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TheThan
2011-06-19, 09:50 PM
So some friends of mine were discussing role-playing games in general. One of them, has been pushing Anima beyond fantasy for some time, while I’ve been pushing Spirit of the Century. The problem is that nobody is interest in playing a campaign in either of these two systems.
After a few minutes of discussing this issue, we’ve come up with a clever idea. I’m calling it “the RPG exchange program”. This program uses a rotating Dm schedule, each week we have a different DM and a different RPG. These are “One Shot” adventures designed to sort of showcase the game to everyone and give everyone an idea of how the game works. Everyone will know ahead of time what system we will be using and who the Dm will be.
So each week we pick a new RPG to run via dice rolling (and a genre if it’s a generic system.) and rotate out the Dm. in order to sort of test out new systems and even new genres, as some people have never broken away from the standard DnD style fantasy. So far we’ve got myself, my friend I mentioned above and another signed on as DMs, with a few more signed on as just players. It seems like you would need a minimum of three to get this working right).
I’ve taken it upon myself to catalog and track who dms when, what systems we’ve already one and I‘ll probably put in some feedback from the group in as well. Unfortunately we haven’t had the chance to try it out, though I think we will start next week. We have already determined to run BESM in a giant mecha setting, The Dm is making most of the characters, save mine and none other.
Anyway I’m interested in what people think of this idea. I personally think its great, as everyone gets to test out new and interesting systems. Hopefully we are able to find a system or two that people would like to peruse as a full campaign. It also gives us Dms the chance to run systems we haven’t had the chance to run but are interested in. Anyway If I get enough interest I may turn this into a campaign journal. But I figure I’ll at least list what systems we have to work with.


Dnd 3.5
Dnd 4.0
Pathfinder
Adnd
D20 modern
Star wars Saga edition
BESM 3rd edition
Spirit of the century
Battletech
Legend of the five rings (2nd edition)
Risus
Dawn of worlds
Gurps 4th edition
7th Sea
G-system (homebrewed, giant mecha game, made by a playgrounder)
Future perfect (homebrewed)
Victoriana
Anima beyond fantasy
Exalted
Heroes unlimited
Beyond the supernatural
Chaos earth
Macros II
Mechanoids
Nightbane
Ninjas and Superspies
Palladun fantasy
Rifts
Robotech
Systems failure
TMNT
Bubblegum crisis

Some of these multiple Dms have, but that’s not an issue heh.

Kaun
2011-06-19, 10:23 PM
It sounds like a fun way to test out a few systems and i would love to read a journal on your sessions if you can be bothered writing one.

My one concern is how much do you generally get done in one sessions/how long do your sessions go for?

I ask because the first session you play with any new system generally tends to be slow as people get a grasp of the rules. All so i find in personal experiance that it generally takes me 2 sessions to complete a small story line.

DeadManSleeping
2011-06-19, 10:36 PM
Trying to get everyone in your group to GM? Good luck.

I've got an SotC group that has no assigned GM, but I'm the only one who seems to even think about running anything. Trying to get things run on a volunteer basis is just asking for nothing to happen. You need pressure for it to happen.

TheThan
2011-06-19, 10:39 PM
Most of the characters that are being made ahead of time by the Dm in charge of the current session. so that part is taken care of.

the bigger issue is getting enough of the system down to be able to run a game. I've gotta learn like 5 systems that I've never used before. That might get a tiny bit rough.

I'm actually doing a lot of behind the scenes Dm work. I'm preparing adventures for the systems I already know, so when I'm up, it's not too big an issue.

edit
including myself we have three people signed up for dming duties, the other members of the group are just going to be players, at least for now.

Honest Tiefling
2011-06-20, 02:46 AM
It sounds like your group has a lot of people who want to showcase their systems. Given that, it'll probably be a heck of a lot easier getting them to DM!

It does sound like a good idea, through my concern is not with the pace of the game as you are using pre-gens, but with people getting characters they are happy with. Some players like a certain role, others want to swap around. Might be difficult to please everyone. Does the DM make a lot of pregens and lets people choose, or makes a few and hands them out to individuals?

And I guess asking the DM to make a sheet for a quick introduction is not good. Do many RPGs have these? I was playing one that had convenient sheets, really helped the game.

Either way, it'll be interesting to see how this goes, and good luck!

Totally Guy
2011-06-20, 04:43 AM
I'd like to do this. With one group I have done several one shots however only I read new systems so I end up GMing. With the other group the players aren't willing to learn new systems but already know a few more systems than the first group.

TheThan
2011-06-20, 12:26 PM
I was thinking of trying this same idea online, but I don't know if I'm actually capable of doing it twice, once in real life and the other on the netz.

If we can get a few more Dms then i think it'll be very possible to do.

right now the Dm is asking for what sort of characters people want to play. while I'm planning on just writing up a half dozen or so sheets and letting players pick. So i assume it'll work either way.

Techsmart
2011-06-20, 01:22 PM
I actually started doing a similar thing a little bit ago and came here with some questions (opinions on it, other systems to try, etc). You can find it here http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=200376. Probably wont answer your questions, but it may help.

TheThan
2011-06-20, 01:34 PM
Yeah there are still so many systems we haven’t even looked at like the white wolf stuff, Call of C’thulu, paranoia etc.
Right now I’m working on a D20 modern, Starwars Saga, and spirit of the Century one shots, as well as studying up on legend of the five rings, and plan on learning Gurps and 7th sea. I just finished a BESM character for the aforementioned game. So I’ve got a lot of work to do.