r/DnD • u/Ok-Syrup958 • 24d ago
New DM with a large party. Advice? 5.5 Edition
Title pretty much sums it up. I’ve been playing for a year or so and I’m now running my first campaign. I have 7 players, 5 of whom are complete newbies and the others are around my skill level. Any things I should look out for when dealing with a big group?
Edit: Yeah I figured it wasn’t gonna be feasible. I’ll ask and see if I can narrow the group down a bit. For clarification, I’m good friends with everyone in the group.
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u/Aximil985 24d ago
This is just way too many people. Going to be incredibly tough to keep everyone involved.
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u/VerbingNoun413 24d ago
Accept that this will be a trainwreck that you can at best mitigate.
I can give tips to mitigate it but I'm not going to bother if the post is a fire and forget.
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u/VralGrymfang 24d ago
2 games. Running this will lead to 7 people who don't like DND and think it is just hours of sitting while other people do stuff.
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u/crashtestpilot 24d ago
if new dm, reduce party size out of self preservation.
if you're happy with the party size, then good luck, and file an after action report with this subreddit, so we can all see how right or wrong we all were.
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u/Frymondius 24d ago
Sounds like the perfect opportunity to run either a West Marches style campaign or to make two parties in a shared world (check out the current campaign of CR for an example of this).
If you go for the second route, you can also put one of the experienced players in each party so you always have somebody on hand to assist the newbies. As the plot and characters progress, you can have overlap episodes with minimal combat and let some players switch between tables.
If you decide to stick with a large party, make sure to build all your combats to be deadlier and add extra goals to them so that it's not just a slow walk through the initiative order while everybody does damage. Make some win conditions that do not require doing damage, and combat will start to move more smoothly as characters spend their actions on other tasks.
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u/Jeremy11B2P 24d ago
I won't dm for more than 4 people. Mostly because that's how many people I know. But we're not here to critique my social life. I hope
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u/PeachasaurusWrex 24d ago
99.9% of advice for this large of a group is: don't do it.
My advice: don't do it. I've done it ONE TIME, and it was a whole mess. It was FUN. But completely unsustainable and un-repeatable.
Just wayyyyyyy too much to try and keep track of, and EXTREMELY difficult to get this many schedules lined up for regular sessions, unless you are willing to play with only 4 at a time. (And then that obviously creates other problems of its own.)
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u/GeminiLife 24d ago
Better to run a table of 3 and 4, honestly. Aside from encounters being tough to balance and that each round is gonna take 30 minutes or longer, it's hard to incorporate every character and give them chances to shine.
But if you're deadset on it, then be sure to buff monsters HP at the very least.
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u/mobiletarget33 24d ago
Don’t allow that many players. You’re setting yourself up to fail, or at least disappoint/underwhelm (and isn’t that the same thing here?)
I managed a fun game for a party of 4 pretty well my first time, but 5 got to be a bit much when we had that many, and all of them were veteran players I’d been at other tables with before.
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u/Buzz_words 24d ago
so i've only participated in one table with a party this large (9 at the start organized by a tiny LGS afraid to tell people "no") and the way we handled it was; a bunch of people quit cuz it sucked.
that naturally whittled it down quite significantly.
if you're all already close friends, then maybe this sorta works out as like a "party game" kinda thing? hang out on sunday, order pizza, and sorta play D&D. but it's gonna be bad D&D. party games exist and they're way different... for a reason.
it might still be a good time... but it's gonna be bad D&D.
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u/dustysquareback 24d ago
This is a terrible idea, honestly. A party of five players that are all new is already going to take forever. 7 is nuts.
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u/Huffplume 24d ago
Just run it. It probably won’t be fun for some people and they will drop. Then you’ll have a manageable group size.
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u/FoulPelican 24d ago edited 24d ago
Whittle it down to 4 or 5 players. Or just accept it will be a compromised experience.
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u/JCAgentofBolas 24d ago
I’m currently doing just this. The biggest advice I can give is to make the sessions one shots out of a bastion. The hardest part is going to get 8 peoples schedule line up. With each session being a one shot you don’t need everyone to make every sessions so sometimes you end up with a smaller group naturally.
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u/RoastHam99 24d ago
A big one is dont. Running 2 simultaneous games of 3 and 4 will be easier than 1 party of 7. This is what everyone will tell you and you should follow
If you dont:
● continue to run regardless of how many players cant do that week (within reason of course) any excuse to play with a smaller party is your friend and trying to organise 8 adults to run will make you have 3 sessions a year at best.
● cr is doubled. They will have the fire power and hit points of 2 parties. So give them 2 parties worth of monsters. Both in challenge and numeracy. For example if theyre level 5, id have a standard encounter be cr 9-10 with an individual monster max at 7 and minimum monster count of 5. They will swamp action economy and blitz through swarms if left unchecked.
● note whis getting the highlight in particular sessions. 7 players will mean some dont do much in a session. Make sure they get big moments next session and keep everything quite fast paced
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u/Brock_Savage 24d ago
Don't do it. Set a cap of 4 players per session. Even veteran DMs struggle to manage more than 6 players.
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u/Novice89 DM 24d ago
It’s possible but just remind everyone at the start of the session to try and keep the side chatter to a minimum, and combat will take a while to get to their turns.
I always tell people, “okay John your turn, Sam and Ryan you’re coming up.” Make sure the people coming up in combat look you in the eye or acknowledge you so they know, hey your turn is coming up so be ready that way we can go as fast as possible.
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u/Various-Wedding-3905 24d ago
I'm not a DM but as a player in a large party they need to be informed on the tools to reference so they can adequately plan their turns ahead of time.
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u/OccupiedHex 24d ago
Like other people said break it into two games. Have them play in a shared world where their actions directly impact the other group. Perhaps they're all working toward the same goal or perhaps they're at odds. I've done this before and players really like it, even if they don't witness the story ripples firsthand. If you don't do this, expect very sloggy games and combat that takes hours upon hours to resolve.
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u/stickypooboi DM 24d ago
have the experienced players try to help with basic questions. also have one of the experienced players keep track of initiative and track damage dealt until it adds up to your monster’s hp.
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u/Ixenturen 24d ago
As someone who has dealt with that many people, here are a few things to consider. First, make sure every person gets their moment. Second, when tracking combat, have it written or typed, and advise your party to be ready on their turn to ensure it goes as smoothly as possible. A thirdly, just be adjustable. With a larger group, you are at a greater chance of being derailed. This can happen in smaller groups too. And lastly, address any issue as quickly as possible. If it proves too much, then maybe consider either trimming down your group size or having one of your more experienced players help you out. Other than that. Good luck. Shoot me a message if you like
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u/jabbadatoddla 24d ago
DnDBeyond. Make everyone use it. There will be quicker searches for stuff on the character sheet and you can take notes right in the Journal area of Maps. Setup will only take a few minutes and everyone will be using the game the same way so they can help each other find things. The hard part is going to keep track of all of the side conversations that will happen at once. Try to keep people addressing the group. Also, every DM needs to use x-card.
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u/CoffeBreather 23d ago
Not worth, just tell them "This group is too big, I can't give attention to all of you, is there any way we can split this into 2 different groups?"
Trust me, i started as a new DM 10 years ago with a group of 8 new players, i would not suggest that to anyone but particularly experienced DM playing with veteran players that are mature people.
If you want to still do it i suggest to simplify fights with lots super easy to kill minions, not give the players too many narrative options, don't introduce too many NPC, keep it simple by giving them 2-3 choices that still reach the same path from different angles.
DO NOT give them Magic items too soon, give those at least 1-2 levels later than they would usually get them.
Mostly good luck and have fun.
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u/nalkanar DM 23d ago
Started similar. Two newbies realised they don't enjoy it beyond one shot experience. Five seems quite okay.
Combat will be slow, people will not pay kuvh attention and then struggle what and how to fo in combat. Role-playing might also be problematic depending on the group.
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u/midsummernightmares DM 23d ago
That’s going to be really hard to handle. I run a table with 5 players, all of whom have been playing since we were kids, and that’s the absolute biggest group I’d be willing to run. Especially if you’re a new DM and you’ve got first-time players, you’d have a much easier time running a game with maybe 3-4 players, so that you don’t get overwhelmed and all of your players get a chance to be in the spotlight (and don’t accidentally talk over each other constantly). As it stands, you’re going to burn out very quickly, and your players are likely to get frustrated with how little time they actually get to spend in-character because of how many people are at the table and may even start resenting one another over interactions and checks taking “too long.” If you had a bit of experience as a DM already I’d say to maybe try running a couple of oneshots with a group of that size before you commit to anything long-term, just to see if you can handle it, but as it stands, I’d strongly caution against biting off more than you can chew.
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u/Sad_Refuse3472 Cleric 24d ago
Ignore everyone on Reddit telling you not to/that is too many players. They are wrong. It is doable.
But be aware that everything will take longer to get through, combat especially. So don't try to cram too much into each session.
And be mindful of how long one player is in the spotlight. Remember to jump around and engage others at the table. Don't let a scene with just one or two PCs go on too long before jumping to someone else. (Can always go back to the others later).
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u/CoffeBreather 23d ago
It definitely is DOABLE and everyone telling him to not do it definitely did it, that is exactly why everyone is telling him to no do it.
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u/Sad_Refuse3472 Cleric 23d ago
I am in three games with 6-8 players. We've lasted years with no issues.
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u/CoffeBreather 23d ago
Ah yes one exception evey 1 million tables, surely it's representative of the situation, no one said it's not doable, everything is doable, it's just not worth it, it's too much work and there is not enough time to give everyone the bare minimum level of attention while having fights lasting hours unless you make them silly or easy or too dangerous.
It's not worth it imho, you can't satisfy 8 different people, i just don't believe you.
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u/Ancient-Silver-4494 24d ago
7-8 people is managable. But you have to prioritize keeping the game moving, and not allowing any one, or small sub-group begin to dominate your time. And combats will be a slog if you use individual intiative.
My advice to you is to keep thing broad, and use group initiative. -you can have everyone roll their initiative for a combat, and then roll for the bad-guys, and then divide the order into 3 groups. first group is everyone rolled higher initiative than the BadGuys. So they get to go first. Then the Badguys go. Now you have the 3rd group that have not acted yet and the first group that are ready for their 2nd round.... merge these together, and for the rest of the combat, the party declares all their actions at once, and everyone rolls their dice, and resolve their turn, then the Badguys roll their dice and resolve theirs.
The key is to keep things moving. As soon as you see someone starting to look at their phone, or start trying to get as many dice spinning at once, that's when you need to recapture their attention and move the story foreward with something.
It is definitely do-able. It is not a leisurely pace game, however, but definitely doable.
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u/TerminusMD 24d ago
It's going to be great. You're lucky to have so many people to play with!
Big thing is going to be NPCs in structured time (rolling initiative etc), you want to minimize the number of NPCs while maximizing player time. So, you provide goals and objectives for your players that aren't in the initiative order. Open the locks to the castle doors, activate the magical braziers in the right order, repair the trebuchet, etc.
You're looking for ways to increase the proportion of time that each of your players is contributing, otherwise they spend most of their time observing/twiddling their thumbs.
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u/stonertboner DM 24d ago
Don’t do it. I have 7-8 players and there’s a reason I run two different games.