I'm starting an Eberron game next week, and somehow I forgot to count the number of people I asked to join. Now I have a horde of people who are eager to play. I don't mind having this amount of PCs, but I have little experience as a DM. What's the best way to tell a story to such a crowd? Make it more over the top?
Ten players. One DM.
- Thread starter Palaner
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IronWolf
blank
Do the best you can in the beginning - focus on the group as whole and less on the individual for the first few sessions. You may experience a few drop outs after a few sessions weeding out those less serious about the game. I think running for ten people would be pretty hard, but often times it is hard for people to make regularly scheduled games so though you may have a pool of ten people you may end up with only six or so at your sessions.
Thunderfoot
Hero
If you are really inexperienced, you may want to find someone to co-DM with you. I'm cureently running a campaign with 9 players that show up regularaly and 3 more that are infrequent players. This allows one of us to always "run" the game while the other can look up rules, roll "surprise" NPCs and give greater depth to truly random monsters.
It also makes it easier to run multiple NPCs and in general confuse the gee-whilickers out of them. Its also nice to have a sounding board for ideas. What I don't think of, he does and vice versa.
Kind of like having an on site EN World at the gaming table. It also helps alleviate burn-out. I often lose focus when creating plot and designing game aid and rolling up NPCs and etc...
If he is working on a plot line, I can put time into the gaming aids, if he is working on NPCs I can research some historical or architectutral information. Its great!
If you can't or are unwilling to do this, then breaking up the group into two is probably your best bet.
Happy gaming!
It also makes it easier to run multiple NPCs and in general confuse the gee-whilickers out of them. Its also nice to have a sounding board for ideas. What I don't think of, he does and vice versa.
Kind of like having an on site EN World at the gaming table. It also helps alleviate burn-out. I often lose focus when creating plot and designing game aid and rolling up NPCs and etc...
If he is working on a plot line, I can put time into the gaming aids, if he is working on NPCs I can research some historical or architectutral information. Its great!
If you can't or are unwilling to do this, then breaking up the group into two is probably your best bet.
Happy gaming!
The Goblin King
First Post
I've played in a game with 10 ppl before. Like IronWolf said there was rarely more then 6 players there. We actually played outside by the pool as this was during the summer.
The only thing is that combat was slow. It was the GURPS systems so things were already kind of slow but I remember waiting what seemed like forever for my turn to come back around. Players need to figure out actions before it is thier turn. Maby you should try combat cards? Perhaps have them roll to hit and damage togather ahead of time?
The only thing is that combat was slow. It was the GURPS systems so things were already kind of slow but I remember waiting what seemed like forever for my turn to come back around. Players need to figure out actions before it is thier turn. Maby you should try combat cards? Perhaps have them roll to hit and damage togather ahead of time?
Graf
Explorer
Do you have an attic? Hide there. With some food and water.
Actually I remember a 10 person game when I was a kid. The trick, if I recall correctly, was to ahve lots of really big fights and be able to memorize all the hit points and relivant stats of all the creatures so you never have to look at anything....
(The DM was a bit of a genius; or maybe I'm confused, it was a while ago)
Actually I remember a 10 person game when I was a kid. The trick, if I recall correctly, was to ahve lots of really big fights and be able to memorize all the hit points and relivant stats of all the creatures so you never have to look at anything....
(The DM was a bit of a genius; or maybe I'm confused, it was a while ago)
Ry
Explorer
Institute the following table rules:
1) Have the group appoint a party leader (he should often consult the group, but once he's made the decision it's final - kind of like Picard. oh man am I a nerd.) Seriously, it helps.
2) In combat, only the person whose turn it is speaks, unless they specifically ask another person a question. Works wonders.
3) Boot anyone who doesn't want to abide by table rules.
1) Have the group appoint a party leader (he should often consult the group, but once he's made the decision it's final - kind of like Picard. oh man am I a nerd.) Seriously, it helps.
2) In combat, only the person whose turn it is speaks, unless they specifically ask another person a question. Works wonders.
3) Boot anyone who doesn't want to abide by table rules.
Altalazar
First Post
D'karr said:
That is a good idea. Ten is too many. Five would work. Four is probably ideal. Perhaps, though, try it with ten and see how many stay and how many drop out. Then again, people might drop out with ten because it is so hard to do well.
You split first, game in the same world, but with different players, and perhaps their paths almost, but not quite, cross. I ran several Shadowrun campaigns like that - one group would often read about the other group in the newspaper, though often they weren't fully aware that was what they were reading (unless they talked, which they didn't do, there was not any overlap between the two groups of friends).
If people drift off and both groups become too small, you can always recombine them later.
I ran a campaign for D&D with eight players once - it worked ok for a little while, but I think in the end, there's just not enough participation for each player and they don't enjoy it as much. It was too unwieldly too work. Ten - well, forget that.
Some Ideas:
Introduce some sort of artifical structure to assist organisation. Perhaps model the group on a military squad (or small mercenary band, or large surgical team, or whatever) so that everyone sort of 'falls' into a role bsaed on whatever is happening at the time.
Lots of good advice above.
Table discipline is going to be absolutely essential if you actually get 10.
Table discipline is going to be absolutely essential if you actually get 10.
Also, if you have some sort of a "squad" and a nominal party leader, consider introducing an NPC (yep, another character) whose only job is to keep the group focused - maybe a 'HQ leader' who never enters the field, but works to keep the party focused on specific goals.
In terms of the game itself: stick to straight combat or 'military' missions for a while at least. You know, clean out the kobold caves, guard a caravan, guard a person, that sort of thing. Adventures based on find the person in the big city, try and infiltrate the theives guild, etc can be a nightmare with 3 players, let alone 10.
On the other hand, if you can get 10 (or even 7) players working together as an efficient team (including being respectful of other's time at the gaming table) you will be able to do adventures that are truly grand and epic, and the the DM + 3 style group will only be able to wonder at.
Rassilon.
Introduce some sort of artifical structure to assist organisation. Perhaps model the group on a military squad (or small mercenary band, or large surgical team, or whatever) so that everyone sort of 'falls' into a role bsaed on whatever is happening at the time.
Lots of good advice above.
Table discipline is going to be absolutely essential if you actually get 10.
Table discipline is going to be absolutely essential if you actually get 10.
Also, if you have some sort of a "squad" and a nominal party leader, consider introducing an NPC (yep, another character) whose only job is to keep the group focused - maybe a 'HQ leader' who never enters the field, but works to keep the party focused on specific goals.
In terms of the game itself: stick to straight combat or 'military' missions for a while at least. You know, clean out the kobold caves, guard a caravan, guard a person, that sort of thing. Adventures based on find the person in the big city, try and infiltrate the theives guild, etc can be a nightmare with 3 players, let alone 10.
On the other hand, if you can get 10 (or even 7) players working together as an efficient team (including being respectful of other's time at the gaming table) you will be able to do adventures that are truly grand and epic, and the the DM + 3 style group will only be able to wonder at.
Rassilon.
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