Is six players too many for a game? I’ve led other traditional tabletop RPGs before but this would be my first time leading a PbtA game. I offered to do so for my brother’s family and, to my surprise, everyone wants to play, which means it would be 6 players and I’d hate to exclude anyone
Is six players too many for a game?
Is six players too many for a game?
imo you can do a six-player game, but it’s a little tricky, esp for PbtA stuff that doesn’t have marching order, initiative, etc. I prefer four players, and five is also a good number. six allows for a lot of splitting the party and fun interactions. it can totally be done, but you’ll have to take a firmer hand in leading the narrative along a little, because PbtA games and Masks, by nature, are more based in free form storytelling.
The system is pretty light, though influence tracking might be a bit more unwieldy. I strongly recommend clearly labelled influence cards so things don’t get lost in the shuffle.
As Linda mentions, you also need to be extra vigilant to ensure everyone gets a chance to act; you may want to try a system in which everyone gets a chance to act before someone goes twice. Perhaps give each player token that they give up when they have taken an action.
I’ve run a six player game once, and I definitely did a bunch of splitting the party in self defence. (All as part of the same fight, but I gave enough antagonists and environmental hazards to keep them apart for a bit, until some folks had taken enough of a beating to not want to be in the brunt of the fight).
The initial split was when the villain they were fleeing blew up their car. Everyone took a powerful blow, leaving me some leeway to throw them all over the scene.
You can do 6 players. You just need to be even more aware of spotlight time and use your moves to bring in the less assertive players to make sure everyone has a chance to shine.
Six players is doable, but trickier to manage. So don’t cut someone from the session, but go in being thoughtful about sharing the spotlight around. It’s easy for a reticent player to fade into the background, so call breaks, chat with folks, get a sense of what they want for their character and from the session, and keep giving people opportunities for those things!
I ran a 7 people table online and… the trickiest part is when ONE DOESN’T COME. You can always split the party, but the most important part is managing the SPOTLIGHT. Another important task is… kick players who don’t collaborate with the game. 6 players playing the game is cool, but 5 players and 1 amoeba… NOT.
Lucas Eliel Sosa Well, kick them gently. Sometime folks are just a little shy or more introverted or less interested in a big action scene. Give their characters cool things to do anyway, and ask them questions so they get to establish details of the world and situation that they find exciting and fun.
Yeah, when a player hangs back, try to talk them between sessions.
Did they feel like things were moving too fast for their own personal pace? (“By the time I knew what I wanted to do, it wasn’t relevant any more”)
Did they have a character reason for hanging back? (“It felt like this was a personal fight for [other hero] and I didn’t want to get in their way” “I think my character was still reeling from [recent events] and wasn’t ready to charge in”).
Is there something that would make it feel more urgent for their pc? (Endanger one of their npcs, dangle info they need through a possible pierce the mask, etc).
And as Leah says, if a character is hanging back, ask them about it. You don’t even have to wait until between sessions, because some of the best parts of Masks are wading into those emotions. If their character is still reeling from the recent events, highlight that, make it a part of the scene and pull them in.
If the other players don’t talk to them about their feelings, bring in an NPC who will. Even better if the NPCs often get it wrong and try to tell them who they are and shift labels around, forcing them to think about it and decide whether to reject influence.
I talk with one player in particular about that. He told me that he was a person who needs someone who tells him what to do…
I become that person… But the rest of the table hate him, and me for that.
The bigger problem was his Nemesis was an anchor PNJ… xD
The problem was the person, not his character.
You gotta make it teams of 2 or 3. Or else!