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Thinker
2010-07-28, 08:18 AM
I would like to start a series of information gathering topics among the players from the playground. All I am asking in this one is how many players regularly play with you on average:
1) In the recent games that you play in.
2) In past games that you have played in.
3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.
4) In past games that you have run as the GM.

Assume anything since May-01-2010 to be recent. I am going to tally these numbers in this post.

Edit: Sorry for the date confusion. I probably should have specified May 01. Also, for these purposes, I am including the GM as a player. I also updated the composite scores to be more in line with meaningful numbers.


{table]Player| Recent Play| Past Play| Recent GM| Past GM
Birstel| | | 12|
Lord Loss| 4| | |
Earthwalker| 5| | |
Amphetryon| 11| | |
AslanCross| 5| | | 7
Vantharion| 4| | 5|
Lupian| | 15| 3|
valadil| 5| 5| 5| 5
Kythorian| | | 4|
Yora| 4| | |
M-Bark| 3| 3| 3| 3
Shadowbane| 5| 5| 5| 5
Grogmir| 6| 6| 6| 6
Coplantor| 4| 4| 4| 4
Traveler| 9| | 3| 3
akma| | 8| 7| 2
potatocubed| | 5| 5| 5
M0rdain| 5| 4| |
Dizlag| 6| 5| 6| 5
ShadowGrnEyes| 9| 4| |
Snake-Aes| 8| | |
Deen Fellithor| 6| 6| 6| 6
Mojo Rat| 6| 5| 7|
Caliphbubba| 6| 6| |
Hyozo| 6| 5| | 5
Stompy| 7| 5| 4|
Drengnikrafe| 5| 5| 7| 4
Ormur| 7| | 5|
Egiam| | | 5|
Erom| 6| 6| 6| 6
Ruinix| 8| | |
Satyr| | | 6| 6
Savannah| 5| 8| 4| 6
nyjastul69| 5| 7| 5| 9
The Big Dice| 4| 7| 4| 7
Lord Vampyre| 3| 5| 3| 5
Fuzzie Fuzz| | | 4|
Fisticuffs| 5| 8| 5| 7
Lev| 4| 4| 3| 5
thompur| 7| 11| | 5
Thurbane| 7| 7| 7| 6
Vortling| 6| 5| 8| 7
Tyndmyr| 5| 7| 6| 6
ClockShock| 2| | 2|
joe| 7| | 7| 9
Malificus| 5| 10| 4| 5
Lhurgyof| 7| 10| 7| 4
Gralamin| 5| 5| 5| 6
Crossblade| 6| 9| 2|
Dr. Epic| 5| 5| 5| 5
BobVosh| 6| 5| 5| 6
Starfols| 7| 7| 7| 7
Petrankov| 3| 5| 8| 5
Median| 5| 5| 5| 5
Mean| 5.64| 6.31| 5.241| 5.52
Mode| 5| 5| 5| 5

[/table]

Birstel
2010-07-28, 08:49 AM
The group that I DM has 11 players.

Lord Loss
2010-07-28, 08:51 AM
My group has four players, DM included, with the occaisional fifth player.

Earthwalker
2010-07-28, 08:52 AM
4 players and 1 DM at the moment.

Amphetryon
2010-07-28, 08:54 AM
My current group has 6 + 1d12 players. Seriously, it's been as many as 18 players + me as DM, depending on the week.

AslanCross
2010-07-28, 08:55 AM
1. First campaign: six players with me as DM.
2. Second one-shot: six players.
3. Red Hand of Doom: Started with two players, then that went up to five, then down to four.

Vantharion
2010-07-28, 08:58 AM
I'm a sorcerer in a game with a fighter and a cleric (GASP).
I ran a game with a: Rogue, 2 clerics, fighter, monk, sorcerer, and a ranger.
Ranger and fighter eventually dropped out. Monk is retooling to be Ranger/Halfling Outrider
I've played in another game that fluctuates between 4-7 players.
I DMd for a little bit for a Druid, Master Thrower, and Scout... That was mostly because some of the players were caught up in schoolwork.
Smaller games work to get more presence in the game, bigger games create more fun drama if done right.

Lupian
2010-07-28, 09:07 AM
In the game im DMing: Me(DM), little bro and sister.

The group I was in for 2 sessions:

1 DM, 14 players, and we rolled intiative each round. WTF.

valadil
2010-07-28, 09:16 AM
1) In the recent games that you play in.
4-6
2) In past games that you have played in.
4-6 (though I've played in solo and 15 person games a couple times)
3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.
5
4) In past games that you have run as the GM.
4-5 (I've gone as small as 2 and as high as 7. 5 is the right amount for my games.)

Kythorian
2010-07-28, 09:16 AM
Wow...anything more than 6 or so players sounds awful...How long do battles take??

I am currently DMing a game with myself and 3 players. It has been as high as 5 players in the past, but never higher than that (I wouldn't really want it to be...seems like it gets chaotic enough with just DM+5)

Yora
2010-07-28, 09:19 AM
The last two sessions we were one gm and three players. We got two more players interested in joining us, but it remains to be seen when they will have some free time on the same day as the rest of us.

I think the ideal group size is 3 or 4 players. With 3 or 4 players there is very low risk that a small group of 2 or 3 experienced players dominate the entire action while the rest just tags along.
5 players can work if you don't have any players who tend to hog the spotlight, or players who tend to let others do the talking and planning while staying in the background.
6 and more players are too many in my oppinion. It's not just in RPGs, but almost every situation in which a group of people have to work as a team or discuss a topic. When it's more than 5 people in the group, 3 or 4 will split off and provide 95% of all contributions, while everyone else just listens passively. For some reason, you can't have groups greater than 5 that involve everyone.

Morph Bark
2010-07-28, 09:19 AM
The group that I DM has 11 players.

Holy tardnards. Is that all at once? Otherwise it wouldn't count as a group, I'd say. And all at once, 1 DM and 11 players... that's a lot. How do you manage?

My group has always been 1 DM, 2 players, sometimes with a rotating DM between me and one of the others. Four successful campaigns so far over the course of three years.

Shadowbane
2010-07-28, 09:27 AM
Four to six. For all of them.

Grogmir
2010-07-28, 09:40 AM
4 to 6 excluding DM

Never Ever more than that.

Coplantor
2010-07-28, 09:44 AM
2 to 5 exlcuding DM

Traveler
2010-07-28, 09:49 AM
Games I DM, 2-3 players.
Game that I'm a player. Including the DM, 8-9 right now but there can be up to 10-12 when some older players show up to visit. SOmehow the group works. Everyone dosn't get spotlights everysession, but we all have strengths the the others don't so somehow the whole thing works for being involved. Combat dosn't even take so long either.

akma
2010-07-28, 09:51 AM
In my current group there are 6 players, but that would probably become 4 (I`m the DM).
In the past I freestyle DMed 1 on 1 games for 3 diffrent people (uselly not in the same time), and played some 1 on 1 games with 2 of them as DMs too. In the group I started in there were around 8 people I think.
Also once I saw 3 DMs for one player, that lasted 5 minutes and wasn`t very serious.

Birstel
2010-07-28, 09:57 AM
Holy tardnards. Is that all at once? Otherwise it wouldn't count as a group, I'd say. And all at once, 1 DM and 11 players... that's a lot. How do you manage?

My group has always been 1 DM, 2 players, sometimes with a rotating DM between me and one of the others. Four successful campaigns so far over the course of three years.

I pre-roll initiative for my NPCs, and enforce a strict "You have 10 seconds to tell me what you are doing" rule on the PCs. It still takes a minute or two for each person, and I only get a combat or two done per session, but it moves along pretty well.

potatocubed
2010-07-28, 10:25 AM
I would like to start a series of information gathering topics among the players from the playground. All I am asking in this one is how many players regularly play with you on average:
1) In the recent games that you play in.
2) In past games that you have played in.
3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.
4) In past games that you have run as the GM.

Assume anything since 05-01-2010 to be recent. I am going to tally these numbers in this post.

Is that the 5th of January or the 1st of May?

In any case:

1) I haven't played in any tabletop games in years.
2) As low as 2, as high as 6, average is 4.
3) 4
4) As low as 1, as high as 8, average is 3-4.

EDIT: That's not including the GM.

M0rdain
2010-07-28, 10:29 AM
1 - 4 players, 1 DM
2 - 3 players, 1 DM
3 - N/A
4 - N/A

Dizlag
2010-07-28, 10:31 AM
I currently play in two games and DM a third.

1) In the recent games that you play in.
1st game: 5 players, 1 DM
2nd game: 5 players, 1 DM

2) In past games that you have played in.
Typically, 4 or 5 players and 1 DM, but I've played in a group with 7 players

3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.
3rd game: 3-5 players and 1 DM; and a 6th video conferenced in

4) In past games that you have run as the GM.
Typically, 4 or 5 players and 1 DM, and ran that game with 7 players for awhile

EDIT: made the numbers a little clearer

Dizlag

Thinker
2010-07-28, 10:59 AM
Is that the 5th of January or the 1st of May?



Sorry. I should have specified better in the original post. That is the 1st of May. I am also going to include the GM as a player for these numbers. The OP is updated to reflect this.

ShadowsGrnEyes
2010-07-28, 11:10 AM
past games: 3-4 +gm

Recent games: 7-9 +gm

our group sort of bloated up in the last few months. . . met a few new people who became regulars. . .

Snake-Aes
2010-07-28, 11:12 AM
Group 1 (long campaign, just finished a 2 years long one and two months into what seems to be another 2-years) has 5 players and the dm.
Group 2(first time with them, been playing for 3 months now) has the dm and 8 other players.

Deen Fellithor
2010-07-28, 11:17 AM
hello, thread! my group is me and my firends and there is about 6 of us although i have lots more firends.

cheers,
Deen Fellithor

Thinker
2010-07-28, 11:20 AM
I've updated the OP with the results so far. Thanks for the input. I will update again later. If I misinterpreted your numbers, please let me know.

Mojo_Rat
2010-07-28, 11:25 AM
Currently the Pathfinder game i play in has 5 players 1 Dm. Although in the past it is often around 1 Dm 4 players.

my Star wars game has 6 players and is startig to bog down due to this.

I really dont know how anyone concievably goes above 6 let alone the numbers some have said.

18 players isnt a game its a house party :P

Caliphbubba
2010-07-28, 11:52 AM
One of the groups I play in has 7 players, plus a DM. AD&D 2nd Ed.
Another has 8 players and a Storyteller. old world of darkness Table top
Another has 3 players and a GM. Palladium Rifts
The other has 4 players and a DM. generally D&D 3.5

Those are all my current games.

Past games have been just about that size, with the biggest table top game having 10 players and a ST. for Vampire Dark Ages.

LARP is another matter. The game I ran had 3 STs and anywhere between 12 and 50 players.

Hyozo
2010-07-28, 12:05 PM
1) All of my games fitting your definition of recent have been 6 players each.
2) PBP: Nearly always 5
Real life: I'd approximate an average of 3-4
3) None, I plan to fix this rather soon.
4) Ignoring my multiple failed attempts at oneshots, about 5

Stompy
2010-07-28, 12:40 PM
1) In the recent games that you play in.
2) In past games that you have played in.
3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.
4) In past games that you have run as the GM.


Including the DM:

1) 7
2) this tends to be around 5.
3) hasn't equilibrated yet, but it tends to be 4.
4) Too many of them have failed to give a solid number. :smallfrown:

drengnikrafe
2010-07-28, 12:54 PM
I would like to start a series of information gathering topics among the players from the playground. All I am asking in this one is how many players regularly play with you on average:
1) In the recent games that you play in.
2) In past games that you have played in.
3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.
4) In past games that you have run as the GM.

1) I don't generally play in games. When I do, there seem to be 4 players including myself, and then the GM.
2) Back in the day, before I became a regular GM, there were generally 4 players, including myself, and then the GM.
3) In regards to "since May started", usually 4. Very recently, we've picked up 2 newbies as well. Still, I don't count the GM in that number.
4) Long ago, we usually had 3 players (and then the GM). Sometimes we had a few more or less, but only 3 stuck around very long.

Ormur
2010-07-28, 01:06 PM
All games I've ever played in are ongoing so:

1)3 and 10-14.
3)5

Egiam
2010-07-28, 01:22 PM
My main group I GM has four PCs (five players) I really can't stand more than that. Even with just five or six PCs, I feel like the characters don't get enought individual limelight time.

Once I attended a session with only two PCs, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It all felt very relaxed, combat rounds/initiative was simple, and I had a lots of opportunity the flesh out my character. This was a NWOD mortals game, which handled the lack of characters better than I imagine a DND game would.

Erom
2010-07-28, 01:33 PM
The group includes ~4 core players and a large cast of occasional members. We play one offs with rotating DMs, so membership is allowed to vary wildly.

The answer, therefore, to all 4 of your questions is 6 but that's an average with substantial variance.

Ruinix
2010-07-28, 01:48 PM
actual campain RHoD 6 players with a 7th ocational + 4 cohorts + DM.

biggest group of players i ever be we was 14-15 + 2 DM.

biggest group i mastered was 8 players + me DM

Satyr
2010-07-28, 03:45 PM
The usual game group I play in consists of five players and one gamemaster, mostly because I run most games I play in and I find it difficult to come up with more subplots than for five characters (and I like to give every player his own subplot).

The largest "extended" group I played in was in Shadowrun, where we had about 15 players and twice or so characters, which never played together in the same run in the same constellation, but which effectively were a network of characters from all over the world who came together from time to time and worked on a job. There was no real campaign - just a few connected adventures - but the sheer number of characters and events made it pretty epic. And the whole network of players worked for five years or so and is still going on, albeit on a lesser scale (and only very rarely with my involvement).

Thinker
2010-07-28, 03:55 PM
Updated again. Things seem to be settling in between 5 and 6 players (including the GM), though this is still only with 33 people. This has been insightful since I expected it to be between 4 and 5, rather than 5 and 6. Hopefully we get more data.

Savannah
2010-07-28, 04:02 PM
1) In the recent games that you play in.

(all pbp) 4-5 + DM
Edit: also one solo with me + DM.

2) In past games that you have played in.

(all real life) 6-8 +DM

3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.

(all pbp) This one is hard for me to answer. I'm running one solo, one duo, and three with 4-5 players. I don't think averaging them is really fair, as the solo and duo feel 'different' from my 'normal' groups with 4-5 players.

4) In past games that you have run as the GM.

(all real life) 4-6 players.

Edit: I should mention that there are undoubtedly some that have more or fewer players that I'm not remembering right now...

nyjastul69
2010-07-28, 04:11 PM
In recent games I've DMed, 5

In recent games I've played, 5

In past games I've DMed, 9

In past games I've played, 7

The Big Dice
2010-07-28, 04:18 PM
In the last couple of years, my gaming group seems to have stabilised at 3 players and a GM. In the past, I used to GM for 5-7 people regularly, and at one point that was 14-16 people

The big game was fun. 2020 Cyberpunk with much more a community feel than your regular gang of people who never ever go anywhere without the rest of their gang with them. I'd throw out random encounters and spin them into adventure seeds, or have some kind of mission that needed doing by the players, then leave it up to them how they applied themselves to the situation.

It was always on the edge of falling apart, but I think that's wht made it fun :smallsmile:

Lord Vampyre
2010-07-28, 06:56 PM
My current games only have 2 players including myself. This is due to me moving my family to a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

In the past my games ranged from 2 to 9 players. Generally this averaged around the 5 players that is normally considered optimal for most games.

The Live-Action games I was involved in however, are another story. Those games generally started at around 10 players and ranged upwards of a hundred. I couldn't tell you the average, since I never really paid that much attention. Interestingly enough, you could probably have broken the game down to multiple games of 5 to 10 players, with some players that would sometimes go back and forth between games.

Fuzzie Fuzz
2010-07-28, 08:14 PM
The game I DM has 4 players, including myself.

Fisticuffs
2010-07-28, 08:38 PM
1) 4 without GM
2) 6-8 without GM
3) 3-5 without GM
4) 6 without GM

Lev
2010-07-28, 08:40 PM
I would like to start a series of information gathering topics among the players from the playground. All I am asking in this one is how many players regularly play with you on average:
1) In the recent games that you play in.
2) In past games that you have played in.
3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.
4) In past games that you have run as the GM.
1) 4
2) 4
3) 3
4) 5

It's always between 3-5, maxing out at 6, when you get 7 people as a casual thing it falls apart, when you have 2 you feel like you should be finding a 3rd before you play.

I like to run smaller amounts of players and give them a pet or NPC or something to break even the ECL average for 4 people, that way I can be a player too so to speak.

thompur
2010-07-28, 08:52 PM
1) 7
2) 7-15( I played in a game in the late '70's/early '80's that had 10 regulars and an additional 3-8 semi-regulars. Many of us had 2 characters going at once. The DM was very popular, had created a really cool world with really cool villans, and had a very cool story to tell. He was a Calvinist DM, but it was a hoot. The sessions would last for 8 to 10 hours, sitting around our ping pong table in our basement. Great memories.
3) Haven't run anything recently
4) 3-8

Thurbane
2010-07-28, 08:57 PM
I would like to start a series of information gathering topics among the players from the playground. All I am asking in this one is how many players regularly play with you on average:
1) In the recent games that you play in.
2) In past games that you have played in.
3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.
4) In past games that you have run as the GM.
1) Current group is 7 people (6 players, 1 DM)
2) Past games have varied from as small as 3, to as large as 10
3) Same as 1) (I am the current DM, plus 6 players)
4) Past games I have DMd averaged around 6 people total (including myself)

***Note: I am currently only active in one group (Moday night regular, currently playing 3.5 EtCR module). Most groups I have ever had on the go at once was two.

Vortling
2010-07-28, 09:18 PM
1) In the recent games that you play in.
2) In past games that you have played in.
3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.
4) In past games that you have run as the GM.

1) 5 players and 6 players in respective games
2) 3 players, 5 players, and 5 players in past games
3) 7 players and 6 players
4) 5 players and 6 players

Many of these are the same players in different campaigns

Thinker
2010-07-28, 09:40 PM
Just did my final update before bed. We have had 43 replies now and the data still points toward a number between 5 and 6 players, though it has drifted closer to 5. Again, if you notice any discrepancies between the posts and the table, please let me know.

Tyndmyr
2010-07-28, 10:06 PM
I would like to start a series of information gathering topics among the players from the playground. All I am asking in this one is how many players regularly play with you on average:
1) In the recent games that you play in.
2) In past games that you have played in.
3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.
4) In past games that you have run as the GM.

1. 5
2. 7
3. 6
4. 6

ClockShock
2010-07-28, 10:28 PM
At the moment i'm playing in games with just myself and one other person. We switch DMing after each minor story arc.

So i guess that's one for currently playing and one for currently DMing

joe
2010-07-28, 10:36 PM
Current Party I'm DMing for: 7

Past Parties I've DMed:
Highest is 16, I don't recommend this.
Lowest is 1, not counting myself as DM.

Past Games I've played:
Lowest is 3, Highest is 10.

Malificus
2010-07-28, 10:47 PM
1) In the recent games that you play in.
2) In past games that you have played in.
3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.
4) In past games that you have run as the GM.

1) 4 Players with rare 5th or 6th players
2) 8 to 11 players
3) 4 players
4) 5 players

Lhurgyof
2010-07-28, 11:44 PM
1) In the recent games that you play in.
2) In past games that you have played in.
3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.
4) In past games that you have run as the GM.

1) About... 6-8
2) Up to 12. Usually around 8 or so.
3) 6-8
4) 3-4

Gralamin
2010-07-28, 11:50 PM
I would like to start a series of information gathering topics among the players from the playground. All I am asking in this one is how many players regularly play with you on average:
1) In the recent games that you play in.
2) In past games that you have played in.
3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.
4) In past games that you have run as the GM.

Assume anything since May-01-2010 to be recent. I am going to tally these numbers in this post.
1) That would be 5 games currently, with players of: 3, 3, 5, 7, and 7. (Average: 5)
2) Past games average out to about 5, since there are to many to list.
3) That would currently be 3, with players of: 3, 7 and 6. (Average: 5.33)
4) Anywhere from 3 to 11. Average of about 6.

Crossblade
2010-07-29, 12:11 AM
1) In the recent games that you play in === 5 players + GM
2) In past games that you have played in === 8-9 players + GM
3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM === 1 player + me(GM)
4) In past games that you have run as the GM. === N/A

Dr.Epic
2010-07-29, 12:13 AM
The group that I DM has 11 players.

What? How does anything get done?

4-5 in all the ones I'm Dming.

BobVosh
2010-07-29, 12:25 AM
1) In the recent games that you play in.
5+1 DM
2) In past games that you have played in.
Average of 5
3) In the recent games that you have run as the GM.
Consistantly so far at 5
4) In past games that you have run as the GM.
I have had up to 9, but an average of 6 players.

Starfols
2010-07-29, 04:04 AM
By far, the most frequent group I've played with consists of about 7 people, fluctuating as new people are introduced, and older people leave. The smallest we've been was 6, and the largest, 9. Usually one or more people are missing, so 6 is the most common.

I've had a few other groups, all of which were about 5-7..

I've had one group start at 7, expand to 12, down to 3, then back up to 7.

My smallest group was 3 people, which I am playing in now.

Petrankov
2010-07-29, 09:00 AM
1) Recent Game played in - 3
2) Past Games played in - 5
3) Recent Game DM in - 8
4) Past Games DM in - 4-6

For the past I am not going beyond 2 years. The number would vary waaay too much.

Thinker
2010-07-30, 09:23 AM
Latest update done through 53 replies. Still looks like between 5 and 6 players including the GM. I don't expect to receive many more contributions, but will continue to update as they come. Unless there are a bunch of new replies, I likely won't make another post about updating this thread again.

Thanks again for your contributions.

BlckDv
2010-07-30, 09:57 AM
Recent Play: 7
Recent DM: 7 (Pre-set limit, with a waiting list of 3 currently)
Past Play: 6
Past DM: 12 (The length of combat in this game led to the limit for my current one)

Kurald Galain
2010-07-30, 10:16 AM
(1) five
(2) four
(3) five
(4) five

In all cases, not counting the DM. I'm not sure how this answer helps you, though. I find four or five players optimal; three is possible, but six slows it down too much. Also, I usually impose the rule that if one player can't make it to the session, we play anyway. That means we often have sessions with a player less, but that's better than often having to skip a session.

Ryu_Bonkosi
2010-07-30, 10:19 AM
6 for all catagories (7 if the DM is included in the tally)