Dealing With Large Parties

Part 3: An Afterword

In Part 1 of this article, I looked at developing encounters for large groups. Part 2 examined handling large numbers of players. There are a couple other weird issues to consider when you've got a large group of players in your game.

1. Beware of the Groupmind.

Logic would suggest that the more intelligent people you cram into a room, the more brilliant solutions to problems that they'll come up with. My experience has shown that to not always be the case. For some reason (probably having to do with the psychology of group dynamics), a single strong personality seems to be able to dominate a group -- intentionally or not -- more easily if the group is say, eight people rather than four.

But it's more than just that. The "groupmind" that I'm talking about here can take over a sizable party through a combination of the following:

A. Each person has less of a say in a large group than in a small one, and may just go along with things without contributing.

B. Details are forgotten or lost altogether when a lot of people are talking.

C. The illusion of safety in numbers encourages recklessness.

The groupmind, when it takes over a group, takes the path of least resistance -- the easiest, most straightforward path, which isn't always the best one. I've seen large groups persistently miss important clues and just "bash their way along" through an adventure more than I've seen it happen to small groups -- doing things they'd never do if the group were simply smaller. I've seen more instances of people not always knowing what's going on in larger groups. Communication is harder with more people. People miss details. The amount of "oh, there were two doors in that room?" behavior increases in a larger group.

The solution for DMs is to be willing to repeat yourself, go slowly, and occasionally address a single player or a subset of the group with necessary details rather than always to the entire gathering. This latter strategy only works occasionally, and only with the right individuals. But sometimes giving information to one or two people allows them to come up with a good response rather than watch them be paralyzed within a large group structure.

2. Too Many Opinions.

Of course, the opposite problem is that with six, seven, or eight people around the table, you've got six, seven, or eight differing opinions rather than just four or five. More opinions means longer discussions, even over trivial matters, dragging things out far too long.

Of course, sometimes the problem isn't too many people expressing an opinion, it's just too much chatter. Players miss details of what's going on in the game when they're talking to another player rather than listening to the DM (or when two players near them are talking while the DM is talking). Whether it's related to the game or not, with more people in the room, there will always be more side discussions.

Some groups solve this problem by having a leader. This can cause as many problems as it solves, though, so unless the players have a real natural born, well-liked, intelligent leader in their midst (and just because someone thinks he is one does not make it so), I don't recommend it.

What I do recommend is to encourage discussion, where everyone gets their say, but don't just sit by while they argue all night. Either personally "Okay, you guys, I need to know what you do..." or encourage them through a plot device to come to a reasonably quick resolution.

3. Player Absences

Life sometimes creeps in and keeps people from playing. Whether it be homework, vacations, or whatever, sometimes someone can't come over. With more people, the likelihood of absence increases. If you've got a group of seven, chances are, you'll be playing with six quite often.

The solution is to always try to get players' schedules ahead of time when possible. If someone's going to be gone, work their absence into the plot so their character is gone as well. If the absence comes as a surprise, that's harder. If you can end most sessions at a point where people can "leap out of" or "leap into" the adventure that's always desirable.

Of course, sometimes players are absent even when they are there. People going off to the bathroom, to get snacks or drinks, outside to smoke, or whatever, can mean that players miss out on the action and then have to be "caught up" when they get back (slowing things down again). With a large group, there's that much greater a chance that, at any given time, someone will be out of the room.

Encourage players not to leave unless their character isn't involved in the action. Or, better yet, establish a set break every two hours or so, and encourage people not to leave the game table between those breaks unless it's an emergency. That way, you actually get everyone there all at the same time and things can get done.