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stenver
2009-09-16, 08:40 AM
Has anyone ever thought of or tried to play a game with 2 GM-s? I am thinking of trying this, but i want to know the experiences of others first and what i should be prepared for?

Saph
2009-09-16, 08:46 AM
Depends what you mean. We had one game with two DMs and two groups, and that didn't work well at all. The two groups moved at different speeds, and interaction between them was a pain in the neck.

On the other hand, if your group know each other well, having two players take turns running the same campaign can work. Each player has a character which they rotate in or out depending on whether they're DMing this week. Note, though, that this works best in an episodic campaign with lots of different plot threads - each DM has his own set of adventure hooks. It doesn't work so well in an epic save-the-world quest - if one player's been running Gollum, Sauron, and the Witch-King, he can't exactly hand it off to someone else and switch over to playing Sam without some serious problems. :P

Sliver
2009-09-16, 08:52 AM
If you mean two DMs DMing at the same time, I was planning to do it with someone over the internet but we never managed to collect enough players for that..

We were planning to have each some NPCs to control and divide the other stuff among eachother but I can't give you any actual tips or anything as it never happened beyond planning..

Rixx
2009-09-16, 11:31 AM
The best way to run a multi-DM game, in my experience, is to have two people flesh out the world together, and divide duties between them - one person (or both people) draws out maps and puts encounters together, and the other runs the actual game. Unfortunately, that leaves the issue of what the second DM should be doing while the game runs... perhaps dividing up the NPCs would work.

kjones
2009-09-16, 12:02 PM
I've had my brother serve as "assistant DM" for a large game (D&D 3.5, 8 players). Basically, he looked up rules and stats, ran NPCs during combat, and generally made my job (describing the world to the players, everything else) much easier.

It worked out well, though I suggest a clear division of duties, and both DMs have to be OK with not actively playing all the time.