I’ve had experience playing and DMing online with medium-to-large groups. All have ended in disaster, usually due to fumbling with the technology, failing to keep turn order by preventing players’ interrupting each other, and often a lower level of respect for each other versus face-to-face games.
For now, my online campaigns will be single-player only; if things work, maybe two can play if they control themselves. If you’ve got tips for handling messy groups, I’d like to hear them!
Really, getting good groups online is hit or miss. Sometimes you get lucky, other times you end up with a group full of toxic people. The best thing is probably to limit the group size to 5 or 6 players max, and 6 is really pushing it. To filter out some people, put something like "If you have read this far, put your character's favorite color somewhere in your application" in the description. That way, you know they at least read part of what the campaign is about.
I have never seen people run single-player campaigns. Personally, that sounds way too intimate, but props too ya if you can pull it off well. If you feel you're getting a bunch of toxic players, mix it up, make sure you're playing with friends that respect everyone enough to deal with tech problems or whatnot.
It goes back to my rural upbringing years ago. Basically, it was either one player or none at all. Only recently did online gaming get good enough for me to want to play, so there’s that too.
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I’ve had experience playing and DMing online with medium-to-large groups. All have ended in disaster, usually due to fumbling with the technology, failing to keep turn order by preventing players’ interrupting each other, and often a lower level of respect for each other versus face-to-face games.
For now, my online campaigns will be single-player only; if things work, maybe two can play if they control themselves. If you’ve got tips for handling messy groups, I’d like to hear them!
Really, getting good groups online is hit or miss. Sometimes you get lucky, other times you end up with a group full of toxic people. The best thing is probably to limit the group size to 5 or 6 players max, and 6 is really pushing it. To filter out some people, put something like "If you have read this far, put your character's favorite color somewhere in your application" in the description. That way, you know they at least read part of what the campaign is about.
For sure 4 is the sweet spot. 3 seems somewhat lacking and 5 can get hard to manage if your a new DM, but 6 is way too much.
I have never seen people run single-player campaigns. Personally, that sounds way too intimate, but props too ya if you can pull it off well. If you feel you're getting a bunch of toxic players, mix it up, make sure you're playing with friends that respect everyone enough to deal with tech problems or whatnot.
It goes back to my rural upbringing years ago. Basically, it was either one player or none at all. Only recently did online gaming get good enough for me to want to play, so there’s that too.