8 character parties

[Wyrmlord]

Are 8-man parties cool? Or is it too much of a crowd?

And while we are at it, are 7 people in a party also really pushing it? Or is that just right?

 

[RK47]

i don't see the point if they're just an extra fire ball / buff caster. that just means your combat system is bloated.

 

[Wyrmlord]

Well here, those last two guys mainly function as extra firepower, although it costs me extra money to keep them.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Too much micro management.

 

[kris]

You really need to tailormake your system to make it a fun experience with that many. It borders the territory on a tactical wargame. I think that may be how you could make a game with a huge party. Build it like a tactical squad war-game.

Or possibly have it so that you sometimes need to split the group to manage to do things.

 

[JarlFrank]

I love 8-character-parties, actually. Especially if the game has enough character variants to justify it. Wizardry 8 has many different kinds of character classes with differnet abilities, so in a game like that 8-char-parties are perfect.

 

[Shannow]

I love 8-character-parties, actually. Especially if the game has enough character variants to justify it. Wizardry 8 has many different kinds of character classes with differnet abilities, so in a game like that 8-char-parties are perfect.

Wiz8 also has positioning. Without that it just seems bloated...
But you have to decide for yourself whether you like it, Wyrm, no?
I like something between 4 and 6 best. But that just may be tradition. Also depends how replayable the game is and how many classes I'd like to try... (See Wiz8 again ).

 

[Ebonsword]

I like big parties, actually. It reminds me of the early days of D&D, where you would have four players, each with two characters (because at least one of them was almost certainly going to croak during the course of the adventure) and, on top of that, each character would have a hireling or two.

I don't know that any CRPG really exploited the possibilities that having large parties provides, though. For example, it would be cool to be able to split the party up and leave some members to guard the horses, or a strategic point in the dungeon while the rest of the party ventures onward.

 

[Shannow]

I don't know that any CRPG really exploited the possibilities that having large parties provides, though. For example, it would be cool to be able to split the party up and leave some members to guard the horses, or a strategic point in the dungeon while the rest of the party ventures onward.

RoA had splittable parties.

 

[mondblut]

The more the merrier. 8 are just right for tactical battles. Gives enough space to create any kind of party, and leaves some space for NPCs, the traditional 6+2 setup.

 

[Morkar Left]

I really like a big party. It allows to include interesting classvariants and combat has often more variation. It´s sad that new rpg´s often allow max 4 partymembers...

 

[JarlFrank]

The more the merrier. 8 are just right for tactical battles. Gives enough space to create any kind of party, and leaves some space for NPCs, the traditional 6+2 setup.

Yep, this. 8 allow for good tactical battles [especially if you have positioning like in Wiz8 or an isometric perspective instead of a blob] and it gives you a chance to make a varied party with many differently specialized chars.

 

[Andhaira]

I find 6 member partty to be a good number for first person, isometric or a combination of the two (realms of arkania)

 

[deuxhero]

Larger teams worked fine in JA2, mostly because it allowed you have a specialist for each area (and if you wanted, a 2nd squad for Nightops)

 

[Liberal]

8 character panties?

 

[theverybigslayer]

I love 8 character parties too, but 9 or 10 would be better

 

[crufty]

I like 8 char+ parties too. I think it allows for better combat and also its nice to have a few sacrificial characters you can rotate to the front when the tanks go down.

 

[Volourn]

"It reminds me of the early days of D&D, where you would have four players, each with two characters (because at least one of them was almost certainly going to croak during the course of the adventure)"

What kind of bullshit is this? This just shows how pussifed your gaming was. We did ironman mode. 1 player 1 character. You die (and arne't ressurected), you make a new fuckin' character at least a level or 2 lower than the rest of the party. None of this, you have two characters cowardly shit. That's not fuckin' role-playing that's fuckin' tretaing character nothing than numbers. Only time a player played more than 1 character is if a player couldn't make it.


As for the question, 8 character parties in CRPGs ar edoable since they're not REAL role-playing anyways and the characters are basically numbers; but in pnp with 8 characters with 8 different players that shit is fucked up because it just means less time devoted to each player which means less fun and more boredom for everyone involved except the DM who then has to worry about even more people crying for their turn or attention.

Remember, players are attention whores. This is a fact.

 

[Andhaira]

AHA! So THATS why Volourn liked NWN, ebcause it had only 1 PC and i companion. To volly it means that it had more roleplaying.

I like your logic volly. You should join Bethesda, their game sonly have one pc!!! Can't get more roleplaying than that.

 

[JarlFrank]

I see another fucking discussion about WHAT IS RPG??? coming.
Please not. Especially not with Volly involved. You cannot argue properly when Volly is involved.

 

[Volourn]

Bethesda sucks like shit.

 

[Kz3r0]

I love 8-character-parties, actually. Especially if the game has enough character variants to justify it. Wizardry 8 has many different kinds of character classes with differnet abilities, so in a game like that 8-char-parties are perfect.

:!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :!: :!:

 

[Andhaira]

Yeah wiz 8 didn't really have 8 character parties.

 

[Kavax]

Hmm... in Planescape: Torment, if there wasn't any limitation on the number of party members, you would have an 8 character party. (TNO, Morte, Dak'kon, Annah, Grace, Ignus, Nordom, and Vhailor).

I like it.

 

[mondblut]

I love 8 character parties too, but 9 or 10 would be better

The only RPG with above 8 characters I remember was Challenge of 5 realms. You had 10 slots in a party, and some of "characters" you could recruit were units of 5 knights or archers. So the final battles could field like 30-40 participants on your side.

Well, JA2 allowed for up to 3 parties of 6 and Fate: Gates of Dawn up to 4 of 7, but you couldn't really control all of them at once. OK, in JA2 you could, but it was far more efficient to keep them separate on different fronts, than to engage with 18 characters all at once.

...Anyway, I was always really bugged by the artificial limitation on the number of party members. Particularly if that's a "one plus NPCs" type of game. Like, WTF? Why I can't recruit a sixth follower if I already have 5? Aethra Chronicles was one game that did it moderately well, it had 3 PCs and 6 slots total, the remaining 3 to be filled with mercenaries - that sounds like a typical deal, but the twist was that mercenaries cost money depending on their level, and the game was balanced that way in terms of loot that you had to sell pretty much all of the precious magical loot you find to keep those mercenaries in party. They were really expensive on higher levels and had to be paid weekly. The drawback was that you found very little loot actually, only some random shit and set treasure instead of the full gear the enemies are supposed to wear and wield. And this is a very bad thing. Realistic drops >>> enforced balance.