Unique "co-GM" method
Jun 25, 2013 9:25:17 GMT -8
Post by retrosuperhero on Jun 25, 2013 9:25:17 GMT -8
I’ve got a unique technique I’d like to put up for discussion. I’m sure I’m not the first GM to do this, but I have never heard of anyone trying it before, so I thought I’d share it.
I live in the rural Midwest and gaming groups are hard to find. I travel one hour North to meet with a regular group once a month.
I also have a very close friend who lives three hours South. He and I grew up together and we rarely have the opportunity to game anymore (even with google+, because of his poor internet connection – as I said… RURAL).
So I began devising a way that I could game with my normal group and my friend at the same time.
When my turn came around to GM I set about building a sandbox adventure in an unexplored portion of the game world. I had various political factions, NPC groups and a Big Bad NPC which would be working behind the scenes at the start of the adventure.
I then handed the Big Bad NPC over to my friend to run asynchronously while I continued the normal face-to-face game with my other players.
I informed him of the information he would know as the Big Bad and he made decisions behind the scenes to further his own goals. I would stay in touch with him via email, updating him on what he would know as the Big Bad and taking instructions from him as he dispatched minions, spies, etc.
During the course of the normal face-to-face game the PCs would encounter spies and minions of the Big Bad NPC that I placed in their way according to the my friend’s plan. If the PCs did something and one of his spies was around I would make my friend aware of their activities after the game session and he would adjust his strategy accordingly. If the PCs caught the spy I would let my friend know that the spy never returned and he had less information to go on. My friend got a kick out of playing the villain and working on a grand strategy and the adventure was better for it because I had a completely focused, believable villain making decisions in the background.
The PCs continued this way without ever knowing that they were playing “against” another person (not me as the GM) for six months. Unfortunately the game is on hiatus, but my grand plan is to have the final climactic battle happen and schedule for my friend to drive the four hours North to surprise the group. I can just imagine explaining to the players that “this is the Big Bad they have been struggling against all this time” and then letting him take the field in control of the Evil Overlord and his minions for the final fight on the table. I’ve never told any of the players, so hopefully I can still pull this off.
I found that this was a great way to stay in touch with an old friend, enhance my normal game and make it somewhat easier on me as a GM.
Perhaps a show on unique GM methods or surprise twists would be good....
Thanks, and as always – great job on the podcast.
I live in the rural Midwest and gaming groups are hard to find. I travel one hour North to meet with a regular group once a month.
I also have a very close friend who lives three hours South. He and I grew up together and we rarely have the opportunity to game anymore (even with google+, because of his poor internet connection – as I said… RURAL).
So I began devising a way that I could game with my normal group and my friend at the same time.
When my turn came around to GM I set about building a sandbox adventure in an unexplored portion of the game world. I had various political factions, NPC groups and a Big Bad NPC which would be working behind the scenes at the start of the adventure.
I then handed the Big Bad NPC over to my friend to run asynchronously while I continued the normal face-to-face game with my other players.
I informed him of the information he would know as the Big Bad and he made decisions behind the scenes to further his own goals. I would stay in touch with him via email, updating him on what he would know as the Big Bad and taking instructions from him as he dispatched minions, spies, etc.
During the course of the normal face-to-face game the PCs would encounter spies and minions of the Big Bad NPC that I placed in their way according to the my friend’s plan. If the PCs did something and one of his spies was around I would make my friend aware of their activities after the game session and he would adjust his strategy accordingly. If the PCs caught the spy I would let my friend know that the spy never returned and he had less information to go on. My friend got a kick out of playing the villain and working on a grand strategy and the adventure was better for it because I had a completely focused, believable villain making decisions in the background.
The PCs continued this way without ever knowing that they were playing “against” another person (not me as the GM) for six months. Unfortunately the game is on hiatus, but my grand plan is to have the final climactic battle happen and schedule for my friend to drive the four hours North to surprise the group. I can just imagine explaining to the players that “this is the Big Bad they have been struggling against all this time” and then letting him take the field in control of the Evil Overlord and his minions for the final fight on the table. I’ve never told any of the players, so hopefully I can still pull this off.
I found that this was a great way to stay in touch with an old friend, enhance my normal game and make it somewhat easier on me as a GM.
Perhaps a show on unique GM methods or surprise twists would be good....
Thanks, and as always – great job on the podcast.