GMing for Large Groups

The ideal size for a TTRPG gaming group is about 4-5 people, but sometimes we find that we have a much bigger group. My own home game is usually around 10 players. For those of us who run games for larger groups, whether on a regular basis or just every once in a while such as a convention game, there are unique challenges to deal with. Let’s look at some ways to address those challenges and keep the game fun and interesting even with a much larger group.

Player absences: One of the first challenges for a game of any size is scheduling. Finding the same night every week that fits into everyone’s school work or school schedules can be difficult. If your group is double the average size, it’s double the challenge, particularly when you add in player absences.

I have seen player absences handled a number of ways. If you run a game only when everyone involved is present, you may lose 50% or more of your game sessions to absences. If you want to avoid having absences disrupt your game, first the group needs to decide on how to handle them. Alternatives that will keep the game moving when a player is absent include running the player’s character as an NPC, designating another player to play the absent player’s character, or having the character simply be unavailable for the duration of the session. If a player knows they will frequently be absent, it can be beneficial to create a role for them that explains the character coming and going from the group.

Distracted players: With a large group, you’ll likely have a lot of situations where not everyone has an active role in the current scene. Rules limiting side conversations and use of cell phones or other electronics at the table can help, but it’s more effective to keep everyone involved in the game. Pacing can be a key factor here. If only part of the group is engaged in a slow activity like information gathering, set the scene, have the players describe how they’re handling it, and boil it down to a single roll. As the GM, you can try to group tasks; for example, the party might split up to investigate multiple leads and then come back together for an action scene. If the group is split during an action sequence, move between smaller groups quickly. Have each smaller group take one action, then switch the perspective to the next group. Another technique you may adopt is the “swing the spotlight” principle from the game Fellowship. An acting player has the spotlight, takes their action, and then “swings” the spotlight to the next player of their choice. This can help keep players interested in what each other’s characters are doing.

Campaign Progression: With so many players contributing to your shared story, sometimes a campaign can progress slowly. You can keep your campaign moving by focusing on the interesting parts. Narrate the action when the PCs are directly engaged with the plot, but gloss over parts of the story they’re not involved in or that don’t involve much action or meaningful choices on the part of the players. They spend a month with the Duke’s army building fortifications or marching to the site of the next battle? Sum it up in a sentence or two of exposition and move on to the action.

PC development can suffer from slow campaign progression as well. In many games, gaining experience and improving one’s character are a major player motivation. Alternate experience awards, such as larger awards for plot progression or simply having all of the PCs level up at regular intervals, can help ensure that your players see their characters improving at a decent pace.

GM Burnout: Running games for large groups is a challenge, and sometimes the GM can get exhausted. One way to handle this is to switch GMs when the current one needs a break. My home group regularly switches GMs and game systems to help avoid stagnation and GM burnout. Another way to do this is to have a shared world where players take turns GMing the same game. Each player can develop and run games in a different part of the world, or players can take turns running different story arcs.

Individual GMs can also take steps while running the game to avoid exhaustion. If your game requires a lot of prep, such as building encounters or designing game elements, try recycling. Use the same encounter again, but change one or two things, such as switching from goblins to fairies or modifying the map. Reskin just enough that it doesn’t look like the same encounter again and your players will enjoy it just as much. Or build encounters to be modular - build the stats for a group of four goblins, for two wolves, and for a giant spider, and create different combinations of these groups for different encounters. It can also help to use premade adventures. I’m an ardent RPG hacker and never just run a premade adventure out of the box, but I will scavenge elements from them such as an encounter, a magic item, or a map.

While larger groups can present unique challenges, GMing for them can be very rewarding. These techniques can help you and your many players enjoy the thrills of a good TTRPG at the long table!