Hey all.
I'll be returning as a GM after a couple years off, and to get back on track I'll be using Dead Suns AP.
Problem is, I have 8 players. Everyone that I thought would choke when I proposed to play Starfinder didn't, and since Dead Suns is made with 4 players in mind, I'm stuck wondering how I could balance the encounters.
On my 8 players, 4 of them are completely new to tabletop rpgs, so I want them to have fun while being presented with a challenge. I'm not sure if I'll keep all of them with time, but for the moment I was trying to balance the encounters up until the Garaggakal.
I don't want to just double everything; even the boss aren't gonna be much of a problem if there are 2 of them if my PCs focus them one at a time. I'm also wondering how to distribute rewards for everyone.
I know 8 players is a lot, I'm expecting to lose a few over the adventure, but for the moment I'm concentrating on balancing the encounters/ rewards. I've tried asking Reddit to no avail: Everyone is telling me to not do it. I'm still set on doing it nonetheless; until I'm comfortable with the setting and storytelling and regain my old GM skills I just want to follow a story and not rack my brain over a homebrew setting.
I guess it all depends on how much extra work you want to have adapting and handling combat.
Beefing up the CR of the NPCs would be the fast way, both backstage and during play - and the difference between a level 1/3 goon and a level 1 is significant. Some bad tactics and you'll end with dead PCs fast, and believe me, Starfinder combat is much deadlier than PF.
If you have the extra time and can handle the extra multitasking, I'd increase the number of mobs and give some of them class grafts. A surprise solarian in the middle of the gang members will cause quite a stir.
Starship combat is a different problem. Placing 8 people in the the only ship they get for the first book will be really boring. I'd say give them the regular ship for 5 or 6, and toss in a couple of racers or interceptors (Pact Worlds has some ready). You'll have to change the enemy ship of course, maybe even pick a new manufacturer.
At the second part the mobs are troublesome enough, so you might not need to adjust much. But with an 8 people party, I'd consider creating a "queen" version of the regular monsters, a miniboss for the map.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8
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Not to add to the chorus of "don't do it", but...
Can you find a second GM?
Two groups of 4 might be a more fun experience for everyone than a megagroup of 8 would be. If you can swing the scheduling, you could even try running two sessions.
Failing that, I agree with Ragi, the real issue is going to be starship combat. Rather than splinter them off into separate ships, I'd try to find things for them to do on the main ship--maybe add in some extra gun mounts (with a corresponding boost to enemy shields) to open up some more gunner slots.
As to rewards, maybe consider doubling the sale value of items and any flat credit values in the adventures, and then dropping additional items in for people as needed to keep everyone on an even keel.
I guess it all depends on how much extra work you want to have adapting and handling combat.
Beefing up the CR of the NPCs would be the fast way, both backstage and during play - and the difference between a level 1/3 goon and a level 1 is significant. Some bad tactics and you'll end with dead PCs fast, and believe me, Starfinder combat is much deadlier than PF.
If you have the extra time and can handle the extra multitasking, I'd increase the number of mobs and give some of them class grafts. A surprise solarian in the middle of the gang members will cause quite a stir.
Starship combat is a different problem. Placing 8 people in the the only ship they get for the first book will be really boring. I'd say give them the regular ship for 5 or 6, and toss in a couple of racers or interceptors (Pact Worlds has some ready). You'll have to change the enemy ship of course, maybe even pick a new manufacturer.
At the second part the mobs are troublesome enough, so you might not need to adjust much. But with an 8 people party, I'd consider creating a "queen" version of the regular monsters, a miniboss for the map.
The class grafts seems like a great idea actually, I could put in some kind of harder thug, like a squad boss, without just doubling every encounters numbers.
I also like the starship idea, at first I was going to give them 2 shuttles, and maybe send 2 androids after them instead, but upgrading the enemy ship would be a better alternative. Only problem is that I've never used this starship system before, so i hope I won't overpower them too hard.
What bothers me the most would be the Garaggakal fight. Doubling it would be useless since they can simply focus them one at a time, and with 8 players they will drop fast. I thought about adding a few Void Zombies with it (or Akatas) to round it up, but I've heard people had problems with this fight as 4 PCs lvl2 vs 1 Gara.
Not to add to the chorus of "don't do it", but...
Can you find a second GM?
I can't. The way our group of friend is made, they want to play together, and if I were to split the odd ones in the group, it would be a group of 6 and a group of 2.
What bothers me the most would be the Garaggakal fight. Doubling it would be useless since they can simply focus them one at a time, and with 8 players they will drop fast. I thought about adding a few Void Zombies with it (or Akatas) to round it up, but I've heard people had problems with this fight as 4 PCs lvl2 vs 1 Gara.
Move the fight to inside the sunrise maiden. A group this large in a restricted area won't have that much of an advantage (they'll have similar problems in the acreon, but the akatas are much less of a challenge).
I'd also beef up his Phase Through ability, give him some extra resolve points that can be spent only on that. Whenever they corner him, he escapes to the next room, maybe behind the party, use his life leach on the mystic or technomancer, etc...
The mooks/mini-onions simply double, along with the loot. BBECs (Big Bad Evil Critters) make into twins. +2 encounter CR = x2 XP, and your group is half-rookies, so that ganging up effect may not occur right away. More often than not inexperienced players attempt to tackle their own individual targets instead of focusing fire. I wouldn't worry about it too much.
Name of the game is to have fun, so the more important thing is to play as such. Keeping up the pace at these lower levels is pretty easy.
Starship stuff will get a bit rough without beefing up their ship as previously suggested. Starship encounters are tracked independantly in a fashion, so it should work out. Just be sure to have a session-zero happen first where only 1 or 2 of the characters are fully capable Pilots and whatnot - the rest need to be adequate gunners when all is said and done.
I am currently running this with a party size of 7 and its going fine so far. For encounters I scale them all using the following:
So far it has kept things callenging without murdring everyone and I with the extra gear from xtra mooks I just have to increase the payouts buy about half and it has seemed to work out just fine wealth by level wise.
Kill half the players, problem solved. No, not half the characters.