9 players. Help.

[Eltern]

So, I've created a new RttToEE/Banewarrens campaign with some of my friends. And by "some" I mean "nine." I'm looking for help in how to run this sucker effectively, but let me give you some background, in case it will help.

Everyone in the group, including me, lives on the same floor of a college dorm. It's an Honors community, so most of the people are pretty sharp, and many play D&D . So many people wanted to get in on the game that I had to turn away people just to get down to nine. Unfortunately, I really don't think I can turn away anyone else, for social reasons. When you all live together, telling people they can play then later telling them they can't can create some problems. Since virtually everyone is someone I really would like to game with, I'm just going to grin and bear it instead of kicking people out.

So, the people:
One person has played D&D a lot before. She's fine.
Three have played D&D a bit before with me and are good roleplayers, though not the greatest on the rules. Unimportant, really, since I play "fast and loose" with the rules.
One played D&D "back in the day." Elementary school stuff, I think. I'm certain he'll grow into the group well.
Three who have never played, but are taking to it very well. Great RPing, and one of them is already constructing a multiclass character.
And then another guy, who I accidentally let in. :\ He's annoying, not that intelligent, slow to pick up the rules, plot, humor, or a hint. But, he's not the big problem.

My point is, I'm positive these will be good players, sans one, and it can be a good game, if I can handle that many players. Some are new, but they're learning fast. What tips and tricks do you have for me to keep the game moving? I understand that combat will be a big factor, but I'm particularly worried about roleplaying and keeping the 9 players on the same plot.

Thanks for your help!

 

[LostSoul]

Try and let the players take over as much responsibility as possible.

Like, try having one of the players designated the Initiative Guy, and he keeps track of when everyone goes.

When you have your monsters show up (especially all those War1s or Gnolls or whatever goons are in your current area), let the players roll for them/play them. Especially if one of the PCs is dead. Make up a card that has HP, Atk/Dmg, AC, Speed. Tell the players that they can control these guys to a point, but you have veto power. Try to keep the NPCs that the player is rolling for apart from that player's PC.

The idea here is that you're giving the players something to do before their turn comes back up.

If you start the PCs off at level 4, they will walk all over the first encounters until the XP split catches up to them. It will be okay after that. If you start them off at level 2, they'll drop like flies (especially from the first encounter). Level 3 is a decent compromise.

edit: Try and get everyone to figure out what they are going to do before their turn comes up, so they can just take their turn and get it over with. This won't always work, since things change during the round, but it will help.

 

[Rev. Jesse]

Why not look for a second DM? She would be very helpful when the party splits up (which, with 9 players, it is sure to do) and would be able to field player questions and rule clarifications while you run combat or roleplay.

 

[sithian]

Get an Assistant DM ; where as when you keep track of everything the party does he can do all the math and stuff also he can help you out with the NPC's and the storyline as well. If this guy happens to be your roomie that it is all the way better

Cheers

 

[Dolom]

Either get an assistant DM or split the group in half and run two concurrent campaigns. Nine players at once is great for convention gaming, but is rarely sustainable for regular campaigns.

 

[Breakdaddy]

A really efficient DM can handle this singlehandedly. First off, delegate duties to your players. Have one maintain and call initiative. Have one keep a journal and don't be afraid to borrow it to cross reference (you will have holes in your notes that this will be an invaluable resource in refilling). Consider a trustworthy player to take on the mantle of party treasurer (maintaining any party pool items and helping to dole out the treasure when it's time). And for Pete's sake, get a copy of Ronin Arts Campaign Planner Deluxe, like right now. It will keep you sane if used in advance of your sessions. Good luck!

 

[Particle_Man]

Be strict on the "five second rule": when it is a character's turn, the player has 5 seconds to tell you what he does, or you move on and that player misses his turn.

 

[CrusadeDave]

Hmmmmm....

Things that I have done when I have more people than 6 at the gaming table. Combat is of course the biggest problem to slow the game down, but not the only one.

To speed up combat:

Pre Draw the Combat Maps on the Battle Board.

Use a white board to write out the initiative order, and as you cycle through it announce, "Conan up, Merlyn on deck, 15 Bugbears in the hole."

When someone's turn comes, they need to start describing their action within 5 seconds. Or they can defer.

No Kibitzing on combat during other people's moves.

Kibititzing on combat during your move is a swift action, and must be done in character, "Aquinas! I need healing!"

I've been in groups where initiative is not subject to a D20 roll, it's just a straight modifier. Sometimes, that allows the DM to plan tactics a little easier. "Okay, the Bugbear Bard goes before the 15 Bugbears Barbarians, so he's activate a bard song so they can all power attack for an extra 3 when they all rage and charge right afterwards...."

Regardless, having little 2-3 round scripts for the bad guys is essential. Otherwise you can forget to use some of their most powerful abilities and magic items. You should also have a contingency for retreat/surrender. At what point does Steve the Psion decide that it's time to bolt, and what is his prefered means of escape?

Also, if you're heading into RttToEE, one of the things you'll want to do with combats, is try to script when people in adjacent rooms will arrive. I.E. if the party assaults the main gate at the Crater Ridge Mines, when will Maraclar (?) bring the Advanced Howler and the Ballista into combat in rounds 4 and 6? Will Terrenygit (?) enter the battle with his zombies at round 3 or round 8? Will it just be one huge slobberknocker with everyone within the main complex between the Basilisks and the Earth Temple guards eventually enterring the fray? Plan these out.

This works for more complicated army vs army battles. You'll have alot of them in the RttToEE.

Another thing to try is to simulate battles against BBEG's. You know what your parties' usual tactics are, so if you want the showcase encounter in the moathouse to be memorable run it through once, on your own. Critique your battle responses to the party's action. Use the exercise to plan strategies that your villain can use to great effect.

Non-Combat.

One of the things I notice when the group gets bigger is that distracting OOC comments start to get more distracting. I've tried to mitigate them by...

Excusing some people from the table for a bit, if they will be off scene. Allows them to either Role play a quiet scene with each other (Cooking by the Campfire while the Rogue and Ranger are infiltrating the Ogre base camp at night), or to talk about the movies they saw, or the next great character build they have in mind.

Another thing you can do, is to award XP to the people who stay IC the most. Allow everyone to vote for the top 3 at the end of a session, and give the "winner" an extra 8%, 2nd place 7, etc, and let the loser get no extra. If you do this, you should decrease the amount of XP awarded oin the CR table by 4 percent or so. This way you're not obviously penalizing anyone for bad RP.

Another thing you can do is to give out extra XP for the person who writes up the Log Book for the party and takes the official notes. With 9 people IC it's handy to have the official "This is what we did" that everyone can refer to.

SImilarly, just as you do in Monopoly, assign someone to be the banker. When you give out an item of loot to the banker, list with it the resale value of the item. So they can divy it up accordingly and keep everyone's share accurate.

Just some thoughts....

 

[Terwox]

With a group that size, if you're having trouble with more time being spent socializing than playing the game, consider a "feed the pig 25 cents for every out of character comment." This works for some groups.

I don't think it would work for groups I'm in... although, my groups tend to be more about socializing than playing a lot of the time. We've only tried a few games with 6 or more players... and they simply never begin because we're all yakking until people start having to go home.

An assistant DM might be a good call, especially if you're using a published adventure. If you trust them enough with your ideas, you could even run the two groups splitting up at the same time (if your groups would ever do that...)

But yeah. I have trouble once I hit four players, myself.

But it might help if you setup a thing where -- ok, we eat, we smoke, then we stop yakking and game.

Unless you want to primarily yak. In which case... yak!

 

[cmanos]

My first instinct was "get a second DM and split the group". If this is not an option, split the group and run both groups yourself and make it a challenge between the two groups so they don't start giving things away to each other.

If neither of these are options, by all means, definitely have your players get in on the combat on the monster's side. Definitely have a player in charge of initiative. Delegate as much responsibility to them as possible. Don' t look things up for yourself. Tell someone else to do it for you, and move on with the game.

As for the difference between a social game and a game game. College games are a lot about blowing off steam and relaxing. We had 3-5 guys who could GM in our group of 8. Most of the time we played together without issue, but if more people wanted in, we split into multiple groups. Smaller groups will run smoother.