We have DotMM laying around here, but no one is super keen on DMing a dungeon crawl with 23 levels. So the idea arose of rotating DMs. Me and 1-2 others in my group would participate in that. the plan is, that everyone reads one level, runs that, and then gives the book over to the next person, who runs the next level. Repeat that till the end of the adventure. Is that possible with this module?
I use to play with rotating DM's with my group back in grade school. It was a great way for everyone to get a chance to play, and I think it made us all better players.
Doing this specifically with the DotMM; I think this is the best of the published adventures to do this with. You might however lose some of the interconected story, though to be honest it is pretty thin anyways. If your group likes a good old fashion dungeon crawl I saw go for it and just run each level as its own not worrying about the "big picture".
From what Inunderstand, there is no virtually no actual story to it, it's pretty much just dungeon crawl after dungeon crawl.
In that case, I would actually recommend it doing itnthat way. Most published adventures have stories and interconnected events that benefit from having one person running them to connect them and plan ahead. Worse, they give away secrets.
With DotMM, it would benefit from people being able to give their best at DMing and then resting as a PC for a few sessions. No plots or secrets to lose, no planning ahead necessary.
I'd just establish how it will be run ahead of time. Will you:
1. Have DMPCs? Metagaming will be a challenge, but it will provide the most continuity.
2. Have a PC disappear each session?
3. Hotseat the PCs?
4. Have a fresh roster each session?
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I thought about keeping the PC of the current DM in the party. That character will then take a bit of a backseat, just tagging along, sometimes Roleplaying a bit if he’s interacted with. And in combat another player would control this char. But I don’t know how well that would work. Thoughts?
thr other option is, to just send one character back to the surface each time, to give updates to an npc, or Deliver items or, something like that.
My group rotated through a long published module a few years back, and it was a lot of fun.
You don't have to completely forgo story just because you're changing DMs. I think the best part of that campaign was picking up plot hooks the previous DMs had left and moving the story along. We loved it when someone continued something one of us had set in motion months ago. We had a few very important NPCs that continued to be controlled by the DM that introduced them, and a few even became PCs. Looking back, I think it's my favorite campaign out of all that we've done.
Rotating everyone through a single story gives you a unique chance to tell a story together in a different way. I'd urge your group to at least give that a shot. If you don't like it, you can always fall back to dungeon crawling with minimal plot.
I thought about keeping the PC of the current DM in the party. That character will then take a bit of a backseat, just tagging along, sometimes Roleplaying a bit if he’s interacted with. And in combat another player would control this char. But I don’t know how well that would work. Thoughts?
thr other option is, to just send one character back to the surface each time, to give updates to an npc, or Deliver items or, something like that.
Other TTRPGs -- Ars Magica comes to mind -- are designed around rotating GMs, so it can definitely be done. Usually when it's that player's turn to GM, their character will simply be busy for the duration of the scenario. Of course, that's a lot easier to explain in a game where the PCs are all wizards in a remote part of the world doing their own research most of the time, but it probably wouldn't be hard to come up with something that makes sense for D&D, whether it's backstory-related or a "necessary" part of the adventure (your 'giving a report to an NPC' suggestion, etc.)
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Yes, for our game it was fairly easy to rotate PCs in and out. Think about however you deal with a missing player in a session - they stayed behind to guard the entrance, they're offscreen fighting alongside you, they contracted orcspot fever and are recovering in camp, etc. Same thing except you know exactly when it's going to happen so you can structure it better. It really wasn't a problem for our group.
We have DotMM laying around here, but no one is super keen on DMing a dungeon crawl with 23 levels. So the idea arose of rotating DMs. Me and 1-2 others in my group would participate in that. the plan is, that everyone reads one level, runs that, and then gives the book over to the next person, who runs the next level. Repeat that till the end of the adventure. Is that possible with this module?
Alright, we will do it then. Thank you 😊
From what Inunderstand, there is no virtually no actual story to it, it's pretty much just dungeon crawl after dungeon crawl.
In that case, I would actually recommend it doing itnthat way. Most published adventures have stories and interconnected events that benefit from having one person running them to connect them and plan ahead. Worse, they give away secrets.
With DotMM, it would benefit from people being able to give their best at DMing and then resting as a PC for a few sessions. No plots or secrets to lose, no planning ahead necessary.
I'd just establish how it will be run ahead of time. Will you:
1. Have DMPCs? Metagaming will be a challenge, but it will provide the most continuity.
2. Have a PC disappear each session?
3. Hotseat the PCs?
4. Have a fresh roster each session?
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
I thought about keeping the PC of the current DM in the party. That character will then take a bit of a backseat, just tagging along, sometimes Roleplaying a bit if he’s interacted with. And in combat another player would control this char. But I don’t know how well that would work. Thoughts?
thr other option is, to just send one character back to the surface each time, to give updates to an npc, or Deliver items or, something like that.
Just have the DM compare notes with the DM of the previous level to check if anything done previously has any bearing on the new level.
Other than that, it shouldn't be difficult.
My group rotated through a long published module a few years back, and it was a lot of fun.
You don't have to completely forgo story just because you're changing DMs. I think the best part of that campaign was picking up plot hooks the previous DMs had left and moving the story along. We loved it when someone continued something one of us had set in motion months ago. We had a few very important NPCs that continued to be controlled by the DM that introduced them, and a few even became PCs. Looking back, I think it's my favorite campaign out of all that we've done.
Rotating everyone through a single story gives you a unique chance to tell a story together in a different way. I'd urge your group to at least give that a shot. If you don't like it, you can always fall back to dungeon crawling with minimal plot.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Other TTRPGs -- Ars Magica comes to mind -- are designed around rotating GMs, so it can definitely be done. Usually when it's that player's turn to GM, their character will simply be busy for the duration of the scenario. Of course, that's a lot easier to explain in a game where the PCs are all wizards in a remote part of the world doing their own research most of the time, but it probably wouldn't be hard to come up with something that makes sense for D&D, whether it's backstory-related or a "necessary" part of the adventure (your 'giving a report to an NPC' suggestion, etc.)
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Yes, for our game it was fairly easy to rotate PCs in and out. Think about however you deal with a missing player in a session - they stayed behind to guard the entrance, they're offscreen fighting alongside you, they contracted orcspot fever and are recovering in camp, etc. Same thing except you know exactly when it's going to happen so you can structure it better. It really wasn't a problem for our group.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm