I've run campaigns with 5 and 6 players. It's not that hard if:

• All the players are familiar with the rules set you're using.


• Designate one player as caller.


• Designate another as mapper.


• Designate another as secretary to track HP, AC, treasure, etc.


• Give each player 30 seconds to take his action on his round. If he's not ready, he misses his action.

Quote from: Haffrung;781953

• Give each player 30 seconds to take his action on his round. If he's not ready, he misses his action.

Slow player decision making is an annoyance when GMing, especially when there are a lot of players. In one way it would seem like having 6 or 8 people (including the GM) take a turn before you have to declare your action would give a player plenty of time to figure out what they are going to do that turn. (Because the vast majority of the time those other six or 8 actions don't make a huge difference in what actions are optimal for the player or in fact, simplify the available choices.) But sadly, in practice most players aren't using the wait time to make their decisions, do their dice roll ahead of time, or anything else productive and their brain doesn't actively start making the decisions until the GM says something like, "So Bill what does Ragnar do this round?"

I probably should put a 30 second decision making limit on the players. I used to have a 1 minute hour glass. Maybe I need to find that.

I don't give players 30 seconds.  Combat actions in GURPS are sequential, everyone knows where they are in the order, and I expect them to have their acts together.  When I call upon you, you've got somewhere between five and seven seconds to tell me what you're doing.  When that time expires, I hold up a closed fist, and start flipping fingers up, one per second.  If I reach five, you've spent the round dithering and can do nothing but stand there gaping like a fish.  (As to that, this is realistic enough; sometimes people's minds do short out in combat.)

I don't recall how far back I've been doing this, but it's been a couple decades anyway.  To date, I can remember exactly twice counting a player out.

Biggest group I've GMed for at once was 12 for an Albedo session back at the disasterous AC10.

It was alot of fun. But I prefer groups of 6 or less as its easier for me to see who is talking. Though my last regular group was 7 for a Star Frontiers campaign.

I can well sympathize with the ego boost of having a big group. Especially if the group is obviously enjoying themselves. But there can easily come the point where you cant handle it.

Thats when you have to give ego the boot and rethink things.

Hopefully your DM will hit on a viable solution.

I had a friend who was a great GM using, of all things, RoleMaster with players who were not familiar with the system. Then again, maybe it would have been harder with players who did know it, since more things become rules issues the less it's simply a matter of "the ref is the rules."

But he didn't usually run RM for groups larger than 4 players, maybe even 3.

Mechanical complexity is certainly a factor. Something on the order of BX D&D, or Advanced with judicious selection of chrome, is pretty good for 8 or 9 players (the actual expectation of some old scenarios).

The most important thing, though, is that the game should suit the GM's style.

Quote from: Bren;782132Slow player decision making is an annoyance when GMing, especially when there are a lot of players. In one way it would seem like having 6 or 8 people (including the GM) take a turn before you have to declare your action would give a player plenty of time to figure out what they are going to do that turn. (Because the vast majority of the time those other six or 8 actions don't make a huge difference in what actions are optimal for the player or in fact, simplify the available choices.) But sadly, in practice most players aren't using the wait time to make their decisions, do their dice roll ahead of time, or anything else productive and their brain doesn't actively start making the decisions until the GM says something like, "So Bill what does Ragnar do this round?"

I probably should put a 30 second decision making limit on the players. I used to have a 1 minute hour glass. Maybe I need to find that.

I like old fashioned "simultaneous moves" preceded by declaration of intent. I take a few seconds to decide for my GM figures, then go around the table asking the players. Someone who's not ready gets passed up. If when I come around again he's still waffling about, then so is his character.

Another thing I've done is simply get on with the local action immediately upon hesitation. "The ogre steps over the body. What do you do?" (Most players: "We're running!") "He raises the bloody club for a swing. What do you do?" (One player still just standing there, I toss the dice.) "It crashes into your skull, 10 points. What do you do?"

Quote from: Phillip;782292"The ogre steps over the body. What do you do?" (Most players: "We're running!") "He raises the bloody club for a swing. What do you do?" (One player still just standing there, I toss the dice.) "It crashes into your skull, 10 points. What do you do?"

Hope I am wearing a full helm? Fall down incapacitated? But then I played a lot of Runequest 2.

Quote from: Phillip;782292Another thing I've done is simply get on with the local action immediately upon hesitation. "The ogre steps over the body. What do you do?" (Most players: "We're running!") "He raises the bloody club for a swing. What do you do?" (One player still just standing there, I toss the dice.) "It crashes into your skull, 10 points. What do you do?"

Hell, I didnt even have time for that!

All I heard was "Thogg Sm-" then POW and I am out for the rest of the battle which was nearly a TPK.

What is with all the "Señor Member" titles, did the swibble get you?

TT - Yeah, in the old days a grenade rolled down the stairs and you took 5D damage, no saves.

IMO, you need simple systems for larger groups.

I've run 12 person Gamma World and it worked better than 8 person WFRP. The more abstractions in the system, the easier the choices, thus faster the gameplay.

I love Rifts, but I would cringe to run more than 6 players. But I can run a 10 player Mechanoid Invasion without much of a concern.

BUT my issue has been running Call of Cthulhu with larger groups. Even though its mechanically simple, I have trouble holding together the horror atmosphere with more than 6 players.

Quote from: dragoner;782400What is with all the "Señor Member" titles, did the swibble get you?

In a fit of whimsy, I decided to add a new user title for people who get to 1000 posts.

Ok, that's cool.