I have a group of 2 friends and myself, we all prefer being a player rather than a GM, so we decided to take turns being GM, and have the GM's character be controlled as an NPC. Do you think this is a reasonable idea?
Playing a Game Master and PC
Sure.
Totally.
I read a recent article that I thought had some really helpful tips on this,
http://www.madadventurers.com/setup-for-success-how-to-conduct-a-round-robin-campaign/
There are a couple different solutions depending on the experience of the players and the system being played. If I had a group of 3 people who wanted to shared GM duties on a rotating basis, I think I would try having a party of 4 PC's. Each player would control two PC. This would allow the GM to focus on running the game and crafting the story. The players could switch who runs which PC's for a bit of variety. An alternative to this would be to have a pool of PC to draw from. Imagine all the PC's belong to a larger organization. You would then recruit the particular PC's needed for the particular mission being run. Have all the PC gain XP at the same rate whether they are used on a mission or not. Those PC are still running missions off camera.
When people do this I don't understand how they handle secrets.
In the campaign I run, there are plenty of secrets from the players, things they don't know yet.
Now of course very mature players can separate what they know as a player from what their character knows, but I'm just now clear on how people would handle that, if people shared the GM role.
When people do this I don't understand how they handle secrets.
In the campaign I run, there are plenty of secrets from the players, things they don't know yet.
Now of course very mature players can separate what they know as a player from what their character knows, but I'm just now clear on how people would handle that, if people shared the GM role.
Have each adventure be its own "episode" with a concise plot. The selected GM runs the game until the adventure is over, at which point a new GM takes over. This makes secrets very easy to keep. GMs can even hint at a secret and not reveal it until it's their turn again, in a new adventure, creating an over-arching subplot or elusive McGuffin.