I've been playing TTRPGs online with a group of friends for close to a decade and later this year we are planning an in-person meet up. I'd like to find some options for rule-light games that can be learnt quickly, and would play at least mildly well with upwards of 12 players for a mega-session, for 6+ hours of game.

Open to any suggestions to get the ball rolling. Rules-light, big group, go!

Edited to add:

Some suggestions I have received from other places. I haven't looked into any of these but wanted to add for discussion's sake:

• Everyone Is John
• the Borg games (Mork Borg, etc)
• Fate
• Tiny D6
• Kobolds Ate My Baby
• Daethmatch Island
• Dream Askew
• Shadowdark
• Perils and Processes

If you have any experience with these, your input is appreciated!

Anyone who can GM a 7+ player game over the span of 3+ hours has super powers. My brain is fried after 2 hours. It needs to reorganize and decompress to preserve pacing.

My 2 classic options would be

• Split the game in 2 or even 3 4-5 persons tables, works way better. On a tabletop game, if everyone takes a one minute turn to act, 10 players means you need 10 minutes per turn, it's slow not just RPG, but in boardgames too. So split into smaller party.

• 12 players, rule-light, look for a parlour larp. There is some "easy to set-up" parlour larp, with very simple mechanics, and that you can play in a 2 room appartment (or even a barn) so they're not as big/complicated as actual larp with big rule-books, 100's of players, and a whole castle. Just like a real LARP, it requires a bit more "buy-in/prep" from the player, but it can be a great experience. As a rule of thumb, plan 1 extra hour before game-start for briefing/set-up, and 1-2 extra hour for debrief/cool-down (turn out that after such an intense experience most player don't want to go home immediately but talk about-it, especially if PvP tension was rising until the final scene which is a classic larp format)

There will be bathroom, snack, etc breaks. We're not looking at anything super deep here, we're just going to have fun being in the same room together.

We are two, kinda three groups that already play separately and have known each other for nearly a decade but never been in the same room all together. We specifically want to come together, and do something all together. We have a lot of ttrpg experience. We know the pitfalls, we know the dangers. We're prepared to face them!

Then I would recommend again the LARP route, either as a "light indoor larp for 10 people" or at a 10 people faction at a larger game. When I was active part of an online RPG community, we would join a LARP per year so we could play a large faction and see each others IRL. Often it was more the "Barbecue LARP format" so the not that great one but you end-up doing a barbecue and getting beer in a ridiculous costume

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't think this is the route we will go but I'll keep it in the back pocket.

I feel like the minds eye larps with paper scissors rock would maybe be good for that size.

you could probably do an oceans 11 thing with Honey Heist. the larger group size will naturally make the game run longer, and allow action to take place in multiple locations simultaneously.

Honey Heist or a few other one page RPGs have definitely been on my radar, thanks for the suggestion!

I once did a 20+ people game session with Primetime Adventures.

We discussed seeting and main characters with a flip chart and then went around one time to play the first episode.

Was great fun for everyone 😀

I’m a big fan of Fate but I wouldn’t try it with a big group of players who are unfamiliar with it. It’s not a crunchy system but not really rules-light either and needs a very different approach than most traditional games; e.g. if the players aren’t used to self-compels, you’ll have your hands full remembering all the PCs’ aspects and trying to keep them in play so the players regularly get Fate Points.

I'm mildly familiar with Fate and had similar reservations, but I do think it's right on the edge of the kind of rules depth that could work.

I'm considering a primer session before we actually meet up (it's later this year, lots of time) to go over basic rules, session premise, and character creation so I think that would help familiarize people with the ruleset. Still though, as I said, I did have reservations about Fate.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into this

Mork Borg is pretty rules light and would let you run something easily. Combat is also pretty quick since things tend to die quickly, including the players.

Cairn is rules light fantasy rpg with the rules being entirely free: https://cairnrpg.com/

Basically you manage your inventory and have to role under 3 stats. You can use the 2e edition that has a bit of a setting baked into the backgrounds, or use the Barebones edition that just strips out any implied setting. Lots of adventures available, and lots of conversion guides, plus you can pretty much run any OSR/BX module with minor tweaking.

It is in the OSR camp, so your group would have to be ok with some lethality and just rolling up a new character if they die.

Oh I forgot to mention Cairn in the list I added. I have seen this one recommended elsewhere as well, so might be on to something. Thank you!

With that many players, you'll run into the issue that most of them aren't really doing anything most of the time. I'm not sure if there's a system that manages to resolve this issue, or how you would even go about doing that.

We understand the pitfalls and risks. We have several years of ttrpg experience each. We're all ready to be engrossed in each other's storytelling when the spotlight isn't on us, and enjoy each other's company. This is for a one time thing, not an ongoing campaign.

Not interested in any AI nonsense.

@Elara sounds awful!

I assume board games are not an option? I’ve played Salem with probably 10 players and it’s quite fun. It will take much less than 6 hours though.

But I don’t want to leave just challenging the question without suggestions, so I’ll ramble on…

I’m thinking very quick character creation (if anything because I have players who are unable to take less than an hour doing so), perhaps something like Mothership or pretty much any PbtA. Or pregens.

Spotlight time will be an issue, so a something with very fast combat mechanics should be very important.

I’m pondering if it’s worth a shot trying something like Dread, but I’m not sure if 6 hours is too long for a game like Dread.

I’m curious: do the 12 of you (+GM) usually play all at the same time?

I'm specifically looking for ttrpg suggestions for now.

Character creation almost certainly won't be part of this session time and done before hand, regardless of system, just to help on time a bit.

No, we don't normally all together. We're a group of friends across 2.5ish campaigns, across a decade.

shadowdark might work, but the biggest group i ran that for was 7 people and the torchtimer became somewhat short for that amount of people, but instead of a real time clock you could use a 10 round counter. The system itself is simple enough to avoid lengthy rule discussions and keep the players eyes in the game and not on the character sheet. however most adventures seem to be writte n for 3 to 5 people, so thats something to keep in mind.

have you considered running two games, with a gamemaster for each game, that influence each other or share a finale where all players participate? i think that would run better in most systems, simply because downtime between a players turn can get really long with that many people and discussions what to do take way longer with 12 people than 5 or 6.

I've seen Shadow dark mentioned a few times, might be on the something!

We have considered the risks and pitfalls and we are not interested in splitting.

tbh i think any reasonably simple and fast game could work for your endeavor(the borgs, cairn and so forth), if you accept the inherent challenges of your higher player count. shadowdark just happens to be the game i enjoy to run the most.

Mark of the Odd games (Into the Odd, Mausritter, Into the Bronze, etc.). Extremely fast character creation, the rules so light they're almost not there, very few rolls, very deadly rolls.

Also might want to consider having 2 referees. The party will split, and this would keep things moving.

Check out DURF. It's one of my favorites! Super lightweight, lots of systems abstracted, really streamlined for the GM.

https://emielboven.itch.io/durf