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The group I play with has recently been discussing the idea that we all contrubute to a sand box game - the GM at the moment has done a lot of work (applause all round!) with detailing the local area that he feels may never get used (sad face).
So after a good discussion we have made the 90% choice that we may go with the 'more than one GM' idea. I've read the good and bad points about this style (3.5 or Advanced GM's Guide I think)but has anyone on these forums used this idea or actually running a multi-GM sandbox? Using AP's is one thing but I was just asking for feedback on multi-GM sandbox.
Cheers!
I'm also interested in this, as I'm starting a multi-GM sandbox of my own in a month...
From the work I have put in so far, the hardest part is the prep work. We've got a big enough player base floating around here that there might be two GMs running parties through different parts of the sand-box at once, so I'm prepping a pile of material.
I will say that the one reason I both am willing to and want to do this is because we've got a core of four experienced GMs who can all keep the game fun and balanced session to session despite handing off control of the game. The only thing I would worry about is one GM handing out ridiculous loot relative to the others, ending up with a skewed Monty Haul kind of game.
But in the end, if you trust your fellow GMs and have the sandbox built, why not play in it?
I will say that the one reason I both am willing to and want to do this is because we've got a core of four experienced GMs who can all keep the game fun and balanced session to session despite handing off control of the game. The only thing I would worry about is one GM handing out ridiculous loot relative to the others, ending up with a skewed Monty Haul kind of game.
Well for one you could use Treasure Crafter's new automated treasure generator. Which is awesome sweetness. One advantage for random treasure is you can end up with a fair amount of strange rubbish, which become nice set dressing in whatever home base the PCs build between GM plots.
Another thing to try is establishing rule system for the GMs to play by when building the world. Either a bidding system or some kind of point/reward system.
Sit down with all prospective GMs and hash out values for different elements, both their cost to modify from standard (say Golarion baseline) assumptions (drow worship demons, goblins love fire, etc.) and the reward a GM gets if another GM uses his material. This encourages GMs to be creative and keeps overreaching down. This includes costs to change changes.
Of course you'd all have to agree that such a system is work in progress itself and open to adjustment and toning.
I will say that the one reason I both am willing to and want to do this is because we've got a core of four experienced GMs who can all keep the game fun and balanced session to session despite handing off control of the game. The only thing I would worry about is one GM handing out ridiculous loot relative to the others, ending up with a skewed Monty Haul kind of game.
Well for one you could use Treasure Crafter's new automated treasure generator. Which is awesome sweetness. One advantage for random treasure is you can end up with a fair amount of strange rubbish, which become nice set dressing in whatever home base the PCs build between GM plots.
Another thing to try is establishing rule system for the GMs to play by when building the world. Either a bidding system or some kind of point/reward system.
Sit down with all prospective GMs and hash out values for different elements, both their cost to modify from standard (say Golarion baseline) assumptions (drow worship demons, goblins love fire, etc.) and the reward a GM gets if another GM uses his material. This encourages GMs to be creative and keeps overreaching down. This includes costs to change changes.
Of course you'd all have to agree that such a system is work in progress itself and open to adjustment and toning.
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I would only use APs as idea material, pulling specific encounter blocks or NPC stat blocks out to make things easier. I would not run them as a whole this way under multiple GMs. Although perhaps Kingmaker would be the most open to that.
Advice for balancing treasure between GMs
All good points. I didn't mean I was personally worried about this for my game, I meant it was one of the main things that went in to GM selection.
But again, all good advice for making sure the GMing seems consistent in quality!
I think the first and most important thing has to be a discussion between all the dms on how they are going to handle things. Many multi dm campaign i've done has fallen apart because people had different conceptions of the game.
Things to discuss:
1. Zone of control - who is responsible for what? Does each dm control and change everything as they see fit in the world while their running it? Will you divide the sandbox up into organizations or into regions and let each dm have one or more? Will it be based on storyline with each dm controlling a certain subplot in the game?
This will come up, eventually npc/item/organization/etc that DM 1 has created will come up in DM2's session. Discuss how this should work out.
2. Discuss the length and composition of the individual arcs. How often will dms trade off? Every session? Every couple of sessions? When the players move into a new location? When some specific task or event is complete? Make sure everyone is expecting the same on this account.
3. Cordination - discuss how involved each dm wants to be in eachothers plot. Do you want to interwieve everything together? Keep them strictly separate? Or somewhere in between? Some of the benefit of multi dms is the dms still get to play. But if you know the plot you lose some of the experience of playing.
Edit.
4. Rules Treasure and XP - Talk about house rules, what is allowed, how you will deal with treasure and XP. Many dms differ even within a group on house rules or handing out rewards, to make sure everyone is on the same page. Whatever works for the group is fine but it needs to be consistent.
We did Round-robin GMing during the Second Darkness AP. There were 6 chapters as I recall, we had 4 different GMs. Each chapter was a little different because of that, but I think it worked out well in the end. Basically the benefit here is that everyone got a chance to "play".
One more thing - the guy who DM'd first set precedence. To me that's the most important thing, just try to stay in tune with what came prior to you taking up the DM mantle.