Café de Nuit

Wanted to open a topic regarding a small issue. It’s probably mostly an issue on my part but cross talk during game time I think can really slow down the game at my table. To be fair however I have a group that is abnormally large compared to most.

From online I’ve seen many people looking for games because no one in their area. I have the opposite. I actually have a pool of 20+ people that play in my area all related friends who went to my school. (some are more welcome than others of course). Narrowing the one’s that actually come to my game it shrinks to about… lets see…

D, R, A, C, C, K, S, and myself. (That’s about eight people? Might have a ninth one coming more regularly now as well. Letters used in place of names. I could almost spell Dracula with those! )

So with about 7-8 players I’m sure you can imagine it’s impossible to pay attention to all of them at once and I try to be fair and give everyone attention after another. What’s some tips you guys might have for the OOC chatter while I’m interacting with someone else(s)??

I’ve seen a suggestion like a Co-DM but I don’t like that for the fact that then they can’t all experience the full extend of what I have in store. xD It may come to that however we’ll see. Heh you should see all the people trying to fit at one table xD.

Feel free to drop comments, questions, concerns, tips, and a bloody hand or two.

Zilfer wrote:Wanted to open a topic regarding a small issue. It’s probably mostly an issue on my part but cross talk during game time I think can really slow down the game at my table. To be fair however I have a group that is abnormally large compared to most.

From online I’ve seen many people looking for games because no one in their area. I have the opposite. I actually have a pool of 20+ people that play in my area all related friends who went to my school. (some are more welcome than others of course). Narrowing the one’s that actually come to my game it shrinks to about… lets see…

D, R, A, C, C, K, S, and myself. (That’s about eight people? Might have a ninth one coming more regularly now as well. Letters used in place of names. I could almost spell Dracula with those! )

So with about 7-8 players I’m sure you can imagine it’s impossible to pay attention to all of them at once and I try to be fair and give everyone attention after another. What’s some tips you guys might have for the OOC chatter while I’m interacting with someone else(s)??

I’ve seen a suggestion like a Co-DM but I don’t like that for the fact that then they can’t all experience the full extend of what I have in store. xD It may come to that however we’ll see. Heh you should see all the people trying to fit at one table xD.

Feel free to drop comments, questions, concerns, tips, and a bloody hand or two.

You assign an order. And they must follow. 8 or 9 people is a lot so a Co-Dm might be necessary. One person alone would be hard pressed to run a game in some circumstances.


On the other hand, if you are well prepared and adamant about order in your game, it shouldn't be that much of a problem. You are the boss after all, if you think about it.

I think the tabletalk issue is a hard one to handle, especially with these larger groups. My players are fairly rambunctious, so I can certainly empathize. Oftentimes, with some of my louder players, I felt like they weren't participating in the game enough, that they were detracting from the mood, and that it was adversely affecting the game. The conclusion I came to was that since everyone else was having fun, I needed to just get over it. When it comes to your game, I guess I would ask myself if everyone is enjoying the game sessions. If they are, I wouldn't mess with what you've got going. If you feel like you have a change in mind that would make people enjoy the game more, however, then you can always give it a try.

Something that I have found curbs OOC chatter is to give the PCs things to mull over. If you are juggling multiple plots, especially ones that leave gaps in the group's understanding, they will often return to those mysteries to chew them over when they have free time (like when you're dealing with another couple of people). Fostering intra-party conflict can help there. I frequently give my PCs moral conundrums where they have to wrestle with issues that they may or may not be able to reach a consensus on. Giving them an in-game issue to talk about (in or out of character) can be a good solution to this problem.

I hope this helps. Good luck with your game.

Yeah, they have fun sometimes and other times 2-3 of the people might be annoyed by someone not "focused" on the game. It's not just a concern of mine sometimes, it can be a little bit of a problem when there's two discussions going on at once and the person your talking to accross the table can't even hear you over the other chatter. (though I suspect some of my players either have selective hearing or are deaf because I hear them just fine! xD)

Yeah, I would probably go with a co-DM or split into separate campaigns. (To save yourself work, maybe two groups in "parallel worlds" running through the same campaign on different nights. You could even work in occasional crossover events to shake up the parties and move people from one parallel world to another.)

I really think the optimal party size is 3-4. Even 5 is a struggle for me. I did 12 once. That was a disaster.

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:Yeah, I would probably go with a co-DM or split into separate campaigns. (To save yourself work, maybe two groups in "parallel worlds" running through the same campaign on different nights. You could even work in occasional crossover events to shake up the parties and move people from one parallel world to another.)

I really think the optimal party size is 3-4. Even 5 is a struggle for me. I did 12 once. That was a disaster.

Did a 12 before. It actually turned out pretty well. Though yes the more you have the more unmanagable it gets. xD I'm beginning to also think the harder to focus on individual stories. Splitting the group into two games probably would be ideal but we don't have a spare table to set up in another room! XD Sorry your 12 was a disaster. xD

Some of the people show up on Friday, and other's later Saturday. That might be a way to do it. Though I guess the second group might get more of a show because I'll already have practice DMing the prior night. xD I'll think on it this week for Friday coming up.