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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AtomicPope" data-source="post: 6674712" data-attributes="member: 64790">I've run a game with 10 people and there are huge problems that appear in large groups. Typically, the problem with large groups comes down to:Too much Familiarity Because there's so many people, you need to think like you're in a convention hall and DM as if the players don't know each other. It seems strange but because they know each other they'll waste time bantering. This means you'll be herding cats. You have to limit the deep roleplaying aspects of D&D and focus on keeping the game moving.  If everyone got 10 min each to roleplay a scenario they'd never leave the tavern.Time Management With so many people it's difficult to keep your encounters moving along quickly. Each player compounds the time and complexity, rather than add another minute or two. The way to fix this is to limit player turns to no more than 30 seconds each and monsters to 1 minute. Most combat will take at least 5 rounds. With 7 players and monsters you're looking at a 20 minute combat using maximum allotted time I just described. It may seem like it's being tyrannical in the beginning but after a session or two it becomes natural. Just skip a player when their time is up and before you know it everyone is paying attention.Less Roleplaying The more players there are the less time each player has for roleplaying their character, but that doesn't mean you need to give up on roleplaying.  What you have to do is make monsters "roleplay" during combat to make it seem like there is just as much roleplaying as in a normal game. It might be handy to jot down some quick comments from the monsters and NPCs before hand, almost like a video game script. This would speed up their interaction and keep the game from bogging down.  Roleplaying the monsters serves a duel purpose I'll talk about later...Less Rolling Again, with so many people the game will turn into a clatter of dice-rolling exercises. To limit this use the rules for "Marching Order" and go from there. If players are "up front" then they roll Stealth and Perception. This should limit the rolls to 2 or 3 PCs and cut down on time spent dice-jerking. Also, just let players do things without rolling dice. If one character is really strong then let him kick a door in without rolling dice. Without the pauses to roll dice the game moves along.Cautious Encounter Building What happens in games with 7 or more players is they tend to get overwhelmed.  Typically one PC will get swarmed and trapped as the other players are just trying to deal with whatever is in front of them.  When this happens PCs die.  Roleplaying the monsters during combat is a good way to save PCs and get them to work together.  Just taunt them, "Your friend tastes delicious!" even if the monsters wouldn't normally speak.  Hey, it worked for Tolkien's spiders! This tells the players without breaking character, "Your companion going to die.  You need to save him."  This lets the players roleplay (backtalk) and gets them to focus on saving their friends.  It's a good time saver too!</blockquote>

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