Running Games for 7+ Players

[ProsecutorGodot]

In an online group that I am a part of, a few people had expressed interest in playing DND. When I agreed to run a one shot for them, it eventually spiralled into having 6 players for a run through Death House (unironically the easiest one shot I could manage to put together in just a few hours aside from making my own) and it went well.

Too well. They wanted to keep going. Word spread around the group, more players were interested. 2 more people joined in and they ran through Forge of Fury, had a great time.

Now they've had a session where they spent their winnings from the previous adventures, establishing themselves as mercenaries for hire in Waterdeep. The group has made their way to Chult to run an adaptation of The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan. Currently 8 players are in the shrine, charging through to escape the deadly vapors and clear it out for the archeological team who uncovered it. There's a 9th player who missed that session but could be interested in popping in.

It's probably important to mention that, out of the 9 potential players, only 3 of them have any experience playing DND. One of them had only played 3.5E, he does seem interested regardless.

It's stressing me out and I know most of these adventures (the idea is to run them through the adventures in Tales of the Yawning Portal, if you hadn't guessed) are balanced for parties of 4-5 players, they're doubling those numbers and, despite some protests from an unlucky monk, steamrolling encounters. The Dragon in Forge of Fury died on the same round it loosed it's breath attack.

What I'm asking is this:
-What can I do to make managing a large party easier for myself.
-What can I do to challenge a large party without making it unfair.
-Are there any changes you can recommend for the adventures found in Tales of the Yawning Portal (post level 5). I've heard that due to their design being older and ported mostly faithfully that there can be some frankly ridiculous encounters, like the Roper in Forge of Fury. Should I even worry about this with such a large party?

[bendking]

In terms of challenge, you can simply double enemies HP.
Not the most elegant of solutions but it probably works.

Additionally, make encounters have more enemies in them. Right now the party is steamrolling encounters because of their vastly superior action economy.
By including more enemies you even that out, though combats begin to get unwieldy at a certain point...

Overall I'd say you're in a bit of a bind. I don't think D&D was designed for such large parties.

[False God]

Personally, I'd recruit the most knowledgeable player to be a co-DM in charge of tracking turns, HP, and helping to keep people in line (if you've got a rules-lawyer, pick them). 1 DM/4 people tends to work out well.

The 6-8 player range can be tricky because doubling the monsters can sometimes really overpower an encounter depending on the monster. In "boss fights" it's even more important to surround the boss with terrain/zone/lair effects and minions. Maybe even had a "cohort" boss, the dragon's mate, a second-in-command, anything to give the monsters more turns.

[Erys]

What I'm asking is this:
-What can I do to make managing a large party easier for myself.
-What can I do to challenge a large party without making it unfair.
-Are there any changes you can recommend for the adventures found in Tales of the Yawning Portal (post level 5). I've heard that due to their design being older and ported mostly faithfully that there can be some frankly ridiculous encounters, like the Roper in Forge of Fury. Should I even worry about this with such a large party?

-Set up your initiative sheet to include Lair and Legendary Actions (pick 3 PC's to go after and only alter it if someone dies); then ask a player to call out turns based on the sheet.
-Your best option is also your slowest: more enemies. Embrace mooks, and make sure every Boss has at least a couple (if not a handful) of capable guards.
-Without reading them... I wouldn't stress it. :smallwink:

[Dork_Forge]

Using a VTT would go a long way to streamlining all of this, the initiative tracker, the auto calculating to hit and damage (especially useful for new players if you or the more experienced players check their macros) and not having to remember or reference the to hit and damage etc. for your own monsters. As for challenging them, I'd utilise traps and difficult/hazardous terrain more, it allows you to affect most if not all of them and it puts the rolling on them not you, combine that with aoe effects. Like you could have a monster with a heat aura that damages everyone within 10 feet, but at the same time the ground is broken up so it hinders hit and run whilst the creature ignore the difficult terrain.

One thing you'll probably want to do is throw some smaller/easier encounters at them often as well purely to whittle down their resources, with a group that size you could have multiple people go nova per combat and still get through multiple combats without running out of resources.

[J-H]

Increase the number of foes and their HP. Unless you have something with exceptional action economy (Hydra or something with good legendary actions), no boss should fight alone. Medusa should have some constrictor snakes and snake swarms with her; that enemy knight/warlord should be supported by a couple of archers and a mage; etc.

[Joe the Rat]

Boosting headcount of enemies is essential. Large parties murder with action economy. Being able to return the favor will help. Upgrading every "boss monster" to include a legendary action or two also helps.

Keeping everyone engaged has been my biggest challenge. Sometimes you need to go around the table and make sure everyone gets a chance to play. In combat, remind playerswhen they are on deck so they can start planning.

[SniffyRockroot]

Use initiative both in and out of combat. Ask each individual player what their character is doing at any given point, in turn. Devise turn order for out of combat actions so as to ensure that everyone gets equal time at the top of the list. I don't know how your table works but I'm currently playing a game where a certain player feels the need to point out how his character might react or what he is doing in response to the actions of every other character. The long and short of it is that he tries to make the game about himself, constantly. Disallow such behavior.

If a player's character gets to move on initiative count 9, remind them that their move is coming up when you reach initiative count 10. Expect them not to hemm and haww about what their character is going to do when it's their turn. If they do, skip their turn. It won't take them long to get the message. Be sure to let everyone know you expect them to have an idea what their character will be doing when their turn comes around, and what the consequences are if they are not ready to act.

Don't be afraid to set up encounters that are structured in waves. Not every enemy needs necessarily to be on the board at the start of the encounter. If it's going too easy for the party, let more enemies show up.

[Hail Tempus]

You have nine players plus you? Honestly, that's unsustainable. The only way to challenge them is to ramp up the encounters substantially. At that point, with 9 PCs and at a dozen or more monsters per encounter, each round will slow down to a crawl. Nobody really wants to play a game where their turn comes up once every 15 minutes or whatever. You'll burn out as a DM trying to keep track of everything.

So, it's time for you to split the group into two campaigns of a DM plus four players. Someone needs to step up and become the second DM. If not, you should consider dividing the players into two groups of 4 and 5, then running two different campaigns.