co-DMing 4th edition

[Herobizkit]

Hey gang,

My current DM has posed an interesting option for me. I have 20+ experience in running games, and this is his first time out as DM after a year as a 4e player.

He loves running combats, but he does not enjoy the RP side of things. He lacks confidence in his creative ability, but prides himself on his grasp of the tactical side of things.

As such, he has asked if I would be interested in running the RP side of the game, creating a story in and around the H-series of modules, taking them right to the end. Basically, to fill in the blanks so that the world seems more like a world and less than a room-to-room killfest.

Has anyone tried this before? Any thoughts?

The game is set in the Forgotten Realms (his choice), but everything is pretty much fair game for setting design.

 

[McTreble]

I'd love to do this, but I seem to be the only one keen on it in my group. Shame too, I could see a lot of benefits to splitting up the workload and having dynamic encounters as a result.

 

[Rechan]

I've tried it. Granted, it didn't end well because I was running combats for a guy new to the system who wanted to be the Story DM. But he had... control issues.

There's also the issue that, if you're in charge of story, he's in charge of combats, but combats take up half the session... what are you going to do during the combats? As the guy handling teh system stuff for the Story DM, I sat on my hands half the session.

He loves running combats, but he does not enjoy the RP side of things. He lacks confidence in his creative ability,

That sounds problematic. He's not going to be a good DM if he doesn't learn that stuff. If you chose to do it but don't teach him along the way, then you're just going to do it for him and he won't learn anything. Can you show him how you are building the stories, and how you are doing the RP, and how to do stuff creatively? Slowly encouraging him to take more imput?

Also. If you're doing the story completely, why even bother with the encounters? The modules are... poor. The story is poor and the combats aren't great - this could be improved by better monster selection and trimming encounters but... It would be better just to tear the modules apart, picking the best fragments from them (the Well of Demons in TL, several of the encounter areas in PoS) and put them in homebrew adventures.

I hate to be so discouraging but it's less than a Good Idea to use poor materials and not train him to be a better DM, just to be an encounter runner.

One positive thing I will say - if you guys are hellbent on running all the modules, then look at P1 - King of the Trollhaunt. The story is quite servicable, the combats are better. The module could be made even better if the story is woven into earlier adventures. Yes, it's Paragon level - however if you guys are only half way through with KotS and 3rd level, then you'll hit Paragon before finishing all of the H modules.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I've never tried this and I've never played in a game with co-GMs but I think this sounds like an excellent opportunity if you're both interested. If I were in your shoes I would use it to help foster his abilities as a solo GM.

I would propose to that to get him more comfortable with plots and roleplaying, you would collaborate on those elements with yourself taking the brunt of the responsibility. I would also stray away from using modules and encourage him develop his own encounters since he enjoys the tactical side of the game and it's required of a solo GM. I would gradually have him take more of the roleplaying and plot direction as the game progressed and hopefully ease him into running a solo game.

 

[Unwise]

I have done something similar in the past. I helped a guy come up with over arching stories and in designing encounters. He could run encounters well and could design them, but failed at making them feel epic or part of the overall plot. He was hellbent on challenging PCs more than making things fun.

I would think you will have to play a character as well as run the stories, or you will get very bored for most of the game. The issue then is that any character you run blurs the line between NPC and PC.

To keep the other players happy, I would consider playing a lazy warlord or some othre similar build that really helps them to be the stars of the show. By being a strictly supporting character I think nobody will begrudge you being a both a player and GM.

The other alternative is to play a more comedy sidekick character. In one of my games I had a kobold who although quite fearsome, attached himself like a puppy to the big powerful Dragonborn paladin. He refered to himself as "cheif minion" of the paladin who he was sure was going to rule the world one day. He would threaten other PCs if he thought they were trying to steal his prestigious position (which happened a lot as he was paranoid).

Any character with crippling character flaws that will do things no PC normally would is a good bet. Like playing a coward or somebody with delusions.

 

[S'mon]

It could probably work. To keep you both occupied at all times you could maybe both run either PCs or (preferably) Companion NPCs in the group. That way you could both be involved at all times - you would still be playing during the combat scenes, and he can have his Companion NPC talk during the talky stuff.

I think Companion NPCs would be better to avoid overshadowing the PCs of the real players. Since you apparently only have two other players, their two PCs should be the stars of the show; you and the other GM can play their loyal companions/supporting cast.

 

[knightofround]

It sounds to me that he like basically wants to play D&D minis. As long as he's cool with the possibility he might not get to do much on heavy-RP nights it sounds good to me.

I don't think you'll lack for things to do. Even when the PCs are in combat you can still do narrative stuff while your friend moves around the pieces and makes rolls. But there's really nothing your friend can do during RP times...except take notes I guess.

So yeah, it's really up to him, and how cool he is with the chance of not "doing" anything on some nights.