Been asked to GM for a large group (9 guys) at a reunion weekend of a bunch of old friends. Everyone has at least a little RPG experience, though for some it’s been as much as 10 years since they were big into the hobby. My first thought was split into smaller groups but that seemed to defeat the Guest of Honor’s purpose. No preference for one system or another so right now I am leaning towards World of Dungeons for a shallow learning curve, not requiring a ton of prep, and ease of playing to familiar tropes. Anybody have any stories to share about large group play (fun, horrific, or otherwise)? Suggestions for how to keep that many people engaged at once would be especially appreciated.
Been asked to GM for a large group (9 guys) at a reunion weekend of a bunch of old friends.
Been asked to GM for a large group (9 guys) at a reunion weekend of a bunch of old friends.
When I run DW for the local con I usually have 6-8 people wanting to play for each slot. I’ll tell you right now, you need to be fast and witty. I was going around the table, literally, to make sure everyone got some spot light time. I went in with almost nothing, and that was a mistake. These people weren’t use to a more narrative driven game (like DW) so when I asked them what the world was like I got a lot of blank stares.
Biggest piece of advice I can give is, “Get to playing as fast as possible.” Do whatever you have to so you can start rolling dice and doing awesome things. This might mean you do pregen’d characters, or perhaps you have a mildly railroaded adventure planned out, but whatever you do get to playing quickly. Last time I ran all we did was one fight against a dragon the group had been hunting. With that many people in the group it took a while.
Finally, be merciless. They do something dumb, you kill em. I had a paladin make himself immune to the dragons acid breath. The barbarian didn’t want to be out down (player was pretty immature) so of course he jumped in the way of the breath weapon to “save” the paladin. The barbarian died so hard 😛
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9 people? Maybe try Funnel World instead of core DW.
When you get over 9 people it gets hard to keep the group focused.
Tell them they are looking for a halfling with a ring. Then send every elf in the world after them.