How easy do you find it to run NPC party members?

[MerricB]

Another thought came to me on the Familiars thread: How easy do you find it to run NPC party members?

They could be a familiar, an intelligent sword, or a real human (or demihuman) accompanying the group.

It's never been something I've been really happy with. Either they turn into the "DM's Mouthpiece", or they get forgotten about and only act halfway through a combat to heal someone...

Oh, and intelligent weapons and familiars! I keep forgetting they're there.

There was a time after reading Jennifer Roberson's Chronicles of the Cheysuli that I thought it'd be fun to give two of the PCs intelligent, telepathic bond-animals (lir). This was back in the early 90s. A few sessions later, I remembered about them again - we had all forgotten about them.

Am I alone in this inability to keep relevant NPCs in a group for more than (say) 5 minutes or so?

Cheers!

 

[Crothian]

I find it pretty easy. I'm used to it and they don't need to be playeed all the time like the PCs, its okjay to have them fade into the background for a while.

 

[CronoDekar]

You're not alone, though in my old campaign (which wasn't the most serious), the party was practically a zoo. By the end all of the following were NPCs who travelled with the party:

* A floating intelligent holy symbol
* The raven familiar of a dead alienist (fortunately I portrayed him as inattentive, so this one was easy to pass up)
* A forest gnome rogue
* An intelligent pacifist psuedonatural elder ooze elemental trying to learn Common bound into a PC's ring
* An arctic kitten.
* And a solar disguised as a human commoner to watch over the PC cleric (though this guy was just about in the last session)

So afterward I decided in any future campaigns, I'd only have a maximum of one NPC in the party at the time. I think I could handle that. Players can handle any of their familiars

 

[shilsen]

I've never had a problem with it. I do it often enough in one group where a player or two is invariably missing by running their PCs. And in another game a player dropped out months ago but the others are adamant that they like his PC as an NPC run by me, so I'm running an NPC as part of the group literally every session.

 

[davidschwartznz]

I always forget party NPCs, which I why I make the players run them.

 

[ForceUser]

It's not hard, but I keep it to a minimum because I want the PCs to interact with each other. When I roleplay NPCs separate lines of communication tend to develop: Player A talks to my NPC, Player B talks to my NPC, but Players A & B won't talk amongst themselves. Since I want in-character intra-party conversations so that PCs build camaraderie, I keep NPC tagalongs to an absolute minimum.

When I do have NPC party members around, I hand them off to the players to run during combats so I can concentrate on running just one team (the monsters.)

 

[devilbat]

I voted "I manage". Sometimes I need a reminder to have the NPC take an action.

 

[Shemeska]

Never had a problem with it. Give them interesting personalities and backstories and you don't run the risk of forgetting about them. At that point they're as interesting as a PC ideally, though some people might resent NPC party members as being 'DMPCs' with a kneejerk objection. But it's never been an issue for me.

 

[Herobizkit]

Most games I've run in the past 10 years have had a maximum of three players. As such, I've become a self-appointed expert on roleplaying multiple NPCs, both in- and out-of-party.

In particular, I am running a solo campaign with an old friend, and the entirety of the story is pretty much carried through PC-NPC interaction... only when I'm lazy and want to throw him through a module do we even bother rolling dice for anything.

 

[ThirdWizard]

I voted "I manage" but its probably closer to easy. The main problem is that I usually run about three NPCs adventuring along with the party. There are actually only two PCs in my current game, so they hire out muscle a lot to help them out. These are generally common grunts, fighter or barbarian types, but they know a cleric and a mystic theurge who they like to bring along occasionally as well.

Next adventure they're going to try to buildup a veritable army of hired help to assault a place. Fun fun fun.