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Arranis Thelmos
2012-04-17, 07:46 PM
Pretty soon I'm going to be DM'ing a group of 6-8 players on what's going to be a weekly basis. I've never DM'ed a group this big before (I've only had two players before now) and I'm wondering if there's anything I need to be on the lookout for that could hinder gameplay. More specifically; how do I keep the game fast paced and interesting for everyone? These are all acquaintances from school and my two brothers (the two players:smallredface:), what do I do in case of a "instigator player" and how would I handle him?

bloodtide
2012-04-17, 08:00 PM
*Combat is gonna take a while, so you will need to make it as quick as you can. If you take 30 minutes just to do players 1-4 in combat, then players 5-8 will get very, very bored.

*You will need to stream line social stuff too. If you want the king to talk to player number three, then rest of the players will be very bored.

bloodtide
2012-04-17, 08:06 PM
*Combat is gonna take a while, so you will need to make it as quick as you can. If you take 30 minutes just to do players 1-4 in combat, then players 5-8 will get very, very bored.

*You will need to stream line social stuff too. If you want the king to talk to player number three, then rest of the players will be very bored.

Oracle_Hunter
2012-04-18, 09:01 AM
Pretty soon I'm going to be DM'ing a group of 6-8 players on what's going to be a weekly basis. I've never DM'ed a group this big before (I've only had two players before now) and I'm wondering if there's anything I need to be on the lookout for that could hinder gameplay. More specifically; how do I keep the game fast paced and interesting for everyone? These are all acquaintances from school and my two brothers (the two players:smallredface:), what do I do in case of a "instigator player" and how would I handle him?
So... not sure what edition, but as a general rule:

(1) Don't Split The Party
While it was OK to do scenes with individuals when you only had 2 guys to worry about, splitting up the action between a larger group will slow down the action considerably and bore the rest of your Players. If you must do so, make sure that you always have at least 2 Players in a scene at a time, and never less than 2 waiting on the sidelines.

(2) Combat Takes Longer
With more Players to get through, combat will simply take longer. Generally speaking, setting up and finishing up combats takes the most time so it would work better to just have 1 large combat per session rather than multiple smaller ones

(3) Don't Focus On Any One Player
This isn't really a time issue, but when you start out with a small number of Players the desire to make elaborate plots revolving around each of them is attractive. This will get unwieldy for a group of your size; consolidate plotlines instead.

Additionally: Be careful not to prioritize your brothers over your friends. When introducing a bunch of new Players into a party you've already established it can be easy to make the new guys feel marginalized. You already know how to play with your brothers and they know what makes you tick -- it will feel more natural to cater to their desires than the hard-to-know desires of the new guys. Make an effort to find out what sort of game your new Players want to play and make it for them.

Of course, you shouldn't ignore your brothers but it is easy to unconsciously favor the familiar (and familial :smalltongue:) particularly when gaming with people you're not used to for the first time.

Good luck :smallsmile:

Jay R
2012-04-18, 09:46 AM
I disagree slightly with one piece of advice you've received, but we both have the same goal in mind.

Focus on Every One Player at Some Point in the Game. If there's a rogue in the party, there should be a trap to locate or a lock to open or a pocket to pick. If there's a priest, make sure there's some minor puzzle that requires a priestly spell.

By the end of the first session, you'll know that some players will make sure that their character gets involved. So in later sessions, you only need to supply a moment for the other players. But you should ensure that each character has a moment to be the focus of the party's efforts.

Also:

When they have finished an encounter, don't let them sit around talking about; move them to the next point of interest. Unnecessary conversations are much bigger time-wasters in larger games. Let them talk as long as necessary, but no longer.