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Usurping Their Positions

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
zombiegleemax
Oct 01, 2003 2:14:22 I was curious to find out if any of you running GH campaigns have ever let your players play an important NPC from GH and if so, how did it turn out? Did the player have a completely different perception of the NPC? Did you find the player "stole the show" from the other players? Perhaps it worked out well and you used it to drive the storyline. Post experiences, thoughts, and comments, please.
#2
zombiegleemax
Oct 01, 2003 2:39:21 I always use one (non) player to control all Monsters and Party Enemies. They become as invested in their "characters" as the PC's do. All I have to do is sit back and adjudicate. In this way I am sure all the opposition's resources are being creatively used and the players' accomplishments are not diluted by DM help.
I readily admit it, I used to let PC's off the hook just for my convience. I hated stopping a campaign to roll up a new character and figuring out someway to integrate this person with an existing party. It was just easier to downplay the opponents desire to kill/maim/defeat the PC's. Now, I don't have to worry that I'm guilty of doing this subconsciously. Only once have I had to rebuke a player for not doing his best to have the monsters win.
As long as you let every player have a chance to be an NPC, (or all the NPC's) I think it is a great idea. (If its the same person over and over, it begins to feel to confrantational, your group will probably splinter). It will really enhance their overall roleplaying skills. They also tend to be less critical when I don't flesh something out completely or get caught off guard. They have a taste of how unpredictable a party of PC's can be and how hard it is to plan for 60-100 NPC's at once.
#3
zombiegleemax
Oct 01, 2003 9:25:47 I *try* and make NPC's as facilitating the actions of PC's rather than dictating them, on any level.

I would rather the PC gain the position of an NPC, such as a Duke or Ambassador or whatever, and influence the world from there, than give a player an NPC.

Having said that, I wouldn't mind occassionally giving control of NPC's over to someone else. It's tedious sometimes coming up a billion different NPC's and always having to switch minds to be in the shoes of an NPC and thus be as genuine as possible.
#4
Brom_Blackforge
Oct 01, 2003 12:19:39 If I understand it properly, the question is whether anyone has let players play one of the big-name NPC's of the setting, like Robilar or Mordenkainen. It's an interesting idea, and I would certainly expect knowledgeable players to have their own takes on that kind of character. It's not something that I ever considered, and I'm not sure that I would do it. It would have to be the right combination of player, NPC and circumstances, and it would have to be a limited-term deal, I think. Even then I'm not sure. I agree with Delglath that it's probably better to have a PC rise to a comparable level than to just hand a significant NPC over to a player.
#5
Argon
Oct 01, 2003 13:18:34 Well I've had players rp an NPC before in my campaign. This usually occurs when I have someone who wants to play for a limited time or for just a few sessions or so. What I have done in the past is give this player a short write-up on the NPC with a short history. This usually works out pretty good for me. Although it did backfire on me once.
I gave a player an NPC of a Paladin of Heironious to rp. Well at first he was doing a good job of Rping. But one of the Pc's irk'ed him a little too much and what happened next was both hilarious and disturbing. The paladin convinced the party to split up and meet at a specific point elsewhere. Of course the paladin decided to take the pc who was irking him along with him while the other two pc's decided to take the other route. Well the paladin and this pc get to a mountain pass and travel upwards of over a hundred feet. All the time the pc is laying into the paladin heavily. The pc was playing a rouge character which enjoyed joking far too much. The paladin withdre his sword and attacked the rouge pc. Well the rouge pc is hitting every combat round and the paladin keeps missing the rouge pc. So the paladins on his last limb and tells the rouge pc that he's not letting him leave here alive. The rouge pc laughs at him and tells him that before he makes such threats he needs to learn how to fight (The paladin didn't score one hit in the entire encounter so far). Well low and behold the paladin scores a critical hit on the rouge pc and throws him off the side of the mountain. The worst part is the players who stated they had to leave early stayed long enough to cheer the paladin on (out of character) kill his character kill his character! So that's what he did. Afterward the same people who were cheering kill his character told the player of the rouge pc man that was messed up. Like they weren't cheering for his demise 5 min. earlier.
Well the paladin meets up with the party on the next session. When the other party members see the paladin he tells them that he and their friend encountered a troll in the mountains and their friend had died fighting valiantly alongside him. But he avenged his death by slaying the troll. The party showed their grief and asked if they could see were their friend fell so they could recover the body and give him a proper burial.(Next session I take over for the paladin npc). The paladin said I tried to stop it but his body was throw over the edge of the cliff and I could not find were he fell but he could not of survived the fall. The paladin then said a pray to Heironious for him.
Well that was fun, haven't given control of an npc since then. But the paladin lost his paladinhood and began to become upset at Heironious for abandoning him. In the end I had the paladin start a cult to Hextor and he was a villian for a long time in my campaign.
#6
zombiegleemax
Oct 02, 2003 6:55:04 LOL! That's a great story, Argon. What I really meant though is what Brom is getting at. Has anyone ever handed their PCs Philidor the Blue and a contingent of his closest allies or Prince Brightflame and his compatriots in civil disobediance to Celene, saying "Go git 'em!" and actually have it work out? Even if it didn't work out, I'd like to hear the story.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Oct 01, 2003 2:14:22	I was curious to find out if any of you running GH campaigns have ever let your players play an important NPC from GH and if so, how did it turn out? Did the player have a completely different perception of the NPC? Did you find the player "stole the show" from the other players? Perhaps it worked out well and you used it to drive the storyline. Post experiences, thoughts, and comments, please.
#2 zombiegleemax Oct 01, 2003 2:39:21	I always use one (non) player to control all Monsters and Party Enemies. They become as invested in their "characters" as the PC's do. All I have to do is sit back and adjudicate. In this way I am sure all the opposition's resources are being creatively used and the players' accomplishments are not diluted by DM help. I readily admit it, I used to let PC's off the hook just for my convience. I hated stopping a campaign to roll up a new character and figuring out someway to integrate this person with an existing party. It was just easier to downplay the opponents desire to kill/maim/defeat the PC's. Now, I don't have to worry that I'm guilty of doing this subconsciously. Only once have I had to rebuke a player for not doing his best to have the monsters win. As long as you let every player have a chance to be an NPC, (or all the NPC's) I think it is a great idea. (If its the same person over and over, it begins to feel to confrantational, your group will probably splinter). It will really enhance their overall roleplaying skills. They also tend to be less critical when I don't flesh something out completely or get caught off guard. They have a taste of how unpredictable a party of PC's can be and how hard it is to plan for 60-100 NPC's at once.
#3 zombiegleemax Oct 01, 2003 9:25:47	I try and make NPC's as facilitating the actions of PC's rather than dictating them, on any level. I would rather the PC gain the position of an NPC, such as a Duke or Ambassador or whatever, and influence the world from there, than give a player an NPC. Having said that, I wouldn't mind occassionally giving control of NPC's over to someone else. It's tedious sometimes coming up a billion different NPC's and always having to switch minds to be in the shoes of an NPC and thus be as genuine as possible.
#4 Brom_Blackforge Oct 01, 2003 12:19:39	If I understand it properly, the question is whether anyone has let players play one of the big-name NPC's of the setting, like Robilar or Mordenkainen. It's an interesting idea, and I would certainly expect knowledgeable players to have their own takes on that kind of character. It's not something that I ever considered, and I'm not sure that I would do it. It would have to be the right combination of player, NPC and circumstances, and it would have to be a limited-term deal, I think. Even then I'm not sure. I agree with Delglath that it's probably better to have a PC rise to a comparable level than to just hand a significant NPC over to a player.
#5 Argon Oct 01, 2003 13:18:34	Well I've had players rp an NPC before in my campaign. This usually occurs when I have someone who wants to play for a limited time or for just a few sessions or so. What I have done in the past is give this player a short write-up on the NPC with a short history. This usually works out pretty good for me. Although it did backfire on me once. I gave a player an NPC of a Paladin of Heironious to rp. Well at first he was doing a good job of Rping. But one of the Pc's irk'ed him a little too much and what happened next was both hilarious and disturbing. The paladin convinced the party to split up and meet at a specific point elsewhere. Of course the paladin decided to take the pc who was irking him along with him while the other two pc's decided to take the other route. Well the paladin and this pc get to a mountain pass and travel upwards of over a hundred feet. All the time the pc is laying into the paladin heavily. The pc was playing a rouge character which enjoyed joking far too much. The paladin withdre his sword and attacked the rouge pc. Well the rouge pc is hitting every combat round and the paladin keeps missing the rouge pc. So the paladins on his last limb and tells the rouge pc that he's not letting him leave here alive. The rouge pc laughs at him and tells him that before he makes such threats he needs to learn how to fight (The paladin didn't score one hit in the entire encounter so far). Well low and behold the paladin scores a critical hit on the rouge pc and throws him off the side of the mountain. The worst part is the players who stated they had to leave early stayed long enough to cheer the paladin on (out of character) kill his character kill his character! So that's what he did. Afterward the same people who were cheering kill his character told the player of the rouge pc man that was messed up. Like they weren't cheering for his demise 5 min. earlier. Well the paladin meets up with the party on the next session. When the other party members see the paladin he tells them that he and their friend encountered a troll in the mountains and their friend had died fighting valiantly alongside him. But he avenged his death by slaying the troll. The party showed their grief and asked if they could see were their friend fell so they could recover the body and give him a proper burial.(Next session I take over for the paladin npc). The paladin said I tried to stop it but his body was throw over the edge of the cliff and I could not find were he fell but he could not of survived the fall. The paladin then said a pray to Heironious for him. Well that was fun, haven't given control of an npc since then. But the paladin lost his paladinhood and began to become upset at Heironious for abandoning him. In the end I had the paladin start a cult to Hextor and he was a villian for a long time in my campaign.
#6 zombiegleemax Oct 02, 2003 6:55:04	LOL! That's a great story, Argon. What I really meant though is what Brom is getting at. Has anyone ever handed their PCs Philidor the Blue and a contingent of his closest allies or Prince Brightflame and his compatriots in civil disobediance to Celene, saying "Go git 'em!" and actually have it work out? Even if it didn't work out, I'd like to hear the story.