Time Loop Campaign

[Enochi]

I have mentioned before but I am in a massive player group of 13 people in a single campaign with me and the DM being the only experienced players.

We have been trying to figure out how to manage such a large group of novices and though getting better we are still a bit frustrated at the rate of progression through the dungeon-crawl. (In the last 3 hour+ session we went about 800 feet with only 1 3 round monster encounter.)

Still the group has excellent camaraderie and most of the players are trying hard and learning a lot. So the question is now how to get the group to speed up a bit.
The DM and I have been bouncing around ideas. Splitting the group in half with me running 1/2 of it has featured prominently but we do like that everyone seems to be having a good time. (Aside from DM frustration).

One of the ideas we have been bouncing around to help the players speed up a bit and let them learn a bit is the introduction of a magical element that resets the dungeon and everyone in it every 24-48 hours. This gives the players a since of urgency as they have try to progress as much as they can in a limited time frame and lets the DM smack them for doing something stupid (Shouting in a closed dungeon seems to attract nearby monsters who knew.) but gives him a recovery method. Spellcasters learn to conserve spells. Rogues and other party members start to figure out trap layouts and how to make maps of the area.

Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

[Nerd-o-rama]

Yeah uh...13 players isn't a D&D party, it's an actual party. Splitting up, personally, sounds like a much better idea than trying to force everyone to learn to play such a convoluted game with great time efficiency. Frankly I've had nights with four experienced players that didn't get much farther than that...

[weckar]

Dawn of the first day - 72 hours remain

[Lvl 2 Expert]

So your solution to the group progressing too slowly is...

a resetting dungeon that will force them to run through a single level several times in a row.

Not to be rude, but I don't see how that helps.

[Koo Rehtorb]

If you're set on keeping a 13 player group then consider playing basic D&D, if you aren't already. It's really the only D&D that's designed for large groups of people.

[Oxydeur]

If you have a large group of enticed players, you may consider running a West Marches type campaign.

Here is a video of a well-known writer and DM explaining it :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGAC-gBoX9k

Basically you setup a region with thing to do everywhere. Then the players form subgroup to take care of those tasks and, if unable to finish it, might come back with a bigger group.
This allow you to run for 4-6 players at a time and yet keep a "large group" feeling.

[weckar]

In the same vein as what Oxydeur suggests, there is also a ruleset called "We are the Guild" that is purpose-built with large but varying group size in mind.