How many people do you usually ask for before you run a campaign...

How many people do you usually ask for before you run a campaign? Like would you run with as little as 1-2 players or would you rather have a full party on deck?

Just need 1 player.

How do you play with only one player?

I start with 6 becouse I know at least one of em will leave but groups of 3 are also nice.

Just like normal? There is just one player character.

Two if it's people I know, 3-4 otherwise

Our group switches DM's and campaigns between me and another guy every so often so our group usually ranges to about five, and at most it was seven one time. It's a bit of a clusterfuck but we manage somehow

Ideally I look for 6 or 7, with an in-game reason for players to hop in and out. That way you normally have enough for regular games and even off-schedule ones if there's enough interest.


Of course that doesn't fucking happen despite it, but it's a good idea on paper.

My preference is 4 to 6.

3 is fine, but there isn't much player banter. 7 is also doable for me, but it can get frustrating balancing everyone's focus time.

I prefer at least 2, for the reasons below and because I like at least some party social dynamic, but I can go up to 7. My sweet spot is 4-5. I once DMed a group of 16 with drop ins. Never again.

It's a very different experience, though. Much more personalized and in my experience character oriented, and much much faster.

3 or 4 is my idea party size. Anything more than that and everything becomes a clusterfuck where it's hard to give everyone enough "screentime" and personal attention to make their character arcs fulfilling.

I've done multiple single-person and two-people games in the past, but those involved heavy use of prominent NPCs to cover the gaps in the limited skill-sets of two characters, and some people start screaming "DMPC GOD-CHARACTERS!" as soon as NPCs get involved in party activities beyond being quest-givers.

16 people MINIMUM. Any less is short changing yourself

Make an extremely focused plot-arc based around that one character. Like if they're playing a wizard, make the entire campaign be about them being an apprentice and doing things for their mentor or magic academy. If they're playing a Rogue, make the campaign about planning heists or killing specific targets Assassin's Creed Style.
As stated, use of NPCs helps ALOT here. If it's a magic school game, for example, putting other students in the player's "party" or a bodyguard to keep them safe on dangerous research trips helps go a long way to allowing for meaningful character interactions and investment in the plot. Do keep in mind major decisions should still be made by the player, not the NPCs, otherwise you get those "DMPC GOD-CHARACTERS" mentioned. Yeah, it's cool to have Ron and Hermione on your team, but the player always needs to be Harry Potter.

If you're playing with a group, try to stick between 3 and 5 players. With 3 or 4 being the ideal. More than 5 and things become a slog of everyone just waiting for their turn to come up. 3-5 is the sweet spot where people start to become invested in eachother's characters and really bond as a team. There's a reason it's the standard number in action-adventure stories (outside of videogames).

>How many people do you usually ask for before you run a campaign?

Anywhere from 1-3, but no more than 3.

This is just a personal preference for ME because I'm a bit of a brainlette and I can't provide a quality DM experience if I have to keep track of more than 3 PC's. It just becomes to much of a hassle.

>How do you play with only one player?

Other user's have said it, but it's a very personal, quicker based, more character-driven game. This user has it most right so far: When you're just playing with 1 PC you can focus an entire campaign on what they want to do with their class, character, etc.. And it becomes a lot more specialized.

I prefer 2-4, but there's 5 players in our playgroup

6-8, because I know I'll lost at least 2 of them to scheduling and disinterest.

Three or four as a general rule.
Two if I can trust the two players to generally play well with one another.
One if it's somebody who feels comfortable with that amount of focus on themselves.

I used to run with just my brother

It's a more focused experience, you get to actually play the background story, and you can throw a couple of NPCs to help him.

Four, ideally. Five at the most, but I'm more comfortable with four. Six is really pushing it. Seven is right out.

3-4 is best.

I never EVER go above 4. I tried a game of 8 players once and it was pure hell.

3-4 players is best for a "standard" game. 1-2 players can be just as good, but the campaign needs to be tailored a bit differently. 5 players is getting to be a bit much, but is doable under the right circumstances. 6 players could maybe work for a session or two if circumstances are weird and you temporarily end up with more players than you want. 7 or more? Fuck that shit.