How to manage your Roleplay group size.

[NuttsnBolts]

I've heard people state that smaller RP group sizes are easier to manage and more personal, and that larger groups allow for more variety and an overlapping in stories and adventures. But is there a point when a group can become too large for a roleplay? And if it does what are some ways to manage that size? (ie, is adding a co-gm the only option)

Just curious as to what people think and what numbers people end up being comfortable with before things get difficult to control, and at what point do they say "no more entries". Especially if you're after 1 more player and 2 apply with equally gods character sheets.

It also raises the question on posting orders and what are some methods for larger groups to prevent people ninja posting others, or on the other hand, believe that they can't post because they have to wait for 4 other players to post.

[Ellri]

If you have the right mechanics, you can increase group size significantly.

in our RP, we've got three GMs, over thirty characters and multiple locations and plots. The player count is lower, of course.

We've got an intricate timestamp system to make sure that characters generally don't get left behind, or if they do, that they can catch up.

If you've got multiple factions for players in your RP, you can keep it balanced by not letting any single faction grow too powerful.

[Vilageidiotx]

I do not think it is easy to reach a point in an advanced RP where you have too many people; the effort behind making advanced posts tend to keep everything moving smoothly. I could see it becoming a problem in more casual RP's though, where posts move so quick that the story outpaces the rpers.

[Dinh AaronMk]

I could see it becoming a problem in more casual RP's though, where posts move so quick that the story outpaces the rpers.

@Vilageidiotx

Which is why in the grand scheme of things when I did high-school RPs ironically I ended up silently dropping out because folk moved way too fasts by firing out posts no more than a paragraph in length.

[NuttsnBolts]

I do not think it is easy to reach a point in an advanced RP where you have too many people; the effort behind making advanced posts tend to keep everything moving smoothly. I could see it becoming a problem in more casual RP's though, where posts move so quick that the story outpaces the rpers.

@Vilageidiotx

So essentially by increasing the post length and quality, you can have more people involved without it becoming too chaotic? Does make a fair amount of sense in some regards since people will be spending more time on their individual posts, rather than thinking whether they need another post in a few hours or a day.

[Vilageidiotx]

<Snipped quote by Vilageidiotx>

So essentially by increasing the post length and quality, you can have more people involved without it becoming too chaotic? Does make a fair amount of sense in some regards since people will be spending more time on their individual posts, rather than thinking whether they need another post in a few hours or a day.

@NuttsnBolts

My two cents at least.

It always seemed like casual RP's were more about the rhythm, which becomes insane if too many people are involved. Advanced RP's are more about the writing itself, which keeps people from blazing through pages and keeps the story moving slow enough for comfort despite how many posters are involved.

So for example, if you have a casual RP with 20 members and 5 of them are online at the same time for an hour, those five could potentially kick out several posts each, with each post moving the story. The end result is that a lot of things happen before the other 15 members have a chance to respond. But if you have an advanced RP with 20 members and 5 of them are online at the same time for an hour, those five will at best produce one post per person, which means the story won't have moved as far and the other 15 will have time to respond.

[Dinh AaronMk]

@Vilageidiotx

Or you're like me and you might spend several days to simply compose a post now.

So in the end those five on during that hour would be enough for an hour's worth a shitposting in the OOC and maybe one IC post from someone until the day after.

[Vilageidiotx]

@Vilageidiotx

Or you're like me and you might spend several days to simply compose a post now.

So in the end those five on during that hour would be enough for an hour's worth a shitposting in the OOC and maybe one IC post from someone until the day after.

@Dinh AaronMk

Yeh, the far end of advanced posting like what we do requires ridiculous amounts of time. I'm at about two weeks for every post right now, and that is with me writing for an hour or two every other night while watching Netflix.

But that isn't the norm. That sort of writing doesn't get so many people that we need worry about being overcrowded.

[Dinh AaronMk]

Really if I buckled down to do something I could probably do my usual ten-page post in a day. But then I'm not leaving time for much else except for music. And dammit: I want to play vidya games and dream about having a life too.

[Innue]

Depends on the nature of the thread.

I have one that was set up with a lot of elements that required frequent management (since certain things were more like a game). Eventually when I had 18 active roleplayers I got super overwhelmed doing all of that management myself (we used dice for determining random encounters with creatures and a few other things and it was getting to 200+ rolls a week sometimes).

However, I feel if I had people who were capable of taking on some of that for me, I could have probably continued on with it without getting super burned out. I've since said when it is rebooted I am limiting the player count to 8 until I get someone I feel is capable of assisting with managing it.