D&D 5E Tips for dm'ing larger groups

[JWO]

I have a large group now I skip initiative roles it waste so much time and it bores the crap out of me and the players and it over values the dex stat and does not involve strategy. I use what they call a popcorn method. I pick a player to start the course of action; they can strategize amongst themselves on attack sequence. They can pass their tun to the next person then come back to them; if they take to long a monster may pop in attack. This gets rid of man I have to always wait to attack. Basically the players work out the attack squeeze each time it is their turn. This was the biggest win for me and the players loved it.

Just my suggestion for large groups I went to this method and way more engagement in battles because now they can interact on the fly and make decisions themselves.

When do monsters act in this version of initiative? I like the idea!

I guess it's important to keep a sense of urgency to avoid people spending ages planning out the optimal attack strategy...

 

[Charles Rampant]

Whatever you do, don't turn it into a mechanical grind. I played in a long running 9-player game for L5R, a game which notably does not handle high level play very well, and we got very high level indeed. And it was just a total drag by the end; the GM had to have us all roll our attacks and damage ahead of time, and simply tell him the numbers when he got to our turn. So instead of a narrative and visually exciting combat, I got to add numbers onto another number, and not say much.

I won't play L5R again after that, and I strongly advice you to always keep the game fun and personal: make sure that every player has an NPC ask them a question, make sure that every player gets into a one-on-one fight at least once. D&D is a game for relaxing and fantasy fulfillment, among other things, and those fantasies almost always revolve around saving the butts of the rest of the team at least once, probably while jumping through something that is actually on fire at the time.

Also, I'd lean heavily towards humour. Making the whole table laugh is a great way to keep everyone engaged, and doesn't require system knowledge to take pleasure out of. A totally nutbar NPC who keeps popping up can be a good way of this.

 

[hejtmane]

When do monsters act in this version of initiative? I like the idea!

I guess it's important to keep a sense of urgency to avoid people spending ages planning out the optimal attack strategy...

There several ways to handle this the players always get the first unless surprise by the monster; you can pick at the begining that the monsters or the players go first based on events. I play it by the scenario myself depending on what they are fighting; what the situation is and events going on at the start of the battle. Generally on the planning let your group know not to take to long the first few times it helps to warn them as they adjust I just say popcorn and they know to go if they are taking to long. One time they did drag their feet way to much so the monster got an extra attack or two but I will say this the combat overall has gone faster the players have been more engaged every fight because now they are quickly determining what to do from helping the group; throwing a heal switching monsters etc etc

Picking a different person to start any given battle can change the strategy because they have their plan and their initial decision can change everything and this so beats this guy always attacks first because his dex is so high and this guy dex is so low they always go last that person gets real bored and tend to tune out because hey they are always last they get the leftovers. I am an old guy so I go all the way back to the red D&D books I wish I would have stumbled on to this idea 30 years ago.

 

[delericho]

I would recommend focusing on the most important aspects of play (however you define those) and trying really hard to avoid sweating the "small stuff". In particular, avoid getting bogged down in rules debates with players.

Actually, that issue of dealing with players is probably going to be your biggest issue, so I'd recommend talking to them up-front - explain that you're in a big group, so ask them to avoid getting into those sorts of rules debates, ask them to be as prompt as possible when declaring actions.

Oh, and ban them from splitting the party. (I wouldn't do that in a normal game, but when dealing with a large group split parties are particularly troublesome - and most especially that one guy who just has to play the lone wolf character.)

 

[redrick]

Whatever you do, don't turn it into a mechanical grind. I played in a long running 9-player game for L5R, a game which notably does not handle high level play very well, and we got very high level indeed. And it was just a total drag by the end; the GM had to have us all roll our attacks and damage ahead of time, and simply tell him the numbers when he got to our turn. So instead of a narrative and visually exciting combat, I got to add numbers onto another number, and not say much.

I won't play L5R again after that, and I strongly advice you to always keep the game fun and personal: make sure that every player has an NPC ask them a question, make sure that every player gets into a one-on-one fight at least once. D&D is a game for relaxing and fantasy fulfillment, among other things, and those fantasies almost always revolve around saving the butts of the rest of the team at least once, probably while jumping through something that is actually on fire at the time.

Also, I'd lean heavily towards humour. Making the whole table laugh is a great way to keep everyone engaged, and doesn't require system knowledge to take pleasure out of. A totally nutbar NPC who keeps popping up can be a good way of this.

Amen.

 

[AtomicPope]

I've run a game with 10 people and there are huge problems that appear in large groups. Typically, the problem with large groups comes down to:

Too much Familiarity Because there's so many people, you need to think like you're in a convention hall and DM as if the players don't know each other. It seems strange but because they know each other they'll waste time bantering. This means you'll be herding cats. You have to limit the deep roleplaying aspects of D&D and focus on keeping the game moving. If everyone got 10 min each to roleplay a scenario they'd never leave the tavern.

Time Management With so many people it's difficult to keep your encounters moving along quickly. Each player compounds the time and complexity, rather than add another minute or two. The way to fix this is to limit player turns to no more than 30 seconds each and monsters to 1 minute. Most combat will take at least 5 rounds. With 7 players and monsters you're looking at a 20 minute combat using maximum allotted time I just described. It may seem like it's being tyrannical in the beginning but after a session or two it becomes natural. Just skip a player when their time is up and before you know it everyone is paying attention.

Less Roleplaying The more players there are the less time each player has for roleplaying their character, but that doesn't mean you need to give up on roleplaying. What you have to do is make monsters "roleplay" during combat to make it seem like there is just as much roleplaying as in a normal game. It might be handy to jot down some quick comments from the monsters and NPCs before hand, almost like a video game script. This would speed up their interaction and keep the game from bogging down. Roleplaying the monsters serves a duel purpose I'll talk about later...

Less Rolling Again, with so many people the game will turn into a clatter of dice-rolling exercises. To limit this use the rules for "Marching Order" and go from there. If players are "up front" then they roll Stealth and Perception. This should limit the rolls to 2 or 3 PCs and cut down on time spent dice-jerking. Also, just let players do things without rolling dice. If one character is really strong then let him kick a door in without rolling dice. Without the pauses to roll dice the game moves along.

Cautious Encounter Building What happens in games with 7 or more players is they tend to get overwhelmed. Typically one PC will get swarmed and trapped as the other players are just trying to deal with whatever is in front of them. When this happens PCs die. Roleplaying the monsters during combat is a good way to save PCs and get them to work together. Just taunt them, "Your friend tastes delicious!" even if the monsters wouldn't normally speak. Hey, it worked for Tolkien's spiders! This tells the players without breaking character, "Your companion going to die. You need to save him." This lets the players roleplay (backtalk) and gets them to focus on saving their friends. It's a good time saver too!