Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 99typhoons Jun 01, 2015 20:43:47	Now our next session, may have 6 people playing. Usually its 2-3 people but some of my brothers friends want to join in on a session with them. This next session is going to basically feature 3 boss fights so the extra help might be nice but i dont want it to get unmanageable. i dont want to take any of the fun away from the main group but i can see where this mission might call for some extra help.    heres the situation in game,    The three main PC's along with one not so regular PC have reached the top of a mountain where a temple of their god is, where that god also lives, the bbeg is on his way with two of his generals in hopes to kill the god. The party sent word to their NPC boss for aide, who will show up (this is where i would add the other two, as their NPC Boss' security detail)    So the action will basically be them protecting the entrance of the temple while the BBEG sends in his two generals.    Any advice on how to run with 6 people. tips? tricks? any and all is appreciated.
#2 AaronOfBarbaria Jun 01, 2015 22:05:05	I run with 6 players more often than I run with less than 6 players. My advice is simple:   Run the game the same way you do when there are less players, but try to keep everyone at the table involved - get a volunteer player to track initiative, encourage everyone to cue the next player that it is their turn, you can even leave it to a volunteering player to track the damage dealt to each monster.   The only slight changes I make are to use less numerous monsters whenever possible so that the turns in which no player is doing anything are as short as possible, spread what the monsters are doing across as many of the players as possible so that their attention is better held when it isn't their turn (by which I mean if a monster has two attacks and can reach two characters, attack both rather than choosing the "better strategy" of focusing on just one, because the end result of keeping players engaged is more favorable than pretty much anything else), and don't let the players sit and deliberate - when a player seems confident about a course of action, start moving forward with that course of action, don't let the difficulty of getting more people to agree on one of multiple equal options slow down the "stuff is happening" of the session.   Oh... and a bit of more long-term advice: Don't have "boss fights." Trying to make a "boss fight" ends up putting entirely too much narrative importance on a single event and creates the possibliity that a battle that goes extremely well for the PCs feels like a bad thing because you tried to force it to be climactic and it ended up being anything but. Just make encounters that make sense for the story at the time and let them exist naturally, keeping yourself from any kind of special treatment on account of it being a "boss fight," even when it is an encounter with the biggest, toughest, meanest thing so far, or the prime antagonist of the story - trying to force a "boss fight" feel causes more disappointment, on both sides of the screen, than pretty much any other thing in adventure design.
#3 99typhoons Jun 02, 2015 7:26:14	Thank you for the advice. What you said is pretty much how i envisioned how to handle it, especially with how to attack the party. we already have someone who tracks initiative so thats a step forward too.    Although about the Boss Fights, thats exactly what this is. Its not some higher leveled Kobold attack that the PC's know they will not have any trouble with, these are villians that they have been preparing to square off against for a while now. Villians that have wiped the floor with them in the past. The villains have a goal that they set out to accomplish and now the party is able to stand and fight. They were confronted by the BBEG and he told them how he was going to kill their god, so they set out to reach her in her temople before they get there. the last two months of sessions have been leading to these Boss Fights. They are expecting a big fight rather than a sneak around corners and peak inside chests for magic items mission. My three main PC's all have been preparing for this upcoming event. NPC's have died on the way and new friends have been made trying to get aide for this moment. They all have the abilities and tools to get it done but yet they are still scared of whats going to happen because they know who the enemy will be, they know what that enemy is after, so its up to them. They know the one Main Villain is on his way. They dont know who or what ever is coming with him but they know its not going to be something weak. If there was no special treatment or preparation it would feel rushed and unimaginitive and just like every other adventure design that safely gets players from A to B. Then they would have just played the last mission with a new paintjob and different names.
#4 akr71 Jun 02, 2015 8:02:20	Snax! Don't forget that the newbies bring the snacks!
(Reply to #3) AaronOfBarbaria	99typhoons wrote:
#6 Barky Jun 02, 2015 20:08:55	On the "DMing 6 players" question: just make sure everyone's participating and no one's dominating the game. When experienced and new players mix, one of three things happens:   1) the vets are cool and advise the newbies.  2) the vets push around the newbies, ordering them to do X or Y or practically running their characters. This is very bad. 3) the vets play as if the newbs aren't there, barely letting them get a word in edgewise unless it's their actual initiative turn. This is also bad.   Make sure the new folks actually get to play.
#7 Eck Jun 03, 2015 11:57:21	Initiative tents are very useful especially for bigger groups. It lets everyone see when their turn is coming up next so they'll be paying a little more attention around the relevant times. Do a google image search, I'll try to post a picture of mine later.   Keep combat moving. In combat, your turn is for acting, not thinking. If a player doesn't act within 5-10 seconds, someone else can suggest a reasonable action and then the player has to go through with that.   - Eck
#8 FrankD20 Jun 03, 2015 12:22:57	My regular group has 6, and it can be a challenge to keep everyone engaged, especially during combat when they may have to wait 6 or more turns before they get to go again.  I like to get them involved in tracking the combat...like someone tracks initiate, another keeps count or rounds, another usually keeps up with how much damage has been done to a particular foe.  My group actually started doing these things on their own, and it really helps keep them engaged.  I also like the idea of the initiative tracker letting the next player know when they are up next, I'm going to start asking that person to do that.
#9 Varden_Khol Jun 03, 2015 19:28:42	If it really is three brand-new players and three veterans I would pair them up. Get them to sit Vet-noob-vet-noob-vet-noob and get the veterans to help their new partner with any basic questions. Playing with 6 players isn't much different, but as has been stated you want to keep the pace up. The problem you can come across in big groups is that there ends up being too much time between turns.   Another thing to look at is providing a lot of 'success with a cost' results for player actions. If the big group means your turn only comes around once every five or ten minutes then a swing and a miss (or, heaven forbid, a series of misses) can quickly become tedious for that player.
#10 99typhoons Jun 04, 2015 20:44:21	Thanks all for the tips. Of the other 3 joining, 2 have played to some degree before, just not with us. One of them is brand new to the game and his older brother has played alot. I am just worried he might not like how we kind of flub some of the rules and things to make things go a lil faster and easier, plus he has said how he got bored with another group once and just started killing people in a town.    I think we will be fine for the most part. The main three have these relics that will allow them to transform into dragons for a short time, that they have been holding off from using to use against this Black Dragon that they have been anxious to go up against so when that happens, the other three can hop on them and a pretty intense battle is bound to ensue. Or only one of them will turn into a dragon and carry the other five on their back into battle. who knows
#11 guachi Jun 05, 2015 22:13:18	Faster turn resolution for everyone is a good thing.   I had only three people in the adventure I ran last week and they spent five minutes, despite anything I said, discussing a plan they realistically had 10 seconds to react. It was really frustrating.