Rotating Gm Episodic Campaign

[Flamephoenix182]

Background: I have been Gming for a group a little over a year now, and I'm starting to be ready to play again. The issue is that 2 of the 4 players are gming other games outside of this and the other 2 are pretty new (interested in Gming but nervous about it). So I was thinking of suggesting a rotating dm system.

Something like a merc company or adventurers guild (fairly generic) where each person Gms for a month-ish in one self contained episodic story arc. Everyone uses build some character and when they are Gming their character is absent on another adventure or contract?

I was thinking that way everyone gets to play in a game with everyone else and everyone has a turn a Gming and it's only a couple months a year of Gming per person so not too overwhelming?

Has anyone tried this?

What are the pitfalls and challenges you have found?

Anything we need to decide on before we start? (The obvious ones I thought of are Loot rules and character creation rules)

[Landon Winkler]

I've tried this before, admittedly years ago, and it made consistent story lines very difficult. You're definitely right to set out in an episodic direction to start.

You'll definitely want to think a lot about loot and character creation. Also think what you'll do in advance about stuff like rules disputes and character death.

It might be worth cribbing some notes from PFS (or just running a PFS game if that interests you). Their whole setup is designed to handle these sorts of issues, so they're a good resource even if you don't want to play by the book.

Cheers!
Landon

[Declindgrunt]

Me and my group of close friends tried this it lends to a lot of interesting possiblities, basically what it will come down to is 1-2 of the dms having ongoing plots and stories while the others are making one shot adventures. It can work out great especially if you have an idea that doesn't work for a whole campaign

[TimD]

It CAN work, but the main thing (as with almost every aspect of RPGs) is communication.

Suggestions:
Make sure that you and your co-GMs are planning on using the same house rules / interpretations. Discuss some general plot arc / NPCs you plan on using so that you guys don't end up overlapping or killing off each others plot hooks / goals. If you have more than 2 GMs, I recommend nominating someone as the primary campaign GM so that they can go over some of the other plotlines without spoilering things for the others who may also be GM'ing.

Knowing where your "hand-offs" are going to be level / real-time wise also helps immensely for GM planning for the other GMs. A GM knowing that they're going to take over for a game when characters hit 5th and pass the torch when they hit 7th will be able to focus a lot more on what they need with much less time / effort investment.

As always, most of all, have fun!

[Flamephoenix182]

Thanks for the advice. I'll check out pfs for ideas. I avoided it before because of all the paper work after each adventure but we could get some ideas for sure.
I hadn't considered assigning levels do each gm but that could be a good idea for the 2 newer ones. Let them do the lower levels when it's simple then hand off to the more experienced at higher levels

[TimD]

Level designations are more about matching for themes than complexity.

If you want PCs to have issues related to weather & travel and "normal" barriers, it's very difficult to do so with 15th level characters than can just teleport themselves if they get annoyed.

Likewise if you want to have a thematic encounter around a dragon, it's best to have a level in mind so you know if the intent is to kill the dragon or just have it as a showcase / environmental threat / hint of things to come.

Finally, some social encounters may actually work better with higher level characters who have sufficient skill ranks and influence to affect the larger world / story and deal with the rewards and drawbacks of their fame / infamy.