Ideal Group Size

[DougRed4]

What I was meaning was - more than just the different roles and functions various character archetypes play - that it can be tough when, say, your party is three days out into the wilderness, far from any towns, and 2 of your 5 players can't make it. So for your session, where the party is going to be attacked by some wolves as they sit around the campfire at night, or continue to slog their way through the depths of a dungeon, it can be tough (logistically) to rationalize what those two characters are doing (since their players aren't there to run them).

Ral, perhaps the ease of many RPG-type video games has contributed to that laziness. I wonder, too, as many of the 'rules lite' games have taken off in recent years, how many newer players will shy away from the more "crunchy", math intensive game systems.
_________________
Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green