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NickChaisson
2013-11-09, 01:14 AM
Howdy yall. On Wednesday I'm going to be running the largest game of D&D I have ever run. If everyone shows up I'll have 10 people playing (11 including me the DM). It's going to be a 3.5 game at level 1.

I'm a little nervous and I'm wondering if there is any advice you guys can share with me for running a large game. Anything will help, Thanks in advance ^_^

gurgleflep
2013-11-09, 01:29 AM
With such a large group the only suggestion I can make other than a bunch of sncaks is limiting their time. Get one of those little sand timers, an egg timer or something - it can take forever with so many people. I've been in a campaign with 8 people (9 with the DM) and time was a big problem.

Elaboration edit:
Time: I would suggest limiting everybody on time. When you've got such a large group, even simple things (example: talking to a hobo at the city gates) can take a long time because everybody wants to get their two cents in. If they aren't near the NPC, avoid letting them speak to it through other players.

Prepare: Expect the unexpected! There's always alternate methods of doing things so don't expect the first idea you have to be the one used - you may expect them to go through a mountain dungeon to save the princess (who just so happens to be in another castle :smallwink:) but the party wizard could just cast fly on the party and head straight to the top-most floor of it, bypassing pretty much the entire dungeon.

Snacks: Be sure to have lots of them!

Limit homebrew/third party: This is one I learned right away! Once one person uses it, everybody will want to. Limit what sources are allowed and be strict about it.

Have fun: It can be stressful having such a large group but remember it's just a game meant for people to have fun and hang out with each other.

Studoku
2013-11-09, 08:30 AM
The major time sink in large games is combat. There are a lot of players who have actions to make and a lot of monsters fighting them. Consequently, if people start being slow, the game slows to a crawl.

All it takes is every player spending two minutes on their turn thinking or looking up spells and players are waiting close to half an hour for their turn to come round again. This means players stop focussing on the game and start stacking dice or playing Angry Birds so they need to be prompted when their turn comes around and a single encounter consumes the entire session.

Give players a very strict time limit for their turns in combat- usually about 10 seconds. If they're not ready to begin physically moving pieces or rolling dice at that point, they lose their turn. Keeping turns short and combat moving quickly keeps players interested in the combat.

Try to avoid looking up things during the game where possible. Index cards are great for this- keep maneuvers, spells, activated items etc. on them so descriptions are always to hand.

Rhynn
2013-11-09, 10:02 AM
In a game with simpler combat, 10+ is not that big of a deal; old D&D campaigns were expected to have that many at a time. Unfortunately, D&D 3.5 has some of the most involved, detailed, and time-consuming combat ever. Thus:

Tell everyone that they have to have their next action planned before their turn comes. If they need to look up spells, they have to do that before their turn comes. Once their turn comes, they have to announce their action and resolve it, or lose their turn. Tell everyone this, very clearly (and explain that it is meant to keep the game going quickly enough for the size of the group), before play begins. Don't spring it on them mid-game. Also, be consistent: apply this every single time. If someone's not ready when their turn comes, they lose their turn, that's it. You can combine this with a timer of some sort (say, 5-15 seconds for declaring the action; resolving it takes as long as it takes).

Spellcasters should prepare (or you should prepare for them) index cards for all the spells they have. This is easy for wizards, not very hard for sorcerers and bards, but damned hard for clerics, druids, etc.

Permit no distractions at the table: unless someone is on call for work, has a pregnant SO near the end of their term, a babysitter at home with their kids, or some other extremely good reason, everyone has to turn their cell phones off. There will be no gadgets at the table - iPhones, laptops, tablets, whatever. If someone complains that they'll get bored, explain that the problem is only exacerbated by distractions: if everyone's distracted, play will go slower, and everyone will be more bored: a vicious circle. (And viscous play. *rimshot*)

Prepare your own stuff well. If you use a laptop or other computer, have files with all the statistics of creatures you'll need, rather than going back and forth through books. If there's one person you can make sure won't slow the game down, it's you.

Brookshw
2013-11-09, 11:25 AM
I've only run games of that size a few times and its difficult, in combat and out. With so many people its hard to give everyone roleplaying time, feels like you're ignoring people and god help you if they want to move in different directions.

Keep the game very structured. Very structured. Railroading sucks but trying to resolve 6 different activities simultaneously slows things down considerably.

Hopefully your players will be unified in purpose and thinking about there actions in advance. If it comes to there turn and they're trying to figure out what to do it slows everyone up. Jumping to the next player and then coming back to the previous once they decide is a viable solution.

Good luck. Personally I don't go higher than 6 people in a group because of all the problems that come from larger games.

NickChaisson
2013-11-09, 11:57 AM
Thanks everyone, This has been a big help :smallbiggrin:

Hopefully the game goes well lol

Jay R
2013-11-09, 12:39 PM
Keep it moving. Skip people who aren't ready (but come back to them later in the round.)

DM: Player A, you have initiative. What does Akbar do?
Player A: I'm not sure. Which spell do you think would work best.
DM: Akbar spends the next three segments thinking. I'll get back to you on segment 6. Player B, what does Barrymore do?
Player B: Barrymore attacks the head goblin (Roll dice; calculate effects)
DM: Player C, what does Cadwallader do?
Player C: Wait a minute - why are we fighting these guys?
DM: Player B, can you catch Player C up? I'll get back to you at the end of the round.
etc.

Also, jump on joke sessions. If they each have one of two funny lines, that's a long gap in play.

Also, pre-roll anything you can. I like to have a list of the potential wandering monsters, in order, already rolled up and ready.

Deaxsa
2013-11-09, 01:41 PM
Also, pre-roll anything you can. I like to have a list of the potential wandering monsters, in order, already rolled up and ready.

Adding to this, one thing i've done to speed things up (granted, it can be rather iffy with an untrustworthy DM) is to just roll a bunch of d20s... and keep the list. every time you need to roll a d20, cross of the next number on the list and use that one.

another thing you can do is keep enemies very simple. don't ponder over how much PA they use, or anything like that. try to make playing them as streamlined as possible. having to calculate EXACTLY how much damage this guy is supposed to do, because he used PA for X points, but also did this thing and that thing, sucks.

Anxe
2013-11-09, 01:58 PM
Another thing I've seen suggested is for people to roll their attacks and damage before their turn comes around. Then when it gets to them they can say, "I step up and attack Goblin #3. I get a 17 to hit and a 5 for damage if it connects."

Definitely seconding the skipping of people if they aren't ready. My group used to do that when we had 6 players + DM. It worked out fine.

Jay R
2013-11-09, 10:09 PM
The major time sink in large games is combat.

Actually, my experience is that the largest time sink is trying to solve problems from vague hints. Make things clearer, unless you want to listen to an hour or more of "What does this mean" What should we do?"

Rhynn
2013-11-09, 10:55 PM
Actually, my experience is that the largest time sink is trying to solve problems from vague hints. Make things clearer, unless you want to listen to an hour or more of "What does this mean" What should we do?"

Also, 10 people arguing over tactical decisions will slow things down to a crawl. Small groups can already take up way too much time (as in an hour plus) just trying to decide what exactly to do about a tactical problem. Keep things simple. That doesn't mean keep things stupid - in a big old-school game, good marching order, protecting the mage, not engaging in bad terrain, etc. would all still be necessary stuff, but it's also pretty simple to work out.

As with joking and any off-topic chatter, jump on any argument over how to proceed before it gets out of hand (especially if only a few players are really participating) and people start getting bored. If everyone's in-character and engaged and enjoying it, let them keep it up for a while, but get things moving again before too long.

Vamphyr
2013-11-10, 12:25 AM
I was in a group with 7 to 9 people and the biggest time waste was extraneous talking.

Everyone wants to shoot the breeze, but this can result in 7 hours out of an 8 hour session being wasted. Jump on conversations that are not game related. It may take a little adjusting, but once everyone is used to staying in character it will go much faster and more rewarding.

As others have suggested, make sure people know what they're going to do when it's their turn. Answering a couple clarifying questions on someone's turn isn't a big deal, but if they look up from their smartphone and start going through books for the spell they want to cast, skip em.

I would also suggest finding out what players want to do with their character/down time. Pre plan potential encounters they may have by themselves if the rogue, say, tries to rob shops without finding out if that merchant is in league with the thieves guild or not.

Practice splitting your time with people. If 1 wants to go rob a shop, 5 are picking bar fights by the port, and 4 are following a mysteries figure into the sewer, be prepared to jump back and forth. If you leave people sitting for too long it pulls them out of the game.

Properly timed scene jumps create tension, laughs, and keep people hyped up for their next turn.

Jay R
2013-11-10, 09:08 AM
Also, 10 people arguing over tactical decisions will slow things down to a crawl. Small groups can already take up way too much time (as in an hour plus) just trying to decide what exactly to do about a tactical problem. Keep things simple. That doesn't mean keep things stupid - in a big old-school game, good marching order, protecting the mage, not engaging in bad terrain, etc. would all still be necessary stuff, but it's also pretty simple to work out.

As with joking and any off-topic chatter, jump on any argument over how to proceed before it gets out of hand (especially if only a few players are really participating) and people start getting bored. If everyone's in-character and engaged and enjoying it, let them keep it up for a while, but get things moving again before too long.

A few years ago, I ran a game of original D&D with 12 players. I eventually learned that if they are taking too much time talking, I needed to send in some wandering monsters.

Similarly, you never need to listen to a long player discussion, since you always can interrupt it with action.

Rhynn
2013-11-10, 12:33 PM
Similarly, you never need to listen to a long player discussion, since you always can interrupt it with action.

:smallbiggrin:

I also think it's a pretty good idea to make clear that time they spend discussing plans is time actually passing in-game (probably at a 1:1 rate). If they spend 30 minutes discussing plans in a dungeon, there's probably at least one random encounter check in that time... maybe more, since they're stationary and making noise.