The parties I DM for often have an NPC -- or a PC whose player is not present. In my "live" game, I usually make the players run all the characters in the party, whether NPC or PC. As some have said, the DM just has too much to do already.
In the past, I ran NPC party members with small groups. I remember Fighter and a half-orc Cleric -- both work well, as they can be fairly simple to run.
As for introducing new player's characters as NPC's, I do that a lot. It's actually the routine that a new player will take over an NPC to join the party -- usually an acquaintance of the party, someone they rescued, etc. That gives built-in reasons for the character to join the party, and for players who haven't played D&D before, it helps get them up to speed both in the mechanics and in the setting.
In my email campaign (now 10 years old), there have been many NPC's over the years. Some retired, some died, some became PC's for new players, and one became MY PC.
The secret of making that work? Role play the character. I run the character like any other NPC in my campaign. He's neither an idiot nor a mime. He has agendas and ideas, and knows some things, doesn't know others. He has no more -- or less -- of a clue than anyone else as to whether to go left or right at the dungeon intersection. If you can't run a character on that basis, how can you run any monster or other NPC?
We run the party with the an official party leader (it's a bit like a military outfit), which mantle has changed a few times, but never to him. That helps ensure that the final decisions aren't his -- though I let him voice opinions just like everyone else. One the PC's players, told me that his PC, having recently learned about my NPC's father, has a suspicion that my NPC finds ordering people around distasteful, which answers her long running question about why he's always been in the background.
Where he shades into DM's little helper work is that he keeps track of the party's supplies (it mattered in a few adventures and he used to be a scribner), he acts as one of two in-party sources of "Basil Exposition" dialogue being well-educated about the campaign world, and occasionally he'll ask a quiet PC their opinion.
In the past, I ran NPC party members with small groups. I remember Fighter and a half-orc Cleric -- both work well, as they can be fairly simple to run.
As for introducing new player's characters as NPC's, I do that a lot. It's actually the routine that a new player will take over an NPC to join the party -- usually an acquaintance of the party, someone they rescued, etc. That gives built-in reasons for the character to join the party, and for players who haven't played D&D before, it helps get them up to speed both in the mechanics and in the setting.
In my email campaign (now 10 years old), there have been many NPC's over the years. Some retired, some died, some became PC's for new players, and one became MY PC.
The secret of making that work? Role play the character. I run the character like any other NPC in my campaign. He's neither an idiot nor a mime. He has agendas and ideas, and knows some things, doesn't know others. He has no more -- or less -- of a clue than anyone else as to whether to go left or right at the dungeon intersection. If you can't run a character on that basis, how can you run any monster or other NPC?
We run the party with the an official party leader (it's a bit like a military outfit), which mantle has changed a few times, but never to him. That helps ensure that the final decisions aren't his -- though I let him voice opinions just like everyone else. One the PC's players, told me that his PC, having recently learned about my NPC's father, has a suspicion that my NPC finds ordering people around distasteful, which answers her long running question about why he's always been in the background.
Where he shades into DM's little helper work is that he keeps track of the party's supplies (it mattered in a few adventures and he used to be a scribner), he acts as one of two in-party sources of "Basil Exposition" dialogue being well-educated about the campaign world, and occasionally he'll ask a quiet PC their opinion.
