So I've not been having many ideas about mechanics or settings lately, as has been mentioned in some of my other posts. But I have been having little snippets of inspiration about games in general. Nothing I say should been taken as a serious proposal, but as the idle musing of someone who doesn't have much else to talk about.
PnP RPGs are made for small groups. I have never played in a group of more than 8 and I have always found playing in a group of more than 5 to be a bit awkward. I've played singleplayer computer RPGs and always find the worlds to be a bit hollow, because the revolve around me. However I have played in MMORPGs and LARP games in which there are hundreds of other people swarming about me doing there own thing whilst I'm doing mine, and that feels right. They make the world seem alive, and when I do interact with them I feel like I'm still telling my own story, just roping in what is effectively an NPC, and I imagine they get a somewhat similair feeling.
How does this apply to PnP RPGs? In the past I've tried to run self sustaining games, with limited success. One of these saw me running two groups. The first group was a bunch of Sabbat vampires (oWoD) who spend the first couple of sessions running around reveling in their new vamparic prowess. The second group played the following day and was a group of Hunters who picked up leads and starting sussing out what the other players were doing. A few sessions in and the Sabbat guys start noticing that a cop, a journalist and a priest have all starting taking far to much notice in the crime scenes/stories/families left behind that their running amuck has caused. They start covering up, planting false leads and begin to plan a trap. So the came kept escalating with players from the two groups generating most of the story line. I had particular joy when the Sabbat laid a trail to a high ranking Camarilla NPC who had been giving them trouble, and the Hunters dispatched (with great difficult and a few permanent wounds) that vampire. After about three months they had a final confrontation and battled it out (sabbat were the victors but with only one survivor who fell to torpor once their frenzy had ended) and players from both groups had something to talk about for weeks afterwards, things like "whose idea was it to start hunting only virgins, man we thought we were after a Ventrue for like two weeks."
What if something like this can be done on a larger scale? You still play in your groups (so someone with a few friends could make characters and come along) but the game caters for several groups at once. Perhaps run in a bar or rentable space, you could have four or five storytellers, each running an area (this storyteller runs the vampire bar in east london, this storyteller runs the stone circle twenty minutes drive away which is a common meeting place for mages etc.) Players can then interact with other groups who either oppose them who would serve their purposes, migrating between tables as their characters move from locale to locale. You would need extra story tellers who would be free to discuss events outside of the various pubs clubs and venues (say if one character wants to place a curse on another that would effect downtime between games.)
This would require alot of interest and time investment. I don't know that many RPers in London but it's an interesting idea. I know many LARP events cater for such largescale roleplaying but I know lots of people who are a bit scared of LARPing.
Odd idea out of head and onto page.
Signing out.
Large games...depends on the group.
I often run games with 6 or 7 players and these can be workable.
It all depends on the system you're using and how much input is allowable by other players when they aren't the focus of the scene. Someting like Primetime adventures works well because other players take on the role of fans while their characters aren't "onscreen".
My finished game The Eighth Sea has a lot of interaction from players who aren't currently active (http://www.vulpinoid.com/vs_8s.html)
I'm trying to do some similar things with my Quincunx project as well.
This new project has a specific design goal of being playable by clusters of players all over a city. These clusters of players would then be able to gather every once in a while for a big event, or players would be able to move from one cluster to another if they wanted to help out with another team's missions (a bit like a comic book crossover).
(http://quincunx.wikidot.com if your interested.)
Note also that as a GM I like to pit players against one another, such that factions develop while the players build up a story. So larger groups tend to work better for this sort of thing.