I’m very excited that very soon I’ll get to finally try out Night Witches! I’ve assembled a local team of amazing lady gamers who will boldly take to the night skies!
The only problem is that I got a little over-zealous in my recruitment. I invited six players assuming 1 or 2 would either not be available or interested, I was wrong. So now I am in the unique situation of running a very large NW group. Does anyone have experience with that big a group, or have any ideas on how to best handle it?
I thought about pairing them up so that each session they have a partner in scenes, allowing me to make my way around the group quickly enough that they don’t have to wait around much for spotlight. (It also happens the players attending fit into pairs of old friends really nicely and it might be a cool meta-comfort level for them with the newer players)
Also, I gotta say, I’ve finally started to fully read the core book and I am super amazed! The moves are incredible once I started to see how they all fit together. I am soooo excited to see this in play.
Six is a lot, as you surmise. I have never run it with that many, and screen time will be an issue I’d be up front about.
Another huge issue will be PCs filling up the entire combat section, which means PCs are going to die a lot. It isn’t hard to whip up a new pilot but it is kind of a drag. Maybe they represent two (competing!) combat sections.
I would look for ways to lower your player count. Consider asking them to alternate sessions with you as a constant. Consider asking one of them to step up to run a parallel game, possibly at the same time and location.
I did five and it worked fine, even as a one-shot. Six feels heavy.
That’s a good point, with every seat being filled in the Night Missions, that’s going to get deadly real quick. :\
I had toyed with the idea of two Sections in play, but would lack missions to fill out the Duty Stations. Nothing saying I can’t write up a few custom ones though to act as filler, right?
[is continuing to think about this]
I would definitely have two sections for 6 players. You really need some other women besides PCs in the mix.
And it’s the same mission for all sections, so that’s not a problem.
My word so many NPCs.
Re Missions: So I would have the two sections fly the same mission, but with their own “team” rolls?
That’s what I would do. Independent results based on the same fictional prompts, maybe with the section choosing the mission (with the highest-ranking officer) going first, and setting the tone for the follow-on section.
I imagine with six players there will be fierce competition for precedence, so make sure you know who became a pilot-officer candidate on which date in 1941/42. Earliest in of highest rank = ranking officer.
NKVD will want to know all about the failings of the lesser-performing section of course.
I’d say so, yeah. You can determine the overall success of the night’s objectives based on that of both sections and use that as ammo during the Debrief. A little competition between the PC groups would be an interesting theme.
I’m still a little concerned about the size, but I feel a lot more confident going into it with this approach. I’ll make sure the players understand how we’re doing things differently and that they’re all comfortable with it.
Also, Paul Beakley, you’re evil! 😀
The first game we played had six players plus me as GM and it went great. I wrote a narrative account of that game which you can access here if interested: https://www.dropbox.com/s/67c00mz0v2clqxs/NKVD%20Report.pdf?dl=0).
We found that lots of PCs meant lots of rolls which meant lots of Mission Pool for the Night Phase. Having the entire section made up of PCs also meant that there were plenty of Vedomaya Moves available to spread the consequences around. (I’ve actually found after four games that the fewer players there are the more casualties there are).
To drive the narrative, we found that interpersonal conflict that affects multiple PCs is key. If each PC is pursuing their own unrelated plot line, then there is not enough focus on any one player. When two or even three PCs are involved in achieving the same concerns, dealing with the same threat or, better yet, competing for the same goal, it makes it easier to ensure that the players have a stake in having an active role in the fiction.
It also helps to have PCs with competing Advance conditions guided towards a narrative engagement with each other. For example, a fun dynamic can arise between a Leader (Advance if “someone under your direct command died”) and a Protector (Advance if “you saved someone’s life”). Dreamers and Zealots can have a similar dynamic because of the significance of the NKVD for these Roles. There are also a number of Character Moves that push the other PCs’ buttons (and therefore propel the narrative) rather than providing strictly mechanical benefits. Moves such as Shit Talking and To Hell With Death are great for this.
With all that said, I have to admit that six players is not my preference. The above strategies are mostly about trying to give everyone equal air time (as it were) and with four or even five players that happens more naturally.
Jerry
omg Jerry Daly this MKVD report you made up is incredible. Thanks for sharing it and your advice/experience! 🙂