Ten Man Party For a Party [4e]

[drawingfreak]

I am throwing a gaming party next month with about ten people on the guest list. I was originally thinking about doing a gladiator themed game but I am not sure I can come up with any interesting material for it.

Here is what I am asking:

Provide me with material/ideas for either a gladiator game or something that you think would work better for a large group. I was planning to split the group into separate parties at different times, providing other non-digital games for the players not currently active (Flux, Zombies!, Munchkin, etc.), so allow for this as well.

Much thanks!

[Yakk]

Get a 2nd GM.

Really.

In any game with 10 players, unless there is some mechanism for simultaneous turns, the time spent watching : playing ratio is out of hand.

If you have 2 DMs, then you can run the game in parallel. If you go with a gladiator theme, the characters could be mixed and matched between teams between fights, and the emperor can "call off the match" when bored (if one group falls behind the other).

[Shardan]

ya. what Yakk said. ten players is crazy for any rp game. go for 2 groups, 2 parties, and either mirror image dungeons with a few differences just to keep the groups from eavesdropping their way through it or dual dungeons where group A has to puzzle solve to open group B's path and vice versa

alternatively zombie invasion, orc army, etc where the sheer size of the event makes multiple parties worth understandable

[Kurald Galain]

Get a 2nd GM.

This, oh so very much.

[Bibliomancer]

How many of them are experienced players? You should probably promote one or two to be assistant GM (ie, keep track of rolls, etc.).

For a dual level gladiator tournament, here's an idea that might work if you have two differing experience levels:

The Test of the Pupils

The Ice Rainbow Path has aligned with the Setting Star, and so the time has come again for the Voletorat, the greatest test of weaponry and martial skill in the Three Continents. Each sage must bring a pupil to this event, for to be a true master of the Way one must be able to pass on one's knowledge, lest it die out in the turning of the moons. To participate in the Gelzaman and have a chance of winning a Snow Flower, whose petals can cure any disease and whose leaves can create any form of magic, the sage must rely on his or her pupil's performance in the lower level of the Gelzaman. The outcome of each pupil's duel determines the conditions for their master's combat.

Each sage stands alone at this event, but since this year five flowers have bloomed where in previous years there is only one, five prizes will be awarded. Thus, the solitary masters must struggle to overcome their isolation and form groups with trustworthy rivals, even if they use disciplines and power types wholly alien to the sage's practices.


As an added twist, once the pupils gain enough confidence with the system, boost them to their master's level through an intermediate (and secret) Ritual of Realization, and merge the two parties for the final stage.

[drawingfreak]

Ahem. As I said before, they will be splitting themselves up depending on the situation.

Example: They are told they are about to fight X. Several characters do not feel like their skills will come in handy while battling X so they opt out.
Those characters' players will move over to a separate table to hang out and be entertained with other games (such as Flux or Munchkin) until the players who stayed have defeated X.

Also, thank you for your suggestions. Sadly, I don't think these are the kind of people that can handle two GMs.

[Kurald Galain]

Those characters' players will move over to a separate table to hang out and be entertained with other games (such as Flux or Munchkin) until the players who stayed have defeated X.

Okay, what if the side table hasn't finished playing Munchkin yet by the time the main group has defeated X? Or what if they get bored playing Fluxx and decide to go out for a beer? I wish you best of luck but this doesn't seem like such a great way to get people enthused for roleplaying.

[Bibliomancer]

Out of curiosity, why wouldn't they be able to handle two DMs?

[DragonBaneDM]

Played a game with ten people once.

Broke up with my girlfriend over it.

Be careful, sir. The second DM holds the key to salvation!!! OH! And 1st level characters. So very easy to make.

[Yakk]

So, half of the people who show up to a D&D party don't get to play D&D?

And/or, people who are playing D&D are being enticed by people playing something else?

These are not good things.

[Doug Lampert]

Get a 2nd GM.

Really.

In any game with 10 players, unless there is some mechanism for simultaneous turns, the time spent watching : playing ratio is out of hand.

If you have 2 DMs, then you can run the game in parallel. If you go with a gladiator theme, the characters could be mixed and matched between teams between fights, and the emperor can "call off the match" when bored (if one group falls behind the other).

I've both played and GMed in a group of 18 (i.e. 17 players and 1 GM at a time).

It works PROVIDED you're not running anything combat heavy, as long as roleplaying is far far more important than dice rolling it's fine. I'd consider a social or mystery game with 10 players and 1 GM, I'd run in terror from a gladiatorial scenario unless the players were running the BETTORS or managers rather than the gladiators.

Note that there are games like "how to host a murder" DESIGNED for very large groups, and LARP groups routinely run at 10 or so players per GM. But again, combat isn't the focus.

My experience with large groups is that it works with systems like Pendragon, Ars Magica, and Runequest where multi-decade personal goals for characters is considered fairly routine and there's lots of downtime and roleplaying, there are whole sessions with no actual combat, and even in combat it's likely that one or two characters will clearly be the leaders and everyone else hangers on of one sort or another.

But when people tried combat heavy games (which D&D is in all versions) they've all failed in my experience. I'd run a non-combat scenario if running for 10.