Eventually we probably want to have a very high DM to player ratio (its very easy to be burned out moving stories along when there's a very small group of DM's), but to start with, giving everyone the password would probably lead to utter chaos. Now, I know Hydra wants to do things with "Kala's world" (Kala might object to this designation, but I don't know what else to call it), and Emy will probably want to do things with Scarn. Taurus and I have Dace and Sasha's quest which should eventually lead them to Almaaphere, but as much as I'd like to hand Almaaphere visits off to somebody else to DM, I doubt I'd find many people comfortable with it. :p
Coyotesage also volunteered for "out of the box" quests. This sounds like fun, so he has my vote.
Anyway, who do we want as DM's? Or do we want a permanent DM panel beyond people who might need the DM client to fix things (like our server admin! . . who its kinda hard to hide the password from anyway. . . )? We could do something where whoever is running the next main storyline segment gets handed the password and authority, and then when they're done it gets passed to the next person, and so on. The downside of this is that the password might have to be changed every few weeks, though. . .
At the moment since the group is still rather small, I don't see any real problem with everyone being a DM if they want to be. If the server ever evolved into a true persistent world, I suppose we'd need to revisit that.
As far as Almaaphere visits, and other character world visits, I wouldn't actually have a problem DMing for people in those situations. One of my strengths is being able to work with and build onto other people's existing lore.
a ratio of more DM's to players to allow for possible burn out would be ideal. however if everyone burns out at the same time.. then well.. we'll have an issue. for now i am okay with the idea of allowing those whom would like to DM do so. I would just hope that everyone is respectful of each other and not mess with the client while the others are Dming. If that becomes an issue then we will have to switch the PW for when its only suppose to be one particular person in control of the sessions. I'll be working with Jay ( Arman's Player) for additona input on Scarn story and plot lines as He is the authority on the setting vs myself. especilly when it comes yo Scar and New Himdier. Who knows He may even DM a few sessions
I'm definitely holding you to that offer, coyote. :)
Anyway, my main reason for saying everyone shouldn't DM on day one is just for story-line establishing. A little bit of coordination is necessary. I have the horrible feeling that we'll start things up and find out that we've accidentally left somebody out of the loop--especially as we add people who haven't had much to do with our core group rp.
we need to work in as many of the players as possible into the storyline when we go live. or try to work them in while still on sigil if they are still playing there..
I think it would be a great idea to let the creative ideas flow to paper at this point. When someone thinks of a clever story hook or what not, write it down. Those little inspirations can lead to interesting adventures down the road when we get a good working framework set up for the potential dms to review. Once you see what you have at hand you can then put the finishing touches on your event flow and then run it.
Hopefully it wont be a problem for most folks if I don't write most of my idea down ahead of time. Most of my ideas simply come to me, usually minutes or even seconds before I run with them. It's just how my mind works, but, it works remarkably well that way.
With that said, I'll give writing things down another shot.
I'm quite puzzled about the idea of everyone begin DMs, it's better we need something to be settled in stone from the beginning just to have a common base, then we can open things. But most importantly, if players have to follow rules, the same should apply to DMs.
-- Edited by Hydra on Sunday 11th of November 2012 05:08:44 PM
I honestly wouldn't see a problem with rotating DM's while we are small like we do in PnP. Once a campaign is finished we pass off the reins to the next DM in line. Saves from burn out and gives the rest of us time to recharge our batteries.
-- Edited by MirielKanan on Sunday 11th of November 2012 05:17:28 PM
Really, rotation would be the most practical way to have structure, keep up the story progression, and make things loose enough that people who have campaign ideas, or even just fun one session things, can run them. Its nice to know who is doing what when, and it might help keep things more coherent story wise. Having lots of people with DM power and no clear quest ideas (or promises on time) is how you get PW's with 5+ DM's but no significant events or even stories.
I'd have some ideas for campaigns, one of which could be a sort of offshoot of the campaign I did on Beldin, though it wouldn't be necessary at all to have been there to understand it.
I've been talking to someone about our characters stories and asking what they thought we could do with them or if they'd any ideas for events or other such things.. he got exasperated when I started listing off the current ones and even more so once he fully understood that we were mixing and matching settings/worlds but I did get some pointers/ suggestions before he walked off shaking his head.
Yes, I think sadly the reason that there aren't more custom setting world/sigil like PW's out there are that many many people prefer the safety of "lore", as opposed to the unpredictability that comes with the sandbox. I'll choose sandbox 9.9 times out of 10 though.
Also, I like the rotation idea, I just won't like it when it's not my rotation and I have this really great idea (in my head) and I have to sit on it. ;)
and knowing my luck I will end up forgetting everything I've planned when it comes my turn.. and having lost the notes will have to just wing it =p But I shall do my best to not lose anything. key word being 'try'
I've tried that >.> and I still manage to misplace it! >.
Hehe, you have got to be the only person I know of who can loose a document on your computer.
-- Edited by MirielKanan on Monday 12th of November 2012 07:18:32 PM
Trust me, it happens.... can't say I've misplaced word documents, but models, textures, reference images and sometimes entire PROGRAMS (well, tiny ones) get lost....
well you see... I end up trying to organize, or go through the mess in my folders and get delete happy. and bad things ensue. though most times i grab a note book and jot it down then that gets misplaced.
Hey.. suppose you can say I'm talented in losing things *nods*
This is why I started writing anything important down in Google Docs. It'll always be there unless google tanks, which, doesn't look likely anytime soon.
1) are things going to be fluid? 1.1) NO. Then I don't care - PW's eventually die because of this. 1.2) YES. Then I do care.
2) DMs should be the people with stories, campaigns, and so forth. Not an entity which does nothing else but looms over everyone like a banhammer. 2.1) NO. I like landing the ban hammer... 2.2) YES. I have a plenty of ideas for long term stories, some of which tho are a bit of a pain in the ass to convert to NWN2 and/or D&D in general...
