My Experiences Co-DMing

In my latest campaign, I'm trying an experiment where my partner and I are co-DMing for our group. My partner handles most of the characters and role playing, while I handle most of the combat and mechanical aspects. We are using a published adventure (Wild Beyond the Witchlight) so the plot and story beats are generally covered. 

What's went well:

• Having another person to help run the game has allowed me to focus on other aspects, such as handouts, background music, and graphics to show our group. With only one person, juggling all of those elements in the moment becomes much harder.
• Both of us can focus on the aspects of DMing we're best at and find most interesting. Our players get the best of both of us.
• We can take turns running scenes, giving the other a break. I don't feel nearly as drained as I used to after sessions.
• Two heads are better than one. We can bounce ideas off of each other and bring the best ones to the campaign.

Challenges:

• During the session it can be awkward to figure out which of us will run a scene. Even though scenes were assigned beforehand, those sometimes end up going out the window. Perhaps more planning and communication would help here.
• It sometimes felt like there was a "main" DM and a background, secondary DM. Again, we'll have to see if better planning helps to address this.

We're only two session in, so this is still a fairly new experiment. If you've tried co-DMing, let us know what worked for you or what challenges you encountered!