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Craft (Cheese)
2012-11-19, 08:44 AM
So, I've heard that there are GM-less RP systems.

To be clear, systems that redefine the GM role by dividing up player authority in a different but still asymmetric way, or systems that are designed to cleanly support switching roles mid-campaign or even mid-session (such as GM rotation), don't count. To qualify as "GM-less" the system needs to be fully symmetric in that all players have equal authority over the story and the world at all times.


I'm interested in experimenting with the idea of a GM-less game, but the only system I can name that fits this criteria is Dawn of Worlds. What are some others I can look at?

SuperPanda
2012-11-19, 08:56 AM
A while back I came across the Baron Von Munchausen game. I'll have to search for it again. It really doesn't fit into the traditional RPG style of game and it is more an exercise in absurdist one-ups-manship boasting.


The game begins with all players in character pretending to be figures of reputations similar to or (naturally) in excess of the Baron himself who are sharing a cup of something together and regaling each other with tales of their fantastic misadventures. Each player has a certain number of chips/tokens/drinks and they can spend them to interrupt or correct the current speaker (who can then play their own chips back to counter or accept and run with the interruption/correction). The winner of the game is the person who comes up with the most ridiculous and epic story without breaking character or being at a loss for what to say (each person's story telling is on a time limit). There are rules for how stories progress between people and no where does it say that you only have to/get to tell one story.

I'm pretty sure its designed as a RP drinking game. I've not gotten any real life friends to be willing to give it a shot, though I'm sure it would be enormously fun with the right group of people.

Does that fit what you're looking for, or are you looking for a more traditional RPG type game with no storyteller/GM/DM role?

hamlet
2012-11-19, 09:11 AM
The upcoming "Axes and Anvils" dwarf clan RPG is trying to be GM-less. Capes is also a very good game for this kind of thing.

Personally, I have no problem with the concept, but only if the game is designed around it to begin with. Trying to make D&D DM-less is . . . silly.

Craft (Cheese)
2012-11-19, 09:14 AM
Does that fit what you're looking for, or are you looking for a more traditional RPG type game with no storyteller/GM/DM role?

It's a surprising idea that did not at all match my expectations, but that's exactly what I started this thread to find. So, yes, it's very helpful, thank you!

(Though I'm still looking for more suggestions of games to look at if anyone else has them!)

Friv
2012-11-19, 09:16 AM
Fiasco is a GM-less game that plays quite well, but it's not really suited to campaign play. At best, you could get two or three sessions out of it by structuring games like a trilogy of movies.

Totally Guy
2012-11-19, 09:18 AM
Shock Social Science Fiction gives everyone a particular domain in which they are the GM. There might be a weaponry GM and another might be the GM for facts about pirates. This one is on my want list.

Fiasco has everyone play out a heist gone wrong. On your turn you set up a scene for the the character and have the others decide if it goes badly for you or not or you can let the group set the scene and the you get to decide if it goes well for you. At the end of the game you roll dice to find out your ultimate fate. I played this one one and it was pretty good. Not quite as good as Wil Wheaton's experience with it.

Witch: Road to Lindisfarne has the party travel from London to the north and Linisfarne, the holy island. One player plays the witch and is either innocent or guilty. If the players decide the wrong ultimate fate of the witch, the witch decides theirs. I played a SciFi hack called The Final Voyage of the Selene (downloadable here (http://www.groundhoggoth.co.uk/Mini-Games/)) at a convention and it was really good.

Microscope is a little different in that it builds a history (or a campaign setting) rather than tell the whole tale of the characters. I played this at a convention and I really enjoyed it. I took a photo of the timeline at the end and as I was there I can recall every scene of it!

navar100
2012-11-19, 01:26 PM
I don't know the official name or if it's even in print anymore, but I do remember playing a couple of games based on the various "Rocky & Bullwinkle" characters. You take on the persona of one of the characters depending on the scenario. Each character has a particular goal to make happen in the story depending on the scenario. You had cards to help move the plot along. Some games just needed you to play your last card and have the ending you come up with be accepted by a randomizer.

Obviously it's not to be taken seriously. It may be more party game than roleplaying, but it was fun and funny.

xBlackWolfx
2012-11-19, 01:42 PM
And no one's mentioned mythic?

Mythic is a roleplaying game, but its mostly famous for its 'mythic game master emulator', which can be used to completely replace a GM, and though its designed to work with the mythic rpg, the rpg itself is NOT a requirement, the emulator can work with any system.

Its a bit complicated to explain, but basically you roll on pair of charts to get two different words which often form a short phrase. You figure out how this phrase fits into your current situation.

You can also ask yes or no questions about certain details that normally the GM would provide, all you have to do is decide how likely it is that the answer would be yes or no. This part also ties into the mythic rpg itself, where you have to cross reference your character's score with what you believe the chances of a yes or no answer are.

There's also something called the 'chaos factor', which determines how likely a random change in the storyline is to occur, and the chaos factor can be adjusted up and down. For example, if you roll doubles on the d%, you must roll on the random event chart to determine what has happened assuming that the doubles were equal to or lower than the chaos factor (for example, a chaos factor of 5 would mean that a roll of 11, 22, 33, 44, or 55 would create a random event).

And yeah, there is capes, though wheather or not that is an rpg is debateble. It's more like a cooperative story-telling game, functioning similar to how Baron Von Munchausen works from what it sounds like, though capes is more about the characters competing with eachother. You can play a game of it on the official capes website, which gives you a very good idea of how the game works, you can even download everything you need to play for free, though mystersiouly they still try to make you pay for it on the main page. Odd.

j1mw1lson
2012-11-20, 12:25 AM
And no one's mentioned mythic?




A couple mates and I are using the Mythic Gm Emulator atm, it's pretty decent. Puts some nasty twists and turns into a game. It's very usable with other game systems (I use it on the new RuneQuest rehash Legend) and using a couple of online random name/character/item generators like chaoticshiny.com and Seventhsanctum.com take care of the randomimty.