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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imagicka" data-source="post: 3178889" data-attributes="member: 4621">Greetings...Well, evidently from your experience you had more experience with what I would consider to be an NPC than a DMPC.  I think it goes without saying that any DM who plays a DMPC is a bad DM. But, here’s a few questions to determine if your dealing with an NPC or a DMPC…<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Does the character have better abilities than your own character?  Sometimes even being three or four levels higher than the sum of all the other characters’ levels combined?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is the character the best warrior/fighter of the group AND the best spell-caster?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is the character the only one capable of doing things that is required to advance in the campaign? He’s the only one who can open up the star portal.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is the character a black-hole of coolness or aloofness that, and you’ve well past the event-horizon a few moments after meeting the character?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">This character is the only one in the party with magical weapons, armour or items, yet somehow you find another magical sword that only they can use?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do you feel that the only thing keeping this character from being a despot tyrant is the fact that he's travelling with this party for some wholly unknown reason?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Does the DM go into long and labourious tirades about this character’s exploits?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do you find your character taking a backseat to the actions of this character?  Despite the fact that the DM keeps insisting that his character is still only an NPC?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do you feel that character could probably accomplish the campaign on it’s own?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do you feel like the DM wouldn’t even notice if the other characters weren’t there?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do you feel like the DM wouldn’t even notice if the other players weren’t there?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do you feel dirty and uncomfortable because you think that the DM would like to be alone with his character? Or worse, would rather have an audience?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Do you think (or did) the DM will find a way to kill your character after you’ve done something to remove the NPC character out of play?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Did the DM cry when that character was removed from play?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is the character’s name Mary Sue?</li> </ul>One of my friends was notorious for running games where he would have a group of NPCs, who would be whittled down into one NPC.  Soon after a while, the players would come to the realization that this NPC/DMPC was pretty much there to keep the plotline in check.  The DMPC would thankfully be in the background most of the time.  Until it came to the point where major plot-points would arise; then he’d take over.  The end battles were inevitably the DMPC fighting the BBEG while the rest of the party was dealing with the evil minions.  Personally, I’ve never seen a good DMPC.  But that’s the distinction I make.  If it’s a good DMPC, then it’s not a DMPC, it’s an NPC.  However, in my experience when dealing with DMPCs, more often than not, I’d usually sit there feeling dirty and sullied because the DM wanted an audience for his masturbatory roleplaying session.   The last time my friends were playing with this DM, they swore up and down that he was a ‘changed’ player.  That he wasn’t doing that sort of thing anymore (along with all the other bad gaming habits he had); so I decided to show up to a game and sit in for a session.  – I don’t know if it was me, or what.  But as soon as I showed up, he slipped into his old bad habits.  If I’m ever forced to have a party NPC more often than not they are nerfed, incompetent, bumbling and far inferior to the other PCs, and realized as being comic-relief with a handful of skills that the PCs are lacking, who’d ultimately get killed at the first chance.However, if the character makes themselves useful ALL the time, for EVERY encounter.  IS SCENE STEALING. But when the character is the ONLY one who has the needed knowledge, always has knowledge about the pertinent situation, or is always steering the party in the ‘right’ direction IS SCENE STEALING Now, a lot of people have mentioned that the whole idea behind the DMPC is beyond them.  I congratulate them on being lucky enough to never having to experience it.  I haven’t been so lucky.  Personally, I never understood why people wanted to do that myself too.  Especially when it came to online roleplaying.  I used to run a Mush.  For those of you unfamiliar with such things, you can always look it up at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUSH" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>.  One of the things I wanted was that all the staff members would play NPCs.  To have an ‘us’ against ‘them’ mentality going.  That all the staff would pool their information and work together to play characters that would interact with the regular non-staff players. Effectively they were characters that were separate from the staff account characters.  But still no matter how hard I tried.  No one on staff wanted to play NPCs.  They wanted their own PCs.  I really never saw the reason for this.  Because the only difference between the PC and the NPC was that a staff member could gather information from other staff members because as an NPC they would be privy to it.  As for a staff run PC, they couldn’t do such things, because it was grounds for dismissal.  In the beginning, for the longest while I had staff play the more important characters on the mush, with the stipulation that once a regular player was powerful enough to fill the position, to take over the role with their own character, the staff run PC would step aside.  So, this being a vampire mush, I had my Vampire Wizard (staff member) play the prince of the city.  After a while someone became powerful enough in-game to become the prince.  But the staff member always had some excuse, some reason not to let that person become the prince.  It was the only time I ever had to fire someone.  Mind you, there were a few more reasons for her dismissal other than not stepping aside.  I don’t know about that.  It’s not that easy to run a game.  It’s even a heck of a lot harder to run a game that people are going to find fun and entertaining.  Not everyone who plays can successfully run.  I don’t care how much work you do, how much prep time you put into the game.  (If the work is there, it’s going to show, and every one I know who plays the game is going appreciate that level of effort.)  But did it ever occur to you that no one wants to sit and watch the DM bombastically monopolize the game by injecting his own character into the game?  You’ve never been a parent have you?  To answer your question… ANY party or social event that a parent plans for their child(ren). You know, if it was about the DM feeling left out, and wanting to play a character; never getting a chance to be a player.  That’s one thing.  But I’ve seen a lot of DMs who have the “player-jones” and yet still manage to play an NPC that doesn’t monopolize or dominate the game. Oh, I agree with you there.  Anyone who plays the game should try their hand at running at least once, and see how hard it is.  Well, I am a DM, and occasionally a player, so I have every right to say this.  If you think anyone who sits behind the screen should be allowed to bring to the table a character that is going to share in the limelight of the PCs, if not bask in it;  or worse hog it; that isn’t there for support, but for the DM to get his player-jollies.  Then he shouldn’t be sitting behind the screen.  It’s selfish, and selfishness is the one quality that DMs cannot afford to have.  DMs are there for the players.  If a DM can’t find fun and enjoyment in running a game for other players, then they are sitting on the wrong side of the screen.  Elf Witch, I just love the Karaoke reference.  Actually, I respectfully don’t agree.  There are PCs.  There are secondary PCs (like familiars and cohorts).  There are NPCs like the shopkeeper, or the dragon that the party has to rescue from the evil princess.  Then there is the Party NPC, or PNPC if you will.  Then there is the DMNPC or DMPC, the NPC that the DM has in the party who like some countries’ military strategies don’t have clearly defined goals or an exit plan.  – The problem is when the DM starts playing that NPC like a PC, hence the acronym DMPC. Well, I agree with you there.  But for me there are distinct differences between NPCs, DMNPCs, and DMPCs, oh, and ICBMs. Then there are the artists that understand that they are nothing without the audience.  The critics are unfortunately a fact of life, like maggots or mould.  Being the DM doesn’t give you the right to do anything you want.  It’s a tool to allow you to be creative as your imagination will allow.  The trick is being imaginative, creative, entertaining enough to help create a story with players.  The GM is nothing without the players.  A GM without players is just another unpublished writer.</blockquote>

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