8 player game, where I am at... thinking of splitting?

[Mandarin]

Alright so this is the first game I have ever DMed but I am LOVING it so far.... player feedback has been great. Right now they are just coming to the conclusion of The lost mines of Phandelvar that I added some twists and am going to use it to springboard into Out of the Abyss. I also am adding some homebrewed storyline to include them all into the story more.

I essentially added some secret doors, puzzles, switches ect that led to ghost encounters... telling them they are the prophesized ones to save the world.... dragonlance style... each character is a distant relative of those long lost heroes in dragonlance... but on a different world... They all recieved corresponding magic items that grow as they do... every 5th level...

Trunk-BARBARIAN- Does same damage as a maul +1... can be used as a ranged attack... same range as javelin and returns to players hand.... Ranged attacks now pull enemy to player as long as enemy is same size or smaller. Majeres Menace....

Linni- BARD-Magical Ring that can create any instrument and allows instrument to do ranged attacks with force damage. Ranged attacks now do 1d10 +1 + CHA to single target with no sound. . Ring can also create vibro sword that does 1d8+1+CHA.... think lightsaber. Ring of Piercing Echoes.... also allows player to change weather when tune is played... also allows Ottos irresistable dance once a day.

Asuna- RANGER-At command Flight can now produce dancing lights cantrip, flight can also produce an invisible magic ball to hover over player indefinitely that grants 60ft Truesight to player only. Can only have one active at a time.Sentient quiver named Flight that speaks in a sean connery voice... produces arrows at will.... (This is my wife, and she loves my sean connery impersonations lol)

Cynric-WARLOCK- Staff of Magus- Staff has 2 charges of darkness spell that is renewed at midnight every night. Staff also acts as focus and player can focus on staff as an action and detect any demon within 120 feet.

Dusk-ROGUE- Boots of the Fang. Walks on walls, ceilings hands free...Boots now also Walk on water and leave no tracks.

Flint-FIGHTER-- Pendant----3x a day... renewed at dawn...Charges up to 25 feet and intercepts an attack... takes half damage....Everytime the wearer blocks an attack... any damage that is blocked is now redirected to attacker... also grants wearer Zone of Truth spell once a day, renewed at dawn. Pendant of Pure Heart.

Sogol-WIZARD- . Zeddicus's Cap . When hat is placed on ground and “Your home is where your head lays” is said, hat grows into leomunds tiny hut... lasts for 2 hours.... requires 2 hour recharge time. Hat grants wearer 4 spell slots.

Yarin-CLERIC- Shield that has holy symbol inlaid... Casts aura of purity 2x a day renewed at dawn.... wearer has +1 AC to ranged attacks. Angels Hope.


Later on they found out that the drow goddess Lolth was conspiring with the Evil queen takhisis to release dead souls into the world to bring them under dominion.... they are almost through wave echo cave and once conquering it... I plan on the Drow coming back and sacking phandelin in a raid to take hostages but also to get vengeance on the heroes....the heroes own the mansion there and I have allowed them to use their gold to build it up... reinforce it and build defenses..... they wont be happy lol..... then they start Out of the Abyss because they will get kidnapped..... which I doubt we will have time to complete before summer ends and most of them go home.... so heres what I am thinking...

Once they get into Out of the Abyss...they are in two different groups in different areas as slaves... group 1 realize they have to hit menzoberannzan and stop the portal from activating that allows this rift in dimensions that is allowing these 2 evil goddesses from interacting... this group will be dealing mostly with demons and drow.

Group 2 will find a portal taking them to the dragonlance world where they will be fighting mostly draconians and evil dragons... working to close another portal on their side...

I am asking both groups to not communicate about the game in RL and instead am granting a "magical journal" that they can write notes to each other... which lets them know where the other is and will allow for some fun moments since they will be playing on seperate days...... what do you guys think?

Main question I have is with all this in mind... should I split the group with 8 people so that it is instead 4 and 4? Right now they are having fun but turns are taking 15 minutes to make a full round and I think making it smaller will improve that and also the players feeling of usefullness and feeling of filling a niche.... ya know?

Let me know what yall think.

[hymer]

Main question I have is with all this in mind... should I split the group with 8 people so that it is instead 4 and 4? Right now they are having fun but turns are taking 15 minutes to make a full round and I think making it smaller will improve that and also the players feeling of usefullness and feeling of filling a niche.... ya know?

I kinda skipped to this part, sorry. Yes, i think you should split to two groups. I consider three or four players optimal, and five the usual limit. Eight is way more than I'd be willing to work with.
If your players are happy with published adventures, as they seem to be, you can even have both groups go on the same adventures (whether published ones or of your own making, or the way you did LMoP), meaning you can nearly halve the work load.

[Waazraath]

I've played with groups of 8 players, and it's possible, but it depends a bit of the kind of campaign you want to run. When you play with so many people, not everybody can and will be paying attention all the time, people will chat with each other, ask a lot of times during combat what has happened so far and to describe the situation (again), and there is less opportunity for roleplaying (because there is less spotlight-time per player. But its fine for beer and pretzel kinda evenings, where you hang out with friends and playing the game is secondary to that. If you want a more serious campaign, more focussed on the game itself, more role play, more smooth running combats, complicated story arcs and puzzles, 2 groups of 4 will work better, in my experience.

[Safety Sword]

I've played with groups of 8 players, and it's possible, but it depends a bit of the kind of campaign you want to run. When you play with so many people, not everybody can and will be paying attention all the time, people will chat with each other, ask a lot of times during combat what has happened so far and to describe the situation (again), and there is less opportunity for roleplaying (because there is less spotlight-time per player. But its fine for beer and pretzel kinda evenings, where you hang out with friends and playing the game is secondary to that. If you want a more serious campaign, more focussed on the game itself, more role play, more smooth running combats, complicated story arcs and puzzles, 2 groups of 4 will work better, in my experience.

This is pretty much my experience.

I also DM for 2 groups and both run the same story, much as hymer describes. It does cut down the workload and unsurprisingly the second group always feels more comfortable for me to run.