A Question about different gaming groups. Options

[Gambitt]

Ive played in a regular gaming group of friends, the 6 of us playing once a week, every week for over 10 years (we meet ot our house and generally drink beer, eat takeaways and have a good time). Now my question is, what are the main types of groups that play.
What i mean is ive seen people who play at gaming groups and have a large turnover of players at roleplaying clubs, ive seen mention of 50-100 people playing on shadowland, and ive heard of gen con games.
Could someone tell me a little about the generic types of groups that exist and a little about how they work?
The main reason for this is that i see a lot of different views on shadowrun threads, and often they seem to be based on what type/style of gaming group they usually play in.

[Krazy]

My first group numbered about fifteen with eight regular players, and we met every few days (we all lived in the same dorm) I took over GMing that group after a few months, so the former GM could play some. we ran linked plot lines with two groups of characters. He ran denver, and i ran seattle. That game was very ambitious but all of the characters were very mortal.
The group I'm about to start has three players possibly a fourth and we have no idea how we will meet up. we all work odd schedules.
I was always under the impression (however misguided it may be) that most groups were in the two to four PC range. How big is the average? (I'm guessing that not too many people run enough PCs to bother with squads, COC and a talent list to figure out who to send where. )

[DocMortand]

My group's been together nearly a year now, with massive turnover at the start. I've got a good core of 3-4, with the occasional 1-2 that come and go. We meet every week, too.

[hermit]

My current group has 15 members, six of which actually play regularily. There's some turnover - being scientists, every one of us will eventually spend some time abroad or even vanish to smewhere else for a job - but there also is a hard core who are almost always present. Then there're 'rim' players - who participate when they have the chance, are in town or can arrange with work.

Still, we only play irregularily, sometimes on two following weekends, sometimes with gaps as long as two months. We have set up a web site to cooordinate meetings, whcih is the most convenient way, as all of us have access to the internet.

We have three regular GMs, me included, and play characters in all three campaigns, which also take place on the same timeline - this is due to the fact that all of us like to play sometime, and noone wants to force anyone to GM all the time. The three plots aren't mingling though, and only the respective GM has an oversight about their plots.

Before that group, I was in two others: one from high school (guys from my year's courses, mainly - the group blew often, but hey, gamers were hard to come by back then). The group had 4 players and a GM max and played once a week at least. After that, I was in one of these high-turnover game shop community groups, whcih was totally different, kind of fun, but also killed any chance of character advancement and coherent NPC development because every session was GMed by soemone else.

I have a character whom I played trhough all three groups, btw, though she has been tuned down twice, after entering each new group. Meh. At least, that's a decent way to simulate SOTA advancement. :P

[Jrayjoker]

I am currently on hiatus with newborn twins, but up until that point I had a group of 7 (myself included) that met between 1-3 times a month, usually on Saturday nights/Sunday afternoons. We have been roleplaying together since college 15 years ago with some ebb and flow due to grad school and travel abroad.

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

[Mortax]

My group has a core of about four people that play. We have close to a dozen that have been in and out through the last few years. We have been playing for the last 4 years, and have myself and Chibu who do most of the GMing. Everyine else has GMed, and they sometimes take a turn.

[Gambitt]

Ahhh i see now crimsondude, that explains a lot, including the sticking directly to Canon posts etc. that ive seen. Thx for the info on that one.

[Critias]

Why not link to the newer/better/cooler one, CD?

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

Well, I can link them to the better, cooler Newbie's Guide. The better, cooler, 21st century FAQ is still under construction though.

Here's an excerpt of the above-linked Newbie's Guide: The Top Ten Shadowland Etiquette Rules.

[fistandantilus4....]

Our group consista of 3-7 players, usually meeting once a week, occasionally more.
We switch off between 2 main GM's with the occasional "guest star" GM to switch things up a bit (although it occasionally causes issues with rewards at the end). Each player has 3-5 characters to switch out as well. We usually have about 3 different plot loines different characters are following.

[Crimson Jack]

I run two games, all with the same players. We have 4-5 players any time we play. We're all 27-32 years old, which makes for a bit more strategic play and storytelling IMO. We've all been friends for as long as Shadowrun's been around and we've all played since SR1.

I run a "supers" game which is composed of everyone's veteran (read: prime runner caliber) characters. This game feels very anime most of the time, through no fault of my own. The power level is ridiculously high, but all of the players seem to enjoy it immensely.

My favorite game to run however, is the street level campaign (which I run more often). Its a more back-to-basics type of game and the players are having a hard time adjusting to it.

Currently, we play once every 2-3 weeks. But, that will change this summer when I move a bit closer to the rest of my group.