A no-GM game is where everyone at the game is a player, with one or more characters. No one person controls the flow of events, such as Games Master, and the adventure is a co-operative effort, using standard tropes from fiction, tv and movies to provide context and flow. This is not as easy as it sounds, but it can lead to a much more interactive session, and surprisingly one more in line with what the players want out of the game rather than what a GM thinks they want.
There are plenty of articles out in the googlevoid about the various types of players and GMs, their personalities and styles, so no point going on about that here. The no-GM system I am outlining here still suffers from some of those unfortunate personality problems, but some of the ideas listed below might be able to control them to a degree. In a co-operative effort the worst thing that can happen is for a dominant personality to take over the group and drive everything in their preferred direction, they may as well just be the GM. To try to control this (because such personalities generally can't help themselves) I am proposing several load sharing tactics (rotations) that move control of the event around the group, plus I hope that the Adventure and Player Deck will allow everyone the ability to interrupt or force the game to go in a direction that they control, at least a little. The illusion of co-operative can seem just as good as the real thing, if done well...!
The basis of the method is to outline some simple details, make some selections, randomly add some filler, select a mission scope, pick a Boss mob to end things with and finally decide on a reward... simple. To aid you in this we will use the card decks, allowing you to randomly select from decks so that no one knows exactly what they are getting, and maybe throwing in some surprises now and then. Players will be rewarded for inventiveness, success and for acting in the role of the monsters.
Step 1 - Select a Mission Type.
Select or randomly draw a Mission type card. In many ways this is cosmetic as the same structure may be used for different missions, some missions however may require a different structure to the generic one listed below. Eg rescue a princess is mostly the same as recover the magic sword, ie a journey, some obstacles, a big fight, recovery.
Step 2 - Start your Map
Get a large sheet of paper (or a white board) and draw a big O in one corner. Then draw a big X in the opposite corner. O is your starting point, X is your end point. Each player takes turns adding one terrain feature of their choice to the map taking an appropriate amount of space, depending on the number of people you have. Eg if 4 of you then each of you can take up one quarter of the map.
You might elect to double the number of terrain features, so each player gets 2 selections.
Terrain can be a feature, a castle or a volcano or a gorge etc, or it may be an area, such as a forest or a swamp. Dont hog board space, the size of the feature is story driven regardless of how small or how big you make it on the map. Leave space between all the features so you can put in notes and names. You might want to use cards to represent terrain areas, placing these on the map.
Step 3 - Decide on the number of encounters you want.
Usually this should be one encounter per player, allowing each player an option to decide what type of encounter they would like to have. These are the 'along the way' encounters. The end of the mission will have a Boss Encounter, and you may elect to have a minor Boss encounter if you are running a long session. Boss encounters are set up collaboratively, see later.
Step 4 - Draw your encounter locations on the map.
Each player gets to select where their encounter/s will occur. To start off with let people put it anywhere. Once they have look at the double up and see if people want to change their choices. If not then remove any feature that does not have an encounter in it and add a copy of the features that have doubles or more, split the doubled up encounters into the new terrain. So if 2 players use one swamp, and they dont resolve it, remove any un-used feature and create a new swamp and move one of them there.
Name all the terrain features and name all of the encounters.
Randomly draw players and allow each one to draw a link between start-encounter-end in pairs, use reasonably direct paths, add the last path. You should now have a map with an adventure path, terrain and a set number of encounters, ending in a Boss encounter at the end.
Step 5 - Set some challenges and tests.
Repeat Step 3&4 but this time do it for challenges and tests. A challenge or test is a minor event that requires one or more of the party to make a skill or characteristic roll to overcome some obstacle or suffer some loss, either in equipment or time or wounds etc. A challenge&test deck can be used to draw from and give random results, but players are encourages to embellish the story around it. In effect the player of the challenge become the GM for a short time and runs the challenge for the rest of the party. Place these on the map between encounters.
Step 6 - Select Rewards.
Each player gets to select a minor and major reward. They will get the minor reward randomly during one of the minor encounters, and the major reward after they defeat the Boss. There will be definitions of minor and major below. Only one major reward will be awarded out of all the players, this can be determined randomly or selectively (a rotation). If you have a lesser Boss mob you might have two major rewards.
Step 7 - Select Boss Mobs.
A Boss mob will simply be a normal mob improved and made bigger and tougher, plus they will have some followers to help them. You can randomly select the Boss mob and use the suggestions below to improve him, or you can debate (gobbo debate) a selection, or you can just collaboratively select one that seems fun. The Boss mob should relate to the story being created, a princess is not stolen by a Gelatinous Cube.
Step 8 - Add some filler.
Use the filler deck to draw some random cards, usually about half the number of encounters, and place them randomly between encounter pts on the map/path.
Players will get some extra cards to allow them to manipulate the encounters and story to some degree, for which they may get rewards or penalties, all in the interest of furthering the story or adding some random elements to keep things a little unknown.
Definitions:
Tests: are a single gobbo. A test will be a minor event for which you roll a characteristic or skill to beat a target. Failing a test does not stop you, it merely costs you in some way.
Challenges: are a group of tests and/or a test for a group of gobbo's. The results can vary as there are more than a single event occurring.
Costs: Respect is generally the currency of Tests and Challenges, you will either gain or lose Respect pts based on the difficulty. Some tests or challenges (easy ones) may have no Respect involved. Gobbo's may elect to "Deal with Death" to upgrade a test or challenge and make failing rather fatal, in return for extra Respect points if you pass. Its a risk.