Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Swede1985 Aug 22, 2014 23:53:42	In about a month and a half I intend to play Dungeons and Dragons with as many people as possible, all day long, and with completely no preparation: all of it will be improvised. This is something I've been wanting to do for awhile, getting a huge group of players together and just letting the game go off the rails completely. I was hoping for some advice on the best way to approach this kind of game style, specifically... - How do you manage a table with seven or eight people? My normal group is about four and I want to balance everyone's imput during the game, but I don't know if some will be lost in the commotion.    - I've improvised games before (mostly when people are over and they just want to play whatever) but I've never intentionally had one of the key goals of the game to be completely improvised and I am worried I may run out of steam or the game will get too goofy (which, I suppose is fine, my games get silly much of the time anyway). Any advice on how to keep things going?    - Finally, this is the major point of the mega-session: I want it to be completely player driven. Instead of players reacting to me throwing things at them, I kind of want the reverse, I want players to throw things at me. I want to run this as a "pick your own adventure" sort of game, where players tell ME what they see, not the other way around. I think it would be an interesting way to run a game. There are ground rules, though, I run all NPCs and Monsters, and they can't conjure anything too specific that would fundementally break the game. Also, once the person, place or thing is conjured, it exists and cannot be erased. Some examples would be me asking them what they see as they look to the West, "My thief looks out and sees a ruined tower on the lower reaches of a tall mountain..." to specific stuff like, "You notice a symbol on the dead knight's shield. What is it? And what Order does the dead knight belong to?"    I don't know if this kind of world building would slow things down too much, but I've always wanted to try and run a game like this and looking to see if anyone has done the same, as well as some advice on improvising a long session.
#2 Eugee Aug 23, 2014 3:53:01	Use concepts from 13th Age, which is very much about group-driven story:   When you start them off in a tavern or on the road traveling, ask them what rumors they've heard, instead of telling them.  Those rumors are what is interesting to them.  Flesh out ones that sound good and have them add more.   That's all there is to group storytelling--it's like letting the players MadLib a little.   13th Age Icons is really about saying "here are 13 facets of this world, and now you can tell me the top three you find interesting, as well as if you want positive or negative interaction with it.   I've had completely zero-prep 13th age games that wrote a whole story during character creation and montage group stories like the rumors above.   That's how I recommend running an adlib game.
#3 PetardoMauriti Aug 23, 2014 3:55:25	With so many player is better to focus the game on combat or some turn based gameplay, so all players can play, otherwise is certain situation like social interaction 2 or max 3 players will take all the attention and many will do nothing for hours. Sandbox is impossible, because with so many players is hard to come to an agreement and many conflicts will arise.   As DM I would run a war or something where a bigger number of personnel is needed.
#4 iserith Aug 23, 2014 9:05:12	Swede1985 wrote:
#5 Noon Aug 23, 2014 21:03:15	Make sure they all have a life goal for their character (or more than one!). And not just 'oh, just have one cause the GM said so', but one they really want to play their character pursuing.   If they can't forfil that - well either you need one or two in the group who do, or I'd genuinely suggest declining to invite the person, telling them they really need one they like or otherwise it's a no go.   Don't let in the 'I just want to be a couch potato and be entertained' attitude, or otherwise you may as well just railroad (it's the only real way to forfil the couch potato brigade)
#6 crimfan07 Aug 23, 2014 21:42:58	I do a lot of improvisation as a jazz musician. IMO, when there are a lot of people, improvisation becomes very difficult and more constraint is necessary. You can be really free to go all over the place if there are, say, three or four folks, especially if they're good at their instruments and experienced with playing together. They'll be able to anticipate each other's moves, hear what the other people are playing, leave some space that someone else can fill, react to it. Once you get to five, it starts to break down. It gets harder to hear distinct voices. Arrangements have to become tighter. Players can only solo for limited times before everyone else gets bored and the rhythm section gets too tired to play. And so on.    So, also, it appears to me with RPGs. I like doing a lot of improvisation. With two players and a DM you can run all over the place and leave things up to the players, even if the DM creates a basic structure. This is assuming the players are the kind who have agendas, with the DM doing a lot of reacting. With three good players, that's possible, too, especially if they're good about not stepping on each other or including the other players in what's going on (aka "leaving space"). But once groups get large enough, I just always seem to find improvisation breaking down. It's not impossible, but more structure needs to be present. I guess all that's to say, good luck!
#7 ittyan Aug 23, 2014 23:12:57	This sounds awesome.  Some random thoughts I had:   - Are you allowing yourself to write down ideas ahead of time and reference them during play?  Maybe just cool one-offs or twists on a common trope or something that you can draw to help you out.  You could even have the players write down beforehand a few cool things they would like to see, and pull those out from time to time.  (Whose Line is it Anyway? solicits audience ideas all the time, so it's not really cheating)   - Are you allowed to have some generic NPCs rolled up?  Are you allowed to look over character sheets ahead of time?   - If you do get a few people sitting out ("couch potato brigate" I believe they were called above), maybe they are feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of players?  If you aren't careful in choosing who you play with, you can easily end up with a few strong wills dominating the game while the quieter ones just sit and wait.  Maybe ask one of the quieter ones if they wouldn't mind taking notes?  Just be sure they want to do it.  (Neat handwriting is a plus too)   - Actually you could have the players give you ideas on paper, not verbally.  This really helps engage the quieter folks.   - If you go this route and want the "Yes and" experience, maybe try a variation on Exquisite Corpse?  Each player writes something on a piece of paper, then hands it to their left.  The next reads what was written and adds a line to it, then folds the page to hide the previous line and passes it left.  Essentially, you only know what happend one step before.  Not sure what you do with this once it's done, maybe just skim it for inspiration from time to time?   - Random rule changes a la Crit Juice and their Drinking Gods deck.   - If the numbers are just too much, try having the group split in two (make it natural).  Then you can run one group for, say, 15 minutes, then the next.  This gives people a break to think and changes the dynamics notably.   - Don't forget to take breaks yourself and stay fed and hydrated.  Get up and walk around regularly, it will boost your creativity I guarantee it.   There's lots of good stuff in this thread.  Hope something in the above stream-of-consciousness is useful.  Let us know how it goes!
#8 Swede1985 Aug 25, 2014 10:09:23	Thanks for the great advice guys! I appreciate it. I've wanted to get some kind of D&D Event started with my friends, something we can do a few times a year, instead of our normal game every week. I am fairly confident in my ability to keep things running, improvisation wise, and I know more than a few of my friends are good at coming up with things off the top of their heads. I may download some dungeon layouts, nothing specific, just layouts - or I'll just map rooms as we go. I think I am going to get a few blank hex-grid papers and fill it in as we game as far as an overworld is concerned. I think once the players realize they can create what they want and the world is being built by them they will get into it. There's definitely some personalities at the table that overwhelm others, so I will come up with some kind of way to make sure everyone has input - maybe I will call for die rolls and once someone has contributed, they can't contribute again until everyone has, and then roll another D20.
#9 onceMoreIntoBreech Aug 25, 2014 11:42:24	Swede1985 wrote: