NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Darkness" data-source="post: 1974267" data-attributes="member: 13">I disagree with the very concept.If a DM "needs" a PC of his own to stay interested, he shouldn't be DMing in the first place.In a perfect world, that is. In reality, sometimes a group has nobody who's both willing and able to DM and so someone who'd rather play has to DM.[sblock]Tangent: Personally, I've never run into the problem, given that I want to entertain people (thus, DM) rather than play, while almost all role-players I've met IRL much prefer playing. When I play, I tend toward support roles (tactical advisor, sniper, party leader if nobody else is, etc.).The thought of a DMPC never occurred to me until I heard other people talk about it some years ago.[/sblock] If this person's desire to play is very great and they want a DMPC so they can play too, this can be a quandary: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">1. Not allowing them a DMPC can be detrimental to the game. (Bored/frustrated DM = less good DM.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">2. Allowing them a DMPC can be detrimental to the game. (Due to a conflict of interests.)</li> </ul>It's best if this problem can be solved indirectly, e.g., by rotating the DM position, or if the involuntary DM can find the good things about DMing. Only if that's not viable should a DMPC even be considered (IMNSHO, YMMV, etc.). Also, getting someone else to DM who's not quite as suitable can be a good option instead, as necessary splitting of the DM's attention between DMing and running his PCs will more often than not impact his DMing ability anyway.So... If one is necessary, how does one go about running a DMPC without a conflict of interests?IMO, when you create a DMPC, you should go in expecting to sacrifice this character's life for the well-being of the PCs. And then do exactly that, should it become necessary. Play a martyr. Or someone madly (and preferably secretly and hopelessly, to prevent intra-party conflicts involving the DMPC) in love with another PC. Or a suicidal person. Whoever this character is, he must be absolutely ready to die for the party at a moment's notice.Sounds harsh? Only if you don't like a challenge. Being a (reasonably) impartial DM is more important than personal gratification. Also, the PCs are the stars. The DM's character shouldn't overshadow them and going in with the right attitude (see above) kinda takes care of that problem.Besides, if you're a role-player, a suicidal/fanatically loyal character is just one role among many. The certainty of death is also very liberating. If you're going to die anyway, you have nothing to lose, right? So play your character to the hilt. And if you've done a good job, the PCs just might get you raised when you die to protect them. Even if they can't (no money, no body, etc.), they'll remember your character. And that's what counts, right? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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