How to Run D&D for LARGE Groups | 10 Ways to Improve Gameplay

Large groups in D&D and RPGs suffer from a variety of issues: lengthy discussions, long tedious combat, frequent absences, side conversations, and more. Today we discuss 10 tactics to improve the game for large D&D and RPG groups.

1:09 Skip the Skit

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Editing ▶▶ Zack Newman
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#dnd #dungeonsanddragons

[jesusfreakroyer]

Matt Colville uses side plots to "interrupt" difficult decision making in a large group. When the party has the ideas laid out and are being indecisive, make a side plot interrupt them. It gives them a break from the problem at hand and when they come back they are refreshed and ready to move things along.

[Lcirex]

I was in a game with a co DM who did the combat rolls, track hp, ac etc while the DM focused on description and narrative for the battles and could focus on tell players what to roll for doing non combat actions ( swing on chandeliers. Etc...)

[Lcirex]

Once a group gets up to 5 players I pull out the 5 minute sand timer for discussions and decision will be make at the 5 min mark.

[Lcirex]

Not ready for 10 but Luke would feel at home with 20 fat cats. Also a round of applause for fat cat dutifully making to every skit since he got back to the table.

[claudiabock]

My first official time DMing I had 9 new players who have never played before. I premade their characters and a contained setting. I split the party into two teams to give each team a battle while the other half takes a break for a fetch quest. They rejoined for the final battle and had a blast :)

[emessar]

RE: Gamemaster Co-DM / Multiple DM's
I've had a couple campaigns where we did different things to help distribute DM duties. The first was what we called a Realms campaign. Since most of us were DM's, each of us took a section of the world to flesh out as a campaign area. As the characters travelled the world and moved from region to region, we would hand off DM duties from DM to DM ... and of course there was a prophesy that drove us from place to place. Whoever's realm we entered that DM's character would have to leave and go on a solo adventure that someone else would run ... which was great for really spotlighting that character. Alternately, you can just let the character stay in the group and have them take a back seat.

Another was more of a co-GM type situation. My friend was running a Shadowrun campaign and we were using Roll20 as the VTT. The plan was that he would send me information about potential locations for his story and I would flesh out maps, we could bounce ideas back and forth for different elements, then at the table, I could help run the combats and look up rules so it didn't slow things down as much. Theoretically, I could also run a subset if the party split up, which is common in Shadowrun with the Astral plane and the Matrix. It started out pretty good, but over time he was less communicative, and I just wound up making a character and playing. I still think it's a valid idea because different DM's are better at different things. I love drawing maps and designing combat encounters, but I'm not necessarily the best at coming up with the stories that tie it all together.

[stephm]

One of my best tools for my large party is a simple in-character FB chat. A lot of my group are from an old text RP background and that's been a way to keep people engaged and playing both when they're off-screen (aka our stealthy folks went off to scout) and between sessions.

[shallendor]

The advantage with groups of 6-8 is that if 1 or 2 miss, you can still play. Our Pathfinder group is 6 players and if we end up with 3 players, we usually play a 1-shot or alternate campaign.

[cpcupcake]

1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9 are stuff i think are equally important for smaller groups
4, 5, 6 are usually also good for smaller games
The issue i have with larger games is more that a large group of people just doesn't stay focused, people start talking to each other etc

I've seen co-DMs used for 2 things. First is if a large party wants to split up, then each DM can take one group. This also lets you design encounters where the party HAS to split up.
The other is as an assistant to help with bookkeeping to help keep the game flowing faster, ie. if the DM gets asked a question they do not know the answer on the top of their head, the co-DM can look it up while the initial DM continues with other players.

[jgr]

"play with whoever shows up"
I'm DMing for a 4-player party & I do use this rule a lot. if at least 2 players appear, it's D&D time.

[agsilverradio]

6:20 What I tend to do, is assume they are all following, unless someone says otherwise, or a plan of splitting-up and/or going in one at a time was discussed.
...
Sometimes some of the player characters will scout ahead, while others will stay behind, but only by one room at a time.

[RyuuKageDesu]

The way I usually run number three, is that those two characters go, and return with information about what they found. It allows those players to feel like they are helping, by scouting, and it keeps the party together.

[kyleward]

I played in a group of about ten players back in college before starting my own group. It took forever to complete a round of combat, and the DM loved massive combats that ended up taking hours.

[metarmored]

The barbarian yelling "are you guys getting payd?" Fitted so well in the scene! Almost as good as the plugs

[OC]

"The DM Lair: We put the easy in sleasy, because we can't spell."

[mikeneid]

Thanks, this video gives a lot of new perspectives and even new lights on things I already do well. I take pride in saying I think I handle things well without help or advice, but you've put a whole lot of useful tidbits all into neat and easy to understand viewpoints. I'm definitely gonna watch this again.

[undeadamerican]

I’ve co-DM’d before. But not for a large group, but to train a new DM. Main DM ran the adventure, I helped with logistics (Roll20 prep and encounter tuning). It was also good for the DM to have a backup for feedback between sessions. And a player to help guide the other players from the inside to minimize DM disrupting campaign decisions.

[AiNoMiko]

Thank you for this! I just committed to a 7 player group... at least for the next 5 months tops, a lot of this is going to be very useful to me and keeping game play going. The info about decision making and spotlighting players was particularly useful, adding diplomacy should be a great help, and I know I have some players louder than others to address :)

[darttgaming]

I have 6 players in my weekly 5E homebrew group. Each of them has their own character story/mystery/quest to work on, and between them they have to decide on a general course of action while the world does 'world things' in the background. They don't always all show up. We still play. Their characters are just doing stuff in the background. The rogue is doing shady stuff, the wizard is doing research, etc. If they want to split the party, they usually wait until they're in town. They've discovered that their friendly DM has ZERO problems killing them if they split up in a dungeon or mid-fight.

[viktoriaj.]

This is a pretty great and relevant video. My boyfriend just started storytelling RotFM with a large group (7 players 8 characters) where we have to agree on dates months ahead. Even then, some people have to cancel last minute, understandably. So far, what we have then done, is splitting the party - kind of. Basically, we have pickup sessions with those interested and could not attend and do a side-quest which lasts the time the party has advanced. This way, the players get to play while also explaining away where their characters were while they themselves were absent. So far, so effective. These are new players, mind you, and they are very invested in the game, hence us figuring out this solution.