Character number recommendations on modules?

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black1blade
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Character number recommendations on modules?

Post by black1blade »

So I'm running saga of the giants atm and really enjoying it however I was wondering if the recommendation of 9-12 player characters includes any retainers or if it is advocating for 9 to 12 players, each with a retainer or 2? Also brings me onto the greater of point of wondering how many players you guys have in your game, how many is too much ect? Also wondering about the logistics of running a game with say 10 players. Is that the point where you start using a caller or some other method of making the game go more smoothly?
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Metroknight
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Re: Character number recommendations on modules?

Post by Metroknight »

black1blade wrote:So I'm running saga of the giants atm and really enjoying it however I was wondering if the recommendation of 9-12 player characters includes any retainers or if it is advocating for 9 to 12 players, each with a retainer or 2?
For me it is the total party size not just the PC's. This gives me the leeway to have 4 to 6 PC's then all their retainers which would be under the control of the players.
black1blade wrote:Also brings me onto the greater of point of wondering how many players you guys have in your game, how many is too much ect? Also wondering about the logistics of running a game with say 10 players. Is that the point where you start using a caller or some other method of making the game go more smoothly?
That all depends on the skill of the GM. I know I can't handle that large of a group anymore as my comfort zone is maxed at 6 players but I have ran games with larger groups. I used the caller method in those large groups which means everyone pestered that one person and he relayed the group's actions during combat to me. Saved lots of headaches caused from having 10 or so people clamoring for my attention while trying to work on the combat aspect of the game. I usually had the faceman (caller) and the doodler (mapmaker) sitting on either side of me when I was running face to face games.
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Solomoriah
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Re: Character number recommendations on modules?

Post by Solomoriah »

I can't imagine "too many" characters in Saga of the Giants. You can always just throw another room or two of giants at them...
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chiisu81
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Re: Character number recommendations on modules?

Post by chiisu81 »

I never noticed it was quite that many characters recommended for that module, but unless the PCs are all very high level it's understandable. I would certainly recommend plenty of retainers!
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Hernes Son
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Re: Character number recommendations on modules?

Post by Hernes Son »

My games have five players, each controlling a single PC. They work as freelance troubleshooters/makers for the local government, and there's been a few times when I presented them with a huge opposition to face, so they requested backup. In those cases, I gave each player 3 hireling NPCs to control for a session or two.

I prefer the One Player = One PC paradigm in RPGs, but agree there are plenty of occasions when it makes sense to give them some help.
The Hooded Man will come to the forest, there to meet with Herne the Hunter, to be his son and do his bidding.
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