Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site watmath.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!jagardner From: jagardner@watmath.UUCP (Jim Gardner) Newsgroups: net.games.frp Subject: Re: modular refereeing Message-ID: <17077@watmath.UUCP> Date: Fri, 1-Nov-85 13:09:37 EST Article-I.D.: watmath.17077 Posted: Fri Nov 1 13:09:37 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 2-Nov-85 05:59:31 EST References: <2271@iddic.UUCP> Reply-To: jagardner@watmath.UUCP (Jim Gardner) Distribution: net Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario Lines: 82 In article <2271@iddic.UUCP> dorettas@iddic.UUCP (Doretta Schrock) writes: >Here's an idea I thought of recently that I haven't seen in these parts: >modular refereeing (or DMing, etc.). Basically, the idea is to let several >people get in on the joys (!? :*) of refereeing in a short time period >with minimal chaos and reality distortion. > > Mike Sellers <--note the name difference from above We have tried modular refereeing a number of times with our gaming group and it turns out fairly well. We play Champions (a superhero role-playing game) with several GMs. Each has a separate universe and a separate set of player characters. However, the "crossover" has a long and noble history in comic books, and we run cross-universe scenarios every six months or so. Right now, we are involved in a complex crossover that involves Justice Inc. and Fantasy Hero characters as well as Champions heroes. We find that multi-GM extravaganzas work best with a minimum of prior plotting; otherwise, individual GMs find themselves very cramped. So for what it's worth, here's what we worked out for current scenario. It started in the Justice Inc. campaign, set in post-collapse year 2159. The heroes were blackmailed by a local chapter of the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia) to do a little sabotage on some criminal competition. The competition was working on a teleportation device that would mean big trouble for everyone (including the Yakuza). The heroes managed to wipe out the gangs headquarters, but the mad scientist who had made the teleportation device activated it, taking heroes, scientist, and device to an alternate dimension. This was the only set-up the GMs had. The heroes would be looking for a way back to their own world, and secondarily chasing the mad scientist (because the teleportation device was the most obvious way to return to 2159). However, each GM could do anything he wanted in his own universe. In the Fantasy Hero world, the JI types helped local characters kill a dragon and fight a wizard who had taken the mad scientist prisoner. (Mad scientist managed to activate the machine in the confusion of his "rescue", so the JI heroes had to run through an inter-dimensional gate before it closed.) In my Champions world, I ran an incredibly silly adventure where the JI heroes were conned into being milk inspectors, helping the local superheroes find a supervillain doomsday machine (which turned out to be a Trojan Horse). The JI types had managed to capture the mad scientist by this time, but the machine had been damaged...the mad scientist was left to repair the machine while the heroes fought villains. The mad scientist managed to get the machine working, overpower his guards, and leave, so the heroes had to pursue through a dimensional gate into yet another universe. We are in that universe right now. The mad scientist has been captured by vampires, one of our players has been turned into a vampire herself, a prominent NPC is dead, and we're moving into the final confrontation this weekend. Somehow or other, the JI heroes that are left alive will probably get the machine, figure it out, and get back to their own world. At that point, the first GM will take over again, probably giving the heroes a chance to get back at the Yakuza who forced everything in the first place. This kind of technique has worked out very nicely in other adventures too. One GM sets up a situation in which characters will want to achieve a certain goal. Then one or more GMs deal with scenarios in which the characters pursue that goal. Friends of ours are using a different approach, borrowed from the DC Challenge (a comic book mini-series). They have the following ground rules. -- every participant will GM one session -- every participant plays one character -- when a participant is GM, he must arrange that his character has little or no involvement with what happens that session -- the first GM creates as many loose ends and sub-plots as he cares to; subsequent GMs must tie off at least one loose end or sub-plot in their session They discussed the basic setting they wanted to use and created their characters well ahead of time. Since they were using the Champions system, this gave them plenty of material to work with (character disadvantages in Champions are always a great starting point for scenarios). They've just started playing the Challenge and will probably hold a session every two weeks. I'll let you know how it turns out in a few months, if anyone's interested. Jim Gardner, University of Waterloo