Guest Players Playing NPCs?

[Ostler]

I'm going to restart my high level campaign soon. I have a diverse group NPCs lined up for various places in the campaign world. I have been considering having "Special Guest Players" play some of the NPCs.

Basically I would coach the person on all aspects of the NPC. ie. Their opinion of the group and themselves, general demeaner (sp?), social standing, etc. And them have them play the character for me.

Basically there would be a couple of NPCs that when the characters encountered them the players would actually be talking to someone new/different not just another one of my split personalities.

Anyone done it? Any thoughts, suggestions, etc. ?

Thanks

 

[Gizzard]

I've seen it done; it definitely frees up the DM. It also makes the NPCs a lot smarter. ;-)

 

[Rokonin]

I've done that before. It can work really well, and like Gizzard said, frees up your time. As long as you do get the 'guest player' to understand what you want out of the NPC, and who the NPC is, it can work beautifully.

 

[Emirikol]

Oooh, I got to do this once. It was in U1, Secret of the Saltmarsh. I got to play "Ned Shakeshifter" the 'hostage' that the PC's free.

Man, did I ever get to screw the other PC's over! I had a BLAST. The players of course, though I had just joined the campaign... Heh, heh, heh.

jh

 

[Piratecat]

We do this all the time; between two NPCs, I think I've had a dozen separate guests play them. It works wonderfully.

 

[Crothian]

It works great especially when the guests are friends who just can't game all the time.

 

[Hypersmurf]

It also makes the NPCs a lot smarter.

Or more dangerous.

It can work very well to increase tension in a big combat if, as noted in another thread, the players don't expect their DM to really be out to kill them.

It's one thing when a long-time soft DM says "By the way, I'm not going to pull any punches in the BBEG combat this time." Players might have a hard time believing he really means it.

But when he turns control of the BBEG over to Sadistic Bob, and contents himself with running the mooks, the players realise that there isn't going to be any Hand-of-Providence fudging going on to keep them alive this time, and no "Maybe he'll accidentally forget to cast that spell this time... it's a bit mean..."; they know Sadistic Bob is going to be gunning for them to the best of the BBEG's ability.

And if they survive that combat, then next time, the DM can feel better about taking his own gloves off, without worrying that he's suddenly switching hats on them.

-Hyp.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I'm going to restart my high level campaign soon. I have a diverse group NPCs lined up for various places in the campaign world. I have been considering having "Special Guest Players" play some of the NPCs.

Basically I would coach the person on all aspects of the NPC. ie. Their opinion of the group and themselves, general demeaner (sp?), social standing, etc. And them have them play the character for me.

Basically there would be a couple of NPCs that when the characters encountered them the players would actually be talking to someone new/different not just another one of my split personalities.

Anyone done it? Any thoughts, suggestions, etc. ?

Thanks

I've done this many, many times. If an old friend or gaming partner shows up from out of town and wants to sit in on the game, but doesn't have a character and doesn't really want to roll one up for a one-shot, this is the perfect opportunity to take some of the load off my shoulders and let a former member of the crew jump in one more time.

 

[milotha]

Let me chime in and say that I too have seen this work wonderfully well. Not only does the NPC get played a lot more intelligently, but it adds a different flavor to the campaign because they often play it differently than the GM would.

 

[Chimera]

It works well only if the guest player plays the role assigned.

In my last campaign, we allowed a guest player to take over an NPC who was temporarily working with the party. A human evoker, two levels lower than the PCs, described as somewhat meek and mild, fancied himself more an Architect than a Wizard.

Our "guest" played him as a bloodthirsty troublemaker, charging into hand to hand combat, arguing with PCs and vital NPCs alike, demanding an equal share of the treasure (when the NPC had signed on for half-share because he was working for an ally of the party).

Boy was that a disaster. I tried to get him back into character, but he wasn't interested in doing that. I got "lucky" in that the guest decided that our style of play just wasn't for him and I didn't have to tell him that he wasn't welcome to return.

Caveat Gamer