pendell
2011-01-12, 12:12 PM
I've been thinking about this for awhile, and thought I'd ask.
It seems to me that the GM has a difficult role to play , because they must simultaneously act as 1) referee, ensuring fair play and a good time for all and 2) act as the brain behind the BBEG and every faction in the game besides the actual PCs.
Essentially, in football terms, the GM is both referee and coach of the opposing team. This can create a conflict of interest. Kenzerco used to sell little skulls that a GM could decorate their GM screens with, one for each PC death.
That doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the fairness and impartiality of their referee/moderator, does it?
So I'm wondering if anyone has ever successfully split these roles up; instead of having the DM act as both referee and adversary, give the adversary role to some other player in another room. Said adversary would have access only to the information that the BBEG would actually have, and would perform all die rolls and actions for the bad guys. While such a player would have a great deal of power, they still wouldn't have DM omniscience or the power to Rocks Fall Everybody Dies when they one-shot his super-monster.
This would free up the DM to be a truly impartial referee, free of the need to act on behalf of the non-PC opposition.
Given that I'm not the most creative person in the world, I'll wager that, sometime in the 40+ year history of RPGs, someone has already tried this at least once. Were you one of these people, and how did it work out?
Respectfully,
Brian P.
It seems to me that the GM has a difficult role to play , because they must simultaneously act as 1) referee, ensuring fair play and a good time for all and 2) act as the brain behind the BBEG and every faction in the game besides the actual PCs.
Essentially, in football terms, the GM is both referee and coach of the opposing team. This can create a conflict of interest. Kenzerco used to sell little skulls that a GM could decorate their GM screens with, one for each PC death.
That doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the fairness and impartiality of their referee/moderator, does it?
So I'm wondering if anyone has ever successfully split these roles up; instead of having the DM act as both referee and adversary, give the adversary role to some other player in another room. Said adversary would have access only to the information that the BBEG would actually have, and would perform all die rolls and actions for the bad guys. While such a player would have a great deal of power, they still wouldn't have DM omniscience or the power to Rocks Fall Everybody Dies when they one-shot his super-monster.
This would free up the DM to be a truly impartial referee, free of the need to act on behalf of the non-PC opposition.
Given that I'm not the most creative person in the world, I'll wager that, sometime in the 40+ year history of RPGs, someone has already tried this at least once. Were you one of these people, and how did it work out?
Respectfully,
Brian P.