Collaborative Gamer's Adventure System

Click to expand and view by itself

Collaborative Gamer has been busy making a system for running a game without a GM. Previously, I've been sitting to the side and just taking a piece here and there of his work. I was disappointed at the fantasy and particuarly the dungeon fantasy bent it was taking. Then he started running a solo adventure with his work, the adventures of Tamien Fell.  On week 6, I finally read through an adventure, and realized just how much I'd missed.

The system focuses on information management, and is a jungle gym for both the world builder and the story builder. It gives pieces, suggestions, and twists, and then asks you to tie it all together yourself. Its designed to generate plots left and right, and so far, it doesn't seem too bad.

The hardest part is how to string it all together. How did he know when to roll on a given table. And so I built a diagram that sums it all up.  A few things to remember:

• The four boxes at the top are always appropriate to bring in: they drive the plot and the world forward. 
• Always be on the look out for adventure types! Each "Adventure" is really more or less a single task. You'll find yourself spontaneously generating them yourself. If you don't notice the adventure, you can't roll for plot twists
• Only figure out what the characters know. This is key to making this system work. The system is designed to provide suspense, not fleshed out plots -- at least not until the end. And thats a feature, not a bug.
• Feel free to drop or fill in details. If you know what the type of adventure is, that's fine. If you don't want to worry about dungeons, then don't.
• This is as much a GM game as it is a player game: in some ways, its having your cake and eating it too.

The system is easily tweaked to provide for other kinds of games: Action, Monster Hunters, and space opera may need some tables expanded, but the actual adventures should roll along just fine. I may do one myself as a proof of concept.


I hope you enjoy collaborative gamer's work!