Hi, I just bought The Sprawl and I noticed that it said it was for 2-4 PCs and 1 MC. Are there any problems running it with more than 4 PCs? I was potentially going to have 5, and I could pick a different game if it’s going to be a problem (though I really like The Sprawl and don’t want to).
Hi, I just bought The Sprawl and I noticed that it said it was for 2-4 PCs and 1 MC.
Hi, I just bought The Sprawl and I noticed that it said it was for 2-4 PCs and 1 MC.
Probably depends on what playbooks people choose as some of them will need more attention than others depending on the fiction. Hackers doing fairly solitary tasks will need to be balanced so that other players aren’t sitting around waiting but that’s an MC issue in handling the characters and the fiction..
Nothing bad happens with 5. Just takes more management.
You should be fine, it’s just on you a bit more to switch around and zoom in on different people doing different things. I can’t imagine 4 players makes it magically easy to switch between people and frame scenes well, but then you add one more person and it’s all flaming wreckage and horrified screaming.
Source: run the game for 5 players.
Because of the conversational nature of play, most PbtA games work best with 3-4 players. 2 provides an interesting buddy-cop style experience, and 5 can certainly work, but you have to be particularly aware of spotlight time. I have run and played PbtA games for 6 before but the division of spotlight time is a real issue.
Incidentally, I think most systems work best with 3-4 players. I generally won’t play in a con game with more than 4 players.
The more you know and can adapt to the interests and requirements of the players, the more these numbers can be bent.
In terms of mechanics, be careful with the Links phase with larger groups as the Corporate Clocks can quickly explode to 0000. I suggest a maximum of four characters on any Links job, but whatever you do, make sure the players understand what they’re doing when they advance a Corp Clock to a high level.
I have played with 6. It worked totally fine barring the links thing that Hamish Cameron mentioned. We were pretty much screwed before we started as 2 corporate clocks were sitting 1 below midnight and another wasn’t far off. I didn’t find the game any more difficult to juggle than any other large group though. Possibly only a few of us did much during the legwork phase and the rest of us spent more time filling in cyberpunk details, eating at rickety noodle bars in the rain and conspiring in abandoned warehouses etc.
Thanks for all the advice, everyone! Sounds like I’ll give it a try (but warn everyone about links) and see if I need to make any adjustments.