What's the best size of a gaming group?

[Garmorn]

While I like a group of around 6 to 8, the factors that affects the size of group I like to run are how combat oreinted v.s. in character and the number of active v.s. passivie plays that are in the group.

More the four players that are heavy into rollplaying encounter is a large group but you can easly add two to four players that like being in the background and run side kick type characters. If your group prefers action then politics then a large group works better then a small group because they have and easlier time covering all the bases while having some useful but less essential type like rangers/druids and an extra spell caster or two.

I have a couple of players that are passive. They enjoy the interaction and the game as long as you don't try and bring them to the forefront. Like me they enjoy playing the support characters who buff other, support the rogue in combat, ect.

 

[Ace]

read Booklet I. 20 is optimal. but upto 50 is still doable.

Talk about old school

 

[Stahn Li]

I myself prefer only 3 PC's but it seems the majority of you like to have many more PC's than just three.

Which brings me to the question, is there something I am missing out on?

Particularly what strategies do all of you use to keep up the pace, to prevent people from being bored while waiting for their action, and to make sure everyone gets there fare share of "screen time".

 

[Laslo Tremaine]

5 players and 1 DM seems to be the golden number for me.

Right now I am in three groups;

Total Group Size (Including DM):

9 people - This is just to damn big. It's fun, but combat slows to a crawl, and it seems that not too much gets done in an evening. It also looks to be a pretty onerous burden on the DM.

4 people - A tad bit too small. With three PCs it's hard to cover all the bases. It also seems that it's a bit more likely that the players will get stuck and not be able to come up with an appropriate plan or course of action.

6 people - This is the best size. Things go quick. Everyone gets enough spotlight time. Fun for all involved. (and the last one was juuuuust right!).

 

[Forrester]

For heavy RP/intrigue, I think three to four PCs is perfect. More than that and someone is inevitably getting bored out of their gourd.

For combat-centric campaigns, four PCs are the absolute minimum -- five to six are best. Five is probably best, as it's difficult to get more than six people around your standard battlemat.

For campaigns that are a mix, such as my own, I'd vote for '4' if everyone there is a diehard player and never misses a session. '5' if there are occasional absences.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I think anywhere between 5 and 9 is great, but I prefer 7 since that can easily be converted into a diplomacy game and be fed by two large pizzas.

 

[TalonComics]

It depends on your gaming style. I've found that most D&D games where combat is a given every game 4 to 6 (not including the DM) is the average size. In a game where role playing is the emphasis I would say 3 to 4 players is the best. However, if you have someone who tends to take over the spotlight and someone who's just "there" 3 players would be better.

Personally, I prefer role playing over combat so 3 to 4 is my favorite size. I would love to run a game with 2 players just to see how it goes.

~D

 

[Emerald]

We just went from 6 to 7, though I expect we'll drop in size this summer when two of 'em have a baby arrive...

John

They don't have to quite just cuz they have a baby, me and my husband still game once a week, we just bring the little guy along.

 

[S'mon]

One campaign has 4 players 1 DM, seems very nice, everyone gets a chance to talk and their characters are always needed for something...

The other has 7 players (+3 cohorts!) and one DM, and I praise S'mon weekly for his ability to run that group without more arguements!

Thanks Tallarn.
I think 4 players around the table plus the DM is ideal; more is okay but hard work for the DM and some player characters can be under-utilised; less than 4 makes the game very risky with high chance of TPK. Not all my 7 players can make it every week, 4-5 is average although it was nice to see everyone last Sunday.

 

[diaglo]

me and my husband still game once a week...

sorry, one of my pet peeves.

i hope someone else will be teaching the little tyke to speak.