Impro D&D I'd like to play a game of D&D in which all the players take turns being the DM. At the end of each session, we would decide who the next DM would be. The following are some organizational details that I think we would need to make the whole process work smoothly. If people don't like these, they're subject to change, of course; it's not like I'm the DM or anything. 1) The Plot. This is a big one. No player can be the DM for more than one session at a time, so it seems like it would be hard to have a Major Secret Plot for the characters to reveal. Once the DM stops being the DM, it's not really a Secret Plot, is it? Actually, this isn't a problem at all. Every session, the DM thinks about what has been revealed to the party thus far, and decides what he thinks the Secret Plot is. He reveals part of the Secret Plot to the characters during his session. Then the next DM steps up, thinks about what the previous DM revealed, and decides what _he_ thinks the Secret Plot is going to be. Kind of like that old game called "ghost", if you think about it. 1a) This means that no secret information is passed between DMs. Well, I suppose the new DM can ask the old one, "How the SPOONY did you think I was going to explain this?", or, "What did you think that traveler the party met was trying to accomplish?", or something. But this is "improvisational" D&D; if you plan the plot out for the next three sessions, you spoil the fun of the people who DM after you. 1b) On the other hand. A new DM should think about what the party already knows, and decide on a plot that is _consistent_ with the information that has already been revealed. No sideswiping the current plot with an entirely new one because you think yours is cooler - that's very bad. 1b-i) It might be a good idea to have a common notes repository so that we don't have people relying on memory or their own personal and possibly incomplete notes. If the DMs kept a (public-knowledge) documented campaign history, that would do the job nicely. 1c) Or, a DM could attack the party with wandering monsters and not reveal any of the plot at all. That would be fine too. 2) If we're going to make this thing work, we really shouldn't allow inter-party infighting. Actually, I don't think player-versus-player disputes should be allowed to happen in any game, except possibly if all players agree beforehand that this is the sort of game that everybody will be playing. But that's another issue. The thing I'm worried about here is that people will be taking turns being the DM. If two players are Not-Getting-Along, and one of them becomes the DM, it's bad. I'd like to avoid this. 2a) That means players need to create characters that can get along with other characters. If your character doesn't like and respect the rest of the party, why is he hanging out with them? 2b) We should probably have some system by which magic items are shared fairly. "That player is hogging all the magic items and won't share" is the single easiest way to start disputes among PCs. 3) Musical Characters: So, Joe has just finished being the DM, and now it's Bob's turn. What happens to Bob's character, Roberto? 3a) Well, one idea would be for Roberto to hang around as an NPC. I don't like this idea much, especially if Roberto was the alpha fighter and he handles most of the combat himself. It's bad to have the DM playing in both sides of a fight. 3b) Another idea would be for Roberto to mysteriously vanish (or for Bob to come up with some in-character reason why Roberto is missing.) This is better, but again, if Roberto was the alpha fighter, it means the party suddenly gets much weaker whenever Bob is the DM. 3b-i) If Roberto vanishes, he should still get the same experience as the rest of the party. Otherwise you get players who don't want to DM because it might hurt their character development. 3b-ii) Of course, if Roberto died during the most recent mission, Bob is suddenly a prime choice for DM (since he no longer has a character to worry about.) This is something to consider when deciding who plays the DM. 3c) Instead of having Roberto mysteriously vanish, the idea I like is that Joe should take over playing him. Maybe Joe plays Roberto permanently, and Bob takes over the character of whoever is DM after him (hence, "musical characters".) Maybe Joe just plays Roberto for one session, then Bob gets him back. Whichever people prefer. 4) DM Rulings. In every game there are rulings to be made. Why can't I use the first-level spell Mount to drop horses on my enemies? What prestige classes can my character multiclass to? What new spells can I invent? What hideously broken creatures can Isaac turn himself into? When there is a game-affecting ruling (ie, one about character development) to be made, all players vote on it. 4a) As an immediate corollary, please don't keep important secrets from the party. Since we're all DMs, we'll all know about it OOC anyway. And it's really frustrating to have vital information OOC but not be able to act on it IC.