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<blockquote data-quote="Wik" data-source="post: 5269848" data-attributes="member: 40177">If you look at any RPG, you will see that it implicitly contains an ideal number of PCs in the average party.&nbsp; Different games seem to cater towards different numbers of PCs/Players.Older editions of D&amp;D seem to suggest around seven or eight Player Characters, often accompanied with henchmen, as the ideal.&nbsp; Later editions of D&amp;D have oscillated from four to five PCs, with the question of henchmen/hirelings left to individual GM preference.FASA games seem to aim at a smaller audience - Shadowrun definitely works better with smaller groups, and personal experience suggests that Earthdawn was built with a three- or four-person party in mind.&nbsp; Mechwarrior suggest the PCs are all part of the same &quot;lance&quot;, and Battletech described a lance as consisting as either three or four mechs (my memory fails me as to the exact number).Savage Worlds looks like it's aimed at five or six players, but also suggests that the PCs have multiple allies... I've run it with five players each running a PC and two NPCs, so a 15 man party.&nbsp; The rules explicitly say at times that its was built for larger parties.&nbsp; And the list goes on.&nbsp; Call of Cthulu works best in small numbers.&nbsp; D6 often presumes six players.&nbsp; Warhammer Fantasy seems to aim towards four or five.&nbsp; RIFTS (from what I recall) aims towards smaller groups (presumably because few people want to play it!&nbsp; /snark).&nbsp; And...My question here is this:&nbsp; how do you cater a game towards a certain number of players?&nbsp; My theory is that it relates to specialization.&nbsp; The games that allow more specialized characters tend to encourage smaller party sizes, presumably because these hyper specialized characters will have more &quot;time alone&quot; with the GM.Games that encourage teamwork tend to be aimed towards larger groups - basically, games with &quot;roles&quot; that need to be filled (healer, tank, utility mage, master fence, etc) often seem to be aimed at larger groups.&nbsp; Any thoughts?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wik, post: 5269848, member: 40177"] If you look at any RPG, you will see that it implicitly contains an ideal number of PCs in the average party. Different games seem to cater towards different numbers of PCs/Players. Older editions of D&D seem to suggest around seven or eight Player Characters, often accompanied with henchmen, as the ideal. Later editions of D&D have oscillated from four to five PCs, with the question of henchmen/hirelings left to individual GM preference. FASA games seem to aim at a smaller audience - Shadowrun definitely works better with smaller groups, and personal experience suggests that Earthdawn was built with a three- or four-person party in mind. Mechwarrior suggest the PCs are all part of the same "lance", and Battletech described a lance as consisting as either three or four mechs (my memory fails me as to the exact number). Savage Worlds looks like it's aimed at five or six players, but also suggests that the PCs have multiple allies... I've run it with five players each running a PC and two NPCs, so a 15 man party. The rules explicitly say at times that its was built for larger parties. And the list goes on. Call of Cthulu works best in small numbers. D6 often presumes six players. Warhammer Fantasy seems to aim towards four or five. RIFTS (from what I recall) aims towards smaller groups (presumably because few people want to play it! /snark). And... My question here is this: how do you cater a game towards a certain number of players? My theory is that it relates to specialization. The games that allow more specialized characters tend to encourage smaller party sizes, presumably because these hyper specialized characters will have more "time alone" with the GM. Games that encourage teamwork tend to be aimed towards larger groups - basically, games with "roles" that need to be filled (healer, tank, utility mage, master fence, etc) often seem to be aimed at larger groups. Any thoughts? [/QUOTE]

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