What do you think when DM introduces old PC as an NPC?

[adwyn]

Boy I'm going with Wormwood on this one. In all the time I've gamed I've only seen this done well or even acceptably a few times and mishandled hundreds of times. Its gotten so bad that when it happens it takes every ounce of tolerance and politeness I have to not pack up and walk out the door right then.

And yet even in the worst of cases, or perhaps especially in the worst cases, the DM is convinced the players are at fault for what happens.

The problem is DM PC's are so rarely motivated by a need for a pregenerated NPC and all too often by an attempt to share a beloved thing with others. That's no dfifferent than showing people slide shows from your vacation or telling funny stories about your children - just don't do it!

 

[was]

I've seen this done well several times. However, these npc's were pretty minor and didn't really affect the outcome of the adventure. The one time that I've seen it done extremely poorly, the DM made his favorite character into the king of the realm. He completely monopolized every story arc and then attacked the party at the end of the campaign. The party killed him three times in the same encounter, however due to about 50 contingency spells, he kept healing back to full HP and coming back. As expected, he eventually killed off the party. None of the players ever gamed with or under that guy again.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I just relax and roleplay the encounter to the best of my ability.

 

[Luthien Greyspear]

I've done this myself several times, and I've had to actively make sure I didn't overuse the old PC. It can get hard to resist the urge to drop back into an old character's habits and mannerisms, particularly if that character that you really liked to play. To prevent that kind of tangent, I always plan in advance exactly why the character is there in the first place, and what limitations I can put on their interference. That keeps me from overpowering or overshadowing the PCs.

What I find to be more fun is using my players' old characters in supporting roles. It gives them the impression of continuity, and occasionally the sense of rewards beyond the dungeon. In one campaign I ran, one of my player's former characters was a stalwart but long-winded paladin in service to Heironeous. I needed to run a murder mystery arc to introduce a vigilante non-evil assassin that would ally herself to the party, so I set him up as the Governor of an influential city on the Nyr Dyv. The town was corrupt, and he had been sent there to restore justice and order by the Duke of Urnst. When the party came through town, he made it a point to question them, just in case they were troublemakers hired by his political rivals. The player (who was playing an equally long-winded half-orc ranger) decided to engage his former character in conversation about fighting giants. We entertained the party for a good half-hour with more and more outlandish plans to trap, trick, ensnare, maim, and kill giants. It was fun.

It was even MORE fun (for me) when, on their next visit to the city, I revealed the murder-mystery plot...by having the paladin assassinated. Everyone looked to the player, who paused for a few seconds as he realized that I had just killed his old character, then put on the most pained look and exclaimed, "Hey, you can't do that!" Trust me, he was well motivated to solve the mystery, despite the fact that it was an urban adventure in which he was largely a support role.

Oh, and....100 POSTS! (Woot!)

 

[LogicsFate]

A while back, a friend of mine stepped up to the DM plate, and in the first game, brought out his first PC as a kind of choas god-king.
It was interesting as we really didn't get into a story line, just did some odd roleplayong.

Later in that same game, he introduced my first PC as a god-king of hell, and let me take contol. We talked with the PCs for awhile, and eventually the game ended for the night without too much happening.

No one hated it, though we never looked back, we told the newer players of our characters exploites throughout the next week in RL. The next week someone else DMed and that was the end of it...

Maybe it gave us an odd kind of closure, after those characters went into a DMless limbo

 

[JRRNeiklot]

I'm thinking, "Great, I've been wanting to kill this bastard for a long time!"

 

[Teflon Billy]

I'm generally fine with it, as I am pretty much for anything that lends settings continuity.

Also, I am blessed with a great DM and doubt he would be doing it for stupid reasons.

 

[Silver Moon]

It's pretty normal in our game, but we've had very tight continuity with the characters now in their 16th consecutive year of character time. Even when players leave the group their characters usually stick around the party's home base as NPC's after that. Using your own PC as an NPC makes for a good "hook" to get the party into the mission. As long as the DM plays fair, and turns the NPC sheet over to the players to play during combat scenarios, I have no problem with it.

 

[Penfencer]

I introduce old PCs of mine into my games all the time, though, granted, they usually take background roles and act as sources of information, or--in the case of Gideon, my wild mage--comic relief.

On the rare instance when one of my old characters-turned-NPCs are involved in a scene with the PCs where stats come into play (combat, mainly), I'll do things like have them get conveniently injured and forced out of the fight--if they're even above the current level of the players. Given that most of my PCs never make it past 3rd level, their NPC forms are about the same.

 

[Frater]

I certainly don't want to run into a Bresden Black in a future campaign....

I agree. Any future Bresden Blacks that I meet will have a large sized great axe +3 embedded in thir heads before they can even introduce themselves.

Plus, I felt his name should have been Preston Digitator anyway.