Multiple GM's, Looking for a good initial start to a shared campaign

[BenShums]

Hello! I'm launching a session on fabletop.com where the GM changes every hour and takes the game in whatever direction s/he sees fit. Right now, I'm in need of a good first hour's worth of adventure, hopefully something that's pretty open-ended so that the next GM has many exciting avenues to take the game.

For any GM's that have done a successful campaign in which the GM switches each session, how did yours begin? And also, any advice on running this properly?

<3

Ben

[PersonMan]

I don't have experience with it, but what I'd recommend is a group thinking session - things like:

What is the tone of the campaign?
What is the focus of the campaign? Kill things and take their stuff? Find out who's planning to kill the king?
What will the plot be like? Is the status quo important or will things change?*
What are a few cool things you'd like to see happen?**
Is there a single enemy to fight? If yes, what are they like?


*Basically, is it episodic or more arc-based?
**Since everyone DMs, this can be nice to give the others some ideas. If Guy C wants a scene where his Knight can defend, say, a roomful of children from attacking beats, then Guy A can use that idea and build a scene around it while he's DMing.

Once you have these bases covered, it can be a lot easier to make adventures on this framework. Going from "do anything!" to "here's a rough skeleton of what the campaign will be like, somewhat" is a huge plus.

---

For an open-ended intro adventure, well, there's one I made for a campaign of mine (which flopped, unfortunately) in which the PCs would slowly be introduced into a situation in which nearly a dozen different factions were fighting for power.

Set-up: The local lord has requested your presence at his keep. Recently there have been attacks on miners/loggers/whatever fits for you in the area. The guard has increased patrols, but aren't directly intervening.

At the meeting, the lord tells you why the guard hasn't stepped in properly: each time a group has been accompanied by someone bearing the lord's sigil, they were all killed, rather than attacked and driven off. Of course, law of the land requires that his guards display the sigil at all times. A few freelancers, however, need not do so, and can accompany a group through the forest to lure out the attackers, then take them down. Survivors would be good, but will be put to death anyways, so bringing their heads is also acceptable.

The party goes through the woods/mine/whatever and after a while is, surprise surprise, attacked. It turns out that the attackers are some kind of humanoid golem that are incredibly well-disguised (i.e. the PCs probably don't notice until their stabbing doesn't result in bleeding) as people. Inscribed onto their chest is an odd sigil.

Over the next few days, there are a few more attacks, but the PCs deal with them all and eventually find (stumbled upon or searched for) the base of operations: a cave with a few crates of weapons and ammunition. It's guarded by the last two of the things and has no sleeping rolls or similar. There's a list that includes the number of golem-things so the PCs know they got all of them and can prove it to the lord.

So, they go back to the lord, who tells them that the sigil is of a [nearby nation|wealthy merchant house|unknown] who is actually allied with him/his liege-lord/king. He tells the PCs to go investigate, secretly of course, and find out why this happened and what these humanlike golems are.

Session end. Pass the next DM the stats for the humanlike golems (I used Warforged but you can homebrew them if you like).

Open-ended, you can put over a dozen different continuations on there, mix of roleplay and combat (plenty of time for intraparty RP and RP with the people they're going with). Good opportunity to add your character to the party if you don't want to have them join the party while you're DMing [the local lord sends someone he's hired before to help you].