Size Does Matter

Collectively, our group of gamers seems to like it large. What I am speaking of is party size.

Historically I have not had an issue with large gaming groups. I now consider it the norm. The Tuesday game originally started over 20 years ago with 10 players and a GM. I have always had a problem turning people away. There is a social aspect to the game that cannot be denied. We get together to socialize and to have fun. Not being able to participate is not fun. I have also found that group size tends to fluctuate. Sometimes we have what seems like too few players and other times we have what seems like too many.

There are certain pitfalls that come with a large group of gamers. At the top of my list is keeping everyone’s attention. I have found that this is very difficult. When it is not their turn to act, players can tend to zone out, get distracted and talk amongst themselves. Players that are not fully engaged need to be prompted and reminded constantly. This slows down game play which in turn feeds the situation which allows the players to be distracted in the first place. Phones, laptops and various reindeer games compound the problem.  

With party sized being so large, I have recently noticed that the combat map seems to be getting clogged. With so many characters on the board it gets harder and harder for PCs and NPCs to maneuver. Size and physical features of the encounter area are proving very restricting. This seems to lead to longer actions and in turn longer combats. Sometimes players are left with no action other than waiting for an opportunity to act when a space opens up. This is acceptable upon occasion but it seems like it is becoming more the norm rather than the exception.

Using my current Pathfinder games as examples:

• Tuesday – 7 players
• Saturday  - 8 players, 1 follower and 2 pets
• Sunday – 5 players, 2 followers, 2 pets and many summoned monsters
• Play-By-Blog – 6 players and 2 pets

I think that larger groups may function better at lower power levels. Fewer options means faster player turns. Faster player turns means faster combat rounds. The whole game speeds up. I think that is why Pathfinder Society games can be run in so short a time period. There is a hard cap on the number of players and the characters and NPCs are less powerful and more vulnerable.

I have been looking from this from the GM perspective. Maybe the players are seeing it differently.

Welcome

Welcome to a new blog experiment on my part. In the past we have created blogs to service the needs of the various games in which we participate. Currently we have four active blogs but the focus of each is specific to the group that plays in that game. In some cases, the audiences overlaps.

What I would like this blog to be is a place that can be used to address things that may be of interest to all four groups without having to duplicate the same information on multiple blog. I would also like it to be a place where we can “kick the can” about topics that are on our minds as GMs and players. Lastly, I would like this to be a place where we can keep in touch. There has been a large cast of folks that we have gamed with over the years and we do not get to see each other as often as we once did.

I have added everyone on the initial distribution with author rights. This means that you can add a topic anytime you like. As always, you can comment whenever you like. If you want to receive an e-mail whenever this blog is updated, let me know. I can also do the same for new comments. There are only 10 slots available for each of these features. As an alternative, you can also follow this blog and add it to your read list.

If you have the address of someone that I might have missed and should be added to the discussion, let me know. I will add them.