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Question about rotating GMs

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Sun, 2012-12-16 10:57

Aikiko

Question about rotating GMs

Hi all, We are planning an Eclipse Phase group where we rotate between two GMs. I plan on being one of them, but up until now, I haven't read the "game information" portion of the text. The spoiler warning stopped me in my tracks. If we go ahead and try the rotating GMs route, will things be ruined for us two GMs when it's our turn as players?

Sun, 2012-12-16 12:13

Undocking

Divide and Conquor

@Spoilers The thing about Eclipse Phase is there are several spoilers that are fact and unchangeable as far as cannon is concerned. However, many aspects of the game mentioned before the spoiler warning are open-ended: Aliens (Factors), Firewall, Pandora Gates, Project Ozma, Oversight, and the TITANs to name a few. In the Game Information chapter fleshes them out a little then provides GMs with options and suggestions for how to craft the threats for their games. @Two GMs It depends on how you run the game: are you switching out between the same character cell or is it just a situation where there are the same players? The best thing to do would be to divide subject matter. In my current group, we have a GM running a gatecrashing game where we are ravelling a strange conspiracy against Gateway. My game, which is next, will be about a rising exsurgent threat around Neptune (different characters, same players). There is so much to do in the Eclipse Phase setting that it is unlikely that both GMs will want to run the exact same type of campaign. Just make sure there is continuity between them or establish that you are starting from a fresh slate between GMs. Never underestimate continuity because it makes players assume outcomes, which makes it easier to pull the rug out from under them. In the situation where you are running for the same characters, decide with the other GM what the focuses or at least the area of the setting you want to be in for maximum density. If the first GM is planning on focusing on Gatecrashing, the second could deal with an x-threat, separate or involving the Gates, in the same area or close enough to farcast to. The Martian Gate and the Pandora Gate provide opportunities for this sort of game because of large swathes of territory. Maybe the PCs are set in the asteroid belt and jump between the Belt and Inner System.

Sun, 2012-12-16 12:30

Aikiko

I figured it would be ok to

I figured it would be ok to do something where we divided up the subject matter, but it's hard to know how to split it thematically without reading ahead. Thanks for the specific recommendations about natural divides!

Mon, 2012-12-17 03:43

Lorsa

Personally I would never do a

Personally I would never do a thing where there were multiple GM's for the same characters. Especially not in Eclipse Phase. But if you do, you need to either avoid all the "big question marks" in the spoiler chapter or discuss with eachother so you are on the same page. Also you need to make very sure you don't step on eachother's stories which means if there is a hidden overarching badguy organisation for one of you the other GM needs to be informed so he / she doesn't involve that in ways that messes up the plot for the first GM. I believe two separate campaigns with the same people but not the same characters would be much easier to handle.

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Fri, 2012-12-21 19:28

OneTrikPony OneTrikPony's picture

I almost always use rotating

I almost always use rotating GM's. It's just to much work to be a full time GM and write the next adventure while you're running one. I also love to braid the different adventure threads of different GM's together cause it's really fun to riff off of another GM's minor plot points and NPC's. When I'm writing something and I think it might interfere with another GM's arch I just ask if I'll be creating a problem. It pretty much always ends up to be an additive process and create a richer environment. I do find it problematic to remember what my character(s) don't know when I'm not sitting in the big chair. However, it's usually the little twists in our campaign that screw me up, not the big published x-risk conspiracies. It's easy to remember what my characters don't know about TITANS, Factors, or that the Watt's-McLeoud virus exists. As an aside; what do you plan to do with your characters when you're the GM? IMO this is the bigger problem. I refuse to play my characters when I GM because I have to play the other half-billion people. Personally I can't RP both sides. Other GM's don't have a problem with this.

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Mea Culpa: My mode of speech can make others feel uninvited to argue or participate. This is the EXACT opposite of what I intend when I post.

Thu, 2012-12-27 09:16

CrashRedoubt CrashRedoubt's picture

I'd second the love of a

I'd second the love of a rotating GM setup. I'm pushing a campaign with 2 GMs right now, and love it. You do have to be a bit more coordinated about where you are going to take the campaign and your separate story arcs if you want to make the transitions seamless. Dividing up areas is great, eg. in system vs out system, TITANs vs Factors, Reclaimers vs. Gatecrashing. The setting is quite rich and deep, so feel free to call dibs on an aspect of it you like and want to run stuff for. "I'm doing a thing with the conflict between Morningstar and the other in system powers, let me know if you want to run anything that touches upon that and I can give you guidelines." Just be careful that your divide is not too deep. To stop that, it helps to share specific NPCs (which requires some discussion), and get each other to warm up ideas for the other players. We try to pass packets of info like this back and forth to keep everything together and keep people from thinking "oh, Rich is running now, such and such npc and such and such plot element are in the freezer." I make up a quick list of requests for my co-gm when he's running, eg (Introduce comet terraforming, a newsflash about a violent mob battle in New Shanghai where police were cannibalized, a memorable cabbie with a comfurt addiction and a nervous eye twitch, the fact that the scum barge Ecstatic Metamorphosis will be passing by Mars in two weeks, and a request for Dr Mason(a pc) to send a fork to TAU to lead a symposium on trauma surgery in nano-infected hot spots) He drops everything in as he has time and it fits his module, and I take whatever quirks happen with the npcs and events that he leaves and run with it. He does the same thing when I'm running. For example, I know that in the next module I'm running on mars a teraforming comet collision will be a major plot point, so I asked my co-gm to introduce the existence of such things in one of his modules. He just moved a planned meeting with the firewall handler from a noodle-shop to a teraforming comet observation dome. We got a very neat setting specific event with sparkly lights, in a way that I might not have envisioned, and I know that the idea is fresh in the minds of the players. They think that either the other GM is enjoying having fun with an aspect of the setting, or hinting at his own module. And even the other GM doesn't have any idea what I have planned, just that a comet may be involved as well. I even mix in a few request that really are just setting fluff, to help preserve the element of mystery and surprise for the co-gm. As far as handling the GM PCs go, we've both just made characters that can fade into the background as needed to keep the focus on the active PCs. I've got an AGI psychosurgeon, who I put in a ghostrider module doing mesh based consults when I'm not actively playing it, offering support and /rolls on topics where I'm an expert, but not really leading the discussions or decisions, as I'm 'distracted by the virtual therapists couch I'm running'. He's got a private eye with an alcohol problem, who goes on a bender when not in active play and is largely useless. This way we both get interesting characters that the other GM can run stuff with, both can have a pure time PCing when we aren't behind the wheel of the game, and get to keep our characters 'in the party' for the whole campaign, so we don't have to keep bringing people up to speed on what happened 'while they were gone'. We do the same thing if one of our regulars can't make a session. They get obsessive about one job or another, support the other players, pass out from their wounds etc. (We actually gave a bonus rez point for a player that couldn't make it to one of our sessions, because dealing with his unconcious body while trying to skydive from a venusian aerostat was so much fun) GM PCs can be the same thing, foils when inactive, full blooded players when active.

Thu, 2012-12-27 10:30

Aikiko

Thanks for the thorough

Thanks for the thorough answers, everyone. "foils when inactive, full blooded players when active." That's how I generally do my CoC characters. I mostly DM one-shots for just my boyfriend, and as a result, all of my personal CoC PCs are characters that I had to create on the fly as NPCs. They tend to be a bit comical as NPCs, but then I try and play them as full-fledged characters when I am a player. That's how I deal with the problem OneTrikPony mentions, of not being able to play both sides.