rotating DMs same group of characters...would it work?

[isoChron]

I play with rotating DM's (who's character is somewhat more a cohort at his DM-time) since AD&D 2nd. Never encountered a real problem. We use this kind of rotation currently in 2 different groups. Works fine as long as all potential DM's agree about style of play and amount of magic/equipment in advance.
Since all will be DM, more or less time, there is less desire to overuse some cheesy tactics and all get an insight in the hard job of mastering a group.
As a nice side effect you can keep your character 'till epic even if you current DM doesn't want to master an epic campaign. Someone will.

 

[resscane]

My group did this for a while, and it ended in disaster. 1 DM and 2 players. We agreed to use Greyhawk and on characters. We went through 1 cycle (all 3 people DM'ng) fine w/ lots of fun and exciting adventures, Players were at 6h level. In the 2nd DM of the 2nd round, The acting DM decied he didnt want his BBG to get killed off. So he started playing the rules interpretation game and then started making up rules. Finally he just settled on the old standby "I'm the DM and what I say is all that matters". Well that didnt go over very well. This session ended in an arguement that destroyed the game.

We are all in our mid-thirties w/ jobs and family. Playing on a friday night from 6 pm till 2 am. The game was already becoming a chore w/ this latest round and all the new D20 Variant rules.
Needless to say I've reflected on that game and its ending and decided it was time to limit rules and variants. I don't think I will ever play in a game w/ rotating DM's again.

I live in miami and its very hard to find RPG'ers. Losing that game and 1 of the players sucked.

 

[SweeneyTodd]

Works great for us. Haven't had any problems. We're pretty rules-light, though.

 

[Peter Gibbons]

My group did this for a while, and it ended in disaster. 1 DM and 2 players. We agreed to use Greyhawk and on characters. We went through 1 cycle (all 3 people DM'ng) fine w/ lots of fun and exciting adventures, Players were at 6h level. In the 2nd DM of the 2nd round, The acting DM decied he didnt want his BBG to get killed off. So he started playing the rules interpretation game and then started making up rules. Finally he just settled on the old standby "I'm the DM and what I say is all that matters". Well that didnt go over very well. This session ended in an arguement that destroyed the game.

Yeah, but would the result have been any different if he'd been the only DM? (And if so, why?)

 

[Ethernaut]

I've participated in numerous shared-GM games, some that have worked and others that haven't. My current Buffy game works well because one GM (me) is the a primary GM that is responsible for the main story arcs of the "season". Other GMs run the "stand-alone episodes" that don't have as much to do with the main plot. It works because we don't step on eachother's toes and everyone has a good sense of what we are trying to achieve as a group. I love riffing off of things that other GMs introduce into the world and some elements introduced by secondary GMs have become central to the main plot. Also, having other people step into run gives me a break when I need it and allows me the joy of *playing*.

The other successful shared-GM campaign was a mission-based dimensional hopping GURPS game. It's the perfect campaign for sharing GM responsibilities because you really can't stomp on what other people are doing. Most missions are self-contained.

My one attempt at a shared-GM D&D game didn't work so well, mostly because the world didn't seem to have much flavor, I think. I don't think everyone really bought into the setting.

 

[Henry]

I can work - but it's not for everyone. For our group, we like to play not just different campaigns, but entirely different worlds and rules. If I could agree with a co-DM or two on the ganeralities, it might be fun. However, my co-DM's humor is a tad... Zorkian, for want of a better term and mine are more striaght-laced episodic things. The two styles together might drive the players crazy. I'd rather in our group have the creative talent run wild than hamstring it for regular basis.

However, der Kluge's Round-Robin DM rules work in this exact framework, and for single sessions, it's one of the most fun and mentally draining things I've ever done.

 

[kanithardm]

Once i had the prince sneak out as a rogue at night. the other gm didn't know he was the prince and killed him off. So when it was my turn, "The prince is dead, the prince is dead"

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

We've done this at several times over the last 25+ years. It works best when you assign one person to be the 'head' DM and make final calls when there is a disagreement. He wuld also be responsible for laying out the overall arc.

 

[The_Universe]

I started playing in a system roughly like this, and it's fine only if you don't ever want to have a long-term story arc. It spreads the work around, but its easy to see favoritism when the DM uses his own character as a major or heroic NPC, and it frequently robs the game of continuity or consistency.

 

[jmucchiello]

We've been doing this for quite a while. And our current campaign has a large invasion arch. We plan for each DM to take 4-5 sessions at a time. In light of the invasion storyline, each DM tends to run mini-quest style stories but on occasion we'll have other style adventures. We have no set rules about what is or is not allowed. The DMs will coordinate with one another when borrowing one another's NPCs. But the players find it most interesting when one DM sets something up and the payoff comes from another DM.

Our big arch is about 1-2 years from its conclusion and already we are talking about what we'll do next campaign.

We've never had a problem with DMPCs. The PC the DM plays in other games is a full member of the party. Between session activities are adjudicated by one of the other DMs whenever that is necessary. As will all things shared, you must trust your fellow DMs not to take advantage of their position or it can't work.

Finally, rules variations, we don't have any. The 6 of us are there to have fun and so all rules changes are decided by all 6 players, not just the current DM. While in game the DM's ruling is final, all house rules are decided by the group, not DM fiat. And thus, all 3 DMs run the game using the same rules.