How big is your gaming group?

[Valesin]

I am currently DMing two different gaming groups, each of which has 6 players (for 7 total including me). Now one of these groups appears about to grow to 8 players (9 total). I can't think of any reason to discourage this except for the fact that people don't seem to have groups that big.

Has anyone ever DM'd or played in a group of 8+ players? Are there potential pitfalls I should be concerned about? Everyone in the group is willing to try it, but we are all a little wary. We can't come up with a logical reason for the wariness; we just know that a group of 8 players is rare.

Stories/assurances/warnings appreciated!

 

[Jdvn1]

I've DM'd for 12 before. It's... difficult, especially at first. You have to actively try and make sure everyone stays involved. Have people roll everything beforehand (and attack and damage at the same time).

I've played in as big as 13 or 14 before. If everyone knows what they're doing it goes smoothly. That's not always a good assumption, though.

 

[Wild Gazebo]

I co-DMed a Star Wars group that was in the mid-twenties...um and there were about twenty of them...yeah. I say about 24-7 people. It was pretty fun...if a bit challenging. I've also gamed groups that fluxed between 12 and 8. I prefer 5. If a lot of the people are good friends it is very easy to get distracted. And god forbid they decide to make committee decisions...GROAN. Nothing more annoying that 12 people with 12 different views arguing in the midst of a planned adventure. The real pitfall is shy or quiet people. One or two people can easily get lost in a large group of people. That and getting everybody to show up. The last large group I had would at least have two missing people...I would count on it...it was almost annoying when everybody showed up--only happened twice in two years. It takes a certain amount of order or presence to deal with a lot of PCs and it can be draining. But good luck with it. I know I've had fun with it...but as I said, now that I'm older, I prefer 5 people...not counting me.

 

[Crothian]

I did 16 people in college for a gaming group and that was quite hard. Currently we have six, five, and four people in the different groups I'm in

 

[Jdvn1]

Huge groups are possible to be successful and fun, but smaller groups are better. IMO.

 

[IronWolf]

My current group is down to 4 players and one DM (previously 5 players), next session we should be back up to the 5 players. Like Wild Gazebo I like 5 player groups if I am DM'ing. They seem to be a little more tolerant of scheduling issues or even last minute cancellations as I am willing to run as long as we get 3 players together.

Just getting back into DM'ing I myself would avoid a large group. But if you have the people and think you can handle the number of people then go for it. Whatever works for your group should be just fine.

 

[francisca]

7 in one, 6 in the other, including DMs.

 

[Samothdm]

The biggest group I was in consisted of about 9 people, I think. People have mentioned most of the main pitfalls already.

1) Finding a mutual agreeable date to play. You might think you're all friends and it's easy, but add in work and school schedules, family and significant other obligations, and other random things and it becomes a huge hassle. The same group I was talking about above just got scaled back to around 7 people and it took us two months (two months!) to find a date for our next session.

2) Combat takes forever, especially when you factor in the "I'm not sure what I should do..." mixed with a healthy dose of 5 unhelpful people saying at the same time, "You should do this!"

3) Decision-making takes forever. See #2, above.

4) As a DM, it's quite challenging to take a published adventure and try to scale it properly to be the right challenge level for a big group. Tons more mooks? Or just a second big-bad? Both? Each encounter is different and the answer that worked last time won't necessary apply to the new scenario.

5) With that many players, each main role in the party is covered more than once, so some players may feel that they're really not contributing anything different to the group.

It can totally be done - just some things to watch out for.

Good luck!

 

[Angel Tarragon]

The largest group of people I ever GMed for was 10. Back in 1993 I was part of a dual GMed game with 25 other players, each GM took 13 players that night.

 

[Galethorn]

My 'big' group totals 10 (including me), but no more than 8 of us (7 players) ever show up for a single session between the two campaigns we have going. Usually, it's more like 5-6 of us.

My small 'off weekend' group totals 6 (including me), and shares three players from the big group.

My at-school group totals 5-6 (it hasn't really started yet, and one of the players may/may not be able to consistenly play on the day of the week the rest of us can).


As for what I prefer...

Five players is optimum.

Four works just as well, but I still like five better.

Three isn't as good, but it works.

Two doesn't really work.

Six works as well as five, but I still prefer five.

Seven kinda works, but takes too many chairs.

Eight or more players is unmanagable for me, as a DM (or any other DM I've played with).