Improving GM skill

[Christopher R Taylor]

Spence's point about easing younger players into real role playing after their experiences in MMOGs and computer "RPGs" is a good one.  The perspective of computer games is different than in person, and it takes a bit for some players to get used to the idea.

[zslane]

Not if they're playing D&D 4e... ;-)

[Nolgroth]

Not if they're playing D&D 4e... ;-)

 

That reminds me, I gotta get a D&D Essentials game running. Easy to plan out.

[Altair]

Most players I ever worked with was 10 in one game. That was... certainly something. Keeping 8 players engaged is a tall order indeed. A couple thoughts on that:

• I think zslane's advice on action scenes and pacing should be pretty valuable - with that many PCs, keeping them all engaged is a must. 
• With a party of that size, if they don't have interpersonal agendas with each other, that's really more weight than the tabletop format is suited to bear
  • To that end, if you can break off a group to address something that doesn't need GM attention, and split them off in another room, it can give everybody more to do. Formulate a plan, analyze the high-level strategic goals, or pursue dramatic goals that involve other PCs.
    • If your players aren't interested in that kind of thing, or the game/characters don't support it, then there's no harm in that. But, I would strongly consider splitting the group into two games - one with 4 players, the other with 3 - presuming that someone else in the game can GM. 

Large play groups can be great, but present a whole bunch of structural issues that need to be addressed. A lack of engagement from 8 other people is not necessarily an indictment of the GM; it could simply mean that the group isn't best served by a megascale game

[bigdamnhero]

Yeah 8 players is tough. Not just from a GM span of control perspective, but you can only pay so much attention to each player. That could be contributing to your "lack of focus" problem, if each player feels like they have an excessively long time to wait until it's their turn (in or out of combat).

 

It also sounds like maybe your group is just kindof in a rut. I was in the same situation ~10 years ago; long-standing group of the same players, regardless of the campaign & genre it felt like we were playing the same game the same way each time... What really upped my game was going to gaming conventions, seeing how different GMs do things, and running my own games for a different ~random group of players to see what worked and what doesn't. Your mileage may vary, but it really snapped me out of my rut.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I really do think playing in other games, even with GMs who aren't that great, is a good tool to learning how to run games.  Every GM I've sat under I have learned how to do it better from, even if they were lousy at it.  At least I learned what not to do.  And even the bad ones will often have good ideas you can pick up.