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*TTRPGs General
Running NPCs as a long-term party/team member
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<blockquote data-quote="Wolf1066" data-source="post: 5181767" data-attributes="member: 88680"><p>One thing I've thought about doing if a new player decides they want to join in the game is: introduce the character as an NPC, first.</p><p></p><p>We've probably all been in a situation where the game is in progress, the players are up to their necks in the adventure and a new player comes along.</p><p></p><p>Generally - well, at least in all the games <em>I</em>'ve played or GM'ed to date where this situation has arisen, YMMV, of course - the new player fronts up for gaming night armed with brand spanking new character sheet and sits down and the GM then usually indulges in some shameless railroading to get the player characters into the right place/situation to meet the new character and then they role-play meeting and then the players decide that the new character can join them on their adventure.</p><p></p><p>The trouble is: the players already know that the newcomer is a player character. They are practically honour-bound to trust and accept the newcomer (an extension of each being honour-bound to accept and trust the other players who meet in that tavern at the beginning of the adventure <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />) and let them join the group. There is no suspense - can this person be trusted, what are his/her motives - and no reason at all to examine whether party/team and newcomer have <strong>reasonable </strong>grounds for joining forces - if any grounds are given at all... "Where're you going?" "I'm off to get lots of treasure." "Really? So are we." "Cool, can I join your team?" "Sure." "Thanks."</p><p></p><p>I do know of someone who deconstructed this trope horribly - he was playing cyberpunk (not with me as GM) and his character joined an existing party. They were driving along through the desert in their truck and saw his character walking through the desert, alone, with a bloody-great laser rifle slung over his shoulder. They picked him up, took him with them, stopped to camp for the night and assigned him a guard detail by himself in the middle of the night.</p><p></p><p>The player passed a note to the GM who read it, nodded and then let the player tell the team how he'd shot every single one of them through the head as they slept and had made off with their truck - after all, perhaps they should have questioned why he was <strong>alone </strong>out in the desert in the first place and not been so trusting of a random stranger armed with a silent <em>assassin's weapon</em> that they put him on guard without someone watching him.</p><p></p><p>But anyway, I digress - it's a character flaw: get used to it, I have.</p><p></p><p>But it does rather illustrate the point that players tend to trust characters they know are also player characters - and therefore their characters trust, also.</p><p></p><p>So, I think that the next time a new player elects to join, I'll go through the character's back story and work out what current game plot points best fit it and how to tie in that character's goals with the goals of the team - perhaps they are currently hunting down a particular Big Bad and the new character has "parents murdered" as a background. So, I make an executive decision that the character - who has been hunting for his parents' murderer for years - has finally found proof that it's the same villain the team is after.</p><p></p><p>We also discuss personality traits, views and outlooks and how the player's going to play this character.</p><p></p><p>Then, next game session, the existing team and I sit down to play and I do whatever railroading is required to get the team to come in contact with the new character and role play the meeting - of course there will be some plausible reason why (s)he has tracked down the team specifically, which the team will be made aware of.</p><p></p><p>Then we see if the "NPC" can convince the team to let him/her tag along - presumably the character will have skills and/or information that would benefit the team and the price of this help is to be in at the kill. Then they set off together to locate the Big Bad - which they do not succeed at that session.</p><p></p><p>The following session, the new player turns up and takes over the character - after the team have had their moments of suspicion and carefully checked out the character's story, done Human Perception checks (or whatever spells are appropriate) and grudgingly admitted it might be a good idea to join forces.</p><p></p><p>"Critical success" is determined by the players coming to the conclusion that they would work best together and suggesting that to the character.</p><p></p><p>Of course, having a history of running various NPCs with the team for varying periods of time - just long enough to get that goal sorted out or several months until the NPC found something else it had to do etc - would ward off any suspicion that something is out of the ordinary. With any luck the players would just think its another short term NPC camp follower with useful skills and a reason to be interested in the same goal - right up to the moment you address the new player by the character's name...</p><p></p><p>Then, of course, team and new player character continue on the quest to find the Big Bad. Then after that story is resolved, one presumes that the benefits of having successfully together convince the team and new player that they should stay together in the interests of finding more money/treasure.</p><p></p><p>And, for those who were wondering: that bloke who slaughtered an entire team within the first session he played joined our Cyberpunk game and played two pretty colourful characters ... the second of which was <em>murdered by another player character </em>who decided that he wanted to <em>kill off most of the team</em>. His reaction to that bit of irony was to be awestruck at the innovative and stylish manner in which his character was despatched - a true gamer!</p><p></p><p>Honestly, if he weren't currently living in England, he'd be playing in the current campaign.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Wolf1066, post: 5181767, member: 88680"] One thing I've thought about doing if a new player decides they want to join in the game is: introduce the character as an NPC, first. We've probably all been in a situation where the game is in progress, the players are up to their necks in the adventure and a new player comes along. Generally - well, at least in all the games [I]I[/I]'ve played or GM'ed to date where this situation has arisen, YMMV, of course - the new player fronts up for gaming night armed with brand spanking new character sheet and sits down and the GM then usually indulges in some shameless railroading to get the player characters into the right place/situation to meet the new character and then they role-play meeting and then the players decide that the new character can join them on their adventure. The trouble is: the players already know that the newcomer is a player character. They are practically honour-bound to trust and accept the newcomer (an extension of each being honour-bound to accept and trust the other players who meet in that tavern at the beginning of the adventure :p) and let them join the group. There is no suspense - can this person be trusted, what are his/her motives - and no reason at all to examine whether party/team and newcomer have [B]reasonable [/B]grounds for joining forces - if any grounds are given at all... "Where're you going?" "I'm off to get lots of treasure." "Really? So are we." "Cool, can I join your team?" "Sure." "Thanks." I do know of someone who deconstructed this trope horribly - he was playing cyberpunk (not with me as GM) and his character joined an existing party. They were driving along through the desert in their truck and saw his character walking through the desert, alone, with a bloody-great laser rifle slung over his shoulder. They picked him up, took him with them, stopped to camp for the night and assigned him a guard detail by himself in the middle of the night. The player passed a note to the GM who read it, nodded and then let the player tell the team how he'd shot every single one of them through the head as they slept and had made off with their truck - after all, perhaps they should have questioned why he was [B]alone [/B]out in the desert in the first place and not been so trusting of a random stranger armed with a silent [I]assassin's weapon[/I] that they put him on guard without someone watching him. But anyway, I digress - it's a character flaw: get used to it, I have. But it does rather illustrate the point that players tend to trust characters they know are also player characters - and therefore their characters trust, also. So, I think that the next time a new player elects to join, I'll go through the character's back story and work out what current game plot points best fit it and how to tie in that character's goals with the goals of the team - perhaps they are currently hunting down a particular Big Bad and the new character has "parents murdered" as a background. So, I make an executive decision that the character - who has been hunting for his parents' murderer for years - has finally found proof that it's the same villain the team is after. We also discuss personality traits, views and outlooks and how the player's going to play this character. Then, next game session, the existing team and I sit down to play and I do whatever railroading is required to get the team to come in contact with the new character and role play the meeting - of course there will be some plausible reason why (s)he has tracked down the team specifically, which the team will be made aware of. Then we see if the "NPC" can convince the team to let him/her tag along - presumably the character will have skills and/or information that would benefit the team and the price of this help is to be in at the kill. Then they set off together to locate the Big Bad - which they do not succeed at that session. The following session, the new player turns up and takes over the character - after the team have had their moments of suspicion and carefully checked out the character's story, done Human Perception checks (or whatever spells are appropriate) and grudgingly admitted it might be a good idea to join forces. "Critical success" is determined by the players coming to the conclusion that they would work best together and suggesting that to the character. Of course, having a history of running various NPCs with the team for varying periods of time - just long enough to get that goal sorted out or several months until the NPC found something else it had to do etc - would ward off any suspicion that something is out of the ordinary. With any luck the players would just think its another short term NPC camp follower with useful skills and a reason to be interested in the same goal - right up to the moment you address the new player by the character's name... Then, of course, team and new player character continue on the quest to find the Big Bad. Then after that story is resolved, one presumes that the benefits of having successfully together convince the team and new player that they should stay together in the interests of finding more money/treasure. And, for those who were wondering: that bloke who slaughtered an entire team within the first session he played joined our Cyberpunk game and played two pretty colourful characters ... the second of which was [I]murdered by another player character [/I]who decided that he wanted to [I]kill off most of the team[/I]. His reaction to that bit of irony was to be awestruck at the innovative and stylish manner in which his character was despatched - a true gamer! Honestly, if he weren't currently living in England, he'd be playing in the current campaign. [/QUOTE]
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