Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
When your regular DM can't (or doesn't want) to DM for a while, how do you prefer to rotate DM duties?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 6675907" data-attributes="member: 6669384"><p>Our whole campaign is based around this.</p><p></p><p>I know I've explained the mechanic before, but...</p><p></p><p>At the beginning of the campaign we select a "game world", which essentially means we pick a map and some world premises.</p><p></p><p>Each player makes up their character, 1st level, using the limited set of source books chosen for the campaign.</p><p></p><p>Each player also selects where in the game world their PC is from. They write up that city/state/region. They decide how much of that write up is common knowledge and how much is there for players to discover when the time comes.</p><p></p><p>We select an over-arching story line or campaign goal. Something that has legs, so it will last for 20 levels or so. </p><p></p><p>We then take turns as the DM. Presume that I start things off. I'll lay the plot foundations, including what brings together these people from all over the game world. My adventure will take place in my character's home city/region, and my character will be an NPC for this time. </p><p></p><p>When my adventure is done, there will be a clue or lead that directs the party to some other city or region. Specifically, the city or region of the next person planning to DM.</p><p></p><p>My character will join up at that time, and the new DM's character will find him/herself occupied with family business, dodging responsibilities or what have you. In short, they drap from sight and become an NPC.</p><p></p><p>When their adventure is done there will be a message, a clue, some reason to move on to a different territory. By chance, the territory that the next DM wrote up.</p><p></p><p>And the process repeats.</p><p></p><p>To make it so DM's character isn't penalized for their involuntary down time, the character ends up spending their behind-the-scenes time earning Exp and treasure to match what they would have earned had they stayed with the party.</p><p></p><p>To make this work isn't always easy. You need players who appreciate the spirit of the game, who are on the same page in terms of how the world should work.</p><p></p><p>DMs can introduce plot hooks for one another, and can add complexities to the main story line. When we propose that initial challenge nobody knows what the solution will finally be. In fact, we may not even know what form the grand challenge will end up taking. </p><p></p><p>For example, our last campaign started with the knowledge that someone, an individual or group, was working to sew seeds of chaos, to try to tear down what was left of the Roman Empire. They had, somehow, engineered a layer of clouds (smoke?) that was blanketing the world, which inhibited crop growth through lack of sunlight, which would lead to food shortages. And somehow, even the gods were unavailable. No Divination spell that depended on contacting a higher power seemed to work. The best you could get was an Augry. No Divination (the spell, not the school), Commune, Contact Higher Plane, etc worked. The oracles were silent.</p><p></p><p>The party was made up of people with no fame or reputation, each commissioned by their mentor or parent, to meet in Athens for the great games (Olympic), and there try to track down these "Agents of Chaos" and deal with them.</p><p></p><p>That was it. One DM introduced the idea that, this being a Law v Chaos campaign, there was a truce and even a bit of cooperation between factions in heaven and Hell. (Lawful Good and Lawful Evil would both land on the side of Law.) Another introduced the idea that there was an Illumian Cabal involved. On a separate adventure the party learned how the gods have been taken out of play. </p><p></p><p>Each DM added to the plot, resolving some points while adding new ones. And none of us knew how it would end until right before it did.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Greenfield, post: 6675907, member: 6669384"] Our whole campaign is based around this. I know I've explained the mechanic before, but... At the beginning of the campaign we select a "game world", which essentially means we pick a map and some world premises. Each player makes up their character, 1st level, using the limited set of source books chosen for the campaign. Each player also selects where in the game world their PC is from. They write up that city/state/region. They decide how much of that write up is common knowledge and how much is there for players to discover when the time comes. We select an over-arching story line or campaign goal. Something that has legs, so it will last for 20 levels or so. We then take turns as the DM. Presume that I start things off. I'll lay the plot foundations, including what brings together these people from all over the game world. My adventure will take place in my character's home city/region, and my character will be an NPC for this time. When my adventure is done, there will be a clue or lead that directs the party to some other city or region. Specifically, the city or region of the next person planning to DM. My character will join up at that time, and the new DM's character will find him/herself occupied with family business, dodging responsibilities or what have you. In short, they drap from sight and become an NPC. When their adventure is done there will be a message, a clue, some reason to move on to a different territory. By chance, the territory that the next DM wrote up. And the process repeats. To make it so DM's character isn't penalized for their involuntary down time, the character ends up spending their behind-the-scenes time earning Exp and treasure to match what they would have earned had they stayed with the party. To make this work isn't always easy. You need players who appreciate the spirit of the game, who are on the same page in terms of how the world should work. DMs can introduce plot hooks for one another, and can add complexities to the main story line. When we propose that initial challenge nobody knows what the solution will finally be. In fact, we may not even know what form the grand challenge will end up taking. For example, our last campaign started with the knowledge that someone, an individual or group, was working to sew seeds of chaos, to try to tear down what was left of the Roman Empire. They had, somehow, engineered a layer of clouds (smoke?) that was blanketing the world, which inhibited crop growth through lack of sunlight, which would lead to food shortages. And somehow, even the gods were unavailable. No Divination spell that depended on contacting a higher power seemed to work. The best you could get was an Augry. No Divination (the spell, not the school), Commune, Contact Higher Plane, etc worked. The oracles were silent. The party was made up of people with no fame or reputation, each commissioned by their mentor or parent, to meet in Athens for the great games (Olympic), and there try to track down these "Agents of Chaos" and deal with them. That was it. One DM introduced the idea that, this being a Law v Chaos campaign, there was a truce and even a bit of cooperation between factions in heaven and Hell. (Lawful Good and Lawful Evil would both land on the side of Law.) Another introduced the idea that there was an Illumian Cabal involved. On a separate adventure the party learned how the gods have been taken out of play. Each DM added to the plot, resolving some points while adding new ones. And none of us knew how it would end until right before it did. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
When your regular DM can't (or doesn't want) to DM for a while, how do you prefer to rotate DM duties?
Top