My AD&D game last night had nine players at the table (and then me as DM, for ten in all). Because there has been an influx of new players of late, I've been running some lower-level games (with the older players using their henchmen). The latest couple of sessions have seen everyone going through the Lost Island of Castanamir (C3), an old RPGA tournament adventure. I've been amazed at how engaged the group has been with the adventure. It's been fairly light on the combat, heavy on the exploration with a healthy dose of role-playing. Mapping is problematic as the dungeon is full of teleporters, but they've been handling that ok. These days I draw out the basic shapes of the rooms and let them add details as required - a lot easier on everyone. Especially with nine players, you can't let the game turn into a dialogue just between you and the mapper.
Healthy doses of comedy have helped with keeping players interested; they've picked up two intelligent weapons, one of which is moderately helpful (although not that knowledgeable, allowing for fun role-playing) and one that just wants to go home. "Home, home, home, home! I wanna go home!" At some point I may switch to "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" or "I wanna go to Mount Splashmore!"
There are quite a few magical items that the group has picked up, leading to some interesting situations. At one stage, we had a levitating thief (due to a potion) with a rope tied to him - which the other members of the group were climbing to reach the next level (as nothing else was particularly good to tie it to). As each reached the next level, they joined in a fight with a giant wolverine! The first up had been the druid, who has been extremely successful at using speak with animals to get past the many encounters with giant animals we've had, but as this wolverine wasn't actually a real one, everyone was greatly amused when it just mauled him. Lots. A lot of screaming for the cleric ensued!
Then we had the 3 foot golem, who only one member of the party could hurt. Yes, one of the PCs has a +3 weapon! However, even as they were fighting, one of the magic-users had a bright idea an was able to disable the golem.
The greater numbers of players do require a shift in how the game is conducted. What is more than a little scary is that it wasn't the entire player pool for this AD&D game - two or three players who've been fairly regular in playing were away! Although there's a Rifts campaign normally held at the same time that will absorb some of the players, I'm a bit scared what will happen if everyone turns up. Running nine is very tricky; running more? Seems bad.
I've now been running this AD&D game for a year-and-a-half. It doesn't look like the players want to stop anytime soon!
Cheers!
Healthy doses of comedy have helped with keeping players interested; they've picked up two intelligent weapons, one of which is moderately helpful (although not that knowledgeable, allowing for fun role-playing) and one that just wants to go home. "Home, home, home, home! I wanna go home!" At some point I may switch to "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" or "I wanna go to Mount Splashmore!"
There are quite a few magical items that the group has picked up, leading to some interesting situations. At one stage, we had a levitating thief (due to a potion) with a rope tied to him - which the other members of the group were climbing to reach the next level (as nothing else was particularly good to tie it to). As each reached the next level, they joined in a fight with a giant wolverine! The first up had been the druid, who has been extremely successful at using speak with animals to get past the many encounters with giant animals we've had, but as this wolverine wasn't actually a real one, everyone was greatly amused when it just mauled him. Lots. A lot of screaming for the cleric ensued!
Then we had the 3 foot golem, who only one member of the party could hurt. Yes, one of the PCs has a +3 weapon! However, even as they were fighting, one of the magic-users had a bright idea an was able to disable the golem.
The greater numbers of players do require a shift in how the game is conducted. What is more than a little scary is that it wasn't the entire player pool for this AD&D game - two or three players who've been fairly regular in playing were away! Although there's a Rifts campaign normally held at the same time that will absorb some of the players, I'm a bit scared what will happen if everyone turns up. Running nine is very tricky; running more? Seems bad.
I've now been running this AD&D game for a year-and-a-half. It doesn't look like the players want to stop anytime soon!
Cheers!
