Chronologist
2011-12-31, 12:01 AM
Normally, I would never consider running or playing in a game with multiple dungeon masters, but here's the thing: I'm burned out. Of the 10 or so people I know who I invite to game, I am the only person any of them considers to be a competent dungeon master. As such, they always want me to run the game, and I'm tired of it. It's fun, but I want to play for a while, and aside from these people, there are very few other players in the area willing to participate in a game.
Unfortunately, they're all pretty terrible dungeon masters (or so they claim).
So, rather than give in or give up, I've decided to start a round-robin D&D game.
The game will be at my house every saturday afternoon to mid evening. Every night, a different player will have prepared an adventure, or a continuation of the current adventure, for everyone to play. There are only 5 rules for DMing.
1) Respect the materials of previous DMs. If they said or did something, you have to respect their decisions in the story and roll with it. If they made the villain of the dungeon a Lich, you can't make him a dragon instead because you think it's cooler. If you use a previous DM's NPC, ask him for permission to use it and to see its stats.
2) You can't run your character when you DM. Your character is indisposed at the time. He still gains experience points as though he was part of the group, however. BUT! You can't allow your character to gain access to any item you give the party when you are DMing.
3) Use published materials in the game, not stuff you make yourself. Of course, if you want to change a rule or mechanic in the game, you can propose the idea to everyone, but the rest of the group has to approve of it before you use it.
4) Don't be a jerk. Everyone is trying to have fun, and you should present a challenge, but don't pull arbitrary rulings, kill characters for no reason, or insert something ridiculous or out of context. You can add your own atmosphere to the game when you run it, but please respect the tone and context of the game.
5) Everyone DMs once, in order if at all possible, until everyone has gone only once. Then we start again, trying to go in the same order if possible. This means that every player must DM at some point, but only once every 5-8 weeks, probably.
Since we're playing Pathfinder, everyone will start between level 3 and 6, as voted on by the players. In order to allow DMs to introduce new material into play, I'm letting every player/DM choose one sourcebook outside of the Pathfinder printed material and include it in the campaign, and to (if they want to) create a race, some miscellaneous equipment, and other odds and ends for the game. Me, I'm including a sourcebook that allows rudimentary technological devices, and I'm making a race of techno-goblins much like the World of Warcraft d20 race.
I'd run the first session to establish the framework. I figure I'll try and start the group as a band of wandering adventurers going from town to town in search of ancient ruins. The actual session would start on a miserable rainy afternoon as the group finds one of these (presumably untouched) ruins after hearing rumors about it from a nearby town. Since I'm using the technology book (which, by the way, any other player can use if they want to, just like I can use their books for my material), I figured a jaunt into a small non-functional outpost for an advanced civilization (which happens to contain a few minor pieces of technology, as well as some Construct guards and vermin) would be a good test of ability for a low-level group. Like a Dwemer/Dwarven ruin in Skyrim, sorta, only grey iron instead of golden metal.
So, what do you think? I figure this method allows everyone to play, while occasionally giving them license to change the way the story is going and try out cool new ideas. With 6-hour game sessions, we can get quite a bit of material done. The rules seem fair enough to me.
Unfortunately, they're all pretty terrible dungeon masters (or so they claim).
So, rather than give in or give up, I've decided to start a round-robin D&D game.
The game will be at my house every saturday afternoon to mid evening. Every night, a different player will have prepared an adventure, or a continuation of the current adventure, for everyone to play. There are only 5 rules for DMing.
1) Respect the materials of previous DMs. If they said or did something, you have to respect their decisions in the story and roll with it. If they made the villain of the dungeon a Lich, you can't make him a dragon instead because you think it's cooler. If you use a previous DM's NPC, ask him for permission to use it and to see its stats.
2) You can't run your character when you DM. Your character is indisposed at the time. He still gains experience points as though he was part of the group, however. BUT! You can't allow your character to gain access to any item you give the party when you are DMing.
3) Use published materials in the game, not stuff you make yourself. Of course, if you want to change a rule or mechanic in the game, you can propose the idea to everyone, but the rest of the group has to approve of it before you use it.
4) Don't be a jerk. Everyone is trying to have fun, and you should present a challenge, but don't pull arbitrary rulings, kill characters for no reason, or insert something ridiculous or out of context. You can add your own atmosphere to the game when you run it, but please respect the tone and context of the game.
5) Everyone DMs once, in order if at all possible, until everyone has gone only once. Then we start again, trying to go in the same order if possible. This means that every player must DM at some point, but only once every 5-8 weeks, probably.
Since we're playing Pathfinder, everyone will start between level 3 and 6, as voted on by the players. In order to allow DMs to introduce new material into play, I'm letting every player/DM choose one sourcebook outside of the Pathfinder printed material and include it in the campaign, and to (if they want to) create a race, some miscellaneous equipment, and other odds and ends for the game. Me, I'm including a sourcebook that allows rudimentary technological devices, and I'm making a race of techno-goblins much like the World of Warcraft d20 race.
I'd run the first session to establish the framework. I figure I'll try and start the group as a band of wandering adventurers going from town to town in search of ancient ruins. The actual session would start on a miserable rainy afternoon as the group finds one of these (presumably untouched) ruins after hearing rumors about it from a nearby town. Since I'm using the technology book (which, by the way, any other player can use if they want to, just like I can use their books for my material), I figured a jaunt into a small non-functional outpost for an advanced civilization (which happens to contain a few minor pieces of technology, as well as some Construct guards and vermin) would be a good test of ability for a low-level group. Like a Dwemer/Dwarven ruin in Skyrim, sorta, only grey iron instead of golden metal.
So, what do you think? I figure this method allows everyone to play, while occasionally giving them license to change the way the story is going and try out cool new ideas. With 6-hour game sessions, we can get quite a bit of material done. The rules seem fair enough to me.