D&D 5E So, what style of play is this called?

[Sezarious]

I was reading about organised play options and I was wondering if a campaign setting has ever been designed in the following manner:

You get say 3 DM's who sit together and collaborate, they choose a setting such as Forgotten realms. Each DM then picks a faction and if possible, the players might be able to pick the faction they want to fight with. Each DM runs their game seperately in a seperate region within the setting. If each party succeeds in their adventures in phase 1 of the campaign, they will have advanced the plans for dominance of their faction. If a party fails or dies, they are out and finished for the rest of the campaign.

Assuming all parties pass phase 1, DMs meet to discuss their campaigns, the highlights of which they exchange, to implement into their games, perhaps as tavern gossip, Easter eggs for the parties to pick up on.

Parties might complete a number of additional phases, BUT, in the final phase, any remaining parties are going to clash as each faction demands they take the same objective. Parties must finish off by fighting each other for victory, either side could win...

Has something like this been done before?

 

[DEFCON 1]

Possibly, although I don't recall it ever being mentioned or discussed here on the boards before.

But every style of gaming and campaign has probably been done by somebody sometime at some point.

 

[Crothian]

We did something like this in college but less organized. I ran on Friday nights and a friend ran on Tuesday. We set the campaigns in the same world but not in the same place. The different groups did hear similar rumors and eventually heard of the exploits the other group was doing.

 

[Benji]

Yeah, we did a similar thing with two dm's back in the late 90's but with less competition. Characters moved between two groups set in the same game world that would occasionally meet up but essentially had similar enemies and goals. I'll always remember I waved my brothers rogue (who was a friend of my character) goodbye and my brother (who I was still living with at the time) didn't tell me until the next time the groups met up that he'd been killed horrifically by a dragon. My shock was my character's shock.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I believe that is called Head of Vecna style.

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Zaruthustran]

That's a fairly common shared world style, assuming the 3 DMs are also players in each others' campaigns. In other words, you're talking about a single group of 3-6 players.

If you're talking about 3 different groups, each of which is headed by a single DM who meets with the other dedicated DMs to plan and orchestrate a campaign? That's unusual. I've seen it done in Organized Play (Living Greyhawk, specifically) but you don't see it that often outside of OP.

Seems cool, though!

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Sounds awesome.
Especially if you arrange it so...
DM: "you enter the tavern and sat alone at one of the tables is a massive red haired warrior, criss-crossed with scars. His huge battle axe lies on the table. As you enter, he stands up"
Stranger, entering the room behind the players: "I am Killbastard of the Thousand Scars. I've been expecting you"
Stranger joins the table.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

It sounds to me like a "tournament" type of play, just with the parties not gaming together. Given the emphasis on factions, why not call it "faction tournament" style? Or, if you like those snappy "X&X" type names, why not "Agents & Adversaries"?

 

[PnPgamer]

Ive had a similar idea, but this sounds way cooler.

 

[mamol]

Sounds awesome.
Especially if you arrange it so...
DM: "you enter the tavern and sat alone at one of the tables is a massive red haired warrior, criss-crossed with scars. His huge battle axe lies on the table. As you enter, he stands up"
Stranger, entering the room behind the players: "I am Killbastard of the Thousand Scars. I've been expecting you"
Stranger joins the table.

Goddamit this sounds great. Wished I had the chance to do this one day!