Post/Author/DateTime	Post
wotforall 04-11-06, 10:22 PM	Hello all, A friend of mine and I have the idea to try and " Co- DM" a campaign. My friend is fairly good at improvising, which i just plain suck at, and i can come up with an okay plot, which he has some problems with. My question is, has anyone ever tried this? Any advice or previous experiances with having 2 DM's for one campaign would be greatly appreciated. Have a great day, and thanks.
shadowed_dragon 04-11-06, 10:39 PM	Co-Dming can be interesting, and is quite possible. You can play off each others strengths, and it reduces the amount of work any one dm has to do. Yet there are some pitfalls. If you are going to try this I would suggest that: 1) Any call made by either DM is final, and the other will play along with it. If the DM's fight with each other, it will ruin your game. 2) Take turns in the spotlight. You will have to agree to not letting your story telling kill off the improv, and he will have to keep the improv close to the story. These are a few things I have encountered while tring this, I'll try to think of more. (oh, and 2 DM's can make a really cool split personality NPC, just a little something from one of my past dungeons...)
I_Strahd 04-11-06, 10:43 PM	two dms is not needed. you can run a campaign without two dms. and in some cases who would be right. the problem with dms are that they are in control. and if you take the control from some dms they get mad. who do you look to for guidence.
kelvinaw273 04-11-06, 10:50 PM	Two DMs is doable, but not always a good idea. I recomend it if your group is VERY large, and you feel you can both get on OK. Decide which areas you control, and back each other up. By the sound of things you would cede your friend all control of the tactical hands-on stuff, while you controlled the long term strategic focus of the campaign. As such you would be the senior DM, but he would have authority over decisions in his arena - you would only need to discuss rulings if they affected the long-term campaign. One thing, though, I recomend that neither of you run PCs in the game. If things go wrong though, one of you will have to step down.
Burgundy Lotus 04-11-06, 10:53 PM	It would work fairly well if each DM did different parts of the game (i.e. one does the dungeon crawls and wilderness, the other does the city and roleplay heavy sessions) you'd need to know ahead of time which style will be prevelant the next session but other then that would be okay.
Maverick_qc 04-11-06, 11:13 PM	And let's not forget that your Dming style must be compatible.. No use Co-dming with someone that could easily ruin a well worked out plot or give too much too early. Best idea is to Dm a game each and see how the other likes to Dm. I've been discussing this possibility with a friend of mine and will probably run it in the near future. I know his strength and Weakness, as he does with me (We've been playing in each others games for a while). And it must be someone your willing to spend quite a bit of time with, planning, talking, brainstorming, etc..
rudie 04-11-06, 11:39 PM	My friends and I were going to try this, one DM would do all the combat encounters the other would do all the story, the story dm would help fight, the other dm would write up npc's
LordofIllusions 04-11-06, 11:44 PM	I agree with Kelvin. If the group is VERY large, and neither DM is also running a PC, two DMs could work. However, if the group is small, or average sized, there is no need for two DMs; you would just butt heads. ~~~
Brastan 04-12-06, 03:49 AM	I agree with Kelvin. If the group is VERY large, and neither DM is also running a PC, two DMs could work. However, if the group is small, or average sized, there is no need for two DMs; you would just butt heads. And take way from the pool from the pool of possible players. In my experience no Co-DM setup should reduce the number of players below four. At best you want five or more players. Six to seven being the optimal number. At eight your likely better off splitting into two groups that run independently. You could still meet as one big group, just play as two smaller ones with some form of linked plot. Maybe even trade players/characters from time to time. As an aside, curse you large group people and your fortune. ;) (as of posting 1 DM, 2.5 players)
AngelDust Anderson 04-12-06, 05:34 AM	I really depends on the DM's involved. My friend and I work together wery well when we co-Dm, bounce ideas off each other (we somtimes finish each othe sentences but thats not important) It would be a bad idea if you have trouble working together. -Anderson