How many players in your typical group?

How many people (including ST) do you typically game with?

  • I play by myself.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I play WITH myself.

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 2-3

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 4-5

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • 6+

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I've never actually played Exalted.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    0
Gaming groups...


Most of my Exalted groups have been in the range of three or four  player and an ST. Unlike my D&D groups we've generally had a 3-1 or 2-1 male to female ratio, as opposed to a 1-1 or 2-1 female -male advantage, which is amusing...but partly based on someone's unwillingness to learn anything involving 10 sided dice (i.e. White Wolf games). I did get one group together that was equal, but then someone had to move... :)
 
Mine currently has 6, and was offered up to 10 people total to play.  


I have been in other games that i have runt aht got up to 20 but we had 2 story tellers and it didn't last long.  


Average for my gaming group is 6.  We have had games up in the 8s and 9s and I have determined that it gets to hecktic trying to keep everyone going on something.
 
psychoph said:
I have been in other games that i have runt aht got up to 20
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Damn. You are a machine.


I find that anything more than 5 player characters tends to get a bit too busy. One of the things I like about Exalted is that every character is supposed to be in the limelight. Having too many players cuts down each person's face-time with the ST.


I'd say 3-4 players is my ideal as an ST. I don't mind being a player in larger groups, as long as the ST is good at time and people management and can keep things lively, smooth, and on track.


-S
 
Yeah 20 was nuts, it was basically two different games going on at once.  We had to cut combat into two groups and each storyteller was processing stuff from his group then we had breif catch me up sessions when everyone would breka to chill for a little and we would coordinate everything.


I think we got through 3-4 sessions before it got too much. It was an experiment.


Our groups tend to stay between 5-6 people with some hitting 7 we just have too many friends that want to play with the one ST and he only has so many days in the week he has ideas to run for.
 
I'd say 5 is ideal, since it is neither too much nor too little, and you also get the benefit of a perfect circle (if the players are willing).
 
5 is ideal, but the game I'm in at the moment has 6 players and thus it broke into 2 groups with the ST alternating.
 
Including the ST, a.k.a. "me," we usually boast six to seven people.  Sometimes fewer, never more.  The smallest game I've been in (well, I was the ST) was me and two players...it just wasn't as much fun as when there are more.  Ideally I prefer four players, but most games we run sport five to six players and an ST.  The games I've run with four players have been the most enjoyable for me...and the players involved, if they are to be believed.  Six players is very do-able, but it can get a bit crowded with six Solars who each want to be the most powerful being in Creation.  With enough variation character-wise and a good ST, though, it's quite fun.

Stillborn said:
I am poll robot.
-S
Click to expand...
Hello poll robot, nice to meet ya.
 
When I've played, the only games that made any meaningful heady had 3 to 6 players. I voted I play WITH myself just for shits and giggles.
 
Between my 2 different groups there is approx 8 or 9 people, due to overlapping. Our exalted game has 5 players (+1, myself being the ST) and our other game has 7 players (sometimes 8 ) with 1 ST. But it's Ratkin so there's suppose to be a fuck-load. Games are chaotic in nature, but everyone in the group finds it okay, so it's not a big deal. And like I said in a previous post, it's all tabel top, meaning big rooms, and loud nights. But it's so much fun, it's like a drug.


**edit, goddamn smilies!**
 
At it's height we had four players + ST. Lately though it's been 1 player + ST, but I'm hopeing (oh please let this happen) the group will increase and I'll get a chance to play instead of ST.
 
There's usually about four-six of us who play, and we have a decent gender-mix. There's two/three guys, and two/three girls. Split right down the middle. We also have a healthy mix of personality types which relates to the kinds of characters we typically create.


I'm usually the diplomat/socialite


One is a fan of smashing with brute force


One loves to smash with style


Another adores the magic-flinging


Then there's our gadget-lover


Finally, we have our sneaky-sneaky type
 
Anyoen had any experience with online games with greater than 10 people?  I was in a Werewolf email campaign once that I think hit 10 or 15 people.  I was wondering if anyone has found it to work for online if you have more people?  


Maybe a multiple set story where you have Sidereals you run and then solars that intertwin.  A friend of mine said he had a face to face game like that once with Vampries and Werewolves, but it was a  ton of work on the two ST's parts.  Only real time they got to gether was when the Vmaps decided to hit a caern or the werewolves decided to attack the city.
 
Currently playing with 4 players, but with one of them moving away and another about to go to university, i'm scouting some friends for interest.  I reckon i could ST up to 6 players, but any more and it would get chaotic.


~FC.
 
My group has 5 people in it and has had the same 5 people in it for years (Since before Exalted was released) I'm finding it difficult to get my mind around the idea of playing with many more people than that, it seems fairly optimum to me
 
6 people - our ST, and our 5 solars who compose a perfect circle.


Naturally, attendance is hard to maintain, so we've halfway lost our Night Caste(theyre so unreliable!)


Still, we maintain it pretty well.  we've been playing the same campaign for 1 year, and are now at around 180 xp.
 
Right now I have pretty much 2 players guaranteed to show up every night, and things flucutaute with the other 5 so that I have on average, 4-5 players. The night all 7 showed up was NUTS.
 
I rock 2-3 at the moment.  It really keeps things moving and allows each individual player to really feel Exalted contrary to being one of the crowd.  Having said that, I have done larger groups, but found that playing in larger groups robs me of my much desired limelight, as Still put it, and STing larger groups is still out of my league.  Maybe someday when I feel more confident as an ST I could do larger groups, but for now I'm happy with three players.
 
Right now I have pretty much 2 players guaranteed to show up every night' date=' and things flucutaute with the other 5 so that I have on average, 4-5 players. The night all 7 showed up was NUTS.[/quote']
How do you structure your stories so that the continuity can survive when the cast of characters fluctuates so much?


-S
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Currently, we have 6 players + the ST in our main game, though I have a solo game running with him, as well (he plays a sort of "supporting PC" role) that we just started. We'll probably switch ST duties back and forth on that one so neither of us gets bored or always knows what's going on.  :wink:  We do occasionally have call-offs in the other game, but it's usually the one or two people who aren't difficult to ignore/replace, and the ST usually has their character sheets so he can play them temporarily if there's a dire need.
 
My games typically involve  me and 5 players, who magically fell in line as a perfect circle without any input from me, which is a roleplaying phenomenon I sincerely doubt that I will ever see again, as now that my players are learning about the different types of Exalted, they all want to play a different type (lunar, DB, Alchemical, etc) next time around.  Why does my life have to be so complicated?


Anyway, this setup is perfect.  I have 5 first string friends who become better at gaming with each passing week.  One has been playing about a decade and it's like having a Sergeant First Class (because Master Sergeants don't do anything, and Sergeants Major do nothing but nitpick and get in the way) hammering them into a cohesive group by sheer force of personality.  


The 5 player perfect circle also allows me to circumvent the most annoying thing that can ever happen in gaming.


The scenario: (nicknames given to my players)


me, Magical Bob, Plato, Sam Fisher, The leprechaun, and Florida are all sitting around the table doing the mandatory hour of bullshitting before gaming actually starts.  Sam Fisher's phone rings.


Sam Fisher:  Hey, Me, it's Navy Reject.  What do you want me to do?


Me:  Navy Reject?  That useless bastard!  What the hell does he want?


Sam Fisher:  His voicemail says he wants to hang out.


Me:  Fuck.  That means he wants to steal my oxygen.  (Doorbell rings)  Double Fuck, everyone shut up.  Maybe he'll go away.


Sam Fisher:  Man, you know Navy Reject, he won't leave until told.


Me:  Be right back.  (opens door)


Navy Reject:  Hey man!  Good to see you!  You look--


Me: Yes?


Navy Reject:  (possibly on drugs) Are you guys doing anything today?


Me:  Yes.  We have a full group, though, and can't really handle anymore.  Not even to spectate.  Not even to curl op on my porch and die (this is actually true, he usually comes over to play Mordheim, and ever since he lost the last book I needed to complete my collection of L5R books less than 24 hours after I got it, he has been my bitch, getting me drinks and generally enduring whatever petty hazing we can invent for him such as slapping himself when he does stupid things in Morheim).


Navy Reject: Oh... okay, well, have Sam Fisher call me.


Me: Right (closes door just hard enough that it couldn't be construed as slamming)


(game ensues)


I HATE WHEN PEOPLE SHOW UP AT MY HOUSE WHEN THEY WERE NOT INVITED TO GAME.  IT HATE WHEN GIRLFRIENDS DO IT, I HATE IT WHEN SIBLINGS DO IT, I HATE IT WHEN WIVES (AND HUSBANDS, I DON'T DISCRIMINATE WHEN IT COMES TO STUPID OR INSENSITIVE) AND I HATE IT IN THE SAME WAY THAT I HATE INSTITUTIONALIZED BRUTALITY, SERIAL RAPISTS, AND SLAVERY WHEN SOMEONE WHO KNOWS I DON'T LIKE THEM SHOWS UP AT MY HOUSE UNINVITED ON GAME DAY.


Alright, I'm through.
 
Generally I like, at most, 5 or 6 players.  Like someone, I think Stillborn, said: 3-5 players is best.  Unfortunately right now I only have 2-3 players.  2 are guarenteed to show up, on time, for every game.  The third has shown up twice and both times late, and that's even after I pushed the start time back an hour.


Originally I had about 8 people wanting to play, but apparently they were all lying or something, only 2 of the 8 bothered showing up and about 2 more even had the decency to give an excuse as to why they never showed.  My 3rd player, and one of the constant players, was brought in later.  Hell, the 2 that're guarenteed to be there every session even stayed in the room the day that I forgot my core book (i'd been using it the night before and forgot to put it in my bag) and got into a car accident on the way back (some asshole broke suddenly, with no warning and no turn signal, which resulted in me getting rear-ended)... they stayed there for about 2 hours, give or take, when they could have just left.  I gave them bonus points for their patience and may give them another small bonus for thanks.


but I digress, usually I have 4-6 people, preferrably 5, but I take what I can get.  Right now with only 2 people irks me a bit, but that's because of the 6 or so people who were *very* interested and excited about playing just never showing up and never giving any kind of explanation.  If I can get the 3rd lad to show up consistantly, and somewhere close to on-time, then I'll be a somewhat happy ST.
 
Our group runs several games on different days of the Fortnight, we have an ST (or DM, GM whatever is applicable) and between 3-6 players. Personally, I think 5 + ST is the best number to have in a group, you can get a good mix of skills and character interactions but still maintain generous amounts of ST-player face time.
 
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