The ol' Switcheroo...

[Djeta Thernadier]

So tonight I had a thought…

Have you ever been in a situation in game , for whatever reason , where you had to play another person's PC. Either because they were not present, or because of an in game incident , such as a spell that switched your minds or bodies. If so, how did you handle it?

If not, is there a character in your most recent game group who you'd love to get your hands on for a session? Why? And what would you do?

This hasn't happened yet in my game, but if I could, I think if I had to pick one from my current game, I'd pick Tusk, a half orc cleric, because I think it's an interesting character concept and I just think it would be interesting to play a half orc character. I probably would play the character much like the guy who plays him now. In my other game, I'd like to play the dwarf fighter, because I've never played a character who could give (or take) that much damage. I think I'd try to role-play him a lot more than the guy who plays him now.

So what are your thoughts…

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

About every other session we have one player or another who can't make it and the character is played by another.

They're unusually agreeable to certain suggestions during that period for some reason.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

We frequently have people playing other people's characters due to a three-headed GM situation and one fairly regular absentee. I played the halfling monk in our party for a couple of sessions (not continuous) and that was a lot of fun. Pretty much ran him as the player runs him, although he may have been a little bit prone to quoting Thoreau under my care. I think, all told, I've played almost every character in the party (save the two newest) for at least one session.

Best,
tKL

 

[Shadowdancer]

I had to play another player's character one night because she couldn't make it to the game. It was interesting try to play the character as she did, but it wasn't really that unusual for me. I usually play two characters in our group. That's when I'm not the DM, which I am most of the time, so I'm used to "doing the Sybil thing," as we call it in our gaming group.


In a PBeM game I've been playing in for the past year, we have had several PC personality changes because a player finds he can no longer play, (usally military personnel getting deployed) and someone else takes over playing that character. I find it very strange, and frustrating at times. I get used to a character being played one way, then someone else comes in and starts playing the character differently.

You get used to how a certain person will respond to a certain situation. Then the switch occurs, and a similar situation arrises, you take certain actions based on how you think another character is going to act, and then you're left hanging because the new player had the character do something else.

At times I cast want to scream (or the posting equivalent): "That's not what your character would do!" But since that person is playing the character now, that is what the character would do.

 

[Czhorat]

I've been in groups that suffer from frequent player absences and it's not uncommon for someone's character to be taken over by another player. We usually don't do too much role-playing with them, but it becomes essential for combat and tactical situations.

I've found two problems with role-playing more than one character. The first is that it's hard to handle two distinct personalities without creating an odd feeling that one is talking to oneself. The second is one of fairness. A player might feel uncomfortable being responsible for role-playing choices his character made in his real life absence. We had one player, for example, have a character that was not his pull a bit of an annoying prank on a fellow party member. We later came to a consensus that that event had not happened because the player controlling the character in person did not want to start creating an adversarial relationship with his companions. It's just easier if the borrowed character is a bit of a zombie most of the time.

 

[alsih2o]

i always have another player play a misin gplayers character. i have considered starting a game with pre-gen characters with the stipulation that if oyu miss a night and someone has to play your character they can choose to keep it and leave you with their character

the swirling-musical chairs aspect may be interesting.

 

[Duncan Haldane]

A few years ago I was involved with running a game at a convention that involved players switching characters.

Now, this wasn't a D&D game, in fact, it had no rules. And the characters were provided with the game. But during the three hours in which it ran each player got to play each character.

When we had a swap, the players would have to read the character background for the new character they were playing, which was interesting (I had a dyslexic player in one session, and ended up reading the sheets to her).

Running the game was excellent, and one group of players in particular stood out. In this group, the new player of a character inherited body language, mannerisms and speech patterns from the previous player - it was like there had been no change.

It was incredible to watch this happen.

The other really fun part about the situation was that information about the scenario was scattered throughout the character sheets (for instance, there was a gun in the glovebox of the car the characters were in, but that was only mentioned on one character sheet. However, by the time the gun needed to be used in the storyline, each player had read that sheet and knew it was there).

I had great fun running this scenario, and seeing it being played. I also got to play it myself when it was still being designed, and as a player I found it challenging and fun.

As for what happens in my campaign - we just get one of the players who is present to play the character.

Duncan

 

[Henry]

You all have just given me a great impetus to do a "switched body" scenario for my D&D game in the future! I may have to do a bit of prep work beforehand, to keep it sneaky, but the cogs are turning...


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As for me, I don't think I've ever had to play someone else's PC, but it's definitely happened in our group before - and as Olgar says, a lot of "sudden domestication" goes on - the situation of the absent player from the movie "The Gamers" is not far off the Mark.

 

[diaglo]

actually i've seen some characters played wiser when the player was absent. not roleplayed better. but tactically and supportively better. using the right items at the right time. or spells or skills.

i've also seen more played worse. but you can't fault the sub player. it wasn't his concept to begin with and he just floundered with all of the information.

 

[Yellow Sign]

In a Earthdawn game that I ran, I had a PC knifed and thrown off a boat by a shapeshifter. For the rest of the game, I had him run the Shapeshifter as his character. He jumped at the chance to play a villian. It was one of the best games that I had ever run. Really fun.