I like to use some neat tricks to make things easier on me as a GM. So, I use this house rule called "player jobs" assigning people OOC jobs. When the party is created, everyone needs to pick one job they do for the party. Nobody can have the same role (except canaries) and often some players need to be assigned roles instead of picking them (depending on the player):

CANARY

Any player that does not have a job as a historian, leader, or treasurer will have the role of being the canary and the guinea pig. Whenever there is a dangerous substance or item, it will be tested on them instead of another party member. Whenever there is a fight, they will stand in front. Whenever there is a sneak attack, ambush or trap, they will be targeted first. Essentially, they always draw more aggro than everyone else unless exclusively noted otherwise.

HISTORIAN

One player will be in charge of keeping track of initiative during combat and recording important NPC names, items, locations or story plots that the rest of the party will need. The historian should have the highest Intelligence or Wisdom score in the group.

LEADER

One player will be in charge of being the leader of the group. They are the tiebreaker in every decision and they are the person whose reputation is used to determine how well the group is respected. They are also the person who will take responsibility and blame for any actions the party takes. The leader should have the highest Charisma score in the group and all of the other party members should be within 1 alignment step of the leader.

TREASURER

One player will be in charge of keeping track of all the party loot. Everything must be fairly distributed unless the treasurer makes a successful Bluff AND Sleight of Hand check against ALL the other party members one at a time. However, if it is impossible to evenly split loot due to a fractional left over, the fractional left overs go to the treasurer as a fee for keeping track of everything. The treasurer should have the highest Intelligence or Wisdom score in the group.

LUCKY CHARM/BUNNY'S FOOT
You bring good luck to the table.

• Player Job: Whenever there is a miss chance, random mishap, off-target teleport, random critical hit effect or similar effect, it's your job to roll the d% or draw the card and declare the results aloud to the group.
• Player Boon: Whenever you roll a natural 1 or 19, there is a 20% chance that your luck turns the 1 into a 2 or the 19 into a natural 20. In addition, whenever you draw cards, there is a 20% chance you'll get the opportunity to discard as many of them as you want, shuffle, and draw that many more cards in their stead. You can spend a Hero Point or 2 Mythic Power Points to beef this up to a 50% chance before you roll/draw or to reroll/redraw it.

HEALER/MEDIC
You keep track of the party's health.

• Player Job: Whenever there is a negative condition created other than damage or ongoing damage (such as shaken, slowed, poisoned and similar effects), it's your job to keep track of it. Each player already keeps track of their own conditions, but you just sort of "double check" them and the NPCs/monsters.
• Player Boon: Whenever you are affected by a negative condition with a set duration that lasts more than 1 round, you cut the duration in half (round down, minimum 1). This does not function against sustained effects (such as grapple) or ongoing effects that don't target you but affect creatures in their radius (such as Entangle).

CARTOGRAPHER
You keep track of the maps and solve the puzzles.

• Player Job: You keep track of the maps, names and locations in the game. Also, you keep track of miniature placement on the map and ensure that everyone is being true to their base speed, difficult terrain and other movement rules.
• Player Boon: Whenever you are affected by an effect that slows your base speed (such as difficult terrain), you can ignore half of it. That is, if you move through difficult terrain, half the total number of squares you move through it are treated as normal terrain for the purposes of your base speed and ability to perform actions. In addition, your character is considered to have photographic memory and you gain a bonus to all INT/WIS/CHA checks made to solve puzzles, riddles or mazes equal to 1/2 your character level (minimum +1).

PUPPETEER
You keep track of nameless NPCs on the field.

• Player Job: You keep track of nameless NPCs and animals on the map. What the typical reactions of faceless crowds are in the face of battle or social scenes created by the players and the more important NPCs and monsters. You do not control familiars, animal companions, special mounts, other players/NPCs' hirelings, important NPCs or important monsters (as determined by the GM).
• Player Boon: Whenever you make an opposed check of any kind against a nameless NPC or beast you gain a bonus equal to 1/2 your level (minimum +1) including everything from Diplomacy checks to Grapple attempts. However, this does not apply to monsters that the GM intended you to encounter. Only random nobodys that have little to no consequence. It also does not function against targets with equal or more HD than you. However, while adjacent to 2 or more nobodys, you are granted soft cover from all directions. In the direction you'd normally be granted soft cover from a creature in the way, you are instead granted full normal cover (until the nobody is moved or downed). Hirelings that you intentionally brought with can count as nobodys but you require 2 hirelings per 1 nobody that the GM placed there (so 4 hirelings for the same benefit).

This message was last edited by the GM at 02:52, Mon 01 Sept 2014.

Old World of Darkness had this as an optional system. The player played Historian or such and got in game bonuses as a reward. This tends not to work well as people feel it is unfair that one guy gets a bonus and others do not. But A lot of players detest 'Jobs' or work OOCLY to begin with. They are there to PLAY a game after all. If you give no reward for jobs then there is no reason to volunteer for one and they are probably going to be ignored anyways.

What do you do Arkrim if a player refuses to take any OOC job and replies"I just want to play the game?"

In reply to shady joker (msg # 2):

Tell them to leave and replace them with a decent player. LOL!

You'll note that the jobs here are not only simple, but aren't optional. If you don't want a job, you just default to CANARY which means you have a higher chance to draw aggro from NPCs/monsters/traps 1st before anyone else. This is secretly rolled or just flat-out determined by the GM.

Which most people who can't handle little things like keeping track of loot usually play dumb brutish characters anyway, so that works out 99% of the time (with only a small percentage of players who are "THAT GUY" ever causing problems anyway). But that's more of an issue of "THAT GUY" than any one particular variant rule or house rule.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:37, Wed 09 Apr 2014.

I have a protestation for this system: it seems to work well in a 4 man party, but breaks down in a 5 or higher member team: and is based on D&D stat blocks which are actually rather abnormal in other systems such as GURPS: how would you adapt it to be more universal and have more diversity of positions for a larger party and to give players in smaller parties more options so they don't automatically get stuck as the canary when they neither want, are suited to, nor cope well with, the role?

At a 5 party crew you just have 2 canaries.

Essentially the top 3 most competent players get to be Leader, Historian, and Treasurer. The rest of the schmucks get to be cannon fod--erhm I mean canaries.

:P

But let's be honest, MOST games have a greater ratio of warrior-type OR high offense/defense characters than skill-based/utility-based characters. Maybe not all, but most. Most RPGs are very combat-biased. And so multiple canaries doesn't usually cause a problem.

However, if you MUST customize it you can have up to 2 of each and just have them take turns and consult each other with the notes.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:05, Thu 10 Apr 2014.