Assistant DM

[Vague Jayhawk]

I am playing in a Monday night WLD game. Due to lack of people for his Wednesday night game, my DM had to merge his two groups together last week. We had six players, now we have nine. He is a good DM, but I think nine players overwhelmed him a bit. I know it would me.

After game I volunteered myself as assist DM. He readily accepted the offer.

I have not witnessed an assistant DM in action. What can I do to help him with the game and to help it run smoothly? (i.e. speed up combat, lower his prep time, things like that)

How can I be efficient and effective in my new role while still participating as a player?

 

[shilsen]

Firstly, I'd spend some time talking with your DM about how and where he thinks you'd be most helpful.

During the session, a few things you can do that would be really handy are: (1) Track initiative; (2) Handle rules issues, not as the final word on the subject but be the group's rules reference on the RAW (so if someone has a rules question, they ask you instead of the DM); (3) Run some of the NPCs. Naturally, whether (and how) you do any or all of the above, or a few other things, depends on the DM's and game's needs.

As far as prep time is concerned, you could always help by brainstorming ideas, statting up some NPCs or putting together the plans for a particular place the PCs will be visiting, etc.

 

[CarlZog]

I played a CoC game at GenCon once with two DMs. The assistant was very valuable in dealing with player sidebars and kept the action moving whenever the PCs were not all in the same place.

 

[Lord Ipplepop]

My group has 4 DM's, and we all act as assistant DM's when we are playing. When a question about the rules comes up, we have more than one person to discuss them, and make a decision. Of course, we have a walking rules computer at the table, and he tends to make the final rules decisions for us.
We also have the DM's set around the table to assist other players, and to attempt to speed up the game, combat, etc.
It definatley helps having everyone there to give the acting DM a chance to focus on creativity, and running the characters.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

We used to run "DM Tag Team" games back in college. They worked out great, since the party inevitably split. We once had two parties compete against each other in secret (DM's in two different rooms), and when the PC's arrived at a point we'd determined would be the best for the two groups to join up, there was a battle royale. It was one of the most fun games I ever had the privilege to participate in.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Good for you for doing that! I hope your group is better for it.

The answer to the question is "whatever the DM needs the most help with".

 

[Vague Jayhawk]

That all sounds reasonable and very do-able (is that a real word?).

I guess there are no secret tricks of the trade I need to know.

 

[+5 Keyboard!]

That all sounds reasonable and very do-able (is that a real word?).

I guess there are no secret tricks of the trade I need to know.

I've been hoping to have a fellow DM friend of mine come assist me and I can give you a short list of what would help me:

1. Track Initiative
2. Have spells/rules being used open and ready for reference if the DM asks for a quick clarification or needs to know what the effects are
3. Run a few NPCs (having a non-player at your side to roleplay NPCs instead of the DM talking to himself would be extremely helpful, not to mention the benefit of freeing the DM up a bit on the combat side of things)
4. Draw things out on the battle grid and help move or place minis

There you go. Ask your DM if he'd like help with any or all of these and you've got yourself a pretty solid start at it. Good luck!

 

[d12]

I did this once, with myself serving as the primary and a friend assisting. We had something like 10 players + the 2 DMs. It went something like this:

I had the adventure module in front of me. I described rooms and events. I played the speaking voice of NPCs and generally was responsible for keeping the adventure moving. I decided when to call for spot/listen checks and when intitiative needed to be rolled. I also handled environmental factors (i.e. "the ground beneath you shakes, everyone make a balance check DC 12 or fall down").

The assistant DM had a laptop open in front of him with a copy of the SRD and an excel spreadsheet. He was the rule reference for the players and kept track of initiative. Once combat had started, he ran most of the bad guys but I ran the very important bad guy combatants (BBEG, or spellcasters). I also determined if bad guys in another room heard anything and needed to enter combat (this particular adventure ended up being a 2 hour combat, with wave after wave of bad guys joining the fight).

The characters ended up fighting in three different areas at the same time at one point. I could not have pulled it off without the help.

 

[Harmon]

Make a batch of intitive cards, then during low moment in the game, quietly have the players roll a d20- don't tell them why, write their int bonus on the card, and place the cards in order. When a fight starts you can tell the GM that Intitive is ready (even if its an hour wait).

Encourage the next player in the Intitive order to- "you're next, know what your gonna do," so that he can just drop dice or what have you.

Get sodas and food for the GM (you are not a slave, just considerate).

Have books at the ready- so that if there is a question you can grab the book.

At our table we race to rules, or spells, or what have you, so that we can speed up the game a little bit.

Also helping with tracking the figures, and keeping up with who dropped their sword last round, and spells cast on villians that have had Dispel Magic cast on them, durations of spells.

Keep matters cool, don't let a Player piss the GM off.

So many things that an assistant GM can do, just keep in mind you are not running the game, so much as being an extra set of eyes, and an extra brain to help out.

Good luck