I didn't consider this until I had already started my first session and the ring leader asked me what he could do. My spur of the moment decision was to give him the abilities of the Carnival Barker, since it struck me as roughly analogous. I also misread the send in the clowns action, so I let them be the one to make that decision.
I do like the idea of Charisma being more important to their role, so I'm thinking about something like they use a reaction to roll performance against the trick DC of another performer, and if they succeed they give the performer a bonus. Basically they hype them up, so they perform better.
First session was last night but it was easy for my PCs. One of them was a "ringmaster in training" but when they planned for first show they did it as a team! it was perfect!
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I guess some people are confused between running the show in the background which is a team decision and the actual show's Master of Ceremonies which the story implies that Thunder did both.
But in the list of non-performer jobs there was no MC listed.
For those of a younger generation who probably never have seen an old school circus. Please refer to the movie the Greatest Showman where Hugh Jackman is presenting the acts in front of the audience.
The answer is:
Sorry for being blunt, but you assume there is a role for a MC and there just isn't. The adventure doesn't care about having a Master of Ceremonies. It doesn't matter who does the presenting.
The important thing is who decides which performers get on stage, and when.
That said, you could totally add a non-performing role here. Just make sure it is just as optional as the others. After all, with only four heroes, there will always be loads of non-performing roles unfilled.
After all, the most important thing is for each player who wants their character to perform a circus trick to be allowed to do just that :)
Sorry for being blunt, but their first post is literally spit-balling ideas for house ruling an MC role. Did you even read it? They aren't assuming anything, because they literally say "could this be another PC option for non-performer tasks."
Their follow up post saying " But in the list of non-performer jobs there was no MC listed." Reads to me as them identifying a hole in the rules that they would like to fill, and not as them thinking they had somehow gone selectively blind to the words "Master of Ceremony"
Your post about "all the players collectively" also completely misses the point. . They aren't trying to create a role that specifically takes over the shows, just a role for whoever is announcing the acts.
The important thing is that each player that wants to take on a particular role within a circus, be that performing a trick or being the face of the show, can. I have a player that is great at playing the showman, but doesn't really care about the trick mechanics. It makes sense to bring them into the role of MC, and to provide mechanics to reward them for doing so.
Honestly I was in luck, and I suspect others could do something similar, that my players actually veered towards having NPCs doing tricks than themselves. I simply asked who would make the announcement of who is going on the stage (either behind the curtain for the benefit of performers to know who is going out, or on stage for the audience to know) and a half-orc who was adopted by Myron offered to do it on the stage.
However, I tried to keep this role as an optional thing. As long they weren't doing a trick at the time, they'd be free to present. So said half-orc was actually the Animal Handler, which I figured would be a lot of pre-circus and a little bit of mid-circus activity. It granted the boons of Animal Handler, but left the character still free to present.
I suspect I only got one more player to do a performance because Mordaine had refused to do the finale and the family of acrobats refused to work with the broken nets. We had a dwarf drinking his bear under the table twice in two separate acts due to Animal Handler and then the Sorcerer reluctantly agreed to do a trick.
The part of some personal amusement is among all this the bard wasn't the ringleader, instead opting to be the backup clown.