Multiple DMs?

[Fallenibilis]

Some of my freinds proposed a round robin game of D&D where we switch the d&d after each adventure. Now this seems quite odd to me, that it would be difficult establish a working/decent storyline. However i did remeber seeing similer things on here by other people so i thought i would ask how other people like this style and if they had any advice on how to runs such a thing as we will probably be attempting to do this by the seat of our pants.

Thanks ahead of time Fallenibilis

P.S. if this is in the wrong area i apologise i wasn't really sure which to put it in.

 

[Drowbane]

Round robin DMing used to be more common. It works great, with the right DMs.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Sounds like a thread for [MENTION=6669384]Greenfield[/MENTION]!

He and his do that very thing and apparently have for a long time. He'll have lots of insight.

 

[Greenfield]

Yes, we've run several campaigns that way.

The way we do it is pretty straightforward.

First, we (the players) decide on a map of the world. We've used Middle Earth, Forgotten Realms, some from Steve Jackson's site, even the real world. They all work.

Second, we decide on the long story goal, the grand mission that is going to take us all over the world in search of pieces, clues, whatever.

Finally, everyone picks a part of the world that they're in charge of. We don't have to use the entire map, and seldom come close, but each player picks a city or country that's going to be theirs to mess with.

Any house rules have to be agreed upon in advance, and any new sources for spells, items etc. that get suggested during play should also get group approval. After all, everybody is going to have to DM anything that gets allowed in.

Every player has a character who comes from their home territory. When the party is adventuring there, the DM's character goes into NPCdom. They either leave the game entirely, off handling family business or hiding from creditors or whatever, or they just become minimally available.

For example, in our current campaign my character comes from Greece. (A village near Thebes, to be specific.) I ran the first adventure, the one that set things in motion.

All the PC's were sent by a sponsor to visit the Olympic Games, which were held in Athens. There they were to meet and discuss a major problem with the world: A curse that fouled the sky with dark clouds, blocking direct sunlight, and apparently even interfering in the ability of the gods to aid or guide mortal men.

While there I ran the Olympics, and some not-so-behind the scenes politics. The party got caught up in them, and the game was rolling. We ended the adventure with a huge battle as a Roman Legion fought a Vandal horde of about the same size.

Everybody gets Exp, including my character, even though his participation had been minimal. Why? Because, ostensibly, my character had been handling other matters that earned him matching Exp. He even gets equal loot.

The clue we picked up from all of this lead us to Florence, Italy, which belonged to a different player. He became the DM, and his character got tied up in local issues and couldn't be with us most of the time. We followed the clues, got caught up in the foul schemes behind a doomsday cult and eventually shut them down.

Then our missing friend rejoined us as our path lead to Rome, where our companion Marcus, a Jovian cleric, got called to Temple duty and we didn't see him for days. (His player was now the DM).

The PC in NPC mode gets the same rewards as the rest of the group, though not necessarily an exact match, so that DMing isn't a punishment or penalty for the character.

You might set a level limit for the campaign in the beginning, or the group might decide at some point that the story should be coming to a head. Maybe you finally find the last piece of that artifact, succeed in uniting the Seven Kingdoms, or follow the last clue to the Big Bad behind all the troubles.

But the story should have a strong thread, a continuous purpose that links all the adventures together. Some might be false leads or dead ends, leading to adventures that end up having nothing to do with the long term goal. That's okay.

The over all rule is simple, though: I run Greece, not Rome, so I don't get to assassinate the Emperor in the eternal city, and he doesn't get to level the Parthenon. Any changes or developments that affect another DM's territory or plot lines should get cleared with that DM ahead of time.

Now the DM styles and general quality of moderation and story telling will vary, obviously. You learn to take the bad with the good. Power mongering is strongly frowned upon, since any rule rape you introduce and push as a player or DM can and will be matched by someone else, and the whole thing turns into an arms race.

Ugly.

The final rule is simple: After a particular adventure, the group can decide that it was so bad, so far out of line, that it just never happened. It was a collective nightmare, a bad dream, and nothing more. We've only had to do that one time, and the DM/Player who ran it was a bit offended, but he got the message: No Death Star, storm troopers, Jedi or protocol droids in a D&D game. They just don't work.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

In my primary home game, I take turns with another DM. In the past there was a third player/DM in the mix as well. We often, but not always, use an AP for the game, taking turns after each adventure. In other cases we've just run the campaign for a few levels before trading off.

Using an AP makes it a little easier -- there doesn't have to be quite so much DM communication if it's all scripted for you ahead of time. But that can feel a little railroady in the end if you're not willing to goof around with the adventures as you go. In our group, I'm more likely to be the one to develop something odd or new based on the bones of the AP adventure -- but that doesn't mean the other DM doesn't invent. It's worked out pretty well for us, but like anything else it just means having good communications between DMs.

-rg

 

[Fallenibilis]

[MENTION=6669384]Greenfield[/MENTION] I would've given you exp cause you were VERY helpful but i have to spread my exp around a bit first, also you campaign sounds really cool.

 

[Greenfield]

I did write up our early adventures in the current campaign as stories. They're available if people want, though I'm not sure this is the right place to post them.

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I did write up our early adventures in the current campaign as stories. They're available if people want, though I'm not sure this is the right place to post them.

I'm interested, can you shoot me a link in a message?

 

[Greenfield]

I posted the first set over in the Story Hour forum.

There's a Prologue, that includes the information given to the players at the start of the campaign, and the house rules we agreed upon.

Separately, there's the tale of our first adventure, under the title Curse of Darkness, Olympic Games.

For the history buffs out there: Yes, we know that there were no Roman emperors alive at the time this supposedly took place. And yes we know that the actual Olympic Games hadn't been run for over a century when out mythical version ran.

Later, one of our DM's took us to Renaissance era Italy, basing his adventure on the "Bonfire of the Vanities", a full thousand years out of synch. My answer? Roll with it.

 

[Gilladian]

I participated in a campaign with multiple DMs. It worked like this: the world we all were from was invaded by multiple armies from multiple different realities. I think it was seven armies. Each came through a gate which had mysteriously opened from their world to ours, and they came seeking new lands to conquer.

In our world, there were two gods who had been prophecied to awaken and return to the world when it was in direst need. Unfortunately, this wasn't dire enough. When "we" (priests of the world) woke them, they got ticked. And stomped all over the invading enemies, and did BBAAAD damage to the world.

Then someone discovered that the reason the invading armies were able to enter the world was because a wandering halfling thief found a magic item that allowed him to travel from world to world. But the idiot didn't bother to CLOSE the gates he opened behind him!

So we (the adventurers) were sent out to find him. And bring him home for punishment. It just happened that he was my character's uncle...

As we entered each gate, to seek the halfling in whatever world he presently was visiting, we switched DMs. Each player had a world to develop all his own. Anything could happen. And of course, somehow that player's character got left behind in the transit.

The halfling managed to stay one step ahead of us for a long time! But we finally caught him...and I can't remember WHAT we did - maybe turned him over to the gods.

It was a great game.