He is every player's nightmare.
He knows more than the players already.
He is a higher level than the party members.
He has an incredible secret that won't be revealed until the time is right.
He speaks for the player characters, and sometimes fights their battles for them.
He can't be killed and his inclusion in your adventuring party is mandatory.
He is to be escorted and protected, yet instigates conflicts.
He is The Bad Dungeon Master Player Character.
The "DMPC" is sometimes helpful to balance out a smaller party, fill a tactical role in the group, or deliver information to player characters. But there is a type of DMPC that shows up far too often in campaigns, a character who insinuates themselves into the adventure and undermines the game itself. A character like this is the most common DM mistake in the book. I have heard, read, and experienced many stories about this guy. It is with the best of intentions that I broach the subject, because I don't like to emphasize the negative, but we will all be better off once this contrivance is put to rest.
At some point in your DM career you may fall prey to this. You create an NPC to facilitate the characters' adventure, to help give you a voice in the game world and move things along. A trail guide, if you will. But here's the thing. This isn't their story. Your focus should be on the quest itself, not the characters undertaking the journey. And sometimes the characters you create to join your players become an unwanted intrusion in their adventures.
I myself have been guilty of creating characters that I really wanted to be popular with my players, but ended up being loathed. This can be worked to your advantage, as I have described previously. Just don't try to force a character onto your party, or introduce the dreaded Mary Sue. If your NPC fits any of the characteristics listed at the beginning of this article, it is worth considering a change.
He is to be escorted and protected, yet instigates conflicts.
He is The Bad Dungeon Master Player Character.
The "DMPC" is sometimes helpful to balance out a smaller party, fill a tactical role in the group, or deliver information to player characters. But there is a type of DMPC that shows up far too often in campaigns, a character who insinuates themselves into the adventure and undermines the game itself. A character like this is the most common DM mistake in the book. I have heard, read, and experienced many stories about this guy. It is with the best of intentions that I broach the subject, because I don't like to emphasize the negative, but we will all be better off once this contrivance is put to rest.
At some point in your DM career you may fall prey to this. You create an NPC to facilitate the characters' adventure, to help give you a voice in the game world and move things along. A trail guide, if you will. But here's the thing. This isn't their story. Your focus should be on the quest itself, not the characters undertaking the journey. And sometimes the characters you create to join your players become an unwanted intrusion in their adventures.
I myself have been guilty of creating characters that I really wanted to be popular with my players, but ended up being loathed. This can be worked to your advantage, as I have described previously. Just don't try to force a character onto your party, or introduce the dreaded Mary Sue. If your NPC fits any of the characteristics listed at the beginning of this article, it is worth considering a change.
Bad DMPCs take the power away from the player and the satisfaction they get from overcoming challenges by their own abilities. They steer the plot along a strictly controlled route that they have little to no say over. At their worst, they make the players feel inferior, or become a channel for the DM to act out passive aggressively.
There is a place for NPCs, but challenging your players for heroism isn't one of them. The player characters should be the main characters in your campaign, and the main agents of change and story development in their environment. This is the main difference between writing scripts and novels and playing tabletop RPGs... the writing process. A novel is a singular vision realized. An RPG is like a brainstorming session. It is ideas being shouted out from around the table. Does this always produce the best stories? Sometimes it does, it has given us series like Dragonlance and Malazan: Book of the Fallen. But the purpose of the RPG is fun, entertainment, and community. A crowd-sourced story may not be anything worth publication, but it can still be a story that is enjoyed and remembered fondly by the players as their own.
Happy ventures!
There is a place for NPCs, but challenging your players for heroism isn't one of them. The player characters should be the main characters in your campaign, and the main agents of change and story development in their environment. This is the main difference between writing scripts and novels and playing tabletop RPGs... the writing process. A novel is a singular vision realized. An RPG is like a brainstorming session. It is ideas being shouted out from around the table. Does this always produce the best stories? Sometimes it does, it has given us series like Dragonlance and Malazan: Book of the Fallen. But the purpose of the RPG is fun, entertainment, and community. A crowd-sourced story may not be anything worth publication, but it can still be a story that is enjoyed and remembered fondly by the players as their own.
Happy ventures!
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