Multi-GM Campaigns

In the house we’re moving into, there are actually three separate areas we can game in: The Living Room, the Dining Room, and the upstairs Family Room. As I’m thinking of what I want to run once quarantine lifts and we’re able to play in person together, I’m thinking of running a monthly megacampaign.

While I’m thinking of running Tyranny of Dragons, this could work for lots of different campaigns. I’ll talk about those after I talk Tyranny.

So here’s the idea: We get 15 or so non-DMs, and 3 DMs. We play once a month, and the DMs gather a half-hour to an hour before each game. In the first session, where the city of Greenest is under attack, I’d set up all the locations around the house with terrain, and let the players split up into groups and move from location to location. I think it would be cool to make them feel like Eventually, during the caravan, with all the NPCs that exist, you could have the different groups attached to different sections of the caravan and have a lot of different events.

Players can switch between the different groups as they want, mixing and matching with the different PCs. In the second half of the campaign, when the Council of Waterdeep has different missions for the players, they can split up and divvy out the missions.

In the big final part, when they face off against Tiamat, all the players will gather together and the massive battle will be handled by all three DMs working together.

I ran something somewhat similar to this when 5e was young. I was running Tyranny of Dragons at the FLGS, and had a table of 12 players. I ran it all myself, with another player occasionally taking a group of players off to lower the player count. In this case, it would be more formalized, with the DMs actively working together.

I’d love for the players to get together at the end of each session in the living room, discuss what happened with their group. If they stay in character, perhaps the warband is meeting around the campfire that evening to discuss the night.

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You could do a similar thing with Tomb of Annihilation, since it’s a big map adventure. The players could split up and explore different parts, all searching for the Tomb. Perhaps the groups would have sending stones so they could communicate, and get together on occasion to exchange players.

Out of the Abyss would work. At the beginning of the campaign, the players are all imprisoned. The 15 players could lead an uprising, then travel off in different directions to escape the Underdark, encountering different things along the way.

Each adventure has something of an open-world concept, allowing groups to spread out. You could easily squeeze Dragon Heist and Descent into Avernus into the Tyranny of Dragons campaign as the players reach Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate. With so many great supplements out there on the DM’s Guild for each official adventure, you can add so much more that the different groups could explore. The possibilities are endless.

If you’re local: Let me know! I’ll add you to the list of interested parties!