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Nerdarchy > Dungeons & Dragons  > In the Hot Seat: Another Way to Tabletop

In the Hot Seat: Another Way to Tabletop

Keep your D&D game alive! Trials and triumphs of a full-time nerd in a part-time world
Start off with a bang! Trials and triumphs of a full-time nerd in a part-time world

tabletopWhen you think of D&D, the first thing that probably comes to mind is one Dungeon Master, maybe behind a screen, and a group of four to five players sitting around with their dice and character sheets. Some of you may imagine the inevitable fight that comes before the campaign gets started; no one wants to DM, no one wants the responsibility, but everybody still really wants to play.

That is where the hot seat campaign comes in. The phrase actually comes from computer turn-based strategy games, referring to a game in which each player plays a faction and the saves between turns are sent between them. It dates back as early as some games from the 80’s. The player whose turn it is currently is considered in the “hot seat.” In this case, however, the “hot seat” refers to whoever is the current dungeon master.

Yes, you heard me right. The current dungeon master. Because in this format of game, the person who’s running the game is not always the same. Everybody gets to DM if they want to, and everybody gets to play.

Sound too good to be true? Well, sort of. It’s not for everyone. I’ve been in gaming groups where this exact format has worked like a charm … but I’ve also been in groups where it wasn’t anybody’s cup of tea and things got chaotic really fast. That said, if you have the right group of people and everyone is equally into the idea, a hot seat campaign can be the ideal solution to “But I don’t want to DM” syndrome.

Some of the benefits of a hot seat campaign are obvious at a glance. Of course, the major one is the most up front: everybody gets to play. There is less DM burnout because the duties of writing the story and preparing the encounters are shouldered by multiple people.

Other benefits are not so obvious.

D&DFor example, a hot seat campaign gives you a unique opportunity to collaborate on building a world together, and it doesn’t have to be done all at once. If you start from the ground up, running an adventure in a town, and don’t specify what is to the North, South, East or West, then the other players have every direction to take off in and fill that empty space. Often, you’ll end up with fun and strange mixtures that you never would have gotten if you’d done it by yourself.

Another benefit is that hot seat gaming sessions tend to last longer because when one DM runs out of material, there will usually be another prepared to step up and take over. It also facilitates smaller dungeons and encounters. Perhaps you have a player who has a few good ideas for things they would like to run but not enough to power a whole campaign on their own. This format is ideal for players like that.

On the other hand, there are quite a few drawbacks to the hot seat format as well. For example, the world will be less cohesive than if one person had designed it on their own, incorporating the different ideas and very different styles of multiple dungeon masters. Sometimes the tone will vary wildly from one dungeon to the next, and that can be a bit of a roller coaster.

Another potential problem is that you can’t plan too far ahead. If you are the sort of DM who likes a long sweeping plot arc, the hot seat campaign may be problematic because you won’t be the only person controlling world events. That city you needed to fall under siege might end up getting the reinforcements it needs before the hot seat swings back to you.

There’s also the matter of figuring out what to do with your PC while you’re DMing, especially if you have an experience-heavy chunk of story planned. No one wants to miss out on the party level-up, but at the same time you can’t have a character on board being played by someone who by nature already knows all of the answers.

tabletopThere are a couple of ways around that last one that work out fairly nicely. For example, having a place to park your characters when you’re in the DM’s seat can be useful, or you could just put them into NPC mode for the adventure, have them participate in combat but not in puzzles or role play encounters. It can get a little bit weird in terms of in-world, but some would say the benefits outweigh the drawbacks there.

No matter what, though, you definitely want to pre-plan. Establish parameters with the other players. Ask who gets to play with what NPCs. Do you want them to be communal or restricted to the person who introduced them? Are they the same flat rules for every NPC? Do you write down how they behave or are they at the mercy of whoever is DMing at the time? Who is it okay to kill off?

What technology level are you playing at? What things are off the table? Are guns okay? What level of guns? Flintlock? What about vehicles? Maybe not cars, but bicycles? Airships? Decide what you do and do not want in play and set firm rules down before the campaign begins, and you will have a much easier time of things later on down the road.

The hot seat campaign is definitely a different method of play. It is definitely not for everyone. However, as someone who has had a lot of success with it in the past, I’m here to tell you it can be done successfully and well. If you’re inclined to do it, if you’re dedicated to the idea and if your gaming group is good about communicating with each other and really honestly talking it out when you’re having trouble with something, you could make it one of your most memorable tabletop experiences.

Hot-seating may not be for everyone, it really depends on what’s best for you and your gaming group. It takes a pretty serious level of dedication. Everybody has to be responsible, everybody has to be able to talk to each other on a mature adult level, but it’s a great way to get a variety of kinds of play and for everyone to get to play a character without the awkwardness of a dedicated DM PC.

A lot of people aren’t going to be into this at all, and that’s okay. If even one person looks into this and ends up having fun with it, my job here is done. Good luck and have fun!

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Robin Miller

Speculative fiction writer and part-time Dungeon Master Robin Miller lives in southern Ohio where they keep mostly nocturnal hours and enjoys life’s quiet moments. They have a deep love for occult things, antiques, herbalism, big floppy hats and the wonders of the small world (such as insects and arachnids), and they are happy to be owned by the beloved ghost of a black cat. Their fiction, such as The Chronicles of Drasule and the Nimbus Mysteries, can be found on Amazon.

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