How many players and how many wizards?

[ironchicken]

So what size group does DFRPG work well with and when does a group get too big?

In addition how many wizards are manageable and how much do wizards hog centre stage?

My impression is (having not played it but played FATE) that 5 characters with a max of 2 wizards in manageable but much more will tend to get harder.

Interested in experiences from those that are running/playing.

[The_Pentagram]

Although I agree with you for group size, I think it really depends on what your group is interested in for number of wizards, for example I tend to find that less than 2 wizards to tend to get a little boring, as the game gets somewhat repetitve

[finnmckool]

Well I've got a group of 3 about to be four with one slightly sissy wizard, one minor talent (but it's a good'un) one changeling who's pretty much all veils and glamours, and next one vanilla cop. it's a good team strategy wise but it leaves my one and only wizard a bit overwhelmed if he has to handle a really big spell as he has little back up who can actually mechanically assist him. Plus, it is going to naturally lend itself to the wizard "saving the day" a bit more as he's the one who's going to be going for the big fx, so I'm trying to make that up with story and background focus on the others.

Plus my players aren't adapting well, we're all over thinking the game, as we're used to far more complex systems, and the elegance of this system is throwing us for a loop. We keep looking for tables and numbers to roll. Which is a problem for my wizard especially as no one's really digging in to find all the ways to skin that cat.

[Ihadris]

I have a group of three- one of whom is a Wizard and truth be told he is the easiest to balance encounters for.

[luminos]

The trick is to make sure the group fits together creative agenda wise.  If they are all power gamers looking to kill the biggest monsters, then wizards have a slight edge, but other concepts can compete with them, and you won't have to worry about a player picking an underpowered fighter.  If the group is has some kind of narrative agenda, you still won't have to worry because everyone will be more focused on the characters agendas and the game becomes more about who has the best aspects and who makes the best use of their aspects.  Balancing encounters for a mixed group (Say, one min/maxed wizard and a few pure mortals) is an absolute pain in the butt, but hopefully, the group is designed to not be so lop sided (yet another reason why it is important to do player creation as a group).

[Deadmanwalking]

Yeah, you can have as many Wizards as you like, really. The issue isn't with wizards, but truly min-maxed characters of any sort...who can definitely ruin the game for everyone else if they're just flat-out more effective than everyone else. If everyone's equally min-maxed this isn't a problem, though.

[Crion]

I'm still in the character/city creation process for my game, and we're still on the fence about the power level, but the consensus from the party is to start around Feet in the Water and "build up" from there (i.e. I may end up tossing out more milestones than most to bring them "up to speed").

Currently, I have five people in the potential party. One is leaning toward the "Occult Journalist, Beginning Sorcerer" concept (Channeling and Ritual), one is playing a Vanilla Mortal Staged Wrestler, and there is talk of the third player being a shapeshifter of sorts. The other two haven't put much thought into their characters yet (haven't had the chance to sit with them and really discuss things), but one is also considering magic, while the other may be going a more Scion-ish route (Changeling, Red Court Infected, or some other option).

As we haven't done much besides mention possibilities (creation night will either be sometime this week or next week), but I think this one is reasonably balanced as-is. As others have mentioned, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and with the removal of all of those clunky tables and charts, this really just opens up for general insanity.

[Baron Hazard]

I have 6 players, including 2 wizards or spell casters anyway.

1 Were-rat information broker (player states "I'm gonna be like our Bob!")
1 N00b Warden Death-Cursed with Underachiever
1 Ex-Denarian Spell Caster
1 Russian Mob combat Monkey in charge of investigating supernatural threats to the mob (Mobster SI)
1 Emissary of Power alot of Social skills coupled with Physical Powers
1 Scion of a Fury, modular abilities and incite madness.

only did a quick game to get everyone acquainted with the system so far but it doesn't seem too unwieldy, the upcoming challenge right now will be finding a decent speed for hopping between people as they do their own things in smaller groups before it brings them together.

[zcthu3]

I have six players too;

2 Wizards (Fraternal Twins each with the aspect, "anything you can do, I can do better"; makes for much hilarity)
1 Summer Court Changling
1 Half Genie Scion
1 Pixie (yeah, I know technically he should have at least some human blood, but it's cool)
1 Knight of the Cross

The most game breaking character, at least in the first couple of session, has not in fact been either of the Wizards but is the Knight of the Cross. The ability to spend a Fate Point to have the sword be the catch for anything is a seriously scary for a GM.

[Wordmaker]

My group has a core set of 4 players, with 3 others who move in and out as they're available.

Core:
1 Wizard (focusing more on research and thaumaturgy than evocation)
1 Knight of the Cross
1 Lay memeber of the Ordo Malleus who is a True Believer
1 Emissary of a dragon

Additional:

1 Mortal detective
1 Mortal cat burglar
1 Changeling detective

The group has a good dynamic, I've found. The Additional players have been making their characters with the quick-start rules, so they usually have a lot more Fate Points to hand than the Core players, which means even though they're not as directly powerful, they still contribute greatly to the game.

I think if I was to allow another wizard, the character would have to have a significantly different personality to the existing one in order for the character to remain distinctive.