[Sorcerer] Number of Players

[Finarvyn]

First, I apologize if this should be an "Actual Play" topic; I debated with myself for quite a while before I actually posted and decided that this was the better place for it.

I have a gaming group currently of six members (it varies somewhat from 5-8 but currently 6 have been consistently showing up).
1. They are a very cooperative group rather than competitive.
2. Many of them are family members (wife, kids).
3. They have a history of "traditional" RPGs and not too much experience with "indie" games.

I'm wondering how many players are in a typical Sorcerer campaign and if anyone has any suggestions or tricks for me to handle a party size of a half-dozen.

1. I tried running 6 Sorcerers and it simply seemed like too many. Each has too strong a power base and, particularly since they are so cooperative, when they work together it's hard to come up with a decent challenge for them. (Kind of like finding one baddie to take on all of The X-Men at once, to use a comic book example.)

2. I tried running 3 Sorcerers and having the other 3 players run their demons. I thought this would be clever because it would force them into an adversarial role, but they just worked together in a manner which seemed very non-Sorcerer. (This issue should be a post of its own, and perhaps I'll start one.)

[Christopher Kubasik]

Hi Marv,

The general rule of thumb, Sorcerer seems best suited two to four players and a GM.  I tend to cap at three. 

Ron and others have run convention games with more, I believe.

I'm actually interested in the AP part of all your players working together!

CK

[angelfromanotherpin]

I have found that Sorcerer works bet with 2 or 3 players, but...

1. I tried running 6 Sorcerers and it simply seemed like too many. Each has too strong a power base and, particularly since they are so cooperative, when they work together it's hard to come up with a decent challenge for them. (Kind of like finding one baddie to take on all of The X-Men at once, to use a comic book example.)

This is a red flag for me.  It sounds like you're putting the game into Champions gear, where there's a challenge and the players have to stop it; and that is not going to work, whether there's six players or one.  That's just not the car you're driving.  The system deliberately undercuts simple mightiness, especially in the face of coordinated sorcery.  Winning or losing is much less the issue than means and motive.

I have to ask: what the Kickers have been like so far?

[Finarvyn]

Well, part of the problem seems to be that it's tough to juggle six plotlines at the same time so I try to blend a few together for simplicity's sake. That's probably mistake number one.

The net effect seems to encourage the group to move around in a pack, more like a D&D party, which seems to create the need for a giant baddie for them to confront. (It was probably a mistake to mention X-men because I'm not really running a superhero game. It was probably also a mistake to mention D&D because I'm not trying to run a "party" game either.)

So, since they all tend to clump together, I get the feeling that I need to have fewer players and thus fewer plotlines to weave together. That's why I wondered if others are running games with so many players. If everyone else can do it, then I know I just need more experience and it'll come. If no one else does it, then I know that I need to re-think my current group size.