Hello hello,

I recently made my first PbP game and started accepting players. As requests started to come in, I became a bit anxious about the number of players that would be reasonable to have at once.

At the moment, I have thirteen requests, all of which have been accepted and are hammering out character specifics and player preferences before I allow any of them as official players.

I have closed the game to new RtJs for now, since I don't really know how many I could handle.

What do you all think? Is it many, is it few?

Details about the game that may be relevant: It is a DnD 5e Survival Horror in an ongoing demonic apocalypse, with the aim of getting to the Bastion, the last home for hope.
Players are informed that death is very likely prior to RtJ or upon RtJ.

It depends on how well you can keep things organized, and remember you will have a bit of attrition early on, so you'll probably lose 20-30% of your players.

Also, dividing them into two or three groups can keep things from getting too chaotic and keep one or two players from dominating everything.

after all the years i have been here, the difference between  the games i run, and games i play in are this.

1....Games that are 'too slow' in getting players in the game, lose them.

2.... if you wait  until you  have a hole, it might be too late for , whatever the game had been in motion.

3... I advertise  every week, for the main reason, that  i rather have 'too many' then not enough.

RL sucks..people go...people have to be on  hold.. my space game, i have 4-5 players on hold because of RL. I know they want to play, but are unable.

 RTJs...  i always have a little interview  with the RTJ, one or two posts , telling them what my games are like and then ask them if they are still interested.

 in the past 2  weeks, i have  3 RTJs...the one who is  in the game now, had  left a few years  a go and came back... two  RTJs  expressed interest, but never responded to the ''interview"

..........

 bottom line. Take in as many as you think yo9u can handle...some of those folks who signed up will walk away..theybwil either  ghost,or, if they have  any  manners, tell you that the game isn't for them.

 you can't be a  'module  DM/GM" that goes flat out by the  book. You have to be flexible, so you can ajust on the run, when you lose or gain players.
This message was last edited by the user at 21:32, Sat 11 Feb 2023.

As donsr sand Oracle said, there will be drop outs, so plan on accepting a few more than you would think ideal. Thirteen is a lot, but since you're letting them work on characters, no matter how clearly you stated it was provisional, cutting them now will hurt feelings. So, let them know your expectations that they will keep up with posting rate are firm and you'll cut those that fail to keep up.

In general, I don't feel that eight PCs are too many in PbP but I have a lot of spare time. Thirteen is likely to dwindle to six pretty quickly though, so I wouldn't fret at this point.

In reply to DasMarc (msg # 1):

One of the hardest parts I've found for starting a new game is telling people that there isn't enough room.  You'll have to balance what you'd like to do with what you can do.

I’ll do what I can, but I don’t want to refuse any players for now. Maybe I’m banking too much on it being a deadly game haha.

I think I’ll let a new batch of requests in either way, and start them off in batches as well.

I’ll report on how it goes! Thanks ^.^

I suspect a lot depends on the pace you wish to post at, and how willing you are to move ahead when people don't post. You probably can't wait for everyone.

My perspective is to reward those who do post, rather than cater to those who post too slow. Reward positive behavior.

In reply to Piestar (msg # 7):

Good point, I do have a rule to not out-post people that are playing in the same adventuring group, I hope it is enough

In reply to DasMarc (msg # 8):

Sounds like the reverse of my point. I like high post rates though.

In reply to DasMarc (msg # 8):

Actually, it might not be a bad idea to try and divide into two different groups.  If you have them based on posting rate: say one a daily post and the other a few times a week; you might find that easier to manage.

Just a thought.

In reply to Hunter (msg # 10):

Not a bad thought, but I do still have some people that have not told me their expected posting rate.

I'll hammer it out, eventually