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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tormyr" data-source="post: 6391126" data-attributes="member: 6776887">5 to 6 people is my preference.  Because we were the only thing going at our store for a while, I would let anyone join and then funnel them into another group the following week.  Most of the time we have actually been at 6 people because one guy with the Air Force has been on deployment since April.  He returned last week and we had a recap episode.  Another player had to be off to Mexico for a few weeks because he had to renew his visa.  He is finally returning next week.We do several things to keep people engaged.  One, we have a small white board that has everyone's names on white board magnets.  A player on the other end of the table writes down everyone's initiative on the magnets and rearranges them in order.  That way, everyone knows when they come up in the initiative order.  We roll damage with the d20 to save time. And there is lots of banter to keep everyone in a good mood.  Thankfully, the game store has large tables.  We can fit the DM at one end, two players at the other, and 3 players on each side.Everyone contributes.  I am amazed that you can have a halfling rogue/monk or a half gnoll paladin with 9 Charisma and they all still work.  Spotlight is more of an issue, but in the first two chapters, we have had significant story elements with the Tiefling Wizard who weaves magic into the food he cooks, the human cleric who is secretly the bastard son of the corrupt mine manager of the town, the low charisma paladin who succeeds on every persuasion roll and who will eventually have a vision of Heironeous and become a chosen of Heironeous, the halfling rogue/monk who was 1 shotted at level 1 but was brought back to life by a strange infernal relic she possessed, the monk who is seeking revenge for the loss of his sailor crew, the deranged elf eldritch knight who likes to stab stuff and found a sentient sword that mirrors her personality (and when the party is betrayed this week, she will have to resist killing the betrayer while the sword commands her to execute him), and the dragonborn wizard spy who was on a secret mission (player was on air force deployment) and just rejoined the party.  I explained at the beginning that with our larger table, I would strive to make sure that everyone was able to contribute, but I also explained that there would be a roving spotlight.  Some story elements would work into certain characters, and the other players would have to wait for plot elements to be wound into their stories.  So far, everyone bar the dragonborn have had significant events, and they are having fun (which is the best part, because so am I).But, yeah, 8 people is my absolute limit and I prefer no more than 6.</blockquote>

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