How to make them play differently

>>54187478
Since there seems to be not that much interest I'll expand for a bit

>Six Players-Two GMs
>Playing Changelings (nWoD version with rule tweaks)
>Built a campaign centered around immersing the players in a living breathing world of changelings that formed communities in different ways throughout three cities.
>Made tons of NPCs with my partner beforehand, developping them a lot, their everyday life, their stories
>We have to this day made more than 130 NPCs (and we haven't yet finished the second and third city's population)
>We helped players create their characters separately so they would not be influenced by others in what to play
>Last three campaign scenarios were played with us two as GMs
>Players were thrilled because we played the NPCs very well and they had personnality
>Characters got attached to the city and the people in it so when a new NPC came by and fucked it all up they were invested
>They realized the villain was actually not that evil just mad as hell and not really conscious of all the chaos he produced
>Some of them started to like him and agree with him, others didn't
>Having two GMs made it easier to take a few players to the next room and share secrets
>Finished the last scenario by revealing one of the members of the 'government' of the community discovered that one of his colleagues (loved among the players) worked with the 'villain' and banished him
>Cimented anger against the next villain -> the one who made the mistake of banishing the character they loved with what they found out later to be false evidence.

Its was really great and lively, I really enjoyed GMing with someone after hours of developping the universe and making up plans for twists and turns. The players also told us it was really convenient to be able to split the group and they found really fun our interactions as two colorful NPCs talking to them in a particular scene.

Great experience, I won't recommend doing it with someone you're not really familiar with.

Interesting ideas.

I've tried to run with two GM 6 players before but found it didn't really work out as the two of us kept butting heads most of the time. Although perhaps more organisation was needed.

I've had one on one games and when I think back it was a really enjoyable experience. The scope that an RPG provides means that even with just one player you can have an amazing experience. It's just like a single player video game but better as you aren't constrained by a game engine. I struggle to get anyone to do it with me though , I think a lot of players play for the group social interactions.


I've found gmless games to lack direction and for players to fall back heavily into mechanics and board game mode to justify it.

I've also experimented with running two different groups in the same world but found it difficult to manage that amount of content. Likewise I've always found PvP a difficult beast in RPGs as the game isn't really designed for it and some characters are just mechanically more superior in that context.

File: 1484605976439.jpg (151KB, 822x1000px) Image search: [Google]

151KB, 822x1000px

>>54189098
>I think a lot of players play for the group social interactions.
They do but from time to time you find a player that wants to create a story of his own but can't find the place for it a a table full of people. That's when this game mode becomes relevant for me.

>I've found gmless games to lack direction and for players to fall back heavily into mechanics and board game mode to justify it.
I have found it lacked direction but we actually gravited towards less rules and more improvisation and storytelling over rolling dice, which lead to it just becoming a mish mash of surreal stuff. It was interesting but not really structured.

>difficult to manage that amount of content
I can understand that (that's why I like dual GMing, two minds to handle the lore and context) but I find it easy to keep track of it by making a roleplay journal.
It's simple, you ask the players to keep a journal of what happens in the game. Can be online, can be physical, can be written by one or by all of them. It's fun to read, players often work in the jokes and anecdotes of scenarii and it helps keeping informations from one game to another.

>>54187478
>>54187478

Here are some games that are designed to shake up the gm-player-pc relation in some way.

Rune, by Atlas Games, is designed for being played competetively with a rotating gm role and a winner declared at the end of each session.

Ars Magica has each player make multiple characters, who are all part of the same "mage club", but only one mage each. In a scenario, some players will play their mage character, while others will play non-mages. "What's the motivation for playing a (weaker) non-mage character?" Staying at home and studying is the best way to advance your mage powers.

>>54189513
I know Ars Magicka pretty well but I never really got around to play it, seems like a game that needs experienced players and time to bloom

>>54187478
>diablo-like 4playerGMs "kick-door-down" shitfest
It's was not pretty or elegant, but everyone gets one encounter to GM, and everyone plays "GMPC"s. Can't have a great story unless you have one top-GM that handles lore/story, and everyone else chips in with one room and encounter and you get a mish-mash of all the player's shit. There's a deck of cards that says what's in the room generally but you can play around with whatever you draw when it's your turn to GM.

It's perfect for a beer n pretzels game with friends that aren't that much into RP or breaking GM-shyness.

>One GM, eight groups of five players.

Best to attempt this if you have more free time than is smart. Basically, each group of five players is an adventuring party, and they all meet with you at different times. They can interact with the world in ways that affect other parties, but under no circumstances can they come into contact with each other. If they do, then you have to bring in both parties at once and it's a mess.

I'm currently running a Dark Heresy/Rogue Trader/Only War/Deathwatch/Black Crusade game like this, and it's fun. Taxing, but fun. The Rogue Trader's retinue has started a war that is diverting materiel away from the Only War groups, while the Deathwatch crew is clearing out the genestealer infestation the Dark Crusaders instigated in order to cover up an attack on the subsector's capital. The entire thing has been running since February, and it hasn't fallen apart quite yet.