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I don’t think the examples you mentioned are GMPC’s. I think they are very good examples of how to run long term NPCs. The characters you describe have motivations beyond “one of the party”. They operate with the party when motivations align, but also leave when motivations diverge. They are...

d18 is too close to a d20 to drive its usage.

So, one of my thoughts on Dark Sun was that with so many aspects of the typical quasi-Medieval-Renaissance-Tolkienesque D&D settings going out the window, a good portion of existing source material would no longer be applicable. Which would put more onus on the GM to develop material. I...

I appreciate all the responses!

I never DMPC a character. My party frequently has NPCs in the mix. My campaigns often feature organic recruiting of various NPCs. Usually these are NPCs who share a motivation with the party. When that motivation is satisfied, many times these NPCs go their own way. Sometimes an NPC will...

Last session was incredibly fun. My PCs were hired to infiltrate an abandoned Dwarven underground fortress that is now being used by Hobgoblin slavers to rescue a specific individual. Lots of good roleplaying and top notch tactics during the raid, and the PCs infiltrated quite far into the...

I never played Dark Sun. It was coming onto the market when I was playing games other than AD&D. I've peripherally known about it, but never read any of the materials. Recently I had a chance to skim through some material from the original boxed set, and my take on the game was a lot...

This is really my take on it. While a creative GM can shoehorn just about any system to "work", I'm a firm believer that not every system is suited to every type of game or style of play. And I think it's good practice to put yourself in the best spot to succeed by picking a ruleset that is a...

You can still run a game. Mechanically some characters will probably be similar. But a party can be built and a game can be run. Is it a great design choice to choose D&D for a no magic game? No, I don't think it is. As I mentioned earlier, for an absolutely no magic game, I would reach for...

You can run most any flavor of D&D sans magic. It's going to change around the dynamics of the game. Anyone running such a game needs to carefully consider which monsters and abilities are used. Healing will be hugely reduced, so the game would most likely need to have most of the "resource...

Well, that's an unfortunate tale of woe. Sorry it worked out that way. I'd like to think people who have been friends for such a long time could leave their politics at the door. Maybe consider trying a VTT game? It took me a few sessions to get the hang of it, but I have a game running now...

That’s terrible:( what’s curtailing such a long running campaign?

Figure out how many hits the monster could take from an “average” warrior. You as the GM must define “average warrior” relative to your campaign. This is how many “hits” the nook can take. Then, figure out how a “hit”from each party member stacks up. The second-line-melee cleric with a mace...

Great dungeon delving session. I’m running Shackled City, and my party just finished the first dungeon level (Jzadirune) snd are moving forward to the next level (Malachite Fortress).

To answer the top level question, as the GM I don’t get bored by combat. GMs have to differentiate between “role playing” and “roll playing” just like players do. I run my monsters and various opponents based on motivation. It’s fun to consider all the different creatures in D&D and then...

One side effect of the constant whinging over things producing “save or die” effects is that combats take longer.

So I’ve decided I’m going with the “soft” plot involving some aspect of an inheritance. I really thought about the whole “demon worshipper cultist” angle with the young lass being acquired for a sacrifice. But this campaign plan is already full of that sort of thing. I think the party will...

And you can figure out the plot before you drop it into your campaign:D

What is Storm King’s Thunder? Supplement? I clearly don’t have it, but I might want it :D

She’s 9 or 10, as were all the other children taken from the orphanage. The original, as-published, reason for the kidnapping is well set in the campaign, but I could always change the reason around.