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[Urist McScoopbeard]

Hello Bay12,

basically I love tabletop roleplaying and i'm considering starting the club at my university. Of 10000 undergrads, 15-25 (the minimum required) are likely to play RPGs. What I can't really seem to see though is how to bind all the people together, considering there really can only be 4-8 players per GM. How to get that common club experience when each group could potentially be so isolated?

[Araph]

One thing I can safely say is NOT a good idea is to try to run a large game with way more people (10-15) than is realistically possible. I know this from personal experience. The horrors I've endured...

On a more 'ideas that might actually work' note, improv games might be a good idea: completely freeform, very short time limits, and with a constantly changing group. From my recollections of high school drama, there's one idea in particular I'd suggest.

It involves a constantly rotating group that the entire 15-25 people cycle through in the space of less than half an hour. You choose three or four people at random and set up a random scenario ('set up' as in 'give one sentence of background fluff'. For example, you choose four random people and say 'You've just stolen the Evil Wizard's Majickal Tome of Pastrymancy and he sicced his strudel-golems on you. You're on the top floor of his tower. What do you do?') and then let them have at it for one or two minutes. Don't let them pause to deliberate: force them to just do stuff. Keep it light-hearted and fast-paced and they'll get used to talking to each other.

THEN once the minute is up, choose one person to be replaced and pull another random (or volunteer) player up to join. After another minute, cycle out the second person of the original four. Then the third, then the fourth, then the first new player, and so on.

Also, remember the golden rule of improv in this: 'yes, and...'. Because the PCs won't have stats or attributes, you can't say no and justify it by the rules, and the players will get butthurt if you say no outright to their ridiculous shenanigans.

[Fniff]

It might be better just finding 4 people who like tabletop RPGs and running a game with them. You can make an RPG club when you have prospective GMs and a demand for them.
If you already have this, then, hm... Perhaps have a weekly meeting where you recount what your group has been doing recently to all the other groups?

[Urist McScoopbeard]

It might be better just finding 4 people who like tabletop RPGs and running a game with them. You can make an RPG club when you have prospective GMs and a demand for them.
If you already have this, then, hm... Perhaps have a weekly meeting where you recount what your group has been doing recently to all the other groups?

The situation is that I have a group of about 5-8 people, there is another group I see playing all the time, and another I see playing midday. So in all about 15 people, and between the video game club, dr. who fan club, anime club, and a number of other nerdy clubs, I could probably find AT LEAST another 15.

I get my RP kicks every sunday, but my vision is a club where all tabletop RPG players can meet new people, bond, and RP TOGETHER. It's impossible to have one game with that many people, obviously, so my next thought was doing a mega-campaign where we all play in one world roughly towards the same goal, we all play at the same time of course. Which could work, but that's a handful+ for GMs, and I certainly don't want to turn everyone off like that right away... I also don't mind the many separate clubs under one banner format, but then what is to tie all these disparate groups together? What would be the common experience where everyone maybe hasn't even MET, let alone KNOW at least 2/3rds of the club?

What do you guys think? Is it possible? It is worth it?