Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Public DMing Advice
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7626567" data-attributes="member: 97077"><p>I don't have experience with public games, but I have run a lot of pickup games with random players on Roll20. As well, my regular group and some other groups in which I play each have a pool of players they use to fill five seats per session. This is actually a very good setup because it means fewer scheduling hassles. If the DM can run the game, there's enough players in the pool to fill out at least 4 of the 5 seats. So you'd probably need to set up some kind of fair rule for this to determine who plays each session. I ask the players in my pool to work that out among themselves with fairness in mind. It works great.</p><p></p><p>I can also speak a bit about games with characters of disparate levels. It's honestly not that big a deal. I've seen up to 7 levels difference between characters and it's worked fine. Award XP after each encounter and allow leveling up during the game. (It takes minutes.) Lower level character fly through the apprentice tier when they fight alongside higher level characters, so they aren't weak for long. The key here though is you have to let a group with mixed levels choose the challenges they want to face. To that end, a plot-based adventure is not the optimal choice. You want a big adventure location like a dungeon where they can come at it from different angles according to who they have in the group that week.</p><p></p><p>This setup would suit a monthly game as well. An adventure location is simple: Go forth and explore it, kill its denizens, and take their stuff. The players establish a reason why their characters are the sorts of people interested in doing that and perhaps how they know the other people in the party (to skip past the awkward intro phase) and just have at it. The story is what happens to the characters as they explore the location. No need to worry about remembering too many details, though if they do, it may help them. Get into the action quickly and end on a high note. Easy peasy.</p><p></p><p>If you have the time for a regular game as well, use the monthly game to meet players. Pick the best of the lot and ask them to join a regular campaign on the side. Now you've got a regular, stable group of the best players in the community and you can keep the monthly game going to try new people out if a spot opens up.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="iserith, post: 7626567, member: 97077"] I don't have experience with public games, but I have run a lot of pickup games with random players on Roll20. As well, my regular group and some other groups in which I play each have a pool of players they use to fill five seats per session. This is actually a very good setup because it means fewer scheduling hassles. If the DM can run the game, there's enough players in the pool to fill out at least 4 of the 5 seats. So you'd probably need to set up some kind of fair rule for this to determine who plays each session. I ask the players in my pool to work that out among themselves with fairness in mind. It works great. I can also speak a bit about games with characters of disparate levels. It's honestly not that big a deal. I've seen up to 7 levels difference between characters and it's worked fine. Award XP after each encounter and allow leveling up during the game. (It takes minutes.) Lower level character fly through the apprentice tier when they fight alongside higher level characters, so they aren't weak for long. The key here though is you have to let a group with mixed levels choose the challenges they want to face. To that end, a plot-based adventure is not the optimal choice. You want a big adventure location like a dungeon where they can come at it from different angles according to who they have in the group that week. This setup would suit a monthly game as well. An adventure location is simple: Go forth and explore it, kill its denizens, and take their stuff. The players establish a reason why their characters are the sorts of people interested in doing that and perhaps how they know the other people in the party (to skip past the awkward intro phase) and just have at it. The story is what happens to the characters as they explore the location. No need to worry about remembering too many details, though if they do, it may help them. Get into the action quickly and end on a high note. Easy peasy. If you have the time for a regular game as well, use the monthly game to meet players. Pick the best of the lot and ask them to join a regular campaign on the side. Now you've got a regular, stable group of the best players in the community and you can keep the monthly game going to try new people out if a spot opens up. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Public DMing Advice
Top