Suggestions for my group....

[Seebo_Garrick]

I am currently DMing a game that has 12 players in it. They range in experience from 17 years to just started 4 months ago. Having this diverse group of gamers is a huge challenge for myself to constantly come up with something unique and interesting for each of them. Here's my question.

Would it be better if I split them up into groups of 4 and ran 3 seperate adventures or should I stick with the larger group and see how things go? I ask this because as of right now when the entire group gets together in one big cluster they tend to infight and moan about each other more than roleplay. Admitted this is more a thing with the younger players as they have not played D&D very long and they have little knowledge about how the game should go and they are interested in treasure and power: typical newbie stuff. While the older players are content to let things fall where they may and roleplay situations out.

How should I go about making this a effective and cohesive group?

Any thoughts would be welcome.

 

[Crothian]

Personally, that's a large group and I'd talk to them about spliting them up. But I wouldn't do anything with out their imput, as you all are a group and no one person should make a descion this big for a whole group.

 

[Xarlen]

Split them. 4 person group, 3 groups, 1 newbie per group (Or try to balance it right).

 

[DM with a vengence]

I would recommend splitting, either 2 of 6 or 3 of 4, 12 people is just too many to run effectively, but if you really must.

People should have their action ready early.
Get a tray or container to hold the dice rolls so they don't take forever.
If they want to do anything special, have the book open to the applicable page.

As for adventures, a 12 person group is going to be really good at killing stuff in the open field, but not so good at sneaking. If you want to annoy them, put them in small rooms and corridors.
Also watch your monster selection, while hordes may be hard to run, a single large monster will get it's butt handed to it if it rolls poorly for init, I recommend groups of 3-6 medium powered monsters, with some sort of bonus if they are all in a group.
Figure out everything in advance, run monster off printed sheets instead of the MM, with important bits highlighted so you don't forget.