Genth
2016-02-01, 06:31 PM
A question, mostly for GMs but also players.
Have you ever used "Temporary Player Characters" - by this I mean NPCs (not a part of the party, only involved in short, select parts of the story) who are too important and are too likely to need to interact with other NPCs to remain solely under the control of the GM. What my group has done once or twice is to have these characters played either by players, or by people outside the group who like to play, but can't commit to session after session. The set-up of the character is done between the GM and the person, and while they're still an NPC in terms of the story (and are effected by social skills as well), they are voiced and controlled by the player.
I've seen/thought about this in a few different scenarios:
The villain with personality - when a GM wants a villain that introduces a bigger element on unpredictability or personality into the campaign, or where the villain has a persona that the GM feels another person can carry off better
The plotter - where the villains abilities in plotting or deception outdo the GM's ability to portray
The 'Companion' - where you need for a couple of sessions what would otherwise be a GMPC, instead giving this to another person so it can be more fun
The 'refresher' - Just as a great way to rotate people in and out of games, and keep them involved even if they can't commit to all the sessions.
I have come across complications and problems with doing this, for example, as a player who temporarily took on as a villain, it was hard not to be *too* evil to the PCs. It was really, really fun though, since the GM just kinda lay back and watched as this Xanatos-style villain did a lot of plotting work for him with a pretty awesome conclusion.
Even if the other players really, really, really, REALLY loathed the villain (in a good way)
So just curious as to what other people's experience of this idea has been... and slightly more on point, whether this would work for a PbP, recruiting a smallish party to begin with, but keeping the option open for other interested people to come in as NPCs
Have you ever used "Temporary Player Characters" - by this I mean NPCs (not a part of the party, only involved in short, select parts of the story) who are too important and are too likely to need to interact with other NPCs to remain solely under the control of the GM. What my group has done once or twice is to have these characters played either by players, or by people outside the group who like to play, but can't commit to session after session. The set-up of the character is done between the GM and the person, and while they're still an NPC in terms of the story (and are effected by social skills as well), they are voiced and controlled by the player.
I've seen/thought about this in a few different scenarios:
The villain with personality - when a GM wants a villain that introduces a bigger element on unpredictability or personality into the campaign, or where the villain has a persona that the GM feels another person can carry off better
The plotter - where the villains abilities in plotting or deception outdo the GM's ability to portray
The 'Companion' - where you need for a couple of sessions what would otherwise be a GMPC, instead giving this to another person so it can be more fun
The 'refresher' - Just as a great way to rotate people in and out of games, and keep them involved even if they can't commit to all the sessions.
I have come across complications and problems with doing this, for example, as a player who temporarily took on as a villain, it was hard not to be *too* evil to the PCs. It was really, really fun though, since the GM just kinda lay back and watched as this Xanatos-style villain did a lot of plotting work for him with a pretty awesome conclusion.
Even if the other players really, really, really, REALLY loathed the villain (in a good way)
So just curious as to what other people's experience of this idea has been... and slightly more on point, whether this would work for a PbP, recruiting a smallish party to begin with, but keeping the option open for other interested people to come in as NPCs