Dming for a larger group

[Martialmasters]

My home brew setting is underway and majority of the time I'm going to have 4 maybe 5 players. That's fine.

When everyone shows up (unlikely) I'll be at 7.

For any of you DMS here that have groups of similar size, what kinds of adjustments do you make to keep it interesting?

[thenobledrake]

PF2's encounter adjusting guidelines work well - but it's really important to lean into the advice to add extra creatures whenever you can and save the Elite template for special occasions. The weak template is fine to toss on if it let's you more easily add extra monsters in.

Outside of re-tooling encounters, though, there's a lot of things that can be done to mitigate the drawbacks inherent in a larger group.

First, and in my experience most impactful, is the players being proactive about not having the game get bogged down. Things like paying attention instead of having side conversations or spending everyone else's turns keeping themselves occupied with other stuff (like playing phone games or reading reddit or a book or something), so they can be ready to start resolving actions more quickly once it is there turn instead of needing to figure out the current state of events.

Secondly, pre-prep of encounters. This is especially easy if you use a VTT. But minimizing the time you as the GM need to spend during the session setting up a map or minis or other props goes a long way - as does having maps and minis (or the digital equivalent) so that players can see the scene at any time they need to and thus not have to ask as many questions to play.

Then, there's division of labor that you can do. Getting one of the other people playing to help keep track of specific elements can keep things moving. If you use a VTT much of this is already sped-up as a result so not as necessary to put in the players' hands, but things that I've had players take over responsibility for are Initiative (including letting whoever is up next know in advance), mapping (when there isn't already a map drawn), and "calling."

That last one comes from the ol' D&D Red Box basic set, and I've dug it ever since reading it - but most groups don't really stick with it, in my experience, despite how helpful it is to the GM. Basically, what a "caller" does is lead the conversation about what all the party members are doing, and then once that is decided they relay that info to the GK. That lets the GM focus on dealing with set-up elements like changing maps, moving monsters into place, or referencing notes/adventure text for upcoming encounters instead of having to be doing that at the same time as hearing what the players are having their characters do or just taking more time in order to get both done.

[jdripley]

I regularly run in a group with 6 players, and depending on the campaign may be a player or a GM. Here are some of the things we've done to keep things moving:

1) Have a visual initiative tracker. Lots of people like those magnetic trackers that lie flat, and that's OK and has lots of nice features, but we have found that when everybody can see the initiative "board" people are more swift when their turn comes around. So, maybe it's clothes pins with character names and "Enemy 1," "Enemy 2" etc. written on them, perhaps even color coded (I use green for PCs, red for enemies, yellow for 3rd party NPCs, and my PC pins have the PC's name written on boldly). You can clip the pins to the top of the GM screen. I have a dowel that I can affix vertically to the top of my GM screen and I attach the pins like penant flags. When the player starts their turn I rotate the pin 180 degrees to show that they are active/have taken their turn. And on down the line. Anyways the specifics aren't as important than the visual nature. Another GM in the group uses 3x5 cards folded over the top of the GM screen and a smaller scrap of paper that says "active" that he bumps down the line as people take their turns. The main point is to visibly telegraph where in initiative the active player is so that the players who are "on deck" are not caught by surprise.

2) We don't fool around with distraction. If your turn comes up and you aren't ready, you're skipped. I don't have a whole lot to write about this because it's been years since it's been an issue. Being skipped feels real bad, and people learn quickly. Some folks advocate for counting down from 5 if a player isn't ready to give a little grace period. Draw a hard line and people will toe the line.

3) Recognize that in a larger group, sometimes you're the supporting character. This is OK. Ideally everybody gets a time to shine, but in most groups there are a few players who drive the story. With 7, it's impossible to get everybody an equal share of the limelight. That can be a bitter pill for some players to swallow... but swallow they must, or else find a smaller group.

4) We don't do this as much as I like, but when we have it's been great - keep a physical document (or, more likely in 2020, a shared google doc or whatever) that lists the short term and long term goals of the adventure/PCs. That can be a very helpful document when people get stuck and don't know what to do... simply look at the goals document, and do something that drives at least ONE of them forward. Especially with a larger group, it can be challenging to keep everybody engaged in the main thrust of what's going on, and a sheet of paper laying out what the main point is can be quite helpful.

[Lightwire]

Most of my groups are larger, your mileage may vary but I wish you luck.

For encounters build up. With this many adding more things is always the best choice not making them stronger. It’s a sad fighter who rolls poorly on initiative and doesn’t even get to hit a mook because the ranger crit everything to death.

Keep combat moving. As mentioned if someone’s turn comes up and they’re not ready then they go into delay. They can come back in when they know what they’re doing. This is not a punishment and should not be implemented with exasperated tones, this is just to keep going and make it clear to them that you look forward to their turn as soon as they’re ready.

As a small addendum to the above. If like me you have someone who really isn’t paying attention and when their turn hits they ask you to explain everything that changed since their last turn? Then If it’s a regular thing you might just say that everything is shown in the map with some of that exasperation and if they’re not ready move onto someone else until they are. The other players may fill them in on the awesome things they’ve done, or they may just make decisions with less information to take a turn. While I don’t expect everyone to pay constant attention, the other players shouldn’t have to keep listening to the GM explain things they just did, likely in increasingly shorter tones, for a single person.

Outside of combat keep things moving. Try not to spend too long on any single person’s request. This is prime time to guess at the rules and correct for the future later. I highly advise going round table with the questions about what they’re doing and when collecting rolls. If you’re in an intense RP situation with a single player then occasionally single someone else out for the NPC to ask a targeted question. Don’t then penalize them for this, but maybe offer a chance for a free aid with a nonstandard skill. If you penalize them for Bob the Barbarian’s low Diplomacy answer when you’re the one who picked him out and the players realize this then Bob might not only not get to talk when they meet someone important he might get left outside.

And lastly take note and make sure you talk to all your players about their character’s history and desires. In large group’s its easy to forget to make the game interesting for your quieter players. I can say from experience that it’s a Lot less fun to write a backstory and create an interesting to you character when no one ask about them or talks to you. And even less when the GM starts raising other players through various levels of divinity, while not always remembering your character’s name.

[Kennethray]

I run a table of 7. I tried different methods, upping the creature level for a solo monster ended in disaster. Now I jut make two encounters, 1 for 4 players and 1 for 3 players and then combine them. Works well enough, just takes more time to play.

[Castilliano]

When adapting published adventures, widen the spaces.
No 5' corridors, add 5' to most hallways, and 10' to many rooms, or more if there are large creatures whose numbers you're increasing.
Shoot for about the same proportions per PC (or enemy) as before, unless the space was generous to begin with.
Do this beforehand if the map's snug or you'll get some wonky rooms, though doubling everything/changing map scale simplifies then.

As others noted, develop a good initiative system, whatever gets the players focused and rolling. At those party sizes I seldom give much time for decisions unless they're going early or the actions before them just altered the combat significantly (or they're a newbie). Otherwise, they should have been determining during the lengthy time going through everybody's turns.

I like calling out numbers and ticking down (often while a player tracks the order for the next round, calling who's on deck, to me as well). Putting everybody in order first before anybody starts playing wastes time IMO, and often disengages players as they wait to even wait. Ticking down keeps that sense of immediacy as in yes, combat's going on right now.
I start with the highest possible initiative number and work downward until a player chimes in, or I hit a monster's initiative. Every once in a while, when a quick monster rolls a 20, I enjoy the gasp when I start far higher than them. (tee hee)

As for RPing, in large groups a lot of that was done via e-mails, especially personal pursuits, but sometimes dialogues too.

And decisions. Even in a small group those can really bog down play, so it's often good for you to help frame the situation or put in a lure or place a time limit on deciding. Gotta push through most of those until there's a meaty choice that really will swing the course of events.
One of my groups kept stalling at simple forks in the dungeon so just swore to always choose right not just for easy backtracking, but because if there's nothing suggesting one way above the other, why dwell on it?