometimes, particularly when the party splits up to do things (this is partially because I'm not very good at taking my own advice, often ). Also, do not be afraid to forcibly wrest the spotlight off someone who seems to be dominating it - chances are they don't even realize they're doing it, but it can be a terrible barrier to fun with a large group.

I DMed eight players in a campaign that lasted a year. Here's my advice, as you asked.

At the outset, convince your players that everyone minding their game etiquette is a serious boon to the game, more so with a large number of players. The contrary is also true.

Ask them to keep out-of-turn conversation quiet and to a minimum. Having four people asking you to repeat yourself four times in quick succession will do nothing for anyone's enjoyment.

Ask them to refrain from all OT conversation, except during breaks.

Ask them to make any rule challenges or queries that they feel compelled to make during play brief and, if possible, accompanied by page references. Ask them to accept all your rulings during the session, for the sake of the session. Reassure them that you want them to bring all grievances to you out of game, that you will give them lengthy and careful consideration between games, and that you will fix or compensate for any errors you find that you have made in subsequent games.

The size of the group is going to mean that while encounters may not necessarily take longer to play, the time between player turns will be longer than usual. Remind players of this and advise them to pay as much attention as possible to what other players are doing. Tell them that you expect them to be ready to tell you what they want to do when their turn arrives (after dealing with any reasonable questions the player may have before deciding his PC's precise course of action).

Use a battle map, grid, miniatures or something visual. Snacks work as counters. They hold people's attention, save space, taste good...

Use initiative cards, even if you're going for one encounter per session.

Keep copies of all the PC character sheets but, if you can, also try to get all the PC data onto a single sheet (I managed to do this on two sides of A4 in six point for my party of eight). It often helps to have a single handy table containing all the party members' abilities.

Encourage the players to leave their PCs' character sheets and notes with you. (You don't want to have to give a player your copy of an absent player's character sheet. ) That way, when players can't make it, their characters can be played by their buddies who are there. This worked splendidly for my group. Everyone trusted each other and the rogue's schizoid tendencies only added to the flavour of the character...

Enlist willing players as DM assistants at every opportunity.

Tell them they should be very, very nice to you, always.

I'm running groups in two separate games right now. One is D&D with six regulars and an occasional seventh when he's in town, the other is a CoC group which contains seven players at the moment.

My recommendations are as follows:
** Demand that players be ready to act when their turn during combat or other ordered activities occur. We usually use a 30 second rule. If you haven't managed to express your desired action in within the time limits, it's presumed your character held his/her action for the round.
** Encourage players to keep index cards or notes with common spells, special attacks, etc., handy so that bonuses, effects, and the like do not need to be calculated time and again.
** At stated several times already in this thread, keep off topic conversations to a minimum.
** When the group splits up, shift focus frequently between the various party segments so that no one is left inactive too long.
** Pre-roll initiative for your "monsters" and NPC's which may be involved during the upcoming session, ahead of time. Prepare your own crib notes with various stats and vital story details so that you (as GM) don't contribute to bogged down play and/or overlong encounters.
** And perhaps most important of all, do not allow rules discussions, complaints, or other such items to sidetrack the game. These matters can (and should) be handled after the session.

Good luck, and let us know how things go!

Great ideas all around. Basically, they mostly boil down to preparation and organization. Avoid anything that would hold up the game.

I only recently had a trimming down of my regular gaming group from 10-13 people to a more managable number (5-8 on any given game day). I had the benefit of having a co-DM though. I was the better storyteller while he was a far better rule monger than I. Having two DMs at the same time changed alot of the way we played. We could both alternate various NPCs based on our acting strengths. It also made combat run so much smoother with 2 people arbitrating various adversaries and still keeping an eye out for the occasional 'player re-rolls. While not neccessary for a group of 8 or less people, shoudl your dinner table become a little more cramped wih the inclusion of an additional player or two, it may be an option to explore.

thanks!

Thanks for all the great advice guys! I really appreciate it. You are absolutely right about the need for lots of preparation which can be hard to do sometimes for me because I have so much school work too. I will just have to try really hard to get it together. The idea about cards is one I almost forgot about, it works great as i have used it in the past, thanks! Keep em coming!

Main thing in a game that size is tangents.
tangents are conversations among players that distract from what is going on and it really needs to be held to a minimum. Try randomly stealing from characters witha recurring evil rogue who has a really good pickpocket. They shut up when they dont have any money left, or clothes or weapons, it'll work and just making someone roll for something usually gets their attention. They hear "roll a spot check" and the focus goes right to the game.
Another tip is never do your own initiative let another player do it who is willing to assist. it really speeds things up. Inform players 1 or 2 players before their turn that they come up in an order.
DONT be suprised if they waste anything you throw against them. With large groups of experienced players they tend to use their abilities together and destroy anything in the path.
DONT be afraid to kill off characters, a large group can usually scrape together a ressurection of some kind or try reincarnate its a cheap and easy spell that only makes the game more complicated byu changing them into a new form. unless your group has issues with PC death, then dont be afraid to knock a few down, take out some with sleeping poison or something, a nice big club will really decrease the number of things going on.
in the roleplaying arena force them to interact, you might have a problem when they all want to talk to NPC's make them interact with eachother its good for party unity and eases the pressure off of you.
BEWARE though becasue in a large party, inparty clicks can form, some character will not like another and interract only with other sopellcasters, sure it makes the game more like real life but it might lead to inparty fighting which i personnally allow but alot of people have criticized me for it.
INitiate the "Shut up if your not there" rule. Tell people they cant talk unless they are in the action.
The main thing is to back up all rules with force, enforce whatever method you use dont just tell them top stop and expect it to happen find a punishment for breaking roleplay ettiquette and stick with it. Consitancy is your greatest freind. besides a few tylenol cause those help sometimes too.
Have fun and tell us how it goes.