How many PCs have you had in one session?

[Tech]

22 hours ago, BoloOfEarth said:

I've often skipped over players who had stepped out of the room just before their action came up (e.g. go to the bathroom, or upstairs to get a drink refill), particularly when the next character's action is unlikely to affect that player's character. 

 

If the player is surfing Facebook or otherwise wasting time on their PC or smartphone when their Phase comes up, however, they get no mercy for being unprepared.

 

If someone has to use the 'facilities', our group waits, hey, we're human. 

 

However, try to surf Farcebook or other net related activities, you're warned. After that, you're not invited back. It's up there in rudeness.

[CrosshairCollie]

The very first Champions game I was in, which was simultaneously a great thing (it introduced me to the game) and a bad thing (the GM had several ... quirks that I took as gospel and took me years to shake free of), regularly had 10 players in it, up to 12 on occasion.  The only reason this didn't make things take forever was one of those quirks ... a campaign cap of 18d6 on attacks with defenses in the 25-30 range, meaning 'if you got hit, you were probably dunked for the duration'.

It didn't take me too long to realize that was absurd and didn't really give much time for actual characterization, so when I started running, I decided to cap at six.  I got wheedled into 8 once,  but never again.  Nowadays, my game group consists of 4 people including myself, so not really an issue anymore.

[Scott Ruggels]

I know a GM that puts a basket on the table for phones. Put the phone on  airplane mode, for the duration. Phone rings get taxed, like a pun tax or swear jar to fund snacks. 

[Jkeown]

18. We got through maybe 3 turns of combat in a 4 hour session. 

 

Edit: My current group is only 5 at max and runs smooth as silk. 

[dsatow]

Largest number of PCs was 16 with a supervillain for each hero.  Trip sheet was 32-35 lines mainly because I think there were several agent groups on the list too.  It was grueling but at least all the players were veterans and even if they weren't following the story while the other actors were taking their turns, they could pick up what was going on and get through their turn.

 

I'll probably never do that again as the martial artists and speedsters did just about everything and the brick would do their one punch and then go off and do something else like get lunch.  The guys who got lunch were playing bricks, they rolled to hit and did any damage and then handed off their character to someone else to keep track of stun.  They took off to Togos, got lunch, came back, checked the trip sheet, went to the kitchen, ate lunch, cleaned up the plates, and came back and were in their spots a few actions before their next turn.  The mat had something like 60 or 70 counters on a mondomat.  It was both epic and nightmarish.

[dsatow]

As a rule, I general do not GM more than 6 players.  I will GM 8 if the extra players have a low overhead cost (they know the rules, aren't power gaming, and help other players if necessary) though I like 3-6 because more people get to play without getting bored.

[CrosshairCollie]

On 6/10/2019 at 6:08 PM, Scott Ruggels said:

I know a GM that puts a basket on the table for phones. Put the phone on  airplane mode, for the duration. Phone rings get taxed, like a pun tax or swear jar to fund snacks. 

I considered something like that, but one of my players regularly gets important calls from work about scheduling at odd times, so that would cause him some serious problems with his job.  Fortunately, he's nice enough that he'll look at it if it rings, and if it's not work, he ignores it until a better time.