Downsizing

[S'mon]

My last 2 games there were 8 players, and really it was too much. One good player had said he wouldn't come back unless the group was reduced, and I agree with him.

So, gearing up for my next scenario (Horror on the Hill) at the club, I've decided to reduce group size to 6 players. One rather obnoxious player I encouraged to quit, now I still have 8 or 9 decent players interested in taking part and I need to decide who to issue invites to, and do my best to avoid hurt feelings. I'm planning to put the remaining players on a stand-by list. There'll also be an Absent list for players temporarily away.

I was wondering if anyone has experience with this, maybe some anecdotes? Things to say and things not to say?

 

[BlueBlackRed]

Anyone with current attendance issues or will be missing a lot in the future should be first out.

Usually I would say boot those with attitude issues first, but I get the impression that's not a problem for your group (hence the large attendance).

I have one attendance problem player in my group. He misses a lot for 50% good reasons and 50% "what the?" reasons. I'm unwilling to dump him, so as a solution we increased our group size, and I'm certainly not going to give his characters any central plot roles in my campaigns any longer.

 

[Tancread]

8 go into a room with daggers, only six are allowed out. There is not really a nice way to do this, you need to make a call about who is really interested and contributes. You could dice it off or something stupid but I assure you that you will end up with the worst possible mix then. You should ask of course, there may be a couple who want to move on, but if not I strongly suggest that you make the call.

 

[Greylock]

Strangely, I don't see an issue with a large group. The group I'm in has consistently sat either seven or eight people each game since May. Games move quickly, everyone has fun. Part of it is the DM, who I've praised for years and years as having a great sense of pacing, but we sat a similar number with a different DM and it went just as well.

So, my question would be - why get rid of good players? Use this as an excuse to lose the losers, but if you are still left with a large number, try to figure out why the number is a problem. It shouldn't be if the DM has control of the pacing, the environment, and the OOC chatter.

hth

 

[S'mon]

Usually I would say boot those with attitude issues first, but I get the impression that's not a problem for your group (hence the large attendance).

It's hardly been a problem at all (I asked one new player to leave, back in early August, and the one other slightly obnoxious player I mentioned just quit), and not at all with the current players. Dealing with players with 'attitude' certainly can be an issue, but that's not my current problem.

 

[S'mon]

try to figure out why the number is a problem. It shouldn't be if the DM has control of the pacing, the environment, and the OOC chatter.

The environment - the room the club uses is hot and noisy. With 8 players, people can't hear what's going on. I have a Northern Ireland accent and they have trouble understanding me anyway.

I've tried running it with the large group, but it is a problem.

 

[Halivar]

I split my group into two separate games. As predicted, all of my players tried to sign up for both games. It got awkward when players from one game tried to crash the other, and had to be sent home; I think I hurt some feelings.

But there were just too many people; there was no way I could run a single game with that many people.

 

[ExploderWizard]

8 players? Seems like a small group. Back in 88 when I first moved into the area I am living in now, there was a gaming club. I joined the club and the game that was running at that time, and I think there were six or seven players. A short time later a whole bunch of new people joined the club........and the game. So there we were, the poor DM and 14 players at his 1E AD&D game. It was considered a lucky thing to get an action in some combats. Bad guys would be dead before your turn came up.

After several sessions of this I started my own campaign and took half the group. Things were much more sane and focused with the " small " group of 6 or 7.

For your session see if you can get another person running and try 2 small groups. I guess it all depends on group dynamics, available playing space, ect. Good luck.

 

[satin]

Splitting into two groups worked well for me, way back when. Someone started DM'ing another set of games, and folks who gravitated towards that DM's style of play naturally ended up with that half. A couple of people played in both groups.

Before the evolution into two groups, we had WAY too many people and it was just unmanageable.

 

[Obryn]

The largest group I ran had 14 players, right after 3.0 came out... It was insane.

I try to keep my group from 6-7 players, but 8 should be fine. I expect 1-2 will miss per week, so I aim for a 5-6 player group size at any given session.

-O