GAUGING INTEREST: A No-GM PBP Game

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Jun 24, 2020 10:43 pm
Okay, so I have no idea if this is a thing people do around here, but I used to do it back in the day. I used to play RPG games on SuperHeroHype.com probably 15 years ago, and it was essentially just collaborative fiction. There was no GM. No rolls. It was just people co-writing stories. I'm curious if people would be interested in something like this. Here's a few rules that would make it different from your average game:

- Because there is no GM, everyone is the GM. Anybody who would be considered an NPC is fair game for a player to write dialogue or actions for. This means you can introduce characters (shopkeeps or sidekicks, for example), or characters from your backstory.

- There doesn't need to be a single interacting narrative. You can be telling your own story, and collaborate with other players to work together. Maybe there's a good team, and an evil team.

- If somebody wants to play as the villain, that's fair game.

- There's much more of a focus on "rule of cool" and cinematic story telling. Its a great medium to hone your writing/storytelling skills.

- The OOC Threads generally are much more active, as people can pickup or drop characters as the needs of the game progress. There would still be somebody running the game, but most of that is just keeping the number of characters and players in check.

- I've never done this with something like 5e, but I imagine you could apply to play just about anything, including monsters. Just know that this is about the story, so if you apply as an Ancient Red Dragon, people will likely apply as an Ancient Bronze Dragon as a result.

So yeah, that's what I've got off the top of my head. I have no clue if this is something people already do around here. Any interest? :)
Jun 24, 2020 10:52 pm
I used to participate in something like this, many moons ago. I'd be interested.
Jun 25, 2020 11:28 am
I'm technically... aaaa... GMing (?) two games that may fit the bill, though none is high fantasy nor a pure shared writing exercise and both are totally playtests (so broken by definition) with a slowish post frequency

- Alternative history based on the beginnings of the Age of Discoveries: currently reviewing rules with the players to streamline narration and will be looking for players after that

- Settingless Sci-fi that will test a lot of different rules for different things (most likely ending up with picking one out of those)
Jun 25, 2020 12:22 pm
Don't forget the zombie game. You have a tendency to create GMless games xD

Aside from those, I'm also in a Things from the Flood game that went GMless after the original GM left.
I think the format works well for PBP if everyone is on the same page but can fall apart if not everyone is because communication is harder in this medium than at a table.
Jun 25, 2020 3:34 pm
bowlofspinach says:
I think the format works well for PBP if everyone is on the same page but can fall apart if not everyone is because communication is harder in this medium than at a table.
This is true. In previous GM-less collaborative storytelling experiences I've had, the quality of the thing ranged from transcendent to flaming-bag-of-excrement, depending on how well everyone communicated and whether they were all working within established agreements and parameters.
Jun 28, 2020 2:51 pm
I do gm-less roleplay all the time! It's fun!
Jun 30, 2020 6:07 pm
If we were to do it, where would people prefer to do it? How would people feel about a game loosely based in the Forgotten Realms? Use 5e as a base?
Jul 1, 2020 12:15 pm
I'm a complete noob to rpg settings so I'll just go with the flow >.>

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