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Message no. 1
From: William Monroe Ashe <wma6617@****.TAMU.EDU>
Subject: Advice needed in handling large group of players
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 08:23:02 -0500
I know that this topic has been dealt with before, but it finally
happened to me ...


Well, I guess that I'm way to nice a guy. IRL anyway, I've got a group
of about 9 players. Some are very skilled, some are not. I need a
little advice, or tricks to keep a large group moving smoothly.


thanks in advance

Bill
Message no. 2
From: Brett Borger <bxb121@***.EDU>
Subject: Re: Advice needed in handling large group of players
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 09:36:31 +0000
> I know that this topic has been dealt with before, but it finally
> happened to me ...

It happens to the best of us....

> Well, I guess that I'm way to nice a guy. IRL anyway, I've got a group
> of about 9 players. Some are very skilled, some are not. I need a
> little advice, or tricks to keep a large group moving smoothly.

time limits during combat turns. Also, in a recent battletech game
(we were 8 people controlling a total of 32 units) we discovered a
neat trick to save time: everyone was responsible for knowing,
inside and out, a certain subset of the rules. Much faster than
everyone having some knowledge of everything. We also made sure
people weren't sitting there doing nothing...if it isn't your move,
you should be planning for when it is.

Now SR is more role than roll is, so this isn't the same, but I
imagine the concept will work just as well....have the mages worry
about magic, and the sammies worry about combat.

another Nice touch is if you can have a Guest Villan play, who rolls
NPC's....you lose a little control, but it goes faster if the GV is
skilled, and can create some interesting situations.


Brett Borger
SwiftOne@***.edu
AAP Techie
Message no. 3
From: GRANITE <granite@**.NET>
Subject: Re: Advice needed in handling large group of players
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 07:56:31 -0700
> Well, I guess that I'm way to nice a guy. IRL anyway, I've got a group
> of about 9 players. Some are very skilled, some are not. I need a
> little advice, or tricks to keep a large group moving smoothly.

Well THe best way I can think of to keep things moving
smoothly..Reduce the size of your group..
Perhaps start a second gaming night.. That is if you want to keep all
your players..and perhaps introduce a couple more..Then if one or
both of your groups reduce their size due to attrition..combine
them..Otherwise..Good luck..9 is at least 3 bigger than is optimum in
my book..

--------------------------------GRANITE
"Rock Steady"
===============================================
Lord, Grant Me The Serenity To Accept The Things I Cannot Change,
The Courage To Change The Things I Can,
And The Wisdom To Hide The Bodies Of Those People I Had To Kill
Because They Pissed Me Off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ShadowRunner's Serenity Prayer
Message no. 4
From: Mark Steedman <M.J.Steedman@***.RGU.AC.UK>
Subject: Re: Advice needed in handling large group of players
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 16:38:52 GMT
William Monroe Ashe writes
>
> Well, I guess that I'm way to nice a guy. IRL anyway, I've got a group
> of about 9 players. Some are very skilled, some are not. I need a
> little advice, or tricks to keep a large group moving smoothly.

You need to pat attention to how much time ndividual players are
taking up and trim it, harshly if needs be. also avoid as many dice
as possible when they don't matter, handle buying stuff etc quickley,
a good rule on this for any group is require the players to look up
the item and have the book its in ready for you and the item, cost
street index and availability code all written out so when they ring
the fixer the GM doesn't have to go leafing thorugh books to find out
about what they are trying to buy.

If you are going to have sub plots, small discussions try to aviod
them needing NPC's you have to play, feed one player part 1 another 2
etc so they can roleplay things out wihtout yuo too keep everyone
busy.

Also you will probably have to run more action orientated adventures
so folks keep going together without so much one on one background
leg work.

In your case it moght be worth having a word with your experienced
players and getting them to pair off with the less experienced for
advice on dice pools combat tactics and background information so you
don't have to spend so much time explaining this sort of thing to
them yourself.

No there isn't an easy solution, but some days it just works, i once
ended up sitting looking at 8 players wondering what to do next
because they were all so busy roleplaying with each other i had
nothing to do. Unfortunatley planning things that well just doesn't
work, some days it goes fine other days its all stop and start, Mr GM
what next.

You might have to do a bit of prodding with this many players as well
to 'please pay attention to the real world' if 4 are planning on
going off for a long scouting session and the rest are not doing much
either agree the GM will tell it more as a story and they accept less
input on the specifics of thier actions or they rethink at player
level so everyone has something to do.

as usual its much easier to make suggestions than implement them in
practice with lots of folks awaiting you providing thier
entertainment but best of luck.

mark
Message no. 5
From: Shaun Hall <Hard.master@********.ATT.NET>
Subject: Re: Advice needed in handling large group of players
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 03:18:46 -0700
>
>
> Well, I guess that I'm way to nice a guy. IRL anyway, I've got a group
> of about 9 players. Some are very skilled, some are not. I need a
> little advice, or tricks to keep a large group moving smoothly.
>
>
Break them up into two smaller groups. Your best bet is to get the
number of players in your group below seven. I've run games for groups
between two and ten. It is possible to run a game from even more players
than that, but you need very good players with a lot of self-control. In my
experience optimal results are generated by a group of five or six. You can
also get excellent results with smaller groups, but you need to tailor the
games to suit the individual interests of the players, and make sure that
the interests of the individual players are compatible. With nine players
some are going to be left out of the majority of the game. They will most
likely be the least experienced players, or those who are less vocal and
aggressive. As GM I feel it is your responsibility to see that every player
has the chance to have a good time, and I don't believe that is possible to
do consistently with a group of nine.

Shaun
Message no. 6
From: Michael Vander Donk <mdonk@******.OZ.AU>
Subject: Re: Advice needed in handling large group of players
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 08:56:55 +1000
William Monroe Ashe writes
>
> Well, I guess that I'm way to nice a guy. IRL anyway, I've got a
group
> of about 9 players. Some are very skilled, some are not. I need a
> little advice, or tricks to keep a large group moving smoothly.

You need to take the focus off yourself. By that I mean, if your in full
complete control of the story and game, and nothing can happen without
you, then nothing will happen.
Tricks to do this. Keep the group together. (ok .. almost always
impossible). when the group splits. you need to split your time. The
best way to do this is maybe 10 minutes each group (sometimes more with
a quick cutback). Leave them at a cliffhanger or where they can do thing
on their own (eg next combat turn, or you're just described the room and
guards they need to get past).

You need to keep a close eye on peoples input. encourage those that dont
speak, and speed up, or stop those that do (too much)

Dice. Avoid them at all costs. This is difficult to come to grips with,
if you play as per the rules it's too slow for a large group. Have only
1 roll from players in combat (I shoot x, roll, you then roll the dice
in your head to see what happens. Same as rolling just use a law of
averages. (the NPC was hit. need 4 succ with body 4 to take no dam. so
they got 2 and their hit in the forearm...) The PC still has the chance
to hit/miss but you control damage. Similar the other way. You roll to
hit, they roll dodge/soak...
Have the players ready with their roll and what they are doing when you
get to them .... If they are fumbling or asking what to do, skip them
(and come back)...
So when you look at Bob to see what he is doing you want to see, "i'm
firing at goon 2. two 4's, 3 sixes."

Have your other more experienced players help the others and you.

Always try to have the run planned beforehand. (including unused
subplots for the people not involved in the current focus)

Or train someone as a GM. Means you have 2. This takes alot of work to
synchronize correctly. but is very good with large groups. It means you
can run the story and GM2 can run interference...... (and you might get
to play occasionally.... :-)

Hope that helps ...

Michael.

--
What's the difference between a duck? One of it's legs are both the
same.
Your ignorance cramps my conversation.
Message no. 7
From: Tim Cooper <z-i-m@****.COM>
Subject: Re: Advice needed in handling large group of players
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 21:44:40 EDT
On Wed, 10 Sep 1997 08:23:02 -0500 William Monroe Ashe
<wma6617@****.TAMU.EDU> writes:
>I know that this topic has been dealt with before, but it finally
>happened to me ...
>
>
>Well, I guess that I'm way to nice a guy. IRL anyway, I've got a group
>of about 9 players. Some are very skilled, some are not. I need a
>little advice, or tricks to keep a large group moving smoothly.

Keep it moving, and try to keep them together, or at least in large
groups... if it splinters into individuals, the game goes down the tubes
as it takes HOURS to go anywhere. Hopefully your skilled players will
realize this and try to stick together to make your job easier (and their
game more fluid).

Also, try to limit long sessions with only part of the group, the other
half will get bored and restless right quick.

Aside from that, I'd just warn you about playing a real 'strict' game,
rules wise... leaning more toward a free-form/loose sort of game helps
quit a bit.

~Tim

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