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<blockquote data-quote="Cruentus" data-source="post: 9348739" data-attributes="member: 7034645">We played all through 1e and 2e with about 6-10 at the table, in a basement game, for years.&nbsp; We never knew any different, and it worked for us.&nbsp; If a couple people couldn't make it, and we had 6, we'd press ahead.&nbsp; If we had 4 or 5, we'd sometimes find something else to do that session, because it was too risky going in that light.&nbsp; It would never have occurred to us to break the group up.&nbsp; In my experience, 4 player parties is a newish thing.&nbsp; Maybe it came around in 4th, but I skipped that edition.&nbsp; It wasn't my experience through 3rd.&nbsp; We didn't play with henchmen, though we did use domain play.&nbsp; Henchmen, horses, carts, and such were fodder for our DM to take away from us, so we never used them (we also played an oppositional DM style game, where the DM was out to get us, and we were out to survive, none of this cooperative stuff).&nbsp; Our stories came out of our survival.&nbsp; I'm running OSE and Beyond the Wall games now, and all of them use henchmen, domains, hexcrawls, etc.&nbsp; If the party didn't use them, they'd be absolutely TPK'd.&nbsp; The game is not &quot;balanced&quot;.&nbsp; Encounters are not &quot;easy/medium/hard/deadly&quot;.&nbsp; Encounters are not keyed to the power level of the party.&nbsp; You encounter what the encounter table or adventure/module has, and if its too tough, the parties know to run.&nbsp; If its too easy, its too easy.&nbsp; That is the kind of game our group has settled into after giving up on 5e after several years.&nbsp; I understood that large parties came out of the games run by Gygax early on where there were, reportedly, dozens of players every game.&nbsp;&nbsp; Hence his &quot;keeping proper track of time is essential&quot;.&nbsp; If you missed a session, time passed.&nbsp; Every real day that passed was a day &quot;in world&quot;.&nbsp; Other parties would empty locations before your group got to them.&nbsp; Parties were expected to be large-ish, and supplemented with henchmen and hirelings if they were small.&nbsp; It was the only way to survive.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Cruentus, post: 9348739, member: 7034645"] We played all through 1e and 2e with about 6-10 at the table, in a basement game, for years. We never knew any different, and it worked for us. If a couple people couldn't make it, and we had 6, we'd press ahead. If we had 4 or 5, we'd sometimes find something else to do that session, because it was too risky going in that light. It would never have occurred to us to break the group up. In my experience, 4 player parties is a newish thing. Maybe it came around in 4th, but I skipped that edition. It wasn't my experience through 3rd. We didn't play with henchmen, though we did use domain play. Henchmen, horses, carts, and such were fodder for our DM to take away from us, so we never used them (we also played an oppositional DM style game, where the DM was out to get us, and we were out to survive, none of this cooperative stuff). Our stories came out of our survival. I'm running OSE and Beyond the Wall games now, and all of them use henchmen, domains, hexcrawls, etc. If the party didn't use them, they'd be absolutely TPK'd. The game is not "balanced". Encounters are not "easy/medium/hard/deadly". Encounters are not keyed to the power level of the party. You encounter what the encounter table or adventure/module has, and if its too tough, the parties know to run. If its too easy, its too easy. That is the kind of game our group has settled into after giving up on 5e after several years. I understood that large parties came out of the games run by Gygax early on where there were, reportedly, dozens of players every game. Hence his "keeping proper track of time is essential". If you missed a session, time passed. Every real day that passed was a day "in world". Other parties would empty locations before your group got to them. Parties were expected to be large-ish, and supplemented with henchmen and hirelings if they were small. It was the only way to survive. [/QUOTE]

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