9-10 players...anything I should know?

[Particle_Man]

I am running a Savage Worlds game for 9-10 players. So far I am keeping together and fun.

Just looking for advice on gaming with large numbers of players.

 

[Crothian]

Keep things moving and keep everyone involved.

 

[Mark CMG]

9-10 players...anything I should know?

That you have scheduled two groups?


Personally, I think you should split them into two groups and run them on separate nights, or recruit a second DM. Unless you have a lot of people in the group who really like to just hang out and only want to be involved on the fringe, I think you are going to have some players who are disappointed.

 

[Vrecknidj]

I routinely DM for 7 to 9 players. My sessions often go from noon to midnight.

With that many people, it can be a long time between turns in combat, and two people next to each other at the table will naturally settle into conversation unless you can keep the pace of combat fast enough.

I have finally taken to requiring my players to work out all their damage circumstances (sneak attack, elemental damage, this, that, the other thing) and be ready to give me damage based upon a 2d4. If they roll a 2, they do minimum damage on that hit, if they roll an 8, they do maximum damage. If they roll a 3, they do 25% of max, if they roll a 7 they do 75% of max. If they roll 4, 5, or 6, they do 50% damage. That's the way it is, they don't have to like it.

For years, I had everyone roll every damage roll, and, given time to add, and having that many players, it took probably more than 2 hours of our session just counting up damage. So, I decided to hell with that, and they all have little tables. Everyone rolls to hit, and then has a simple table to consult for damage. If things are going particularly slowly, I'll drop it to a d4. A 4 means max, a 1 means minimum, and a 2 or 3 is half damage.

With 10 players, they're going to win battles anyway, unless you really are into TPK, so, they can just suck it up.



Dave

 

[Henry]

Fortunately, Savage Worlds is a little lighter on the rules-heavy parts, and leaves a lot for a DM to fudge or interpret, so a GM has more leeway to provide a game involving everyone. The big thing to remember is not to get bogged down with one or two players; make a conscious effort to shine the spotlight on NO player more than three to four minutes, and if you do, try to find ways to involve the other players in the scene if you can; this could include anything from giving them background NPCs to run (with broad characterization instructions) to giving them NPC stats to participate in the combat with. It's more exhausting, but in many ways more rewarding, too.

 

[Raloc]

I'd say get a co-DM or someone willing to assist you. Having someone to run the "background" guys and look up rules while running the main BBEGs of the fight/fights or whatnot is a huge time saver. When things were getting swamped in my campaign, one of the players and I decided to turn his char into a DM-PC and have him co-DM. Now, a lot of the time I can prepare the start, middle and end bits of description for the game, paste those in at the appropriate times and basically sit back and watch the game in between. Granted, part of that is due to the fact that we use a v-tabletop (ORPG) and have been doing so for many years (we're scattered across the US and Europe, although we've met before for in person gaming).

 

[Cake Mage]

I use initiative cards. Nothing fancy, just everyones name written on an index card, with a few diffrent color monster cards that say Boss 1, Boss 2, Mid Boss, Enemy 1, 2, ect. After everyone rolls iniative, I put everyone in order, remembering who went first (incase someone refocuses). Than i can even write down dmg on the cards when the enemies take damage.

Also, I have players roll dmg with their to attack roll. They tell me what they hit, i tell them "miss" or "how much".