Large Groups and TTB

The Through the Breach (TTB) Core Rule book doesn't explicitly give an ideal number of players. 

But from what I've seen online and heard from various podcasts... 3-4 Fated players is best.    

(All the examples in the book use Brett and Marcelline - just two Fated characters.)

 

My gaming table has generally has nine players at the table. 

That's a lot of Fated.

It's a significant number of people who have taken time out to drive to a location to spend their time with each other and me.

So I'm always conscious of finding ways to minimize downtime and keep everyone as engage as possible.

Here's some tips I've learned to keep the game working with a large number of people. 

Have a Robust Game Zero

Seven of the nine players were not familiar with Malifaux, and none of them were familiar with TTB. 

So the piece of my game I worked the most on was my Game Zero presentation.  

I used my office experience to make a colorful Powerpoint presentation. I broke it down into three sections:

1. The Soft Stuff - purpose, background, setting, timeline
2. The Crunchy Bits - session structure, rules
• Make players try out a quick example of Ongoing challenges, attack, defense, triggers
3. Mini-Game - pull it all together with a simple Ongoing Challenge and Combat with low stakes
• Remember your players are still learning the game. 

As much as you can... Show don't tell.   

 

Ongoing Challenges Are Your Friend... 

I love Ongoing Challenges.

And I really love them for big groups.  

It is a tool that works as fantastic shorthand for quick narratives with fast mechanics for non-combat story challenges.  

I use Ongoing Challenges to addresses the following issues:

A. Scooby Doo'ing It

"Never split the party" has been a mantra at my gaming table.  Partially it's because my players are always worried about being spread thin.

But I think whoever is running the game secretly wants the party to not split up.  Running a split party is a challenge on its own. Either the group is sitting there waiting for one group to be finished or they have to leave the game room and wait for the other group to be done. 

If the group wants to split up in Narrative Time, here you can resolve it with an Ongoing Challenge. 

B. Supply Runs But with a Challenge  

If you have a player who just wants to stock up on bullets or buy a common weapon with a vendor they've talked with before, I have the player just mark off scrip and get the weapon. 

But if players are in new territory -- or one or two people want to find something unique -- an impromptu Ongoing Challenge gets the entire party out and active in the area. This is a chance for them to stretch their legs on some of the social skills that maybe someone put a single point in a game or two ago and haven't used yet... and also leak narrative tidbits for the ongoing adventure.

C. Siloed Roles 

In D&D, traps and locks are what the Rogue/ Thief is built for. But when the Thief / Rogue gets to flex their muscles here, the game can feel like it drags with larger groups. But not having these moments means the player who chose this class gets punished. It's a tough spot for DM's.

And if there's two rogues in a game, they usually are forced to switch back and forth to share the spolight. 

What I like about Ongoing Challenges is it gets the whole party involved in these situations.

Say the Fated are breaking into a warehouse. The roguish character can still perform lockpicking.  If you have two roguish-types - suddenly the monopoly on rogue skills has been broken and you can actually have them make the same skill challenge (narratively, they are "assisting" or working on two separate locks).  The rest of party can be look-outs or attention decoys, making Notice or Social Skill checks. 

NOTE: Mystery Dead Ends and other Failure results

Ongoing Challenges are a great way to handle finding clues, following leads and looking for connections. This is central in a mystery-based adventure. 

But avoid having a Failure equating to they never get the crucial clue that the adventure hinges on. That's essentially a game over condition - and you shouldn't punish the players for a bad flip mid-game.

I would treat Ongoing Challenge failure as if they get false information... that might lead to combat.  And provided the party gets through said combat - they learn the correct clue (or the right avenue to get it).

Also, most of these adventures end in some form of Dramatic Time (combat, chase, beat the clock objectives). So alternatively, the previous Ongoing Challenge failure could mean free round for the BBEG, neg flips for the party, extra obstacles set up... Etc.

...But Need a Tweak

On setting up Ongoing Challenges, the Core Rule book p291 says "the number of Success Requirements involved should typically be around two to three per Fated character."

I've Fatemastered a couple games with three Fated characters. This rule makes a lot of sense for 3-4 Fated players (making about 6-9 TNs to hit per Ongoing Challenge). 

But nine challenges is only one Duration involving all my players at the table.  If I did 2-3 challenges for 6-9 players, that's 12-27 challenges. It feels "grindy".  It also means you've milled through 20+% - 50% of the deck.   

What I've done to tweak the requirements:

• 1 Success per player
• 1 Failures /  3 players
• First Ongoing Challenge starts with first player and goes around the table clockwise  
• Whoever made the last challenge, we pick up the next Ongoing Challenge with the following player    

I try to get 2-3 Ongoing Challenges per game.

Hand Out Roles

I remember GM'ing a Pathfinder 1e game where I was trying to multitask trying to get the music to work, manage initiative (ugh), and get the terrain on the board all while trying to address a player question.  Each task ran into a 5-minute bump. 

So I kept multiple people sitting there bored while I panicked to get the game moving.

I've since learned not to do it all myself.  

For example, TTB requires you make a note of each skill characters use to offer as a potential skill to improve during the Epilogue.  Once you have over five players, it's a hassle to keep track of while running a game. So I offloaded that to a player.

These are the roles I've handed out to players: 

• Fate Deck 
• Shuffler (if the person operating the Fate Deck isn't the best shuffler)
• Track Skills Used  
• Condition Cards 
• Initiative Lead 
• Music Operator  
• Track Jokers & Severe cards 

And if you have anyone who knows the rules really well:  

• Rules Help - someone to look up a rule in a pinch
• Crunchmeister - Someone to look at best character options 

Be Careful with Enclosed Terrain (Minis)

This is for those who use miniatures.

If each of the nine players take up a 1" square and they enter a 3" x 3" room, there'll be no furniture or other creatures in that room.  The players suddenly are the room.  

For large groups, the game works best with large footprints / areas.  Unless the situation is designed for the party to fan out, tight spaces (3"x3") don't work.

Throw terrain like trees and crates and boxes is fine.  

For example, if a nine-person party is running into a building, make sure the dimension of the room is at least 12". A 12" x 12" room works smoothly.  Any room with a boss battle (with the usual cadre of mooks) should be 6" or more than that e.g (12" x 18").

Adopt the M4E "Ignore Allies" Rule (Minis)

One rule I loved about M4E: you can see through allies and you can move through them. 

Our group has played with this rule for years. Maybe it isn't realistic. But does it speed up gameplay.

Prevent Subordinate Characters from Being Cannon Fodder

Many pursuits enable The Fated to gain followers. Criminals gain a group of Thugs at Step 5 for example.

I love the idea of the Fated building a network of allies and contacts. It gets them more involved in the world. 

But I loathe when the players use  allies as dumb meat shields. 

In past D&D games, I've built in consequences for these actions where certain avenues have been closed off due to their bad reputation. 

I will say TTB does something different with subordinate characters. The Fated have to spend 1 AP to Order a subordinate character to perform an action. So there's something of a cost as opposed to free damage soakers who take a spot in initiative. 

Regardless, I've warned my players ahead of time: unless the adventure calls for it (e.g. Bad Moon Rising) - don't bring your subordinates into combat. 

I've pulled some Pursuits off the table for this reason: Animator, Commander, Medium.

This might seem harsh to some Fatemasters... but I literally have more Fated players than models on one side of an M4E game.

Get out there and fight!

Traditional Character Initiative is a Big Drag

I cannot stand standard initiative. This isn't unique to TTB. Tallying and planning out initiative is a slog that takes all the tension and excitement out of the air - especially with a large group. 

Moreso, it pushes characters away from thinking as a group and doesn't reward thought-out plans before Dramatic Time starts (unless you as a Fatemaster inject them into the process).

But determining who goes first with a large group is going to take some time no matter which system you use. So I say use one that keeps your players involved.

Questing Beast did a great breakdown on different initiative systems. 

https://youtu.be/5HAFxsdVF3s?is=0SmyKdnItfZr0l2n

I like Before and After Initiative, though I'm trying a variation on it. Players roll initiative, count the number of players who beat the highest initiative of the FM chars / monsters, determine who will take those initiative spots before the monsters and who after.

Then it's Before Fated players go, then FM chars then After Fated players.

If your group can work together strategically, this is a win.

One other note, if a player has stepped away from the table to go to the bathroom, move to the next player and come back to them when they are back at the table.

Herd the Relevant Cats

At times, the game is going to feel like you're herding cats.  You will be. Just accept it.

Right as you're trying to get combat flowing, players are going to ask you to double check how their ability works or when the timing of a talent or trigger happens.

This is normal. Breathe and be patient.

But if you're in the middle of combat and someone asks how the rules work for talents they don't have not right now... but when they gain a a step or level, table it.     

Be sure to take breaks to come back and address these issues.

And if a third of the group is talking - either refocus the group or take a break.