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Message: <blockquote data-quote="reanjr" data-source="post: 1687712" data-attributes="member: 20740">I've got 8 in my game right now (well, 7, a new one's gonna be there next session, though).  It's hell.  Fun.  But hell.Some of my suggestions:Partition the group in your mind.  You'll probably find that most players play really closely with certain other players.  Either their classes are synergestic (Ranger and Rogue for scouting), they're friends or husband/wife, or they are just sitting next to each other.  You can effectively cut the player management in half by pairing them off and treating them as a unit (of course the units might have to change during the game).Battle with so many people is going to be frustratingly boring in all likelihood.  If you have a rules lawyer in your group, make use of her.  If something comes up in battle that need to be looked up, ask the rules lawyer.  If she doesn't immediately know and it's not overly important, just adjudicate and move on.  If it is somewhat important, have someone not directly involved look it up (the player also should have looked it up ahead of time if it was their action that is causing slowdown).  Make a note of the rule somewhere so you can look it up later - thoroughly.  If anyone has a rule argument, have them remember it or write it down.  DM rule sticks until the end of the session when those problems can be looked up and resolved out of game.If you are OK with being harsh with your players (I am), you can rule that they must know what their action is going to be when their turn comes up or they lose it.  Same thing goes for if you are calling out initiative ("Anybody got an 18?... No?...  Alrighty, it's the dragon's turn" ... "I went on 18, what happened to my turn?"  "You apparently weren't paying attention and lost your turn; you can go next round").  I actually use a different initiative system where characters get multiple turns per round and they are not in a set order.  Players tend to pay attention more after their turn is over if their turn might be coming up in another 30 seconds than when they know they are going to have to wait for all the other players and NPCs to go before they get to go again.  They lose interest waiting.  If you can figure out how to fix this problem, combat will be much better.Keeping attentive to quiet or inexperienced players is very difficult.  Try to consciously think about players in round-robin fashion.  Make an effort to address different (and if possible, multiple) people directly when you are describing their surroundings.  When you address one person, it makes other players feel that their characters don't have anything to do in the current scene.  Try to create an adventure for each of the players.  Include some of their background or just make it tailored to their skills.  Sometimes rewarding good role-playing with experience or bonuses to skills can bring those players out of their shells as they come to see being outspoken as necessary to effectively advance.  Then again, if can backfire and those players won't advance as quickly.If it becomes necessary to get rid of players, don't worry about.  It will work its way out naturally.  If the number of players is causing the game to become boring, some players will leave, alleviating the situation.</blockquote>

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