I'm a veteran of several different groups, hoping to start a large new group of mostly new players. One issue I had in previous groups was players not knowing what they should be doing at any given time. There were also disagreements about base design, with everyone having their own opinion and no easy way of choosing one over the other.
One solution I'm considering for this next group is to have each player take on a specific role or two. This would give them clear goals and responsibilities, and would give each player the final say over their respective domain. This is more or less how we ended up playing during my last game, but just providing the roles earlier and more explicitly.
- Beastmaster - Builds and manages the animal pens. Tames and breeds wildlife, providing a steady supply of meat.
- Brewer - Builds and manages the beehives and fermenters. Provides a steady stream of mead and honey.
- Chef - Builds and manages the kitchen. Provides a steady supply of cooked food.
- Expedition Leader - Builds and manages the cart and portal hub. Ensures supplies needed for expeditions are conveniently placed near portals. Carries extra supplies to distribute while on expeditions.
- Farmer - Builds and manages the farm. Provides a steady supply of crops.
- Harbourmaster - Builds and manages ships and the dock. Keeps ships repaired; ensures party has supplies needed to craft ship, when relevant.
- Lord of Festivities - Builds and manages the grand hall (room for max comfort). Organises fun and silly events. Adds flourishes to the base.
- Lumbermaster - Plants trees and harvests wood. Provides a steady supply of wood of different kinds.
- Miner - Builds and manages mining outposts. Provides a steady supply of stone and metal ore.
- Pathfinder - Builds and manages roads, bridges, and the cartography table. Explores new lands, marks resources and locations of interest, forages while on the go.
- Quartermaster - Builds and manages the storage area. Keeps materials sorted and well labelled.
- Smith - Builds and manages the workshop and forge. Produces a steady supply of coal and refined metal.
- Watchmaster - Builds and manages base defenses. Responsible for defense during raids, and protecting the party during expeditions.
How does your group share responsibilities? Do you have explicit or implicit roles? Any others you'd add to the list?
Note: I know these roles aren't equally difficult or complex, but that's ok - some players like simple jobs, while others like the advanced or time consuming stuff.
This isn't something I've tried for myself so I don't know how well it'll work. I think as a new player, you'd want to do everything yourself at least once so you understand how the game works and what it has to offer. One way you can accomplish that is to have each player settle down in their own homes not too far from each other, operate independently, then set up roads and a bartering system so that if someone wants to specialize, they can specialize, but no one is obliged to. Over time, everyone's homes expand and eventually intersect with each other, and you'll get a little village.
At some point, if you collectively agree to work together towards a large task (e.g. exploration, fighting a boss, etc), then that's where assigning people roles and tasks makes sense. Outside of that, everyone will just find their own way to enjoy the game. Those who like building and decorating will do that. Those who like farming will farm. Those who like exploring will explore. Assign titles as descriptors of what these players do, not to prescribe what they should be doing.