Suggestions on the best way to take turns at the GM chair for an ongoing campaign

[SGSandau]

Hello All,

I hope this is not a repeat and in my quick skim of the FAQ I did not see this particular set of circumstances.

So, the band is getting back together after a long break because of, well to put it in as few words as possible, life (Moving, starting/finishing school, military service, new jobs, etc...). We are a group that likes to take turns GM'ing and all of us like to "Just Play from time to time," and we all have our own go to favorite characters to play, so we were considering leaving it up to the individual to buy their own character and class packs to kind of spread the cost around. We are also concerned about over taxing the connection so we want to keep as much information for the game spread to different computers. There is no need for the guy playing the Cleric to know what is on the Rogue characters sheet, etc... so has anyone done anything similar and are there any suggestions about the best way to do this?

Follow up question... what I can see being a sticky point when we transfer GM control.

Does the GM have to buy a copy of all the character classes that are being played? I guess what I am saying is that if I am GM and one of my characters brings in a rogue but I only have the fighter character files (because i typically only play fighters) can I, as the GM, see all of the info that he has on his character sheet as links or do I have to have the class pack to see it? OR on the reverse side of that, if I create a cohort or NPC for one of my characters to play and they don't have the character pack, will they still be able to see all of the links I create using my character packs even if he doesn't have them? and then if I want him to keep track of the character as a local file to will he then just have to edit it manually?

Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions on this matter.

-SGS

[Nylanfs]

I would suggest that everyone that knows they will be the GM buy the two core packs. And then when you switch GM just zip up the campaign folder and email it to the next GM.

[Trenloe]

With 3.1.0 the following functionality was introduced: "Players can request to use modules that are installed locally but not installed by GM. The GM still must approve usage within their campaign via the Library Module Activation window."

Therefore, it is possible for the players to keep using any class modules they purchased just themselves, even if the GM doesn't have those modules. This wouldn't give the GM or other players access to a player's modules they had purchased, unless they owned the modules themselves.

If one GM has the same modules that were used by the first GM, then it should be a matter, as Nylanfs says, of transferring the campaign folder from one GM to the next. However, if one GM used material that was still in the campaign that a later GM doesn't have, then there will the odd error with links not working.

An easier way might be for the GMs to buy the module they plan to run (if it is a commercial module) and then just purchasing the packs they specifically want. Although this could lead to the GM not being able to access data from a player's module, and no one will be able to see the player module other than the owning player. A lot of the links on a character sheet include the data (spells, items) so you can view that without needing the source module, but I'm not sure if there will be some data that you'd need the module for (as far as viewing PCs goes).