this post was submitted on 21 Jun 2023
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I have a pretty sizeable group of friends who like to hang out and play RPGs together. We've done a handful of games, ranging from crunchy stuff through rules-lite games. But one common theme is that our games can go pretty slow. We're a group of 7 most of the time, which means 6 players + 1 GM, which is can make stuff very slow. Iterations of D&D all suffer from this, and it gets really bad in games like Dark Heresey for us. But even tropey, free-form games like Blades in the Dark and most stuff on the Apocalypse engine feel sluggish, since they're so tightly based on the Player-GM feedback cycle.

The only types of games that I've found play quickly with a large group are the light, beer & pretzels games like Everyone Is John, Paranoia, but those don't extend well beyond 1 session. I also like the higher-stakes, longer-form RPGs where the players can shape the world at scale.

Are there games that can support both longer-term campaigns AND large groups, or am I looking for the impossible here?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I have a lot of the same gripes and my group can be 7 or 8 players (plus GM). So I totally get you. I don't have an answer, I wish I did. Combat seems to be the biggest problem (we play DND). But yeah, even apart from that I see your point.

The only thing I've been considering is splitting the group somehow. The problem is that radically shifts the way the game works. You have to have 2+ GMs for that to work. Either two permanent ones or one permanent one and one that rotates. But regardless, it becomes a much more collaborative environment because the GM can no longer be the sole person dictating what happens in the world.