tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post8716467382157191733..comments2024-03-28T01:53:34.870-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Random Roll: PHB, p. 8James Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-40948604155749605802021-08-12T05:03:15.446-04:002021-08-12T05:03:15.446-04:00I agree with the idea to begin something new if th...I agree with the idea to begin something new if the existing game does not suit one's preferences. But I also support the idea of polite criticism and suggestions to the rest of the group when deemed fitting. Most gamers nowadays are split between "change everything at the drop of a hat" and "if you dare dislike something, shut up, you're a whiny bitch." Discussion and feedback between sessions is never a bad thing by itself.Dead-meathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10642515595229265420noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-75875437276516864592021-08-06T17:42:30.162-04:002021-08-06T17:42:30.162-04:00I did see one really great co-GMed campaign. It wa...I did see one really great co-GMed campaign. It was a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay campaign GMed by a married couple. They riffed off each other very well, and handled party splits with ease.<br /><br />Back in my high school years, I gamed at MIT where the "Saturday" crowd mostly had open games with PCs moving from campaign to campaign with a bunch of GMs rotating around. I ended up GMing almost exclusively and had a pretty dedicated set of players, but that freedom to move between campaigns I think did push the GMs to be their best.<br /><br />These days I mostly can't imaging sharing a campaign with another GM, though we did have one of the other players GM Burning Wheel for a time in the Blackmoor setting I had started off.<br /><br />Lately I have a lot more experience as a player than back in the day and I think that's a good thing.Frankhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15855679156477779666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-51605622294832918412021-08-06T15:29:37.307-04:002021-08-06T15:29:37.307-04:00Never saw a co-DM campaign.
Back in the day, our ...Never saw a co-DM campaign.<br /><br />Back in the day, our table-top group had 4 DMs among 5 or 6 players, so we had great game variety and DM empathy. The DM vs the Players thing wasn't even on our radar, until we went to RPG conventions and encountered all sorts of psychopaths. Etrimynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12412524174369676893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-86729884859992052442021-08-06T14:44:28.007-04:002021-08-06T14:44:28.007-04:00^ Bullseye AD&D must be looked at as a produc...^ Bullseye AD&D must be looked at as a product of a very specific time and very specific circumstances. And from the point of view of a Businessman first, Game Designer second.JEFFBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08862106711059104379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-27618451156988600202021-08-06T14:18:00.039-04:002021-08-06T14:18:00.039-04:00I think it is rare in the history of all (high qua...I think it is rare in the history of all (high quality) creative endeavors for it to be the product of more than one mind---or at least without a clear single person in at the top. Sure, it guards against the excesses of a tyrant, but I think more often than not would lead to mediocrity. Switching DMs is fine, but I think it would be best to leave the settings detached so each can shine fully. <br /><br />This fear of the DM seems a new-school (reactionary/anti-authoritarian) notion, and is not one I'm accustomed to.squeenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975523149573452984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-27289802597368318322021-08-06T13:56:18.493-04:002021-08-06T13:56:18.493-04:00While I've never "co-DM'd" a spe...While I've never "co-DM'd" a specific campagin before, nor ever participated in one, our group does rotate DM duties.<br /><br />Sometimes it is just a break in a campaign to run a 'one-off', due to DM burnout, players cannot make it to the session, etc. <br /><br />Other times a campaign fizzles out, TPK's, or such, and someone else steps up to run a game. <br /><br />Our group of 5 has 2 primary DM's, a 3rd occasional DM, and one player who wanted to try to DM an adventure that didn't work out well. ThrorIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10576112896575184085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-11272546780449398402021-08-06T13:04:09.243-04:002021-08-06T13:04:09.243-04:00I think, like many other essays in the 1E books, i...I think, like many other essays in the 1E books, it needs to be read with a firm context anchor of Gygax speaking to his time; not to all times.<br /><br />Gamer solipsism is endemic to the personalities drawn to the hobby; it can be readily observed today at the heart of many rules discussions on forums and other places: "why does the book direct subject X in the fashion it does - it is not what I like" - as if the speaker imagines what they like is the obvious road to Rome, and furthermore, clearly the best. And that the author's primary obligation was not to create the game they liked, but to make what the reader likes so that the reader isn't inconvenienced by what they don't prefer being de facto used in the most popular roleplaying game around them.<br /><br />Point being, Gygax was (among many other things) trying to reset a paradigm in OD&D that wasn't working nationally - guidelines so broad that there was no real *guidance*, with wildly diverging methods clashing wherever more than 3 people gathered for play according to a standard.<br /><br />This never took off, so these passages are continually read in the light of how most gamers have only experienced (A)D&D - their local group.<br /><br />So Gyagx says "your local group can do whatever they want - don't complain to me. Start your own group if you don't like it. If you're running a game and want more guidance, write to me. But don't bother appealing to me if not running a game, so as to try to argue from an appeal to authority".<br /><br />"Oh, and whether playing in a game or running one - as soon as you get outside of your local group, all your idiosyncrasies are subject to disregard. So consider the idiosyncrasies you embed if national play is an interest". <br /><br />Could this have been said differently? Sure. Could it have been said in any fashion that pierces gamer solipsism? I doubt it. But if I'm trying to set up something national, I want to be able to say "refer to page 8 in your PHB and please stop interrupting me".EOTBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17514955150414369244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-39331327030287937462021-08-06T11:08:57.115-04:002021-08-06T11:08:57.115-04:00I have seen it work with two DMs rotating responsi...I have seen it work with two DMs rotating responsibility for the whole campaign; whoever was not DMing relinquished total control during that session.<br /><br />The DMs had very different styles, and even in my teems I could see that it required a goodly amount of patience and forbearance to work properly. It was also a bit like improv, since when they switched roles the new DM had to riff off whatever the previous DM had done.<br /><br />I have no idea how much collaboration they did between sessions. I should ask.<br /><br />I DO think it is a good idea when the group rotates DMs who are running their own campaign. I think the game runs better when all of the participants are familiar with the role of both players and DMs.Beorichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05179135838206052198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-2290096606655153812021-08-06T10:53:50.314-04:002021-08-06T10:53:50.314-04:00I love the idea of this approach, but I've nev...I love <i>the idea</i> of this approach, but I've never seen it work in practice. Do you have much experience of this working successfully? I'd love to know more.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-27504758909296488692021-08-06T10:46:56.046-04:002021-08-06T10:46:56.046-04:00Well said.Well said.artikidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17474295473142339717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-10753955375305412622021-08-06T10:38:48.840-04:002021-08-06T10:38:48.840-04:00I agree that creative control is essential when DM...I agree that creative control is essential when DM'ing, but I hate the authoritarian instinct and implied conflict of this notion of a group where the DM is the god emperor and the players have to either follow along or bail. Much more healthy, in my mind, is a group where people take turns DM'ing and the setting as a whole is stitched together from their respective efforts.JohnEilerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18288185520072519535noreply@blogger.com