Doing the co-GM thing

[Radar]

I'm in the process of laying out a campaign world, and a buddy of mine and I have decided to trade off the GMing duties; I run a scenario for however many sessions, then he does the same.

How do others who share the 'big chair' reconcile sharing ideas about the campaign world against 'spoiling' your co-GM's enjoyment of the game as a player? What secrets do you keep and how do you deal with a scenario of his unknowingly stomping all over your brilliant plot for the next session or worse yet, an over-arcing conspiracy you want the players to piece together? If he were just a combat monster kinda player, it might not be so bad, but he's a true RPG'er and likes all the mystery, drama, secrets and whatnot. I can't squelch his creativity because a) it's not right and it might lead him to suspect what I'm going for and ruin the surprise aspect of certain storylines.

 

Whaddayado?

[concord]

Re: Doing the co-GM thing

 

Hey... sorry for the late reply... I had typed up a pretty long reply giving some personal experiences and suggestions then my computer locked up before it was sent... got so frustrated that I decided to wait until the next day to retype it... well no one replied to the thread, so it disappeared... then I found it again today while searching for something else...

 

*****

 

I have had experience with a shared world campaign... dont know if it fits your definition of co-GM since each GM had his own group and his own area... what the shared world did for us was to allow us to share villain groups, agencies and so forth, so that each of us did not have to build the world from whole cloth...

 

We first sat down and established the ground rules for the world... stop sign abilities were reviewed and given the yea or nay... other basics of the world were established... were there aliens, was there a "supreme sorceror" type, and so forth...

 

Next, to facilitate a sharing of ideas, each GM had to create one major villain, one major villain group and provide a chapter of the world spanning criminal agency... these creations then became shared and anyone could develop plotlines with them... if the plotline was to be a major earth shattering event, all the GMs had to agree to the scenario...

 

Since aliens were present in the campaign each GM also had to provide an alien race... the alien races were a little different from the other shared materials... the creating GM established certain things that the alien race would or would not do as a guideline for the race... the other GMs had to abide by these rules...

 

The campaigns ran in the shared world were pretty good but eventually they fell apart due to some "control" issues... we all had some issues and needed to be more open and take less offense when others expressed an idea contrary to our own... I was a bit stubborn back then...

 

*****

 

My suggestions for sharing a campaign setting is to get together and come up with the ground rules that run the world... develop some commonly shared villains, NPCs, etc... but reserve some space for each GM... if one of you likes the mutant hunting campaign or world spanning conspiracy or fighting street crime or mystic themed adventures then reserve that component of the campaign for yourself... that way each of you has an area that belongs to him and is a mystery to the other GM...

 

One last word of advice... communicate... always try to listen to the other guy with out your own opinions getting in the way...

[Trebuchet]

Re: Doing the co-GM thing

 

I've been co-GMing a campaign with multiple GMs for 13+ years. We have three primary GMs and two others (soon to be three) who run scenarios as the mood strikes them.

 

The biggest thing is communication. I talk to my primary co-GMs at least weekly; maybe more. You have to be on the same page on at least the big issues and campaign feel. Also, I'd sit down beforehand and discuss what optional rules and the like you're going to use and what you're not. Each GM should have the right to veto changes proposed by the other GM(s).

 

As to walking on each other's story's; the easiest way to deal with that is to cordon off certain areas. These might be geographical; certain villains; types of adventures ("I can't run adventures in Russia; he can't use Eurostar.")

 

And understand that sometimes your plots will get stepped on; and be prepared to go with the flow. In our game, we've adopted the "onion" approach - whatever you thought you knew for certain can be proven wrong by peeling away another layer of the onion. So yes, JFK was in fact actually killed by Lee Harvey Oswald. But Oswald was under the orders of Soviet intelligence. But Soviet intelligence was being manipulated by the Yellow Claw. But the Yellow Claw ...

[Lightray]

Back when we were co-GMing Champions (way back, when we all had more free time), we split the campaign world up by city. So, for example, I ran Chicago, and others ran St. Louis, New York, New Orleans, and Winnipeg. (yeah, I know)

 

Each GM had his or her own rogues' gallery, and players had a PC in each city. This allowed for occasional, whopping-fun crossovers and team-ups. It was mostly a matter of talking to the appropriate GM to set something up -- like borrowing a villain -- and then keeping it secret until you sprung it on everyone else. We had annual "Summer Crossovers" where every GM would get a brief synopsis on what intro to run, and then one or two GMs would run the miniseries adventure that wrapped it all up. It got a bit mad at times.

 

Of course, years later we found Ars Magica and it's troupe style play, which essentially suggests the same thing: each GM is assigned one area of responsibility, and runs adventures related to that area. When our troupe played, I was the faerie and local area guy, while others ran Hermetic politics adventures and such.

[Radar]

Re: Doing the co-GM thing

 

To quote Megaton Man: Woo! My thread came back from the grave!

 

Thanks for the replies, I sort of figured I'd have to default to the 'onion' technique. I tend to enjoy that kind of round-robin storytelling anyway. All I've told him so far is I'd like for him to stay away from any alien-based plotlones, so that leaves a lot left to work with.

[WarriorKnight]

Re: Doing the co-GM thing

 

We usually talk with each other to see if using a certain team/villian will affect anybody elses game.We've got several games of Champions on goin'.I run a Campaign set in a town called Bay Reve,Oregon (on the coast,Between Port Orford & Gold Beach,Oregon.)w/ the Hero Team from the Pacific Marine Institute.One of the others took over my old government sponsered team Vanguard & moved it from Marion,Ohio(where we all live in RL) to Miami,Fl;& they were transferred from NSA control to DEA control.Then we have the San Angelo,Calif. campaign; our Mercenary Team campaign & Hudson City,New Jersey campaign.Plus the Marion Freeworld campaign(our original campaign)which we have to coordinate very carefully(we had 2 & possiblly a 3 Viper Nests operating in the area at the sametime.) so we don't interfer with each other.At one point(in Marion)I had my main character Skyraider n 3 games at the same time(I felt like Batman,being in 4 Batman comics & in the JLA plus guess spots in the Titans & god knows what other books.);I had a fun time keeping track of what was goin' on.Besides Marion the only one we have to keep track of is Bay Reve & San Angelo due to being on the west coast.James & I try to keep a list of who's where out there,no problems so far.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Re: Doing the co-GM thing

 

This isn't something for which I have an easy, cut-and-dried answer; also, my experience may be somewhat atypical, judging from some of the replies already posted.

 

I am currently co-GMing a Champions campaign with a friend, and have been so doing for several years now (though no where near as long as Treb!). We haven't had a whole lot of conflicts or debates, so I'll try to remember how we originally set it up.

 

First, when the characters were created, both GMs had to approve each charcter, and if there was a sticking point, work together with the player until something acceptable to all parties was hammered out. This applies to background, too, and not just game mechanics or point builds.

 

Second, if there are some types of stories, or some kinds of genre tropes that one of the GMs doesn't like, there should be an agreement made not to use those story types or genre bits...or at least to consult with and get the approval of the other GM first. For example, my co-GM doesn't like time-travel stories, but has said he might be "okay" with it if the problem came to the characters, rather than the characters having the ability to travel in time at their whim. In the last several years we've had one story that directly involved time travel, and two that involved it peripherally. In all cases the 'problem came to the characters' and even though in one case the characters actually did the time-traveling, it wasn't under their control.

 

There's another game (not the one I've been discussing) that we're set up to play, but haven't really gotten into yet mainly for lack of time. In that game, we're going to have 3 co-GMs. It's based in the Stargate universe, so it involves a lot of aliens of various types as well as a lot of variant human mythology. What we decided was that whatever GM was the first one to use a particular alien race or human mythos in one of their stories become the de facto controller of that race or mythos. In other words, if one of the other GMs wanted to use that race or that mythos in one of their own stories, they'd have to clear it with the GM who 'controls' that race or mythos first. We also let each other stake one or two "pre-emptive claims" -- races or mythos that we wanted to have control of, right out of the gate.

 

In a Champions game, it may be a good idea to draw some boundaries such as "I'll handle any plots that involve Dr. Destroyer, you handle any that involve Viper" of something similar.

 

Ultimately, what it boils down to is trust and respect.

 

You've got to trust your fellow GM; if he does something that looks counter-productive, or appears to destroy something you lay down as cannon in one of your own stories, by all means talk to him about it...but if he tells you to trust him, do so. Don't let your worries or apprehension keep you from enjoying the game -- or keep other people from enjoying it, either.

 

Respect is a two-pronged thing. First, you've got to respect your fellow GM enough to not trample on his plans or plots if you can avoid it; you certainly shouldn't do so gratuitiously! Second, if some plot or plan of yours gets trampled on, don't assume it's done out of malice; he may not have been aware of what he was doing. Be prepared to be flexible, to roll with the punches, and to give a little. That doesn't mean that you always have to be the one to give in -- it should go both ways -- but if you're aware of it and are prepared to make allowances right from the beginning, things will go more smoothly.

[Savinien]

Re: Doing the co-GM thing

 

I've done this before, both by joining a shared world face to face campaign and on play by posts games (HeroCentral). IMO, the biggest, most important priorities are getting on the same page with your co-gm(s) for game mechanic policy and being malleable with your creativity.

 

One of the pleasures of co-GMs is using other people's villains and team-ups. Another is the feeling of depth and vastness that can be created with multiple groups all doing things simultaneously. You still have to cooperate and follow policies.

 

It is a rewarding atmosphere if done correctly. Good luck.