>>6349165>>6349165>how to handle MULTIPLAYER game>multiple character switch / single perspective "spotlight" focus>entourage approach?So I can think of a few innovative examples from ttrpgs that have specific mechanisms:
-Bluebeard's Bride (pbta adjacent rpg) there is one "character", ie the Bride, but multiple players represent different shards of her psyche / archetypes (eg persona of Virgin, Mother, Seductress etc) battling over which persona overrides her consciousness and determines the actions she follows
-I mentioned a highly unique storygame I read set in the decadence of ancient Rome, called Bacchanal. In this game, there is a dice pool where EACH CHARACTER is represented by one step die (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 etc). You add coloured dice that represent each character and roll the pool which represents all of the characters and NPCs in any one scene. There are some complicated rules but essentially the highest die from the dice pool is which character triumphs or becomes dominant in the scene narration outcome. The characters are sort of uni-dimensional and attuned to specific Roman gods (eg Aphrodite devotees want to seduce, soldiers want to arrest players for corruption etc, Dionysian devotees want debauchery and drunkeness). So you could imagine a story system where players "nominate" the storytelling tones and factions/character inclinations to be included in any storytelling vignette, building the resolution dice pool roll.
I have run many split perspective multi-faction / player games, it becomes chaotic in this qst format, I learnt this doing COSMOGONY lol attempting to narrate and manage just 4 separate perspectives on virtual tabletops with heavy dice mechanics is utter chaos, whereas it is easy to handle it at a table. (In the actual game, it was even worse lol, I remember one player was controlling assets at multiple separate locations so there were split perspectives within split perspectives for a single player as well argh lol)
Something I tried to engineer there was to create some conjunction points that would encourage players on different planets and spaceships to cooperate or collaborate (eg a combined assault or intrigue) in order to weave the disparate separate narratives back together, get all players in one location on the star constellation map, but either the players did not get this hint or did not want it lol
In my pure storytelling diceless games, I usually write and respond immediately to the first player who decides. If there are multiple ideas I will try and combine all choices, unless they are contradictory, whereby I will choose the most optimal amongst player choices, or prioritise original write-ins.
pic related illustrates just two out of the four players multiple split perspectives within split perspectives in my COSMOGONY game lol (there were another two more players, not shown here, concurrent to this!!)
