Some advice for large RPG groups

[Tough_Tonka]

Some old high school friends of mine are hoping to start RPG monthly/bimonthly meetups/RPG sessions. The problems is this group is going to consist of 8 people. I now at least 6 will want to play in any RPG.

I don't know who's going to GM, but I wanted to ask for advice on playing with large gaming groups. Mainly what systems work well for large groups? What types of campaigns work for large groups? What some general GM tips for large gaming groups?

[Notreallyhere77]

In the general tips category:
I'm currently DMing for a Pathfinder group of 12, 7 of which are practically guaranteed to show, and the rest vary in attendance, and I've DMed for most of these players before, in a previous campaign (that ran lvls 1-20), so I've had my share of large party experience. Here's what I learned.
My advice is that you increase the number of adversaries rather than the power of adversaries. i.e. they should never encounter just one opponent, even if backup comes from a summoning spell, everybody needs a reason to divvy up their attacks, or the fight will be over in the first turn, and whoever lost initiative will be upset.
Make sure the unreliable players' characters don't become too plot-important. Even if you made a McGuffin that works better for their character than anyone else in the party, the other PCs need to be able to use it on the sessions he doesn't show up for. Conversely, don't make those characters completely irrelevant; give them some extra spotlight time to make up for the time (and opportunities) they miss.
Everyone needs spotlight time. Since you probably have all of the general party roles filled (blaster, skillmonkey, healer, tank, and face), and dome duplicates, the adventures need an opportunity for each PC to be useful. If your party has two members of the same class, give them something to work together on simultaneously. i.e. two healers - one blasts at undead while the other heals the party in the same round; two skillmonkeys- one needs to disable a trap while the other picks a lock; two tanks - have monsters attack from two directions; etc. Make sure the party only has one designated Face, unless the other fills another role. Two players fighting over who gets to talk is both frustrating and easily prevented by some pre-game discussion.
Last, but most important, if snacks are being provided, make sure there is more than enough to go around. Everybody getting a mouthful of chips and nothing else is just going to make them hungry, and hunger can easily distract gamers more than tv and internet combined. If you have to, tell everyone to eat before arrival, or bring their own food.

I hope these pieces of advice help you.

[Katana_Geldar]

I recommend SW Saga for large groups, but not D&D 4e. Can't speak for others except for saying no to them (Paranoia, ideal number is six; GUMSHOE you need small and same with WoD).

I suggest having lieutenants, to organise initiative order and/or minatures and maps. Try and minimise table talk, tell players they need their turn READY when you get to them in an encounter. And tell them not to shout out numbers to you, especially when rolling initative, I go around the table and get them all in turn so I can write them down.

[Notreallyhere77]

Also, if you're playing a system with initiative, have one of the players track initiative. tracking whose turn it is in large groups is surprisingly attention-consuming, and you'll need that brain power to concentrate on the monsters' hp and tactics, and any other changes to the encounter.

[dsmiles]

Here's a not-so-general tip to shorten combat:

Use an egg timer: (I set mine for 1 minute, and I only have (sometimes) 5 players.) The player gets 1 minute to complete any research he/she didn't finish when it wasn't their turn, and state their action. Then they roll the dice. It keeps wasted time to a minimum, and speeds up combat (which is the longest part of the game in large groups).

[Tough_Tonka]

Thanks for the advice. I'm not going to DM hopefully,but I'll pass on this info to my friend who plans to. :)

[Tyndmyr]

Some old high school friends of mine are hoping to start RPG monthly/bimonthly meetups/RPG sessions. The problems is this group is going to consist of 8 people. I now at least 6 will want to play in any RPG.

I don't know who's going to GM, but I wanted to ask for advice on playing with large gaming groups. Mainly what systems work well for large groups? What types of campaigns work for large groups? What some general GM tips for large gaming groups?

Eight is doable. One is typically the GM, so you're looking at like seven PCs. And, given the nature of people, all seven will probably not be along every night.

The big problem with big groups is a slow pace. Keep things moving along snappily, especially when in init. Use time limits if necessary. I like using a way of displaying the init order to everyone so people know who is up next and prepare accordingly. Know the rules well, to minimize time spent looking things up. Make sure everyone has their character sheets leveled/made in advance to avoid delays.

Make sure everyone gets included. If someone is being too passive, see if you can't work in something they need/want to respond to. Some people tend to require a bit more engagement than others...get to know your players and see what works with this.

As for system...I would suggest using one that most people are familiar with. Sure, some systems are faster than others....but all systems are slow if people are confused, arguing, or reading books to discover rules during play.

[dsmiles]

As for system...I would suggest using one that most people are familiar with. Sure, some systems are faster than others....but all systems are slow if people are confused, arguing, or reading books to discover rules during play.
I'm actually going to recommend against my favorite system: Rolemaster/H.A.R.P.. Unless, of course, you want each player's combat turn to take 45 minutes, while you look up charts for hitting, charts for damaging, charts for casting, charts for...well, you get the point.

[Jay R]

Also, if you're playing a system with initiative, have one of the players track initiative. tracking whose turn it is in large groups is surprisingly attention-consuming, and you'll need that brain power to concentrate on the monsters' hp and tactics, and any other changes to the encounter.

I never thought of that. This is a great idea, since there is no hidden information involved, and there's always one or two excellent players who are bored by the slow play of others.

Thanks!

[mint]

My group is around 8 strong.
We play mostly 3.5

Combat is the smoother part of running with a large group. Meaning you need to organize it less than non-combat stuff to make it fun.
First, employ strict time limits, no turn longer than 1 minute.
That's the main thing.
After that there are a few other things you can do.

Keep rolling software (like a phone app) handy. Even doing simple sums can give you brain freeze when you are on a time limit, with seven other players waiting for their turn. Even if you are halfway through your masters in mathematics :3

Don't allow players to play summoner builds. You can share the extra actions with the other players but then you need to disseminate their stats blocks etc.

Limit splat books. Players will probably have less occasion to use their abilities and spells and hence they wont know them by heart so well. Time consumption and or stuttered play ensues.

Be aware of action economy. Players have a massive advantage. Enemies must have a comparable amount of actions to be relevant. That said, enemy actions need to be quick to resolve. The time it takes the DM to act should be less than equal to the players.
Example: one enemy with special abilities that the PCs need to adapt to and deal with coupled with a handful of basic HP-bag enemies that simply threaten the PC's HP directly.

This is also something for the players to think about. A single PC that can heal will not be able to keep 7 other PCs healed or might be frustrated with having to use all actions on healing.

You will probably not have time for 3 encounters/session. Combat takes a good chuck of time. Non-combat stuff takes longer too but not proportionally longer. A consequence of this can be that the PCs never need to manage their resources. Can lead to a situation where every encounter (because often you may only have time for one each session) is incredibly lethal in order to challenge the players.
My group tries to solve this through recovering resources after three encounters rather than at will as long as you can rest a bit.

Non-combat is another animal entirely. With 3-4 players, one DM and one Face talking with the other players chipping in a little bit works (I am not a huge fan but it does kind of work).
In a group with 8 PCs, it does not. You have one DM talking to one player and seven people with drifting attention. Outside the structure of combat, spotlight and play is more tricky.
The DM is the main bottle neck. The ways my group tries to solve this:

Split the party.
DM delegates NPC roles to players. Jot down a few parameters for the NPC when needed and the bottle-neck is not such a big problem anymore.
Say three players want to go to ye olde magic shoppe and four others want to get tanked and listen to gossip at an inn.
DM gives parameters of the shop to a willing player, like a list of available items or tells him to use random generation and availability tables and have fun.
The DM handles the inn scene while one player handles the shopping scene. Which can be as simple as the shopping players asking "do you have X" and the DM adjutant answering "Let me check".
Or the adjutant can come up with as much detail and flavaflav for the scene as he feels like.

Even sensitive stuff like an interrogation or a really plot relevant social encounter can be run this way. Just jot down some parameters and go to town.

Not saying it will work out great from the get go but it is the best solution to DM-bottleneck I've ever seen. And it promotes RP between players without the DM as intermediary.