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<blockquote data-quote="MechaPilot" data-source="post: 7534919" data-attributes="member: 82779"><p>The group I currently DM for, the largest group I've been part of, is 8 players.</p><p></p><p>It's a real challenge to manage that many people. I don't mind a bit of frivolity and joking around the table, but keeping 8 people mostly on-task is rough. Our sessions typically run about 3-4 hours, and I'd say out of that time we probably get only 45 to 90 minutes of dedicated play.</p><p></p><p>It certainly doesn't help that two of my players are entirely new to the game; one of those players has a neurological problem that affects her memory, and we frequently have to remind her to roll the d20 to hit and then to roll damage on other dice if she hits. Most of the group is sufficiently patient with her, and she's a good friend who I like spending time with, but I get the feeling TTRPGs just aren't a good fit for her.</p><p></p><p>Another of my players (who has a bit of OCD and really wants a lot of information before deciding what to do to make optimal use of his turns) had before my game played only a single and heavily houseruled session of AD&D 2e many years ago. So, effectively, he's brand new to the game as well.</p><p></p><p>I have another player who is a power-gamer who likes to try to maximize group efficiency and effectiveness by trying to tell other people how to play their characters. "No, no, no. You should do _____." is one of the most common things out of his mouth when talking to other players; seconded only by "You have to realize, the thing about my character is _____." He also talks really fast, and it takes a lot of focus to keep up with what he's saying.</p><p></p><p>It's largely because of the last two players that I've had to get a battlemat, but also because an 8 player group going against monsters that can challenge them (meaning, generally, at least 6 foes, usually 12 or more) means a ton of positioning and threatened areas to track. While it's hard for me to track those things (and I've been doing this for 25+ years), it's near impossible for the newer players, and even I can't track them mentally well enough to answer all the OCD questions, or all the questions from the optimizer. Throw in some interesting, non-static, or exotic terrain in the encounter area (<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?647470-NECROFUNGUS-A-New-Hazard" target="_blank">such as my Necrofungus</a>), and even I'd be completely lost without the battlemap.</p><p></p><p>The group had to go on hiatus for a little while (the place we used to play at closed down), but it's starting back up this Saturday. I'm both excited about getting to run D&D again and nervous about having to manage all 8 players in a manner where we can hopefully get more time dedicated to actually playing the game. I mean, I like hanging out with them, but I can do that without having to do all the DM prep-work. So, if we're not spending at least half the time actually playing I kind of feel like I shouldn't have bothered to do all that prep work.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MechaPilot, post: 7534919, member: 82779"] The group I currently DM for, the largest group I've been part of, is 8 players. It's a real challenge to manage that many people. I don't mind a bit of frivolity and joking around the table, but keeping 8 people mostly on-task is rough. Our sessions typically run about 3-4 hours, and I'd say out of that time we probably get only 45 to 90 minutes of dedicated play. It certainly doesn't help that two of my players are entirely new to the game; one of those players has a neurological problem that affects her memory, and we frequently have to remind her to roll the d20 to hit and then to roll damage on other dice if she hits. Most of the group is sufficiently patient with her, and she's a good friend who I like spending time with, but I get the feeling TTRPGs just aren't a good fit for her. Another of my players (who has a bit of OCD and really wants a lot of information before deciding what to do to make optimal use of his turns) had before my game played only a single and heavily houseruled session of AD&D 2e many years ago. So, effectively, he's brand new to the game as well. I have another player who is a power-gamer who likes to try to maximize group efficiency and effectiveness by trying to tell other people how to play their characters. "No, no, no. You should do _____." is one of the most common things out of his mouth when talking to other players; seconded only by "You have to realize, the thing about my character is _____." He also talks really fast, and it takes a lot of focus to keep up with what he's saying. It's largely because of the last two players that I've had to get a battlemat, but also because an 8 player group going against monsters that can challenge them (meaning, generally, at least 6 foes, usually 12 or more) means a ton of positioning and threatened areas to track. While it's hard for me to track those things (and I've been doing this for 25+ years), it's near impossible for the newer players, and even I can't track them mentally well enough to answer all the OCD questions, or all the questions from the optimizer. Throw in some interesting, non-static, or exotic terrain in the encounter area ([URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?647470-NECROFUNGUS-A-New-Hazard"]such as my Necrofungus[/URL]), and even I'd be completely lost without the battlemap. The group had to go on hiatus for a little while (the place we used to play at closed down), but it's starting back up this Saturday. I'm both excited about getting to run D&D again and nervous about having to manage all 8 players in a manner where we can hopefully get more time dedicated to actually playing the game. I mean, I like hanging out with them, but I can do that without having to do all the DM prep-work. So, if we're not spending at least half the time actually playing I kind of feel like I shouldn't have bothered to do all that prep work. [/QUOTE]
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