Wiki rotating DMs

[BobVosh]

From the other multiple DM thread(didn't want to derail it):


A couple years ago we did a rotating DM campaign. It was one of my best experiences with 3.5.

There were 5 players. Each of us would take turns GMing an adventure, usually 2 or 3 sessions long. Between GMs, we levelled up. The world was vague and generic, but we filled in details as we went.

All our progress was kept in a wiki that everyone had access to. I think this was the most important thing in running the game. All our characters were kept up here. We posted NPCs too, although some GMs made notes that NPCs were reserved for their own use at a later date. We also divided loot on the wiki, which I liked a lot because it cut that out of the game sessions. We tried to keep the loot to WBL. It actually ended up being stingier than that, because nobody wanted to be the jerk who gave out the vorpal weapon. Anything non core had to be voted on. I'm still not sure why they let me play an Incanatrix (although it was the slightly gimpier 3.0 version).

The first cycle through GMs was kind of bland, to be truthful. Everyone wrote adventures that wrapped up nicely by the end. The only changes were that players had acquired loot and levels. By the second cycle we were deliberately leaving plot threads unfinished so that other GMs could run with them. Once this started up was when the campaign really got fun.

This actually sounds awesome. Especially with my group of 8 people, with almost everyone having been a DM before. I'm just curious of suggestions, comments, and any helpful software for this to work. Before I pitch this I kinda want to know what we plan on doing for it to work.

[BooNL]

I guess the first thing to determine as a group are some basics and rules:

What players are interested in being a DM as well?
What world will you be using? (consistency is key to storylines!)
How long will each adventure last? (in real-time or levels)
What method of rewards will you give the players?
Are adventures neatly wrapped up or will everyone expand on the previous DM's story?
What happens to the current DM's character?


It's important every DM use the same rules, in order to keep it fair for the others. As well as having consistency in the story, which is (IMHO) the most important part here.

[valadil]

Whoa, I got derailed into a whole other thread. That's awesome!

We used mediawiki. We also had a copy of 3e profiler. I think one of the other players hacked them up to use the same authentication, but it shouldn't be a big deal for people to open two accounts either.


I guess the first thing to determine as a group are some basics and rules:

What players are interested in being a DM as well?
What world will you be using? (consistency is key to storylines!)
How long will each adventure last? (in real-time or levels)
What method of rewards will you give the players?
Are adventures neatly wrapped up or will everyone expand on the previous DM's story?
What happens to the current DM's character?


It's important every DM use the same rules, in order to keep it fair for the others. As well as having consistency in the story, which is (IMHO) the most important part here.

We had every player DM. Some were better than other. This group was much more open to the idea because we all DM regularly. It's the sort of group where one game ends and someone else takes over. We kept that going, but we kept characters between games. Switching to this system worked really well for us.

World is definitely important. Blank worked well for us. Everyone wanted to do a little bit of world building. Together we made a complete world. Because we were all GMs, we could make up whatever we wanted in our backstories. I wouldn't have been opposed to using an existing campaign setting, but I think the other GMs wanted more freedom than that.

Our guideline was 2-4 sessions. On the first cycle, we all ran 3 session games. On the second they were down to 2. 3 felt better.

Rewards are the only thing I was displeased with. Part of it was how we divided up loot. Gold was divided evenly. Then found items were sold to players at half price. Remaining items were sold to stores and gold was again divided. I didn't like this because interesting items were sold. Normally you'd have a small collection of qaal's tokens, ever smoking bottles, folding boats, etc. Nobody wanted to buy these, so they all became gold. I gave out a +1 constitution tome and that was sold too, even though everyone in the party could have benefited.

(going out of order, but this is more relevant). GMs were responsible for phasing out their own characters. Some characters stuck around for a combat or two, but all were pulled out of the game eventually. I really liked this because it meant that the group was always changing. Most GMs had to put up with two casters, but when I ran my sorcerer was unavailable. Dynamic group is good. GM characters were not eligible for items that GM had put into game, but they did recieve a share of the gold. Nobody got ripped off this way, but you couldn't give out the item you needed either. If I had to do it again, I'd just give out gold and let players buy stuff between games at book prices. It's less realistic but it's a lot easier to deal with. I'd also say that custom crafted items take exactly the length of one GM's adventure.

When we started out, each GM's episode was neatly wrapped up. Later on we started playing with leftover loose ends. After that we started deliberately leaving loose ends for others to play with. This is something your group will do on its own as you go. Even by the end though, one of the GMs would only work with his own material and didn't leave much for the rest of us. Nothing wrong with that, it was just the kind of game he wrote.

Any other questions?

[Meek]

I would suggest Obsidian Portal (http://www.obsidianportal.com/) for the software, which is an RPG-dedicated free wiki site.

[Artanis]

If you want just a plain wiki, there's an RPG wikia (http://rpg.wikia.com/wiki/RPG) site you can check out. It's working pretty well for the campaign I'm currently in. It's especially helpful considering that this campaign is the sequel to a previous one, and thus the setting (Eberron) is DRASTICALLY different from what you find in the official books.

[BobVosh]

My only question I have left is what should the DMs avoid at all costs? Beyond the normal DM no-nos of course.

[valadil]

My only question I have left is what should the DMs avoid at all costs? Beyond the normal DM no-nos of course.

Honestly, it isn't that different from DMing a normal game. You just have to publish some of your notes afterward and communicate with the other players.

You should take into account that each time you run will be a 2-4 session episode. This can limit the scope of what you're doing. It's fine for your average dungeon, but some stories won't play out properly this way.

The worst thing that happened in our rotating game was actually my fault. Maybe that's a little harsh. The worst part of the game occured during my watch. I ran an adventurers tournament where another team cheated in order to win. I still maintain that this is a pretty decent story. The problem is that I spent 3 sessions running the tournament. The players knew I was just about done and were emotionally invested in winning the tourney. Swapping it out for a story about getting ripped off and hunting down the cheaters was a bait and switch. Maybe the story would have worked better in a longer campaign (where they knew there was stuff after the tournament and weren't metagaming about the adventure) or maybe I should have spent less time on the tourney and moved on to the cheaters more quickly. Or maybe I just need players who whine less. The point was that it didn't work and I suspect there are other stories that won't work in a 2-4 session episode.

For the record, the players could have won the tournament, but the odds were against them. They actually came pretty damn close. The cheaters who survived ended up being villains for later use in the game.