(this is gonna be a long one, so skip to the end for the tl;dr version)
A few months ago, I started getting together a Pathfinder group from the various Discord groups I'm in. Most of them were among the "I've never played D&D before, but I've always wanted to" crowd, with myself as the one who knew what the hell anything was, so I set up a tiny tutorial mission thing for them to teach them the rules.
It was a ton of work. Consensus was that I did a good job, but it took me almost a month of daily work just to get this one thing done, and I'm sure it would take as long for every session thereafter. I can't handle the responsibility of being a GM. x.x
(even if I could, I'd much rather be a player then a GM.)
So I stepped down as GM and became a player, bringing the player count up from 5 to 6. Oh dear... Not a good number. Well, no matter. It shouldn't be too hard to find a GM, right? Welll, wrong. Apparently it's very hard to find a GM for a group of six, most of whom are total newbies. I did find one, eventually, who almost agreed to do it, but right when it seemed the deal was nearly sealed, she asked, "So what adventure path do you want me to run?" When I told her we didn't have one, she told me she couldn't, and I was back to square one.
So I started looking through the Paizo adventure paths, and I found one which instantly captivated me: Jade Regent. The big draw I see is these caravan NPC guys, one of whom perfectly fills a void in my own character's backstory. I've decided that this character and this adventure path were made for each other, and I will not play one without the other.
But Jade Regent has a problem: the caravan NPCs themselves. With 6 players and 4 NPCs, combat is almost guaranteed to be incredibly cumbersome for everyone.
I do see solutions, but none that seem good. Mostly I just feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of cleaning up the big stupid mess I've made for myself. I should've thought things through better, but now that I'm here, I have no idea where to start.
TL;DR version: 6 players - 5 neophytes and 1 novice - want to play Jade Regent. What's the best way to approach this?
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Leave the four NPCs out of combat. There is no part of the adventure where you need them to join you in battle. Most of the time they're not supposed to be with you anyway - they stay and guard the caravan while you're off exploring the dungeon, or whatever.
Will that really work? Are you sure these guys don't need to come with us? What I mean is, do you know Jade Regent well enough to say for sure that this will work out?
When I ran Jade Regent, Ameiko Kaijitsu was distracted by another problem right at the beginning of the Brinewall Legacy module, so the eight-person party she organized went to Brinestump Marsh without her. They joined up with her and the full caravan for the trip north, but split off from the caravan to visit Brinewall Castle.
We had a hiatus before the second module, Night of Frozen Shadows, so we lost and gained many players. I declared that some of the original PCs had been unwilling to travel across the world to Minkai, so they had returned home. Likewise, the caravan NPCs remained behind, too. The new PCs joined in Kalsgard in the Land of the Linnorm Kings.
Ameiko remained behind for Night of Frozen Shadows and The Hunger Storm, but caught up to the party in Forest of Spirits with the help of old friends from our previous Rise of the Runelords adventure. Instead, her half-sister Amaya (link has spoilers) accompanied the party.
Any adventure path can be adjusted to fit the players better, with more work from the GM.
Well, right now there is no GM. And I hesitate to ask a random stranger to do a ton of work for someone they just met. Even if I gave no damns about the rights of other people and didn't appreciate the efforts a GM must put in just to get the bare minimum done, I doubt they would agree to it.
Well, right now there is no GM. And I hesitate to ask a random stranger to do a ton of work for someone they just met. Even if I gave no damns about the rights of other people and didn't appreciate the efforts a GM must put in just to get the bare minimum done, I doubt they would agree to it.
I think you might be pleasantly surprised if your entire group created accounts for this forum and then posted a GM recruitment thread. There are a large number of people that actively GM games on these forums and Jade Regent games pop up quite often from time to time. I suggest giving it a shot and see what happens.
Is it necessary that they create accounts....?
Will that really work? Are you sure these guys don't need to come with us? What I mean is, do you know Jade Regent well enough to say for sure that this will work out?
I have GMed Jade Regent all the way through.
The adventure says things like, "The NPCs won’t want to leave (helpless ally), but if you feel that the PCs could use a bit of help exploring (location), one of the NPCs could accompany them as you see fit."
There are bigger problems with JR, like the caravan combat rules being broken (if played as written, the caravan is 99% certain to be destroyed), which requires some work to fix.
No GM and asking for advise on how to continue? No GM = no game. Not really any advise will matter until you and your group learn that. Seriously sounds like we want to play football but have no ball. Not sure what you expect from the forum here.
Not sure what you expect from the forum here.
Wants to know if Jade Regent is easy to GM with a larger than average group (and therefore easier to find a GM for than might otherwise be the case).
You don't need to use NPC's - Lets say you only had two players the game gives you the option to recruit NPCs in case you need to make up for a deficit that may exist due to having a small group. Or you know so you can make contacts.
Well, right now there is no GM. And I hesitate to ask a random stranger to do a ton of work for someone they just met. Even if I gave no damns about the rights of other people and didn't appreciate the efforts a GM must put in just to get the bare minimum done, I doubt they would agree to it.
My husband is a GM and a member of this forum. Our group is currently back up to 5 players and he handles it very well
He also GMed a 7 player group for almost 10 years.
So he maybe able to give you advice and he might be able to help you. PM me if you're interested.
Is it necessary that they create accounts....?It's free to make an account, and easy to do so.
Just out of curiosity, how were you planning on playing the game with a bunch of people online if not doing so on here?
It is not necessary if you planned on playing online elsewhere. Otherwise, yes, you do require an account on the Paizo website to participate in the Online Game Forums. As already mentioned, its free and non-invasive. You already have an account and that is all they would have to do as well.
My view is that NPCs are always part of whatever scenario is going down, but fight "off-camera" opponents when combat begins if the party is already large. Burn a few resources, damage them a bit, but keep them alive for the story. That way, too, when a smaller party plays, the NPCs can be part of it as usual.
We're playing Jade Regent right now. Our party started as a group of eight PC's, and now it's down to six because two people had to drop from the game. It's very doable.
The NPC's are always on the caravan, but they just won't join you for the major encounters.
Yup. If a group of NPCs is travelling with the party they are practically always over there fighting their own groups of enemies. Another option is to buff the enemies HP the exact amount of damage that the NPCs happen to deal. Whichever your group prefers honestly. Being master of the universe is so convenient sometimes :)