The greatest show on earth.

[poolio]

I have a group of players going from having their own circus, to joining an actual circus (which may or may not be a front for a criminal organization) and i need to fill this circus with npc's, but i have no idea how many people it takes to run a circus, and my attempts to Google an answer have proven to be less then useful,

So does anyone out have any information that would care to share?

[Bieskaon]

Hi poolio,

thats a pretty tough question you are asking there.
And i am sad to open with an: " It depends..."

All in all it depends on the show the circus is trying to perform.
If it shall be the classic one with clowns and tigers and elefants and athletes and artiste?
Then i would take the european Circus Roncalli as a comparison.
It has all that and a bit more with a total crew size of ~220 plus round about 45-50 seasonal helpers.
In some cases even about 700 voluntary helpers in the bigger citys.

I would suggest the following,

- Make a list of the Attractions your circus wants to hold
- How big your audience is intend to be performed for (Roncalli is designed for 3.500 people per show)
- try to guess what is needed on personal for every Attraction
- Remove at least half of the redundancies (p.e Builder/servicepersonel)
- Add those up
- Throw in maybe some Security as well.

Or keep it very simple, a good example for this would be the small circus in the actual "Critical Role" Season in the first few Sessions in the actual campaign.
There was also a circus, a small one, but a circus with a total crewsize of approx 10-15 (artists included)

Hope this helps.
Bieskaon

[Crgaston]

Circuses are as big or small as you make them. Start with a Ringleader, then add the acts you imagine the circus having, and however many support personnel are necessary for each act. Then add the people necessary to feed and transport or sustain the acts and associated support in their target market. The larger the market, the larger the circus will need to be, and the more people it will take to run.

You could stat out NPC's in charge of the kitchens, transportation, and animal care/training, as well as a a blacksmith, a carpenter, a costume and prop person... Many of these roles could overlap in a smaller circus, but it sounds like you're going for a bigger feel.

There could be one person at the top controlling the purse strings and decision making, or it could be a committee or board of conflicting interests/personalities.

[poolio]

Thanks guys, this has actually been really helpful, way more then my Google searching has provided :)

[iTreeby]

A " three ring circus" has three separate acts that occur more or less simultaneously and is fairly hectic, so don't be afraid if your list goes long with possibilities, but you needn't go overboard, you can say that there are other acts occurrin in the other 2 rings. The number of performers could be fairly low, given that they can change outfits and preform more than one act each. You might also have a half dozen clownd that run around half stage hand, half entertaining distraction.

[Vogie]

The magic-infused book The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern, would be useful to you. It was fairly popular, so it should be easy to find at the local library. The beginning of Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind also follows the protagonist as they grew up in a travelling circus in a D&Dish world.

Depending on the world the circus is in, the circus could also be quite small. Instead of being a one-stop super-festival, a small circus could set up inside a town square as not much more than a single stage. You wouldn't have much selling of widgets or 'circus foods', as you'd be amongst the normal marketplace of the area. Instead of being paid by via admissions, the circus may get paid at the patronage of the town by the council/mayor/et cetera.