[Qoltar]

In most Role Playing Games there seems to be an ideal number of characters for the Adventuring Party. The weekly Wednesday Encounters from WotC assume a minimum of 4 player characters and a maximum of 6.

Okay then, four to six in an adventuring party.

Does that number feel right to you?

In the groups you have played in or GM-ed - what has been the number that was just right for everyone's comfort level?

Whats too many?

Whats not enough? (to run a decent adventure)

In these adventuring situations - what the ideal or preferred mix of classes or archetypes within the adventuring group?

Could this work :

1 Wizard
1 Cleric
2 fighters
1 Scholar/scribe type
1 paladin

Or is there a better mix that you've found?

In Science Fiction/Space Travel games - What is the ideal mix of specialty character types?

1 Pilot/Navigator type
1 Starship Engineer/Mechanic
1 Doctor or Medic
1 Negotiator/lawyer or mouthpiece character
2 ground fighter /Bodyguard /soldier types

....with one of the above also being a researcher or info oriented type of character.

What has worked out best in your game groups?


-Ed C.

[Hex]

Through my years of gaming I gotta say that I have experienced from the rigid style to free form and those in between. Early on, I enjoyed the rigid style of having one class per person, that fit the game at hand. I think it was mostly due to the D&D style of teaching just how a rpg is played. Later on I appreciated not pigeon holing a player and forcing them to play a character they really didn't want and allowed everyone to choose whatever type of character that appealed to them and altered the campaign around them rather than the other way around. Most of that occurred when I started branching out into other games that offered different genre's other than fantasy and breaking away from the D&D mould and rules.

To this day I still prefer to GM that way as the experience is more rewarding for the player and just makes better games all around because the player is happy from the start.

As far as the amount of players, I've done from one to about 9. I've found I am more comfortable running a group of 4 to 5 players being the sweet spot. Having the GM just as comfortable also adds to the game and how fun it can be.

Lastly it is the my maturity and growth that just made me a better GM for whatever we played. I lost the them vs me mentality and adopted a more co-operative gaming style.