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Post by dmgenisisect on Dec 24, 2015 9:52:25 GMT
Hello all!
Been listening to the DMB for a while and have finally decided to get on board on the forum. Been DMing 3.5 for about 10 years, recently started some 5e content. In addition to this I enjoy the Warhammer 40k RPGs, Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars: Edge of the Empire, and am now looking into the Fate System.
If there was anything I am proud of in my DMing career, it would be the following; for the last 4 years I've been running a game with 10 players, and somehow after all that, remained (relatively) sane!
Currently working on building my own system,a dungeon-punk dystopia setting with an authoritarian empire without an emperor, gods who have been killed and replaced with powerful machines, where every wizard is on a roller-coaster ride into insanity with no breaks, and and malignant beings from beyond the cosmos mounting a grand invasion to bring an end to the order of the cosmic spheres. Mechanically based on the d% system, but using d20s instead (just because I like them).
I'm from that isolated rock on the bottom side of the earth, you know that place where all the scary monsters were put (Australia), and you have Morgan Jenkins to blame for getting me hook on the DMB.
I think that's a sufficient introduction,
-DM Genisisect
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Post by joatmoniac on Dec 24, 2015 20:41:42 GMT
First off, you can go wrong blaming Morgan Jenkins for anything that comes up, haha. Second, welcome to the Block Party!! Always great to get another set of eyes and ideas in the group. I consistently ran a group with 7 players in it for some time, but can't fully imagine adding on three more. Would love to hear insight on how you managed that, ad I'm sure whatever advice you have for that scenario could be translated for a different sized group.
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Post by dmgenisisect on Dec 24, 2015 23:12:57 GMT
I was somewhat lucky in the sense that my PCs mostly fall into a story-telling archetype, so I can focus on that aspect, which is much easier to manage with large parties. Combat should be used sparingly, as I've never had an encounter last less than an hour when the whole party is present. When designing dungeons I take advantage of their numbers, sometimes turning them against the players, but normally the focus is on puzzle solving then hacking through monsters. Finally, with a lot of plays sometimes it's useful to break one of the golden rules; split the party, In my case splitting the party means I end up with two normal sized parties, so you can focus more on individual characters, and at the very least my players don't really mind being sent out of the room for a break, when they know that soon they will get a turn.
Another thing that helped, though it was my players who did this and not something that I designed, was that the PCs formed little sub groups, which helps when the inevitable absences occur, their parter PC or some other PC in their subgroup can take over that character for the session.
It's still been quite a struggle though, and I often wonder if I should split the group into two smaller ones.
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Post by joatmoniac on Dec 25, 2015 2:11:57 GMT
If we are just thinking pie in the sky scenarios, and the 10 people are fairly consistent in terms of attendance splitting could be great. You could have the actions of the groups affect each other as the campaigns go along. You could then also have big event nights where both groups get back together to tackle something they couldn't do alone. Everything hinges of course on what your group wants, but there are some interesting ideas that you mentuoned that I will have to think about to help my group out!
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Post by dm_mainprize on Dec 25, 2015 17:14:50 GMT
Welcome to the party!
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Post by whipstache on Dec 25, 2015 20:33:38 GMT
Welcome. Glad you've joined the conversation, for purely selfish reasons. Every time a new DM joins, it's another mind I get to steal ideas from. Don't be shy.
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Post by kjmagle on Dec 26, 2015 14:25:44 GMT
Welcome and have a blast 3 time here
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Post by DM Mitch on Dec 26, 2015 19:56:06 GMT
Welcome to the Block Party that is the forums! Glad to have you join us here!
And props to MJ! Did you meet him a a con? Or just hear him talking on a show?
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Post by DM Chris on Dec 26, 2015 23:28:07 GMT
Hey Hey! Glad you made your way here. We are excited to have you and hope that you learn and share alot. We can really only benefit from you being here. Welcome to the Block Party!
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Post by dmgenisisect on Dec 26, 2015 23:29:57 GMT
My introduction to this whole thing is perhaps rather unorthodox. I work alongside Morgan's mother, who plugged his podcast, and then he plugged the DMB. Though I have also bumped into him at PAXAUS, and I think he was at a Families meet and greet or something like that, which I sadly had to miss die to work.
So Australia really is smaller then you may be lead to believe.
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