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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 9624562" data-attributes="member: 4937">I mean, it wouldn't.&nbsp; I don't know of a game that can handle this well.&nbsp; Some of them foresee the problem and try to head it off at the pass, but there isn't a way to handle the actual situation well given the limitations of the GM as a simulator.&nbsp;&nbsp; I try to avoid these sorts of situations the same way I try to avoid &quot;ballroom scenes&quot; where there are 50 NPCs talking at once.&nbsp; A certain amount of GM fiat and railroading to get out of this situation gracefully might be in order, which is really what something like FitD is doing by eschewing any sort of naturalism. The underlying problem here is &quot;too much to describe&quot;&nbsp; The GM can't reasonably convey information to that many points of view in a timely fashion, nor can the GM do so in a way that avoids passing information between groups except by physical separation, and the situation is further complicated by the slow pacing means failure to share spotlight becomes even a bigger concern.&nbsp; To a certain extent, this gets worse if the players aren't fully split up.&nbsp; If they do fully split up, I can use some fiat to try to make something interesting happen to each of them, but if we have some groups of 1's and 2's or whatever, or even just &quot;rogue out on his own and everyone else together&quot; there is no guarantee that I can make everyone useful without twisting the narrative structure so much the strings on the puppets are obvious.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 9624562, member: 4937"] I mean, it wouldn't. I don't know of a game that can handle this well. Some of them foresee the problem and try to head it off at the pass, but there isn't a way to handle the actual situation well given the limitations of the GM as a simulator. I try to avoid these sorts of situations the same way I try to avoid "ballroom scenes" where there are 50 NPCs talking at once. A certain amount of GM fiat and railroading to get out of this situation gracefully might be in order, which is really what something like FitD is doing by eschewing any sort of naturalism. The underlying problem here is "too much to describe" The GM can't reasonably convey information to that many points of view in a timely fashion, nor can the GM do so in a way that avoids passing information between groups except by physical separation, and the situation is further complicated by the slow pacing means failure to share spotlight becomes even a bigger concern. To a certain extent, this gets worse if the players aren't fully split up. If they do fully split up, I can use some fiat to try to make something interesting happen to each of them, but if we have some groups of 1's and 2's or whatever, or even just "rogue out on his own and everyone else together" there is no guarantee that I can make everyone useful without twisting the narrative structure so much the strings on the puppets are obvious. [/QUOTE]

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