Team Author stance? (inspired/stolen from Universalis)

[Drew Stevens]

So, I just had a kind of weird idea for a metagame thingy.  Basically, as opposed to each player having sole control over one character, give each cahracter a couple of vaugely defined Historical/Personality traits, which they act within.

At any time, any player may dictate the actions of any character, but only within the bounds of their personality.  If another player thinks that's not how a character should act, then a quick vote is taken (Alternatively, players have a certain amount of 'Plot Swing' each adventure, which they make a secret bid as to who takes the one who bids the most gives their bid to the losing player, and maintains control/performs the action.  Additional alternative, those personality traits have a Value associated with them, which the GM can call for a bid contest against at any time- making someone more/less likely to violate certain tenets of personality over time).

Or something.  :)  This random tanget of thought, brought to you by my pondering of a game which did not have a strict player to character ratio!

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Drew,

Works for me, although perhaps not my first choice in terms of aesthetic preference. It also seems as though Universalis is already ready-made for implementing it, without even any particular rules-tweaks that I can see. Unless I'm misunderstanding?

Best,
Ron

[Drew Stevens]

Well, of course you can use rules gimmicks to have Universalis handle most anything.  But the distinctions I'm keeping here are thus- there GM/Player dichtomy, and author control of a character doesn't let the player narrate the results of that character's actions.  In other words, the Director chair is reserved for the GM.

[Mike Holmes]

So basically it's traditional power split except the players can control any character. Not just a specified PC.

Can they control any character? Or are there a pool of PCs that are shared by all the players? Leaving NPCs to the GM?

How often can control shift? Is control monitored in any way? Or can players just shout out actions for the PCs at any time, and hope that they beat other player's to it?

Mike