I was surprised to see the number of players in the book listed as “two to four”.
Unfortunately, my two gaming groups consist of 5 players and 7 players (!!). How viable is this game to play in bigger groups, and what changes need to be made to the game to help it run smoother?
Apologies if this has been asked before, I did do a search, but there are a ton of posts coming up, and none of them dealing with this question that I could see…
This is a common concern, but a warranted one, no need to worry about repeat it. One of the better suggestions I’ve seen for larger groups is to focus less on trying to squeeze moments for everyone in at once but instead try to focus more on two or three characters per session, like a TV episode having certain arcs. Of course, you’ll still need to strike a balance to make sure the other 3-4 don’t feel left out.
Our whole group is GM+6 players. It’s worked just great, but everybody does need to pay a little extra attention to ensure that their fellow players are getting enough screen time.
It’s important to remember that the camera can jump around in space and time. For example, the actual present-day action of the score might focus on the Hound, Cutter, and Whisper, while you constantly flash back and cut to the Spider, Lurk, and Slide to see what they’ve been up to to help with the score. In our group, each character feels very specialized. In fact, our Spider doesn’t even go on scores–essentially all of his actions are flashbacks.
It’s definitely worth knowing the teamwork rules inside and out, as utilizing those helps manage the screen time. Set Up, Assist, Group Actions, and Protect are great ways to get a character involved without derailing the current flow.
My campaign had six. It was doable, but people had a little less screen time. There were enough absences throughout it and those sessions felt better. Still, it’s fine if you can manage players and they can manage themselves, too.
Interested to know if you noticed a significant reduction of XP gains on a per character basis? Or if a greater tendency to hit crew XP made up for it? Or something else? Jacob Spafford​ Charlie Etheridge-Nunn​
With more players you will have a larger pool of stress as well- so throw more nasty (and multiple!) consequences their way! Really make them work for it. The good news is they’ll be surviving those even crazier situations, which will give some great stories to tell.
You know, we haven’t noticed a reduction of XP. If anything, it incentivizes everybody to play their character to the hilt so they can hit their triggers in the limited time they have.
Another interesting mechanical implication is that you have more downtime actions to spend on crew-related things like reducing heat BUT you don’t have as much access to extra downtime actions because the Coin is spread out a little more thinly.
I ran a couple of big scores (lots of players) on play-by-post format. To keep the pace, I ran two independent scores simultaneously (you could flick between the two) and gave the crew a lot more payoff (and also taking the higher Heat). With that many players you could have one of your players as a secondary GM who could run the other score.
If XP is a concern, then have a think about the kind of ‘extracurricular’ XP system that Diceless systems propose. I give bonus XP if players do something beyond just playing – if they write up one of the scores, for example, or update faction maps, or host an evening. It’s just a way to keep the quieter players more in play.