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Message: <blockquote data-quote="knightofround" data-source="post: 4484511" data-attributes="member: 27884">I think the key is to know your players well. Some people want to sit at the table just to hang out with the guys, some people just want to watch a cool story unfold, some people want to actively participate.When I first ran large groups I was always worried about giving each character equal amounts of time/dedication. However I found that some players *didn't* want the story to revolve around them, they just wanted to hang out and roll dice. Other people were just interested in the boardgame-tactical element combat, and became annoyed when I started restricting speech in combat. The "serious" roleplayers got miffed because they couldn't commandeer the story as they would previously like to. So, end result being I threw away the idea of giving everyone equal time, and it improved things for everyone. =POf course, if you don't know your group that well it can be tricky. You could try running 2 miniquests per session, with each miniquest geared towards a player. You can judge by how they handle it what they're looking for in the game.Some other things I've found useful...Assume that 1 or 2 players will be missing each session. Start as soon as you get 3/4 of your players (or in your case, 5/7) If you don't have 3/4 but do have 1/2, play anyway. I like employing a "dream plane" in my gaming worlds, ala wheel of time's Tel'aran'rhiod. This allows players to further explore the world and the story, but it doesn't mess up the timeline, and the people who miss the session won't be missing essential story elements.Have people designate proxies to play their character if they're busy or can't make it.Give control of ally NPCs to players. If a PC character is eliminated/not present at a fight, let them run a couple monsters instead.See if one of the players is interested in co-DMing. Two heads are better than one (if they gel well together). This can allow the players to play off NPCs against each other, and have multi-sided battles. 8 players + 2 DMs is a very fun combo imho because it can allow the variety of both small party and large party encounties. Both the best campaign and worst campaign I have ever run were co-DMed, so your mileage may vary.Have each player make multiple characters. If someone dies/decides to part with the group sometime, the last thing you want is to make the other 6 people wait for the new character to be created.Let the PC with the best perception/knowledge skills track hitpoints for enemy monsters instead of doing it yourself.Don't use too many minions.Use minis; its easy to forget where everyone is in larger groups.Here's a mechanics idea that I found helped alot:Have all characters "take 10" on their initiative rolls. (unless its a special situation of some sort) This allows PCs to sit in order of initiative, which makes it so much easier for everybody to tell who's turn is coming up. Don't allow players to ready actions, and if they want to delay, make them head to the back of the bus automatically -- rather than screwing up the order.</blockquote>

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