Next week I’m going to be running my first session for this, but I’ve managed to collect a group of 7 people to play. I know this is more than the rulebook suggests the game is built for… so my question to anyone out there who might have been in a similar situation is, is there anything I should do to prepare or better suit this larger group?
I understand that it’s going to be harder to make sure everyone gets their time in the spotlight with a larger group, any tips?
Make sure that you have pc – npc pc triangles setup so that you will have multiple pc sharing panel time.
Combat will probably be a bit crazy, setup smaller skirmishes to have everyone contributing and move the spotlight really fast.
Do 2 groups. You can’t fulfill your principles for a room full of people.
I’ve run for 7 people before in one-shots. It’s doable, but you should remind everyone at the beginning that it’s more than the game is designed for and that means they’ll need to share the spotlight. It’s not just on you to keep the spotlight shared; it’s also on them to pay attention to other characters and be fans of their fellow PCs.
I’d also advise really digging into the character and team generation. They will be bigger fans of each other if they’re really invested in each other’s stories.
It’s definitely going to be a challenge, especially if it’s long term, but not as big a challenge as matching schedules of 8 people. Long term, tell everyone if they can’t come to scheduled sessions, the group will play without them. Otherwise you’ll never get a chance to play after the first session.
Yeah, if you do run, you’ll quickly run down to a manageable size due to the nature of the universe.
I expect that some may not find it something they can, or want, to continue on an ongoing basis. That’s true. Advice is still welcome for while they are though 😉 Thanks for the comments so far
I haven’t done masks that big, but I have run other PbtA. The trick is to minimize the number & screentime of NPCs, work very hard to make sure that various plot elements are important to as many PCs as possible. Instead of creating PC-NPC-PC triangles, create quadrangles and pentagons.
That’s a good point, I hadn’t thought too much about going beyond the triangle… very interesting! I think that keeping the screentime of NPCs low makes sense too, now you say it. Thanks for the advice!
We just played a game on Monday that included 7 PCs. We’re a pretty tight knit group, and have played together quite a bit in various games. While it’s not ideal, we kept the action moving and the spotlight rotating. Some are going to get more character development while others are mostly going to just get in on a little action, but it was a fun story.
FYI: We tried going around the circle and each person going in turn. Seemed a little more balanced than when we usually do a “no one takes another action until everyone’s taken one” system. More balanced, but less dynamic. Important that the GM keeps it moving.
Thanks everyone, ran the session and it went ok. Character creation took slightly longer than expected and so didn’t really have a chance to do a full session out of it. Am trying to gather people to do a “part 2” and taking some lessons along from the first about trying to encourage less talkative people in to the spotlight!
Lee Griffin I’m glad it went well! It can be a little unruly, but I think it’s still worth playing. For me, 5 PCs is ideal, but honestly, I think it works better with 7 than it does with only 3. So much of the relationship mechanics miss out when there are too few. I’m sure many will disagree, and that’s okay; we’re all different.
Yeah I was kind of surprised that the game wasn’t meant for a larger group actually, because like you say the relationship angles make more sense when there are more people to put in to triangles. I think from my perspective I came at it from being a fan of comics and the fact that “teams” tended to be at least 5-7 people. However I am also aware that individual stories tended to only be 3 or 4 of that team at a time. I wouldn’t be surprised if my group ends up inadvertently following this trope and that I end up running slightly more regular groups of about half the party at a time.
For me this is adventurous purely because of my lack of experience running RPGs (this is my first ever), but it feels like it should be more interesting over all.