Monday, May 24, 2010

Egalitarian Gaming

A thought:

Certain inequities will always appear when we rely on one or two people to run games as DMs, while most everyone else either run a 1 session game or else don't run one at all.

I'm thinking of magic split among the party in particular, but it also applies to how the story flows.

So, how about we try to get everyone to DM?

Of course there will be issues:
- a player has deadlines (PhD!)
- DMing sessions aren't the same length
- players might not feel they are able

I think the 1st can be handled by shifting the order around - up to a point.
The 2nd can be handled by counting sessions instead of DMing turns
And the 3rd, well - drop down the list till you pick up experience then use a pre-made dungeon if you are still not confident.

I think this will also have the benefit of resulting in a more diverse and fun game for us all.

Comments? Other issues?
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11 comments:

  1. JoebroeselMay 24, 2010 at 9:51 AM

    I like the idea. Already have an idea which I wanted to run after the PhD (funny you mention that :) )
    As for point 2: Counting sessions might be a much better idea to balance the load.

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  2. RoboGeekMay 24, 2010 at 4:24 PM

    Thanks for the support.
    Maybe you will be next in line for DMing?

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  3. Charlie StiltonMay 24, 2010 at 11:32 PM

    I'm game at some point. Even have some pre-written adventures already for low level PCs. I can always find more for higher levels though!

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  4. HedzorMay 25, 2010 at 2:23 AM

    Bagsy I go last!
    :)

    Also, does this mean that the DM gets no experience from the adventure he runs or does he get the average amount per session?

    I see no point of a DM 'bonus' now though.
    As for gold...
    Equal to experience?

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  5. JoebroeselMay 25, 2010 at 3:16 AM

    I also don't see the point of the DM bonus in this case. As long as you get the average of what the players are getting (XP and money-wise). It just shouldn't leave you at a disadvantage since we will never be able to balance it out perfectly.

    XP is easy to calculate once you know what the players are getting. And you can also just get the average of treasure of what the players got? This way the DM stays neutral compared to the others.

    The bonus was only there to get Mendez past Eolar last time anyway ;-)

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  6. HedzorMay 25, 2010 at 5:03 AM

    True, It was Mendez' only chance of victory as Eolar never missed a game!
    :)

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  7. InsanodagMay 27, 2010 at 7:00 AM

    Ah! This is actually complicated, and it touches on issues we haven't had time to discuss. 4e has quite a rigorous system for magic loot, and also some interesting design notions for experience.

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  8. HedzorMay 27, 2010 at 7:03 AM

    Sounds horrible.
    :(

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  9. InsanodagMay 27, 2010 at 7:22 AM

    Well, the system assumes a set amount of magical items divided amongst the party at each level. Also, I am not sure how worthwhile it will be to keep characters at different levels.

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  10. HedzorMay 27, 2010 at 7:58 AM

    So if a character misses a couple of sessions, he just gets given the experience the other characters earned?

    As I said 'Sounds horrible'.
    :(

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  11. JoebroeselMay 27, 2010 at 8:26 AM

    If you miss a few sessions you are DEAD :)

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