New to Legend but crazy enough to try and run for 20 people

[The.Maze.Controller]

Hi all,

I thought i would post since I am new to Legend / RuneQuest in general but not GMing RPGs.

I am undertaking a massive project that may involve up to 20 players.

Details can be found at http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/bad-wrong-fun.

I would like to know if any of you have any tips in general regarding Legend / RQ II seeing as many of the people I will be dealing with are going to be D&D4e players. I have played 4e and its def not to my taste. The worst system I have played in my 20 years imo as I tend to be selective about what I try.

Additionally any tips about the site I linked would be welcome. I think I communicate well what I am looking to do with Legend but I welcome constructive advice & opinions as to how to best explain core concepts to new folks.

I am also actively looking for more players to round out the roster for my NYC game.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Stainless]

20 people using crunchy Legend?

My advice is to avoid combat (at least 'mass' combat).

 

[Asyme]

Sounds slightly poor - but I run a game regularly for 7-8 people.

Avoid Hit locations/dual wielding rules for anything other than important npcs. Combat is going to take so long to swing round you need to simplify it and, well, get those bad guys down.... I just treat a lot of the enemies as essentially tough minions and it works a treat.

 

[Hopeless]

How about index cards so you use to identify each player and their character and list what details you think are important for you to know (Such as what magic they know, what cult they belong to, their character stats, hp and armour per location.

You will definitely need a spare copy of the combat maeuvers though both for yourself and your players in case they're sharing a copy of the core rules!

Have a separate notepad to list initatives and important details you need including story subplots, important npc's, a brief outline of what you have planned with a different colour pen to add notes when they do something you want a reminder about or its just an interesting change to the plot!

Out of curiosity since I can't access you link at present whats the backstory for the start of your game as far as your player's will know initially?

 

[The.Maze.Controller]

The title was slightly misleading I think. I will be running for groups of 5-7 at a time but the campaign will feature up to 20 players all told participating.

Still suggestions are still welcome! More more give to the poor! Don't be greedy give to the needy!

There is no back story yet as our first game sessions will revolve around world creation which will be entirely player driven. I will guide and assist. I intend to use the open source Dawn of Worlds game for it. http://www.clanwebsite.org/games/rpg/Dawn_of_Worlds_game_1_0Final.pdf is the link to that free open source world building game.

 

[RosenMcStern]

The sweet spot for this system is 3-5 players, but I have played in several combat-oriented sessions with an average of 6-7 players last summer, and it worked pretty well. The GM had to user poker chits for opponent CAs. He did not even use general HPs for NPCs.

So the bottom line is: do it, it will work.

 

[The.Maze.Controller]

I had read about the chits thing somewhere else as well thank you for the suggestion! I certainly intend to make use of it!

 

[The.Maze.Controller]

So the site Progresses - We now have video and music.

I am soliciting opinions - should music only be available to Adventure Logs? I am also considering making / selecting theme music for NPCs and PCs and factions as they get added to the site.(Or more properly letting the PCs select their own themes and doing the others.) - PC theme music will have to be appropriate to the overall feel of the site, but I digress...

How do you guys think I should use the music? Should I use music? Opinions all welcome.

I am working on UI on the side with some help at the moment so that is all going to change fairly soon-ish too.

 

[BFalcon]

Saw this and thought I'd better wish you luck... 10 players was my maximum (with other systems) and that was enough... you might want to consider doing two sessions a week and splitting them into groups.

Ok,just reread the thread 3-7 is much more sane...

I would reiterate the use of index cards for everything, just to you know what you've told one group and not the others - maybe developing a system of symbols that can be combined into the one master symbol that you can put next to one line (a * being the best - each group has a line going a different way, with another group (if needed) being a circle around it). Updating the information will also be critical so that one group can see the results of anothers activities (eg a burned out tavern and upset locals after a bar fight gotten out of hand...)

 

[The.Maze.Controller]

Thanks Bfalc but the site I am using - (dunno if you checked it) has areas where I can track everything myself that is not viewable to the players. I can keep copious notes vice the index cards. I can link to specific char and whatnot its pretty nifty for management. I would live in fear if I didn't have a management system in mind.

Most I have ever run at a table was 12 for a few weeks for a short campaign to into D&D 4e to new players - was a bit of a nightmare because of mechanics in early 4e but I managed ok. It was fun in many ways. I was able to keep things moving by being dynamic and snappy and infecting the players with that same attitude by example.

People realized they had to be ready when they had their turn or I would give them a 2nd chance by coming back around to them but generally if I asked what you were doing and you didnt know you got "passed" to the bottom of the initiative order and got a second chance at the end before a turn ended.

I don't foresee the same types of issues with RQ especially since I am only going to have about 4 - 7 players at the table at any one time. Big issue is going to be some of the hand holding I may need to do for people who are still too used to baby's first TTRPG. (You probably know what system to which I am referring.)

The main hurdles I have faced is the relatively unknown nature of the system since it's not the market leader. Also it's a bit of an issue to get people to start using the site... I supposedly have 6 lined up but this far only 2 have registered for the site.

Well see... I spoke to a lot of people recently and I am getting really good feedback, so things will probably take off some this week and next weekend.

 

[Mankcam]

The main hurdles I have faced is the relatively unknown nature of the system since it's not the market leader.

I guess people have told you that combat can be more gritty than some other rpgs. I don't want to be preaching to the converted, but melee combat can take its toll on player-characters pretty quickly if they think they are playing MMO tanks. It sounds like you know what you are doing however, given that you've set yourself up for a challenging session to GM.

Good luck with it mate, it sounds alot of fun