The Ten-Player Table and the Kiddie Table
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Last Wednesday, I ran an absolutely immense game of D&D, with 10 players at the table. Yes, 10.
We’ve had about 4-5 players on average for D&D Encounters, but on Wednesday, we had more and more people arrive. Bridget was actually able to make it, since my brother came to visit and offered to put our son to bed.
The kids who come and play invited some of their friends, and had even helped them make characters beforehand with the Red Box, so I felt like I really couldn’t turn them away.
In the end, the table was packed with ten players, more than half of them around the age of 10.
We had two hours to complete one encounter with ten players. Hmmm…
Since we were moving directly into the encounter with almost no exposition (the encounter directly followed the last encounter), we dove right in. I was scrambling to find more lizardmen to pull out of my minis, and in the end, I think I doubled the minis with the intent of turning some into minions on the fly in case we were running late.
We didn’t need to. The players were fantastic, blowing through the encounter and monsters like they were nothing. I even tried some dirty, underhanded tactics, and they just kept killing. We had two kids who had never even played before, and they had a blast.
I talked about this on the latest episode of RPG Circus, and talked about some advice I have about anyone running a table that large, specifically about keeping the game running. We recorded that on Tuesday, and I showed up last night (Wednesday) knowing I’d have just as many players.
Wrong.
I had more. One more person had shown up. It was at this point, I decided we needed to split the party. One of the guys who usually shows up graciously offered to run another table, and we split up, with the kids deciding they really, really wanted to all play together.
This was them... The entire night.
So what happened? I ended up running the kids. There were five of them, and they were all friends, so I noticed a lot more table talk than last week, and without adults there to help, there was a woeful lack of tactics. I had the two party wizards in close combat most of the game.
By the way, we had three fighters and two wizards. Not surprising, since I’ve found as a 10 year old, you either want to be a tough guy with a big sword, or someone throwing fireballs and lightning, with not a lot of interest in the areas in between.
I found that without adults there, the kids were much harder to wrangle, and we actually ended up taking longer with 5 than with 10. The game didn’t go badly, but next week, we’re going to split the kids up between tables. It’ll just be easier that way.
I absolutely loath playing at a table with more than 6 people. Ive played at a table with 9 people and i had no fun whatsoever and I got easily distracted waiting 20+ minutes before my next turn. It got so bad, that i couldnt even vest my PC into what was going on and didnt really care what happened. The DM tried to get me vested in the plot, but it was too late. It eventually lead to me being blindsided out of a personal quest where everyone left me behind to do other things. after a few hours of sitting there, I got up from the “other” table and left. The group decided to kick me out because they thought I was being childish and selfish. I really wasnt having any more fun with that large of a group so it didnt phase me much. Was mad I got kicked out since I had been there since almost the beginning of the campaign but I digress and dont talk to that group anymore either.
I don’t think I could ever do a 10 player campaign.
loneislander´s last [type] ..Games of Past – Epic Fail
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Yeah, I just added a 7th player to the table I DM, and I definitely wouldn’t want to add another, let along three more… if another person shows up, I’ll probably divide into two four player groups; maybe rotate the players between the two groups, so everyone gets to play with everyone.
Brian´s last [type] ..Dungeon Accessories- The Wheel
One of my monthly groups is 8-10 players. It is a casual game, which I think you have to play with so many people. It still works. On a good night we can get through two to three encounters in a four hour session. I think its all about your attitude and what you expect of your game.everyone keeps showing up month after month, so I figure theyre satisfied with the game. We’ve been able to pursue some interesting stories, even with a crowded table.
I know this post was about efficiency of the group within one night of gaming (i.e. speed). But what about the bigger picture? For us – it always comes to small, flexible groups who can play often with shorter sessions that last maybe 3 to 4 hours tops – to large groups with _everyone_ at the table who TRY to play often but ultimately end up rescheduling 100 times before the campaign goes bust. Large groups work really great with one shot adventures — but never/rarely for long terms games. At least for me. I wonder how group size correlates if at all with age of the group? Me thinks — the more kids/children needing sitters, job demands, etc the less likely the group is going to be more than five or six. Oh.. and Anarkeith — you are a very lucky duck.
jonathan´s last [type] ..The Butcher- the Baker- the Candlestick Maker- Part III
I know this post was about efficiency of the group within one night of gaming (i.e. speed). But what about the bigger picture? For us – it always comes to small, flexible groups who can play often with shorter sessions that last maybe 3 to 4 hours tops – to large groups with _everyone_ at the table who TRY to play often but ultimately end up rescheduling 100 times before the campaign goes bust. Large groups work really great with one shot adventures — but never/rarely for long terms games. At least for me. I wonder how group size correlates if at all with age of the group? Me thinks — the more kids/children needing sitters, job demands, etc the less likely the group is going to be more than five or six. Oh.. and Anarkeith — you are a very lucky duck.
I absolutely loath playing at a table with more than 6 people. Ive played at a table with 9 people and i had no fun whatsoever and I got easily distracted waiting 20+ minutes before my next turn. It got so bad, that i couldnt even vest my PC into what was going on and didnt really care what happened. The DM tried to get me vested in the plot, but it was too late. It eventually lead to me being blindsided out of a personal quest where everyone left me behind to do other things. after a few hours of sitting there, I got up from the “other” table and left. The group decided to kick me out because they thought I was being childish and selfish. I really wasnt having any more fun with that large of a group so it didnt phase me much. Was mad I got kicked out since I had been there since almost the beginning of the campaign but I digress and dont talk to that group anymore either.