What was the largest party you’ve encountered?

[WadeWay33]

I’ve ran a game for 26 people before. Never again.

On a side note, what party size do you prefer? I prefer 3-5, but rarely get to DM for that size.

[ThatoneGuy84]

My current game fluctuates 4-8 players usually 8 is my max at our table

[Wizard_Lizard]

I'd be lucky to get more than three
largest was 6, but the whole group only turned up for one session.

[MaxWilson]

I wish I were old enough to insert a Woodstock joke here.

Largest party, I dunno, I think ten people? I prefer enough for PC-PC interaction, but not so many that spotlight time is scarce, so 2-4 is my ideal. (Plus NPC hirelings and henchmen.)

[Zevox]

For my regular group, six, plus the DM. That didn't last long though. Five plus the DM is the largest that's gone for any significant length of time.

I did briefly join a group at my college that was larger, probably 9 or 10 PCs plus the DM (it was a while ago, I don't recall the exact numbers anymore), but that only lasted a few sessions before scheduling issues killed it.

[Darc_Vader]

I’ve been in 3 separate campaigns with a six person party. In one we actually had seven players, but one member left early on and another joined later, with no overlap that I recall. Another group had 5 + dm and added a sixth for a few sessions before we split into two concurrent groups of 3. And the last was just a straight up party of 6 for the whole thing. Definitely prefer a group size of 3 or 4 + dm though.

[Amnestic]

I’ve ran a game for 26 people before. Never again.



Could you give some details on this? Legit curious. What was combat like? RP scenarios? Just how big is your gaming table? Did you need a Talking Stick?

[Contrast]

I'm currently in a game with 6 players + DM which is the largest I've played in for any time.

I once played in a one shot with 10 players but there was also 2 DMs running and it was really more 2 groups with some interaction than one group.

[WadeWay33]

Could you give some details on this? Legit curious. What was combat like? RP scenarios? Just how big is your gaming table? Did you need a Talking Stick?

Combat was a complete nightmare. Everyone was actually pretty good at preparing before their turns. It was extremely difficult to figure out what to make them fight, and they beat a lich (with minions) at level 12. It became very difficult to challenge them. RP scenarios were a bit more manageable because they were very good at having conversations with each other in character, and having multiple conversations at the same time.
We had to fit three old-school cafeteria tables together for everyone. I ran that campaign for about a year, then COVID hit, and we had 3 sessions online (which, somehow, was worse), so we’re still planning to resume once everything gets back to normal.

[DeTess]

We had to fit three old-school cafeteria tables together for everyone. I ran that campaign for about a year, then COVID hit, and we had 3 sessions online (which, somehow, was worse), so we’re still planning to resume once everything gets back to normal.

If I where to run combat for a group that size I'd probably run it more as a war-game than a DnD encounter, with lots of very simple minions (at least as many as players) +1-2 more complex things. Ideally I'd have a second or even third GM to help with combat though, and maybe structure it as a more 'they-go, we-go' thing rather than initiative order. Maybe split it up in 4 groups, 2 each of enemies and PC's, to reduce the alpha-strike potential of any side.

Honestly though, I've attended LARP's with better GM:player ratios than that, so I wish you the best of luck XD

[truemane]

I ran a 2nd Edition Shadowrun game for 12 people once. I'll never do that again. I played a Mage the Ascension one-shot with, I think, nine PC's.

I don't like more than four players at a table, but it usually winds up being five or six.

[heavyfuel]

A 3.5 game at one point had me DMing for 9 people.

Not super large a group, I suppose, but it was chaos. combats lasted forever due to the sheer number of turns per round and role playing a 10 minute bit for each player took literally an hour and a half.

Since then, I vowed never to play with more than DM+5 players.

DM+2 is by far my favorite composition.

[Democratus]

Back in the 80s I ran a 12-player AD&D campaign using the old Saltmarsh modules. We had to use a pool table because there were so many of us.

Playing without miniatures (theater of the mind) helped a great deal.

Back then, it wasn't unusual to have parties this large. The DMG even suggested that you try to have one DM for every 20 players , iirc.

[da newt]

I'm playing in a Roll20 game with 9 PCs (and 4 familiars) - it can be arduous and 5' wide passages are our nemesis.

My preference is 4 or 5 PCs - not too hot, not too cold, just right.