Co-DMing

[Mauril Everleaf]

So a friend and I are considering co-DMing a campaign. He has DMed for years, however I have not. I've run a total of 3 gaming sessions in my DnD career. Thing is, I am rather good at understanding the rules of a gaming system and am rather decent at creating ad hoc rules that are balanced and consistent. Often the DM will refer to me during a session when there is a rules dispute. I suck at storytelling though. I can roleplay my character very well, and sometimes get chided a bit for being too in-character, but I can't weave a narrative in-game to save my life. My current DM (the one I would co-DM with) is an excellent storyteller and does very well at designing campaigns. However, he is rather inconsistent on ad hoc rules and sometimes doesn't understand how to create balance. I once told him that a homebrew class that he added to a game was brokenly overpowered, and he said, "Yeah. It's supposed to be."

Anyway, what I am asking (in a very roundabout way) is how would co-DMing work in this situation? Would it work? Is it possible to have one DM run story and another run mechanics? If so, what do you do when crunch affects fluff, or vice versa? Any help, advice or cautions provided would be much appreciated.

[Fiery Diamond]

Actually, it sounds as though the two of you could Co-DM very well. Yes, it is possible to have one run story while the other messes with mechanics. Let him take the reigns when it comes to telling the story (but don't let him leave you out of the loop on what's coming up--you should be planning somewhat together) and you take the lead when it comes to actually running combat or dealing with ad hoc rules.

As for when crunch affects fluff and vice-versa: this is one of the primary reasons for making sure both of you are involved in the planning, rather than just the story-oriented guy or just you. That way, you'll have some heads up - what kind of strategy does X monster use, and how is it ruled that Y ability works? Basics like how fluff with spells might affect the crunch should be brought up before hand in planning. As far as how ad hoc crunch rulings affect "fluff" (as in, how it might drastically change the situation) it might be wise to, if you think there may be an issue, take a short time out with your other DM and hold a short discussion on it: just very basic to find out how much of a problem it might be.

Also, I'm curious: his brokenly overpowered class - was this intended for the players or for NPCs? If for the players, then yeah, there's a problem with it. If for the NPCs, then actually, there isn't any issue or concern as long as he realizes how powerful it is.


Sorry that I don't have any other advice or cautions, I don't have too much experience co-DMing.

[woodenbandman]

Also, I'm curious: his brokenly overpowered class - was this intended for the players or for NPCs? If for the players, then yeah, there's a problem with it. If for the NPCs, then actually, there isn't any issue or concern as long as he realizes how powerful it is.

I'm going to disagree. I don't think that PCs and NPCs should follow different rules. It destroys the verisimilitude of the game. NPCs following different rules leads the way to all kinds of bad DMing and douchebaggery. If you're a good DM, you should be able to tell the story you want within the rules 99% of the time, because once you step outside the rules (on something big, not on something like the rules for getting STDs and such), you're basically saying to your players: "I don't respect you enough to play the game with you fairly, so I'm going to use a turboshock controller while you all get the crappy broken ones with no A buttons."

Now, as to the subject of the thread: I think you two'd make great Co DMs. Make sure that you both do your parts, but also, you should both try to branch out and do the other's part some times. Have the storyteller let you run a bar encounter or a sidequest, and let the other guy take care of the crunch for a while. You'll expand your abilities, while playing to your strengths most of the time, and fun will probably be had by all.

[Zincorium]

I'm going to disagree. I don't think that PCs and NPCs should follow different rules. It destroys the verisimilitude of the game. NPCs following different rules leads the way to all kinds of bad DMing and douchebaggery. If you're a good DM, you should be able to tell the story you want within the rules 99% of the time, because once you step outside the rules (on something big, not on something like the rules for getting STDs and such), you're basically saying to your players: "I don't respect you enough to play the game with you fairly, so I'm going to use a turboshock controller while you all get the crappy broken ones with no A buttons."

I fail to see where you support this argument with even an anecdote. While a good DM can tell the story within the rules, ALL the time, it's neither neccessary or convenient to do so. My players can't be mind flayers (except for that one game...) but I feel perfectly confident using them as NPCs. BAM. Different rules already. Most DMs do that, so you've apparently by your definition played all or almost all your games under a bad DM.

Homebrewing NPC classes, races, and abilities that are not suited for PC use is the same as homebrewing monsters as opponents. As long as you are giving the PCs a challenge they should be able to handle, and you reward them proportionally to the difficulty, having an official source shouldn't matter one whit.


Anyways, I've done a limited amount of Co-DMing, and even beyond the communication issue, it's really crucial that you have a shared vision for what the feel of the campaign is going to be and where you want to take it. Getting onto two different tracks is ugly at best.

[Zephyros]

^^ if any DM describes battle-scenes as in: "you take X damage and roll now a Fort Save against Y feat, you can't react cuz of Z ability" then the players will understand that the character is a result of crazy house tinkering but verisimilitude has already gone out of the window long time... If an NPC is strong that's it. He is strong and get over it already. That's why I prefer sandbox games instead of the whole world evolving in the perverted fashion of PC lvl +-1

@OP:
Co-DMing is a breeze my friend as long as both of you do your agreed amount of chores and have already defined who does what.

You can run/speed-up/ make interesting-challenging encounters
He can back those up with a good plot
You both can role play some NPCs (always knowing what the plot dictates for them) making them far more distinguishable and memorable
and blah blah blah blah blah

Good Luck

[Mauril Everleaf]

The brokenly powerful class was for players and NPCs. It was a point based wizard variant for the 1e game we were playing. It was about twice as powerful as the most powerful class at every level. At low levels, it was better than a fighter and at high levels it was better than a wizard. It could always out-do the thief and only fell behind the cleric when it came to healing. It was gross.

Anyway, it's good to know that our relative strengths will work together. I was a bit worried since we are a rather role play centered group that I would be kinda irrelevant, or at least unnecessary. We kind of let the players decide the storyline, so I will have to work with him to get what he is wanting in his story, and just prepping some stuff on contingencies.

[Keld Denar]

It wasn't a Lightning Warrior, was it? Cause you know, that class is very underpowered because it doesn't get a familar or the ability to specialize, or the ability to heal. But it makes up for it by having amazing flavor.

Be sure to read ALL of the comments posted below it.

[monty]

It wasn't a Lightning Warrior, was it? Cause you know, that class is very underpowered because it doesn't get a familar or the ability to specialize, or the ability to heal. But it makes up for it by having amazing flavor.

Be sure to read ALL of the comments posted below it.

Best class ever. I almost considered trying to get it past my DM once, but thought better of it, because he'd probably kill my character as punishment for even suggesting it.

[Mauril Everleaf]

It was not. It was an entirely homebrewed point-based casting class which he called the Warlock. It has nothing even similar to the 3.xE or 4E Warlock. Take this as an example. I was playing a warlock in a campaign a long time ago, in one action, I blew apart half of the largest city on the map in a nova attempt to decimate the bad guy. I was level 2. And we were playing with 1E AD&D rules.

I have the class somewhere in my computer. I can try and find it and post it.