Group Size

[Nonimo967]

To those of you who are veteran players/DM of SoE, what do you personally feel is the best Group Size for the game?

I'm an experienced DM who has his major experiences in Pathfinder and D&D. And although I'm quite comfortable with running up to 8 players in a game, I feel that 6 is the golden number for player size. Though this number seems far to large for games like Deadlands.

I'll be running my first campaign for SoE soon with 7 players and I'm slightly worried it would ruin some dynamics of how the game expects you to play. I say slightly as I feel the lightness or rules will greatly help alleviate with the group size.

[Clovis]

Seven indeed seems like a lot to me. Then again, there's nothing against it per se, and if you're used to dealing with large groups, there's no reason that it shouldn't work! If your players are cooperative, this could even be an excellent experience.

Shadows of Esteren is intended to favor an intimistic atmosphere, so groups of 3 to 5 players are preferable. Playing with less or more is possible, though the game's atmosphere will change accordingly. Likewise, adapting the scenario's challenges is advised, lest the dangers lose their intended proportions.

I believe that with a party of 7 players, the game will be less about the characters' psychology and more about their adventures, since you'll have less time to detail each PC's feelings, emotions, and opinions. However, as I said, if you and your players can deal with so many participants, I can definitely see it working.

Hope it helps!

[Nonimo967]

I'm also blessed that the majority of my players really do have a head for role-playing and understand the difficulties a DM/GL has to go through because a few of them have DM as well.

What I have notice with larger groups is that intimacy within the group can still happen however it is often that there are strong sides or splits that add even more drama to the group. The good kind of drama, the one you role-play with and not argue with. These differing sides or cliques are often just kept together through convenience because they share a similar goal.

I certainly feel that the hardest part of running a large group is keeping a consistent interest in a goal to a party full of varied individuals. If the majority are in interest to that goal, the rest are likely dragged in through convenience but there gets to be that instance when the a player is in doubt why his character still remains in that group. Definitely a tough thing to balance.

Then there's combat. It's certainly a breath of fresh air to have a system that is rules-light as this. It brings me back to my roots and allows for fights to flow smoother and more adaptive in terms of role-play than always relying on combat mechanics. It's a pleasure to run it with the large group and I feel that, given time, I will find that golden spot of making it challenging and not overly deadly.

[Clovis]

Sounds like you have the right kind of players for such a large party, then! As you say, even with many players like that, the atmosphere can still be very gripping and intimate.

As for keeping a common goal, as I always say, the best thing to do is usually to take care of that from the very beginning: finding reasons for the party to stick together should always be an important step of character creation. Otherwise, you run the risk of having PCs that only remain in each other's company because the plot demands it.

And yeah, I can only imagine that when playing more rules-heavy games, combat can quickly turn into a headache! SoE should indeed give you much less trouble in that regard.

I hope that your game will run as smoothly as it sounds like it will. Feel free to share your experience!