@Greywulf: I’ve never tried round robin GMing in the same campaign, but I’ve always wanted to. With three GMs in a five-person group, you’d think we’d have given that a shot at some point, but we never have.

@Scott: Well put! What you said about games hitting their stride and everyone getting itchy is happening in our group right now. It’s not that we want either game to come to an end (and for mine, I plan on leaving it at a stopping point that will allow us to resume it again, if we want to — essentially, putting it on hold), but our creative juices are flowing and we’re ready to tackle something new.

We have switched off every few years for the last 17 years. I like the break, and really enjoy the chance to play. I like that other players get a to experience how another GM handles plots and rules. I no longer become the stingy, evil GM.

I think it is as good for players as it is for GMs.

Your last point, getting homesick, is how we know things are going well. At the beginning of a campaign everyone’s getting into their characters and settling in. Once a game hits its stride other players (who also GM) start talking about “not that I want to put this game aside, but I’m getting some good ideas”. The flow of creativity that comes from successful games is infectious.

Our 3e gaming has dropped off recently because I’ve managed to get my players enjoying 4e D&D, and we’re without a GM at all. I set up a Gladiatorial Arena Fight-club set in Ptolus’ arena and each player has three characters (me included). We’re mix-and-match battling it out between our stables trying to gain Fame Points. Each player can choose to battle with their own stable (two-on-two, so one character sits out – usually the one most injured last battle) or use something appropriate from the Monster Manual. They don’t gain Fame Points is they don’t use their characters, but it’s great fun to make the other player sweat against a bevy of Wyerns and their Bugbear controller

The advantage of this is that two players can get together anytime and run through a battle, meaning we’re actually playing 4e D&D /more/ than we ever players 3e. Which is nice.

Soon, I’m going to raise the heat a little and drop a sub-plot onto their laps, picking up the GM mantle again. I keep putting that off though because GMless is so much fun.

As a bonus, one game was totally crunch (Iron Heroes), one had no crunch at all (my tri-stat game), and the other was in between (Star Wars D6). That’s one thing that worries me about my plan to run 4e next semester – since the Iron Heroes game is definitely continuing, and the D6 game probably not, I don’t want us stuck with two crunchy games and nothing else. I’m afraid I’d be stepping on our other GM’s toes, trying to outdo him with fun tactical situations. Plus, we’d probably all get a little tired of grids.

My solution is to try to con someone into running Wushu. Or maybe Scion. Something that involves rolling a ton of dice at once.