A man comes to your house with a gun and demands that you collaborate with a minimum of 2 other GMs to run a shared world for a pool of players. You decide how many players are in the pool and can vet/kick anyone you dislike. Each GM has to run weekly or biweekly, the outcomes of sessions have to affect the world in a tangible way. If GM 1 runs a session where they burn down a city, GM 2 running in that city next week has to acknowledge that new development. Sessions ran in the same week are considered loosely simultaneous. Players can move from one table to another week by week with permission (either specific to them or blanket permission). GMs can carve up areas of influence within the setting however they choose, but the setting has to be small enough that the GMs aren't running entirely different games that never touch. Everyone has to be playing the same system with the same rules but any system/genre is acceptable. Can you make it work? What does it look like? How do you divide the work between GMs and keep them coordinated? You cannot kill the man with the gun or yourself.
Why would it not?
>>97673666>You cannot kill the man with the gunI will sure as hell try.
Does the man shoot me when the other GMs flake?
>>97673666The man has a gun, so what. I know lots of people with guns and I don't do what they demand. Why is this detail important? You might as well say a man comes to my house with a tablet, the computer kind, not the medication kind or the Moses kind, since rates of gun ownership and tablet ownership in the USA are about the same.You're better off saying a man comes to my house with a house. More people own their own houses than own guns but you have to admit that bringing a house is much more impressive, the man with the ability to bring a house to my house sounds more like a man with a plan to be listened to than the man who brings a gun.Chances are if he has a house to bring he has tables too. We could all play in his house. Who is this man with a house to bring to my house? Let's make him the GM since he is clearly the house master and the road master with his giant trailer commanding the highways shutting down carriage ways in order that lesser mortals cannot use them. By popular acclamation he is both the game master and road house master. Road House!
>>97673894A man comes to your house with a smile, he wants you and at least 2 other GMs to run a shared world for some friends of his. They are all nice. You cannot be mean to the man or disregard the thread by giving a nonanswer.
A man comes to your house with a million dollars, he wants you and at least 2 other GMs to run a shared world for some friends of his. They are all rich.You cannot complain to the man about the 500 grand split or disregard the thread by giving a nonanswer. Can you make it work? What does it look like? How do you divide the work between GMs and keep them coordinated?
A man comes to your house with at least two GMs and tries to recruit you for his mulit-GM shared setting game. You cannot admit that you are nogaems or disregard the thread by giving a nonanswer. Can you make it work?
4 GMs, biweekly sessions so you have two on and two off. Weekly GM meetings to coordinate arcs and explain developments. Session is written by the GMs working together. GMs divide the setting into quadrants and run all games going on in their "side". If a group of players cross the line the quadrants might blur but the "primary" GM has authority over the visitor. Players can hop GMs if their character moves to another city but only if the receiving GM can confirm the change makes sense/accommodate them. GMs feeling froggy can run weekly alternating between groups, so if one group leaves the city and enough pool players are in the city to run another game. All players give me $50 a week or their character is executed. Players can pay me $200 to become antagonist characters and try to kill other groups.
>>97673666Just have the sessions happen in different locations and have GMs communicate what happened at the end of every session
>>97674065>the outcomes of sessions have to affect the world in a tangible way>setting has to be small enough that the GMs aren't running entirely different games that never touchYou gave a very flippant answer, does that mean you could make this work with the above criteria?
>>97674150You make it sound like that's hard with a little bit of thinking. Having the players deal with important people all the time is a pretty easy way to affect the world in a tangible way. And you can still run most of the games in different but close locations that still affect each other directly. An example would be a game set during a war of succession, with players acting as agents represting different parties involved in the conflict. These different parties could have different geographic sphere of influences and allies that still affect the bigger picture whenever anything relevant happens. Or they could be all from the same party but dealing with different responsabilities.As long as the GMs are coordenating after every session to make sure the story being written makes sense, this isn't that much different from a game run by a single GM.
>>97674180quantum smugness, when I brought this up in a "this might be cool" way to some people they shit all over it. I come here and bring it up like I understand the challenges and people smugly say it would be easy.
>>97674194Maybe you should stop thinking you are speaking to some hivemind that thinks the same. The idea is interesting in a way, but the only real challenge in it would be to run all the sessions at the same time while keeping it all coherent. If they aren't run at the same time then it's just more of the same but with more work to coordenate everything.
>>97674217it's less about a hive mind and more about trying to word things in a way that people engage with organically instead of trying to make themselves seem superior.But instead of getting caught up in that, let's discuss in more detail your plan. When will you have selected your GMs and start recruiting players anon?
>>97673666Run a campaign set in a singular mansion. Very haunted, a complete realm of horrors. The mansion is disconnected from the outside world. The PC groups each inhabit distinct but interconnect haunted mansion realms; flashes of what groups B & C have done will be shown to group A when they enter the area these events transpired in. Similarly, actions taken by one group will influence the manor realm of the other two; a stew poisoned/prevent from being poisoned will inherit its state from the other world.As the actions of the groups diverge, the mansion becomes a more chaotic and nightmarish place. NPCs will insist events happened in one realm that only happened in the other(s); the PCs of one party might be conflated with the PCs of another. Ghosts of people that only died in the other version of the manor will attack the PCs in retribution for what another party had done to them. Some NPCs might gain skills and information based on interactions with a different party's PCs.As events progress, slowly merge the mansions into one locale. PCs getting glimpses of other groups, being attacked by other PCs that could've been. Eventually have them fight the evil spirit that's made this place such a nightmare; the spirit retreating to another world each time its defeat. With its third defeat, the curse is broken, the mansion is freed, and the campaign is over.Logistically, I just need to pass around basic notes about each session until the finale. Since the PCs aren't quite in the same room as each other, nor do I ever really have to worry about that, I don't have to perfectly synchronize conversations and who-said-whats across the tri-partite campaign.
>>97674258love it, when does recruitment start?
>>97673666I've always wanted to run a game like this, the setting would be a fairly 'generic' jrpg type affair, the great evil is about to reawaken unless the chosen heroes intervene.I'd have 2 groups, one would be the military generals, head magii, and ruling class of the last great empire. They wield supreme executive power but have basic human statlines; e.g. the head magii can, by channeling the power of a small group of experienced magii, just about summon a fireball from thin air, but commands the thousands of magic scholars across the kingdom. This group is focussed around getting shit done, countering the growing forces of the great evil and trying to hit back where able.The second group consists of the chosen ones, a bunch of teenagers from a small village far away from the front lines. These players have higher than average stats and gain an insane amount of xp per session, by the end of the campaign they will be throwing fireballs and slicing through boulders. This group is focussed on interpersonal drama and going on fun but meaningless adventures, like raiding lost tombs because they want some flashy jewellery, etc.The two sets of characters would never meet, but the general idea would be the first group dealing with the reality of the situation whilst trying to somehow get the chosen ones to actually do their job instead of worrying about who is taking who to the village dance. It'd never work as a game but the concept really grabs me.
>>97673666>You decide how many players are in the poolI decide on zero players. Now what?
>>97674240Probably not by framing it as an obligation to be performed on pain of death, which suggests finding the easiest thing you could do that technically meets the requirements, rather than a game that the people involved might enjoy.
>>97674555Can't run the required number of games, but >>97674579 is right. The obligation was a poor way to frame it.Feel free to use the "man with a smile" or "man with a million bucks" prompts added upthread. Thanks to people actually engaging and posting some cool ideas. To everyone upsetti about the man with a gun, mea culpa
>>97673666I don't think it's impossible but I do think it'll be worse than the GMs could otherwise perform. Three legged race style.
