Involve players in the fun and the chores

[Milmoor]

As the GM, there are quite a few chores in running a campaign. Somehow it's always you who organizes the calender, describes the world, moves the monsters, etc. I'm trying to offload some of the fun and the chores.

Delegated the following items to my players:

organizing everyone is logged in FG and Skype/Discord
write a summary after a session


Will try to delegate:

controlling some of the NPC's, I'll provide some guidelines, but they run them. First test is next session.
I just installed Players Agency Extension (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?54284-Player-Agency-Extension)to enable more ways to add content to the world.


How do you organize this, and are there more things my players could be involved with? I like being a GM, but sometimes it's nice not to be the one who has to on top of everything. Some help really helps :).

[GavinRuneblade]

I include my players in the narration. For example, walking into a town I ask everyone to come up with a rumor that someone else hears (not their own character's). Going into a library everyone comes up with a title of a book, then secretly (using whispers) everyone gives a twist to someone else's book title. My favorite is Laughter in the Labyrinth, which turned out to be a book of prayers and ritual dedicated to Baphomet a demon lord of minotaurs who lives in a hellish maze.

There is also an older concept of the Caller. The caller's job was to be the official voice of the party to the DM. Especially on bigger groups (like 7 or more players), it can be hard to know after a long discussion when the players say "yes we do that" what exactly they mean. The caller is the one who officially tells the DM, I do this, she does that, and he does that other thing, the rest of them are doing this together. Also good for fast answers to marching order, etc. Also is the person who reigns in the disruptive players or the ones who aren't paying attention and do something weird or inappropriate because they don't know what's going on. The caller can veto it or be the one who explains context to that player for the DM, while the DM is busy with something else.

Mapper. Usually the note taker. Most used in games with a lot of theatre of the mind and hexcrawls. This person draws the players version of the map. If the DM gives the players a map it is official and complete and accurate. When the players draw their own, it has mistakes, missing things, etc. Way more fun.

[damned]

I would like to hear how you get on and what parts of PA work for the team and what dont.

[Milmoor]

@damned: Will do, that will take a while though.
@GavinRuneblade: I like the caller/mapper idea. Will keep that in mind. The quality of my maps depends on the cartographer, a dwarven map of a nearby elven village will be wrong at points.

[Valyar]

No matter how shiny and easy to use tools you provide to the players, in the end is up to the person if he/she wants to invest time for hthis. I have played with many people over the years and some were taking written notes, others doing blog posts or using notes section or OneNote. Others, even though were superb players and roleplayers, were not interested at all. If there is will, there is way. :)

[Milmoor]

Had my first session with one of the players playing an NPC. That worked out great. I provided them with some tactics and the monster stats. I played the Orcs, and the player played the boss, an Orc the Eye of Gruumsh. The fun thing was that now the NPC's had confusion in the ranks also. The orcs died horribly, but the players got quite a scare since they used to have but walkovers. The player liked playing the NPC, and will do so again. Not everyone is that eager, don't push it or it will become a chore instead of shared fun.

Setup:

Get some tactics from "The Monsters Know What They're Doing (https://www.themonstersknow.com/)". I bought the Kindle edition. You can copy/paste from the app version.
Put those in a note and share that with the relevant player. In FGC you can log in as that player and handle the sharing on your own, in FGU, you have to get them online (vote here (https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=133864)).
Put a link to the NPC entry in top of the note by dragging it on the note.
Share the NPC with the relevant player. Important, otherwise they will not be able to open the NPC sheet.
Start the encounter and switch the faction of the relevant monster in the encounter to Friendly. Otherwise the player can't move the NPC. The friendliness is a lie though ;). For the first session I changed it back to hostile after the monster had his turn.
The player can click the link in the tactics for the NPC stats, spells, etc. Since the layout is completely different from PC character sheets you probably have to help a bit in what to click.
The GM will have to end the turn, the player can't do that as far as I can tell. Maybe if I shared the GM's combat tracker of button or even just the button? Something to try...
Have fun.

[Nylanfs]

You can also access your Kindle library from a pc (read.amazon.com/) also for easier copy paste.

[Milmoor]

You can also access your Kindle library from a pc (read.amazon.com/) also for easier copy paste.

As far as I know you can't copy text from the Cloud reader.

[Griogre]

He was talking about the Kindle for the PC app. I sometimes use it for copying and pasting sample code. It's great for certain books you don't want to read on a small screen like technical books. On the D&D side I have copied tactics into FG from "The Monsters Know What They're Doing", ie


GITHZERAI Like their cousins the githyanki, the githzerai are a rigidly disciplined people from another plane of existence. Unlike the warlike githyanki, the githzerai apply their discipline to asceticism and self-defense...

Ammann, Keith. The Monsters Know What They're Doing: Combat Tactics for Dungeon Masters (The Monsters Know What They’re Doing Book 1) (p. 91). Gallery / Saga Press. Kindle Edition.

You can get the app here (https://smile.amazon.com/Amazon-Digital-Services-LLC-Download/dp/B00UB76290/ref=smi_www_rco2_go_smi_g4368549507?_encoding=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0&ie=UTF8)

Edit: added link to app - Note its a United States only download.

[dellanx]

As the GM, there are quite a few chores in running a campaign. Somehow it's always you who organizes the calender, describes the world, moves the monsters, etc. I'm trying to offload some of the fun and the chores.

Delegated the following items to my players:

organizing everyone is logged in FG and Skype/Discord
write a summary after a session


Will try to delegate:

controlling some of the NPC's, I'll provide some guidelines, but they run them. First test is next session.
I just installed Players Agency Extension (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?54284-Player-Agency-Extension)to enable more ways to add content to the world.


How do you organize this, and are there more things my players could be involved with? I like being a GM, but sometimes it's nice not to be the one who has to on top of everything. Some help really helps :).

I use a Facebook, private group to communicate with players. I post the summaries and schedule games. It is always at same time a week later. All my players make their on PC Gen/Hero Lab characters when they level, accept one, because his PC can't handle FG or PC Gen. He plays through Discord only 90% of the time and Facebook chat. I update the PCs in FGC. I make short hand notes in Calendar.

[Mytherus]

As much as its work im ok with controlling or taking on most of the things us DMs have always done.

But in my avernus game i gave control of lulu over to a player who is likely the best roleplayer in the group and zo far it seems she really likes it. I feed her some extra info in whispers to aid her capturing the correct mood lulu would have or thoughts she has. However my player does the rest.

[MaloModo]

I like to give bonuses instead of penalties. Players remember when they have bonuses, not so much when they have penalties. Also, when you come up with a puzzle you don't need to know the solution, Let the players come up with something and if it sounds like it would work go with that. I had a group that whenever people started getting sidetracked, somebody would put their hood over their head and everyone else who noticed followed suit. This became known as the "Hood of Digression" and was a funny way to get everybody back on track without being naggy.