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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