How many people can play advanced dungeons and dragons?

Question

I have about ten people plus me who want to play advanced dnd. Would that be too many people?

Answer 1

With 10 players, you will have to do a lot of work as the DM. The adventures created by Wizards are designed for adventures of 4 characters of whatever level. If are going to use these created adventures, you will have to modify everything. You will also have to be sure to limit the group to 1 character each.

Is it possible to have one of the players be a second DM? This would allow you to split the party and run two simultaneous campaigns together. The party would be one group of 9 characters, but each DM would be able to handle the number of players.

I recommend no more than 6 players becuase that is what most management companies say a manager can effectively handle. Even the military uses such guidelines.

Answer 2

Realistically, it might be a bit much. I've been playing (and DMing) for something like 20+ years, and I've found that 6 is usually a great number (gives you a good mix of classes and abilities, without lacking any). The more players you have, the longer the game will take (in particular, combat), as each battle will need to be slightly different in order to maintain the same level of difficulty as one with 5 or 6 players.

That doesn't mean it can't be done - if you have 2 people working together to DM, it can work very well. I have done this in the past, and it works quite well, especially when the larger group is prone to splitting up into 2 smaller groups during the game.

Having 2 DMs also helps keep the pace moving. You can have the "helper" DM gather information on what each of the players is going to do while the "main" DM works on what the adversaries are going to do.

There are ways to handle larger groups, but I wouldn't advise doing it yourself - ESPECIALLY if this is your first time DMing. If it's your first time, the smaller the group, the better. Having 4-6 players might be a good point to start at.

Answer 3

I would go ahead and just start with the 10 you have. If it's like most games than you get about 3-5 people that show up just about every time and the others will be there about half the time. That means that on an average night you should have 6-8 people. You could also try to run 2 groups with the same DM or 2 differnt DMs so that every one gets to play. If you run the 2 DM option some of the people can play in both groups.

Answer 4

You can have as many people as you want but I would suggest no more then 10. Only would be a problem if your Dungeon Master is inexperienced with that many people and if the players keep from getting bored if the story suddenly spirals away from their characters for a few minutes. Best way to handle that many people is to keep the dice rolls to a minimum or don't use them at all. DM decides what happens on the fly based on the character, situation and other supporting roles.

Thanks now I gotta go set up a game ;P

Answer 5

You can manage ten pretty well if you are well prepared and know your material and setting well.

You can also appoint an assistant GM who can handle certain aspects for you such as basic decisions and record keeping for monsters and such.

That person can still be a player if you only hand off the more mundane stuff to them, or if they are very honest.

Most often the problem is finding enough space and seating for that many people to all play at once.

Using a tactical map and miniatures will help a lot with larger games too.

An amusing side note, I helped write the book "Unearthed Arcana", though I got stiffed on payment.

Answer 6

That actually could be a really good amount of people. The trick is to have a really good GM. With 11 total you split into 2 parties and do different things. Ideally the party size is no more than 6. I have seen a few more than that up to 8, but then there is too much overlap & people get frustrated very fast. Keep the parties balanced and get the best storyteller to GM it & you should have a blast.

Answer 7

There isn't a limit for the amount of players that you can have, however having too many can cause disruptions in the flow. A DM, is going to be hard pressed into keeping 10 separate people occupied, especially with all of the different classes, alignments, and races have to interact.

A good # would be 4-6 people, and even 6 is stretching it.

Answer 8

There is no set limit. However a larger group can make game play very slow. Too many side conversations and distractions. If all of you are disciplined enough to play without losing focus too badly it'll work. The group I played with for a while finally just imploded from the distractions.

Answer 9

there is no limit to the ammount of people who can play any role playing game. However, the more people you have the harder it is to keep everything flowing smoothly and organized. I find 5-7 to be an optimal size. I wouldnt worry about it though, I am sure some people wont show up at the last minute.

Answer 10

i suggest no more than 10