Crothian said:
So, if you'd all be so kind to give some suggestions about DMing a larger party, I'd very much appreciate it. What has worked for you and what hasn't?
I used to GM groups up to ten or twelve. I wouldn't recommend that, but I guess I learned from it.
1) The most important thing is to GM fast. Each player is only going to get a tiny slice of your attention, you can't afford to have anything eat into that. Now, the thing that really chews up GM time is referring to rules. I'm sure if you did a time-and-motion study you would find that many GMs spend 30% of their GMing time looking things up. That is fatal in a big game. So:
(a) Get some Post-It tags and bookmark important sections in your rules.
(b) Be prepared to make spot rulings, even on things for which there are printed rules. If they are fair and fast that is more important than their being correct.
(c) Ask (or even tell) players to make use of the time they are waiting for their turn to come around looking up the rules that are going to have to be used to resolve what they want to do. Anyone who casts a spell with which you are not entirely familiar should have the PHB open to the relevant page in advance. Anyone who does something unusual like tripping or grappling likewise.
(d) Try to hand over to players the task of executing the rules. Let them read the book and tell you what checks to make and what their results are.
(e) If you are lucky enough to have a few players with a good grasp of the rules (and, preferrably, GMing experience), use them as assistants/subprocessors. Get one of them to sit next to you and look things up for you, etc. Get others to sit at the far-flung reaches of the table where they can guide less-experienced players through complicated resolution procedures. Delegate someone to keep track of initiative and the sequence of play, etc.
(f) Limit your palette. Stick to one or two monster types in each encounter, or even, preferrably, in each adventure. That will cut down on your need to check notes, refer to the MM, etc.
(g) Make your locations big and bold, but fairly simple. Use features that can be shown on a map, and they do not have to be keyed in a description, more than you might with a smaller party.
(h) Be ruthless with ditherers. If a play has not decided what to do by the time his character's turn comes around, treat the character as delaying. Some players will grossly resent this at first, but it might be a case of losing the ditherer to dudgeon or losing a good player to boredom.
2) Another very important thing is to make sure that everyone keeps up to speed. There is a big danger with big parties that during the long gaps between his or her successive chances to act, a player's attention will wander. And then when his or her turn comes around he or she won't have been paying attention, won't know what the current situation is, and will ask for an update. That will take time, during which other players are in danger of zoning out. So:
(a) Try to arrange a gaming place in such a way that no-one is far away or out of clear line-of-sight from your GMing position. I liked to use a long, refectory-style table and to sit in the middle of one of the long sides.
(b) Try to find a room to game where their are no distractions. If you have a bookcase, people will start looking through the titles. Some rude bastards may even read. They will not pay attention, They will require a briefing at the beginning of each turn. Your time-budget will be shot to Hull.
(c) Use visual aids such as a battlemat, in the largest scale you can manage. Draw maps. That will give players an instant briefing if their attention does wander, and it will cut down enormously on 'how far is it...?' and 'how big is...?' and 'can I...?' questions.
(3) Use the initiative system very strictly and mechanically, to make sure that no-one misses a turn, not even any of your hordes of monsters. I suggest making some sort of visual aid (again in large scale) that will show, without anyone having to ask, who goes next, when everyone will next get a turn, etc.
(4) If you have inexperienced players, pair each one up with a buddy who sits next to him or her and who can answer routine questions about the way the games work, options open to characters, etc.
5) Do not fall into the trap of letting players decide to undertake and resolve actions without telling you about them in advance.
6) Try to keep the table as clear as you can, so that things don't get lost. You might consider getting people to roll their dice into a tray (like the lid of a boxed set of something) so that they don't roll off the table.
7) Permit no grog.
Good luck!
Agback
