Viewpoint How Big Do You Like Your Roleplays?

[thatonegirl28]

Been scrolling the forums and thinking some thoughts. I tend to steer clear from roleplays that contain more than 15 people/characters, but I've seen some people enjoy those huge kinds of roleplays with everyone playing like 2-4 characters. I'm just curious what you guys feel in terms of group roleplays? And FYI I mean the numbers as in number of authors, but I tend to gravitate towards roleplays where everyone plays a single character so to me it's synonymous with number of characters

 

[Murdergurl]

Been scrolling the forums and thinking some thoughts. I tend to steer clear from roleplays that contain more than 15 people/characters, but I've seen some people enjoy those huge kinds of roleplays with everyone playing like 2-4 characters.

okay, but like WHERE on RPN have you even seen a group with 15 people involved? I count it as being extremely fortunate if an RP can get four players on board with the launch.

 

[Ayama]

'Different strokes for different folks', as they say.

For me, it'd be less about an absolute total number, and rather would vary from RP to RP. Certain RPs I feel are designed for large character casts, where each player has several characters, while others are geared towards smaller and more intimate settings. As long as you have a solid groupd of reliable players (and equally reliable GM), I think the number of characters will simply be in accordance with the needs/atmosphere/mechanics of the RP.

 

[Steve Jobs]

If I can't remember everyone's characters then it's too many.

 

[WhiskeyMarten]

I think different roleplays suit different amounts of players, depends on the plot really. Generally, I'd say smaller is far more sustainable, but the roleplay I'm most invested in on RPNation has close to 50 players (going from discord server member count), and we're on page 5 of character sheets, so larger is definitely doable!

 

[nerdy tangents]

In my experience regardless of how many people apply to a roleplay there are rarely more then like 5 people active at any given time. This is usually down to scheduling and time zones.

So just because a roleplay contains 20 people total doesn’t mean your actually interacting with them all. Usually it ends up being that people naturally gravitate towards smaller groups depending on who is active at any given time.

 

[Trektek]

okay, but like WHERE on RPN have you even seen a group with 15 people involved? I count it as being extremely fortunate if an RP can get four players on board with the launch.

My current Birth of Nations game has 18 players. In previous acts, I've only had the max be 11. And most of them are very active.

 

[Idea]

Like others have said, it really depends, but in general I would say my preferences lie with small or very small. One of the most important factors for me as a player is the feeling that I’m not just a replaceable token, and I find that smaller groups really help not only promote better integrating each character into the world and story, blending them without making too much of a mess or taking away the impact of their individual stories, and also help me find a niche in a group, whereas larger groups are that much more likely to see overlaps.

As a GM I like to be very involved with my players and giving them personal attention and helping them with things. In particular I find it awesome when they take some interest in the plot’s complexities or mysteries or in the world or lore, and thus I like to be there to give them answers to help them ground their plans and thoughts or to encourage them to pursue things, perhaps offer suggestions for things they don’t know how to integrate. It’s a balancing act to try not to be too on top of players for sure, but I like to think I’m improving in that regard. Another way of this personalized approach is that I am of the position a GM shouldn’t reject characters at a core unless that core is itself contracting to some important aspect of the world or plot. Thus I endeavor to try to help players integrate their character ideas when the details don’t quite work, and I always try to give extensive feedback on the character sheets if there is any to give. Long story short, I do a lot of things, for better and for worse, which by experience I know can be a tad impractical with a very large number of players.


Lastly, I like the OOC chatter of smaller groups more than the mess some larger ones can devolve into. More personal and friendly and recalling you exist as opposed to waking up to hundreds of messages of in-jokes you don’t get and games you’re not into.


That being said, there is definitely a danger in too small a group, since it is that much more vulnerable to going down due to a player quitting or vanishing.

 

[Murdergurl]

My current Birth of Nations game has 18 players. In previous acts, I've only had the max be 11. And most of them are very active.

Ah, yes... Nation builders. I keep forgetting those are a thing, tbh. I actually never encountered this genre until I was on RPN, believe it or not. Completely different kind of RP. Congrats on your success, and continued success, with those btw.

 

[Trektek]

Ah, yes... Nation builders. I keep forgetting those are a thing, tbh. I actually never encountered this genre until I was on RPN, believe it or not. Completely different kind of RP. Congrats on your success, and continued success, with those btw.

Thank you. I appreciate that. It's not easy, but its worth the hard work.

To be honest, until I had joined up with RPN, I hadn't known about the genre either. It took a few tries until I got an actual steady player base that follows me from one to the next.

Also Honestly, I know that you oppose anything to do with Discord, but your ideas would blend in very well with a nation builder and it could allow you to get the types of roleplay that you do desire. If you'd be willing to give it a chance.

 

[The Dark Wizard]

My current Birth of Nations game has 18 players. In previous acts, I've only had the max be 11. And most of them are very active.

The highest I went was 40 and that was a few years ago.

 

[EggB]

I had a group of like 6 or 7 people in one of my old ones, and I actually ended up finishing that one, with thousands of replies. It was great. I just really prefer smaller groups, cause you can get to know everyone and start to become comfortable moving the plot forward. At least in my experience :]

Lots of people can be fun, but I like a little more organization too haha.

 

[A Sparkling Zombie]

In a single thread? No more than like 10 characters, or else I feel like people step on each other's toes trying to have their interactions around each other.

I've done multi-thread slice of life sandboxes with 10+ people and maybe double the amount of characters. Those are cool, particularly when there isn't a Discord server because I tend to get overwhelmed when there that many members. But if there is meant to be an overall plot, I prefer smaller groups so that there can be adequate focus on each character.

 

[Jet]

I don't see the point in super-massive RPs with more than 12-13 members. It's hard enough to make ten players feel important in your story, let alone twenty of them. It'd be completely impossible to have a single main plot given how many players there are, unless half of them accept bit roles.

I like 8-12 players with 1-2 characters each, maybe 3 characters for a couple of them. That's much more manageable.

I've been in super-RPs before, and so many characters feel pointless, underused, forgotten, redundant and lost in the shuffle. The plots are always secondary because steering the RP is like steering a cruise ship. It's unwieldy and takes forever, lacks precision and impact. The main plot is handled by maybe 20% of the cast while others get benched, and that's if main plot is even addressed.

The ones I've been in really lacked a main plot. Relying on filler, interactions, training and side missions. Nothing of any note. That's not a problem for many people, who are character driven through and through, but I love plot.

 

[Edric Blight]

Really small for me.

 

[Onmyoji]

My biggest rp had 16 players who played 2-3 characters each.
Never again. My current preference would be 5 or less, if I ever join a group.

 

[Jannah]

Honestly, the smaller the better. It's hard to keep track of large groups and to ensure everyone is contributing as they need to. It's just a headache.

 

[RedArmyShogun]

I was in an RP on RPN that has over 100 sheets and 20+ players, found it too hectic and slow if that makes sense, typically I'm alright with medium to small groups as picked by this list. 12 players or so, I'm not a fan of 1 x 1's at all.

 

[Elohim]

Did an RP with 5 other people once. Was good for a while, but it was very hard to make certain plots flow and have control of the world. More players also creates more drama OOC.

I can't find any joy in something that's not 1 on 1 now. Duos just allow for the most amount of building imo.

 

[NimbusWing]

I personally don't mind groups, but as a whole I prefer it when my roleplaying sessions are more condensed between a smaller group of users, or even one on one RPs.

It's all just a matter of things being easier to follow since it's between a smaller array of opinions and ideas.

 

[Sugarnaut]

It all depends on the setting and plot for me.
I tend to like small groups if there are roles while I like more players in a sandbox-style rp.
I've never been in a roleplay bigger than 25 people at a time so it's a wild concept to me.​

 

[Omnitheon]

I'll be honest, I don't think I have the brainpower to mentally juggle more than 4 people at a given time. But that's fine, because I prefer to get to know my players, and it's easier when you have a small group. Plus, if there's only a few players, then scheduling issues are easier to work around.

 

[GammyWamzee]

I mostly stick to 1x1 rps.

But 6 characters each, that is the maximum.

 

[GojiBean]

Personally I prefer a smaller group. If it's not a 1x1, it'll be between 3-5 people, max. Including myself.

I find it easier to manage RP's that way.

The few times I had 6+ people all became chaos pretty quickly without forcing everyone into a fixed posting order. And I find that kind of thing to be less enjoyable.

 

[StuartAnderson]

i'm open to big oleplays but they are much harder work, in terms of getting people online to roleplay and progress the story. obvioulsy people have lives outside of rp and as someone who is in a different time zone to many, that can be hard as when i'm free not many people are