the Gm pc

Ahhh! So you were the only one willing to run the game, taking the responsibility of the “Game Master,” but you really wanted to play. Easy fix, make a character to play along with the rest of the players. NO! Don’t do it! It is too easy to fall into this trap. Sure, it sounds like fun, but soon you are taking over everything, having all the answers, and making the rest of your players feel like supporting characters in your story. 

Think of it this way…you do not need to be a member of the party when you are going to play all of the other people the party runs into. There are times where an NPC is needed to help the party reach a location or gather knowledge, but these characters need to come and go. If you find the party is lacking in a particular area, and will need a way to pick up the slack, you can add an NPC for a brief time, however, a better way to handle this is to have the party find magic items or be gifted boons.

Occasionally, the story you are creating may require your players to protect an NPC. If this is the case, the NPC should not be able to stand on their own, but actually need the party to keep them alive and out of trouble. If the party is escorting a merchant (you know, becoming the ever dreaded hired guards for a caravan), the merchant and their underlings should present in a way that shows the party they would indeed die if your group was not there. This gives the players a sense of purpose, and drives their egos.

If the story calls for a character to travel with the party for an extended time, let them sit back. Don’t allow them to drive where the players go or let their story take over. It’s not about the NPC reaching their goal unless they can achieve it while the PCs are accomplishing their own agenda. If the players do seem to get caught up in asking the NPC a lot of questions, it is okay that they do not have any answers.

In general, when I add an extended NPC with the party, I place them on the back burner. They do not speak unless spoken to, and they are not a fount of information. If they enter combat, I have them do pretty minimal actions and always lose ties to players and enemies. Any NPC that must travel with the party is typically a “One Trick Pony,” and are there for a very specific purpose.