Advice/Help Size of Group RPs

[Arcanist]

Hey, folks, bit of a random question that's probably already been asked, but I'll ask it here again anyway! It's regarding group RPs, as I might like to GM one in the future.

What do you guys think is a decent number of people for a Group RP? Obviously, including the GM. I've been in RPs where there have been an insane number of people that drop off pretty early and that overwhelm GMs to the point where an RP is dropped and never really gets going. My thoughts are probably somewhere between 5-8, but I feel the latter could easily just as overwhelm me in the process.

Any advice/opinions on the matter would be helpful!

(also apologies if I've put this under the wrong prefix! I rarely post in the discussion forums, haha).

 

[norway]

Just tossing my opinion in here — I think 3 - 6 is plenty. Here’s why: the more people you have, the more people you have to rely on. Now in argument to that the more you have, perhaps it won’t be a huge impact if just one person leaves compared to a Group of three where one main protagonist disappears and stops the story. But I would say the bigger the group, the more people you have to factor in and a third of them will most likely drop early anyways.

Also that’s a lot of posts to read which can overwhelm some people. Getting caught up on everything can take some time that people may not have.

I’d say it’s better to have a small group that doubles? Each person has maybe two characters. That way you have diversity but less dependency. However that could also be overwhelming.

Really it’s about experiencing what you prefer. But I’d say 8 is wayyy too many unless you’re super dedicated and patient. Best of luck!!

 

[Arcanist]

Just tossing my opinion in here — I think 3 - 6 is plenty. Here’s why: the more people you have, the more people you have to rely on. Now in argument to that the more you have, perhaps it won’t be a huge impact if just one person leaves compared to a Group of three where one main protagonist disappears and stops the story. But I would say the bigger the group, the more people you have to factor in and a third of them will most likely drop early anyways.

Also that’s a lot of posts to read which can overwhelm some people. Getting caught up on everything can take some time that people may not have.

I’d say it’s better to have a small group that doubles? Each person has maybe two characters. That way you have diversity but less dependency. However that could also be overwhelming.

Really it’s about experiencing what you prefer. But I’d say 8 is wayyy too many unless you’re super dedicated and patient. Best of luck!!

I'd actually agree with you on those points. I can imagine people get lost in a bigger group as well if they're not extremely chatty and overbearing as I sometimes can be. Posts are definitely a big one too.

Doubling again depends on the number - I'd be more than happy to let people double if they want. It does run the risk of being overwhelming and it risks people biting off more than they can chew too, though, I'd be a hypocrite if I said I've never done that haha.

Yeah, 8 seems a little too many in hindsight. And my patience wears very thin. Thank you so much, and thank you for the response too! Gives me things to think about.

 

[Beckoncall]

I say start with 6-10 and see how committed they all are, and add/subtract from there. The lower number for a forum RP and the higher end for discord RPs where you have less chance of plenty of people being on together at once.

What kind of game did you want to GM?

 

[Arcanist]

What kind of game did you want to GM?

Pretty much a fandom roleplay - I had an idea revolving around the old-school Final Fantasy games which would probably be rather story/lore/quest focused.

 

[Beckoncall]

I hope you have luck with your interest check -- it's also worth noting you can have more people if you can find somebody compatible to Co-GM with you. I wish you luck!

 

[Arcanist]

I hope you have luck with your interest check -- it's also worth noting you can have more people if you can find somebody compatible to Co-GM with you. I wish you luck!

That's true too! And thank you, I'll probably not throw one out yet since I'm still figuring out some things on the lore side and how I might work everything out, haha.

 

[MDL]

It's a trade-off. What others have said about the number of posts being taxing can be true, but that is up for you to judge beforehand. As long as you remain realistic and really think about it, you can probably figure out how many posts you are willing to respond to during a certain period. It's all about how dedicated you are to reading posts, some of which might be really bad and too long. And writing responses that might drain your creativity and be poor as a result. Or they might not. You have to judge for yourself.

The only certifiable advice I can give is that if you want to have a game with 6 or more people, don't start the characters off together. And introduce a rotation system (meaning one person can't post again until all other people have posted). When you got so many people introducing their various ideas in the same location, with the same environment, at the same time, it gets real messy and incoherent. Well, unless you got a really cohesive, experienced group, which is unlikely, at least uniformly. And if you don't have the rotation system, some players are bound to fall waaaay behind and will end up with 10-20 posts (worst-case) to read.

Good luck with your game!

 

[rae2nerdy]

So as a 1x1 roleplayer I cant help you much in terms of a good number for a group. I would say however no less than four. Three is a bit of a cursed number in roleplays, I have never seen a roleplay with only three people do well.

It inevitably ends up with one person feeling like a third wheel of left behind. I have however found success in groups with four people as I think it’s small enough that I personally don’t feel overwhelmed (baring in mind I’m used to two person roleplays) and it also means that it’s easier to make sure people are paired up if you can’t get everyone online at the same time. So that it’s not just one person playing catch up to everyone else.

 

[Arcanist]

It's a trade-off. What others have said about the number of posts being taxing can be true, but that is up for you to judge beforehand. As long as you remain realistic and really think about it, you can probably figure out how many posts you are willing to respond to during a certain period. It's all about how dedicated you are to reading posts, some of which might be really bad and too long. And writing responses that might drain your creativity and be poor as a result. Or they might not. You have to judge for yourself.

The only certifiable advice I can give is that if you want to have a game with 6 or more people, don't start the characters off together. And introduce a rotation system (meaning one person can't post again until all other people have posted). When you got so many people introducing their various ideas in the same location, with the same environment, at the same time, it gets real messy and incoherent. Well, unless you got a really cohesive, experienced group, which is unlikely, at least uniformly. And if you don't have the rotation system, some players are bound to fall waaaay behind and will end up with 10-20 posts (worst-case) to read.

Good luck with your game!

That is definitely some sound advice. I'll definitely keep that in mind when I'm making an interest check in future. I do love me a rotation system for bigger parties, because catching up on posts whilst busy with some real life shenanigans makes it not so fun. The differing locations is a good idea to keep in mind, seeing as I'm thinking of around 5-6 for a group. Thank you, especially for the tips and the advice!

So as a 1x1 roleplayer I cant help you much in terms of a good number for a group. I would say however no less than four. Three is a bit of a cursed number in roleplays, I have never seen a roleplay with only three people do well.

It inevitably ends up with one person feeling like a third wheel of left behind. I have however found success in groups with four people as I think it’s small enough that I personally don’t feel overwhelmed (baring in mind I’m used to two person roleplays) and it also means that it’s easier to make sure people are paired up if you can’t get everyone online at the same time. So that it’s not just one person playing catch up to everyone else.

Oof, no, I would agree. It just seems too small for me, haha. I like that point about the pairings; the last thing I would want is anyone to be outside things going on, since I've seen that in a few RPs (and despite my best effort to get them involved with any of my characters, it does leave them feeling a little bit left out in the grander scheme of things). Thank you!

 

[Idea]

Speaking personally, I've begun drifting towards smaller group roleplays in recent times, though I've made my share of larger group roleplays as well (mainly of the BNHA fandom those). I used to juggle 10-20 players though now I try to keep it within 5, myself included. This, however, has less to do with some "optimal group number", and more to do with the specific style of GMing and roleplaying that I have being more compatible with a small group.

One thing to keep in mind is that you are inevitably going to loose players. Even if your group RP is very small, there's a very good chance you will get ghosted by at least 1 player. On the other hand, not everyone is willing to joing an ongoing RP, even if they otherwise would have when that RP was just starting. Because of this, you'll generally prefer to have too many over too few players when you do the innitial recruitment.

The number of players you want will vary depending on the exact roleplay you want to make, and there are many factors that may increase or decrease the count.


1. The Type of Plot

Different types of plot tend to want different amounts of players. For this, you could roughly divide plots into 'idle plots', where the goal is continuous or explorational (school, slice of life, sandbox and the like tend to fit into this category, basically any plot where you are either cyclically persuing objectives or the story doesn't persue a particular objective as a means of progression) , and 'task plots' where there is a clear and firm goal which once achieved completes the action (mystery and thriller RPs tend to fall into this category).

Idle plots will generally call for more players, whereas task plots will call for less. In a task plot you don't want to be bogged down by everyone having their turn, people have to work together and everything is more compact. Idle plots, on the other hand, tend to be less urgent and therefore you want the characters having more room to have variety of interactions, to be able to go around doing their own thing etc... Being less restrictive on the number of players helps the players get the sensation of more freedom and helps more players being able to do their own thing or explore their own corner without fear of losing interactions because of it.

Antoher factor, for instance, if how fluid your plot is in regards to getting new characters. Not every single plot is able to absorb new characters, less even if you are talking specifically the same type of the characters are the ones already present.

2. The style of roleplay

Simple roleplays (as in simple, casual and detailed) tend to live a lot more than detailed roleplays. One of the biggest contributing factors for this is that simple roleplays are extremely flexible in terms of what they allow and can easily flux players in and out as is most convenient. A simple roleplay isn't worried about the continuity in the way a casual or detailed player would be. This adaptability and ease of player recycling makes simple roleplays able to loose and replenish players without it hindering them and thus survive for much longer.

Detailed roleplays on the other hand, can't shift players that easily. Detailed players tend to have things more structured and connected, so pulling just one element can make everything come crumbling down. Furthermore, it's harder to find replacements in detailed RP, not only due to the differences in actual audience numbers, but also because there's a lot more to catch up to in a detailed roleplay.

So, your style of roleplay, the logistics, will also affect the number of players you want in the roleplay. You want more players for simple roleplays, you want less players for detailed roleplays. But logistics also includes things like where the roleplay will be held, the frequency needed for replies, etc...

3. Your style as a GM

Your strong and weak points as a GM, the things where you choose to be strict and choose to be lax, etc... can also impact how many roleplayers you want. For instance if you're lax with character sheets, you may want less players to reduce the number of bad character sheets you have to deal with.

 

[Arcanist]

Speaking personally, I've begun drifting towards smaller group roleplays in recent times, though I've made my share of larger group roleplays as well (mainly of the BNHA fandom those). I used to juggle 10-20 players though now I try to keep it within 5, myself included. This, however, has less to do with some "optimal group number", and more to do with the specific style of GMing and roleplaying that I have being more compatible with a small group.

One thing to keep in mind is that you are inevitably going to loose players. Even if your group RP is very small, there's a very good chance you will get ghosted by at least 1 player. On the other hand, not everyone is willing to joing an ongoing RP, even if they otherwise would have when that RP was just starting. Because of this, you'll generally prefer to have too many over too few players when you do the innitial recruitment.

The number of players you want will vary depending on the exact roleplay you want to make, and there are many factors that may increase or decrease the count.


1. The Type of Plot

Different types of plot tend to want different amounts of players. For this, you could roughly divide plots into 'idle plots', where the goal is continuous or explorational (school, slice of life, sandbox and the like tend to fit into this category, basically any plot where you are either cyclically persuing objectives or the story doesn't persue a particular objective as a means of progression) , and 'task plots' where there is a clear and firm goal which once achieved completes the action (mystery and thriller RPs tend to fall into this category).

Idle plots will generally call for more players, whereas task plots will call for less. In a task plot you don't want to be bogged down by everyone having their turn, people have to work together and everything is more compact. Idle plots, on the other hand, tend to be less urgent and therefore you want the characters having more room to have variety of interactions, to be able to go around doing their own thing etc... Being less restrictive on the number of players helps the players get the sensation of more freedom and helps more players being able to do their own thing or explore their own corner without fear of losing interactions because of it.

Antoher factor, for instance, if how fluid your plot is in regards to getting new characters. Not every single plot is able to absorb new characters, less even if you are talking specifically the same type of the characters are the ones already present.

2. The style of roleplay

Simple roleplays (as in simple, casual and detailed) tend to live a lot more than detailed roleplays. One of the biggest contributing factors for this is that simple roleplays are extremely flexible in terms of what they allow and can easily flux players in and out as is most convenient. A simple roleplay isn't worried about the continuity in the way a casual or detailed player would be. This adaptability and ease of player recycling makes simple roleplays able to loose and replenish players without it hindering them and thus survive for much longer.

Detailed roleplays on the other hand, can't shift players that easily. Detailed players tend to have things more structured and connected, so pulling just one element can make everything come crumbling down. Furthermore, it's harder to find replacements in detailed RP, not only due to the differences in actual audience numbers, but also because there's a lot more to catch up to in a detailed roleplay.

So, your style of roleplay, the logistics, will also affect the number of players you want in the roleplay. You want more players for simple roleplays, you want less players for detailed roleplays. But logistics also includes things like where the roleplay will be held, the frequency needed for replies, etc...

3. Your style as a GM

Your strong and weak points as a GM, the things where you choose to be strict and choose to be lax, etc... can also impact how many roleplayers you want. For instance if you're lax with character sheets, you may want less players to reduce the number of bad character sheets you have to deal with.

There are definitely a lot of things to consider, but that really helps! Thanks so much.

 

[Idea]

There are definitely a lot of things to consider, but that really helps! Thanks so much.

Happy to help

 

[MDL]

That is definitely some sound advice. I'll definitely keep that in mind when I'm making an interest check in future. I do love me a rotation system for bigger parties, because catching up on posts whilst busy with some real life shenanigans makes it not so fun. The differing locations is a good idea to keep in mind, seeing as I'm thinking of around 5-6 for a group. Thank you, especially for the tips and the advice!

As a follow-up on the point about rotation I would add that in my experience, rotation systems only work well if the GM is very proactive and clear. You got to be active yourself to keep that in check and not be afraid to post constant directives in OOC so people know how to fall in line. Anyhow, don't be afraid to fail if you've never GM'd a group before. Everyone's gotta start someplace.

 

[Arcanist]

MDL completely forgot to answer this one! But that's great advice - I do have a bit of a fear of failure, but you're completely right about just diving in there and starting up. I'll definitely keep those in mind

 

[MDL]

MDL completely forgot to answer this one! But that's great advice - I do have a bit of a fear of failure, but you're completely right about just diving in there and starting up. I'll definitely keep those in mind

I think that a great mindset to have going in is to take things slow. If the game is going to fail, it's always going to be because you didn't think it through enough or plan ahead. At least that is what I did back in 2012. Also. Communicate with your players more than you have to. Extra good would be to have an experienced GM to ask questions of in PM. I think that would really have helped me back in the day.

 

[BackSet]

I usually have 5 or 6 people as a good number (since that's the number it usually drops too anyway after all the people ghost).

 

[MDL]

I usually have 5 or 6 people as a good number (since that's the number it usually drops too anyway after all the people ghost).

You have any ideas on how to avoid that? Are there any behavioral patterns that can be observed in potential ghosters?

That questions can go out to everyone else as well, if you feel inclined.

 

[BackSet]

You have any ideas on how to avoid that? Are there any behavioral patterns that can be observed in potential ghosters?

That questions can go out to everyone else as well, if you feel inclined.

Eh. Not really, no.

Well, except, in my experience, the longer it takes them to post (and I mean, like, a long time) the more likely they'll ghost.

I used to think accepting people with good cses would avoid ghosting but that isn't true.

I guess I just don't try to avoid it. I let it happen and work with what's left. If someone's gonna ghost, they're gonna do it early.

 

[MDL]

I used to think accepting people with good cses would avoid ghosting but that isn't true.

It's kind of sad that people put in such an effort and don't follow through on it. I wonder what causes this behavior. Maybe the idea of roleplaying is more attractive than actually doing the work sometimes.

If someone's gonna ghost, they're gonna do it early.

That's interesting. I'm trying to think if that's my experience also and I can't really remember. Been off RPing for a year or so.

 

[rae2nerdy]

So Ghosting depends on your definition of the term.

If your definition of Ghosting = Ignoring Your Partner/The Roleplay , than typically speaking this is a matter of self confidence or lack of chemistry with fellow players/the plot.


If you mean they drop out and are not online at all or online significantly less than is necessary to keep up with the plot than it’s usually a IRL issue. This can be anything from lack of internet access to a new work schedule to even a prolonged illness/death in the family.

Short of asking outright though it’s hard to tell what an individual persons issue is or how to fix it.

Most famously I was in a long running group once with five active players that all had pretty open schedules. We lost a sixth player for several months. Didn’t think anything of it until they came back apologizing because they had been in a car accident and hospitalized. It was literally the first time in months they could get online.

And in my 1x1 experience I have had people leave for similar reasons at least ten times. So it’s one of the reasons I don’t take ghosting as personally. I would hate to be the asshole bad mouthing someone who ended up being legitimately ill.

 

[Lilliana2]

In y’alls opinion if a person suddenly drops off a group rp how do you go about the situation?? I’m trying to start a group rp I haven’t hosted one before so I’m not sure what the proper etiquette in this situation would be? In past rps if someone dropped off normally the whole thing would just end up dying out but that was a different site

 

[rae2nerdy]

In y’alls opinion if a person suddenly drops off a group rp how do you go about the situation?? I’m trying to start a group rp I haven’t hosted one before so I’m not sure what the proper etiquette in this situation would be? In past rps if someone dropped off normally the whole thing would just end up dying out but that was a different site

Simple kill off the character or make it into an NPC. When I did groups I would specify a specific time period for each scene and a time before the character was removed.

Ex of what to do with character.
If you have not responded in X amount of time your character will be removed from the action (ex killed off) or they will be turned into an NPC for use by the other players. If you return you make take up the character again or create a new one.

Ex of post time limit :
You will have until Sunday at 8pm EST to post a response to the current action. At this time we will time Skip to a new action/location.

 

[Lilliana2]

Simple kill off the character or make it into an NPC. When I did groups I would specify a specific time period for each scene and a time before the character was removed.

Ex of what to do with character.
If you have not responded in X amount of time your character will be removed from the action (ex killed off) or they will be turned into an NPC for use by the other players. If you return you make take up the character again or create a new one.

Ex of post time limit :
You will have until Sunday at 8pm EST to post a response to the current action. At this time we will time Skip to a new action/location.

Thank you! I’ll be sure to keep this in mind. What do you normally do for a time limit?

 

[rae2nerdy]

Thank you! I’ll be sure to keep this in mind. What do you normally do for a time limit?

Well that depends on how paced the reply rate is to your roleplay and how long each individual scene takes. I would say for simplicity I usually start with one week being the time limit before you time skip and two weeks being the time limit before you remove a character from the action.

But most of my groups where fairly slow paced with a response every other day on average. If you have multiple responses per day than that time period can be halfed. If you have only a response a week than obviously the time period will be extended.