Multiple DMs? Any experience / tips / ideas to make it work?

[ObliviousGeek]

I'm just getting started planning a new campaign at the moment, and in going through various options with the players one of them indicated an interest helping out if we go with one particular setting. At first I wasn't sure as I've always run games solo, but the more I thought about it, the more the idea had potential. He knows the setting really well, far better than I do, and he's great with characterisation and voices, whereas I'm more experienced as a DM, weaving story threads together, staying on top of the bigger picture and generally running the game.

So I'm wondering if anyone has run or played in games with more than one DM, and if you have any tips on how to make it work?

One thing we don't have to worry about it not getting on - I've known this guy and most of the group for almost 30 years now, we're a close-knit group of friends that knows each other very well so I don't see any problems with communication or anything else on that front.

 

[BenS]

There's two different things I believe you might be talking about:

1. Taking turns DMing the same campaign
2. Actually DMing together

For the first I actually encourage my players to DM every once in a while between regular sessions, so that they get a feeling for what it means to DM and what a player can do to make the DMs life easier. Still, these adventures were usually only one-shots, but could also be used to give the players more space to develop their characters before being all "serious" again. To do this, you just have to have clear interfaces in the handover (e.g. The players should end up in this town afterwards, should have heard about this or that, or should have met this or that), so that it fits in with any follow-up adventure.

For the second topic,
I've played with this every now and then and found that it can definitely have its benefit to DM together, but believe that they should not be equal in that. With that I mean that it can be very beneficial to have someone to split all DM tasks (descriptions, battle maps, npcs, rule questions, continuity, timekeeping...) with. Still, one of the two should be in charge and the other should focus on supporting the leader when playing. When planning, it can be very nice to brainstorm inspire and refine together, but when playing, one should e.g. focus on playing npcs and one should focus on keeping the story or encounters intact. If done well, this can give a scenario a lot more depth than one DM might have provided. This can also be nice to introduce players into DMing without completely throwing them into the cold water.

 

[ObliviousGeek]

Thanks, the second option is what we're looking at and what you suggest makes a lot of sense. Realistically I'll be the lead DM, so your comments align nicely with what I was already thinking.

 

[Ronaldo Lima]

I mean that it can be very beneficial to have someone to split all DM tasks (descriptions, battle maps, npcs, rule questions, continuity, timekeeping...) with

Yes! I've had that experience. In my most recent case, I was the "lead" DM and my friend helped me with three main aspects:
1) Planning sessions: so good, to have someone to talk about, brainstorm/inspire/refine as @BenS said
2) Running combats: he played all the NPCs/monsters and I was free to just keep it flowing and could pay more attention to environment effects, better descriptions, soundtrack, props, etc.
3) Roleplaying NPCs: again, he played all NPCs and made my burden much lighter

It was all really good. What I would make a point is to really align before session the role of the NPCs in the interactions they will have with the players, because sometimes, he would start improv and do/say things in game that I had to fix/adjust in the plot later.
And another very important thing is: will this Co-DM be satisfied with the attributions he/she will have? Because, depending on that split they can end in a place with just "halves of fun" and ended up feeling they would rather be a full-player or a full-DM...

 

[ObliviousGeek]

Great, thanks for the tips both of you, really helpful