Have you ever had your Dungeon Master want to be a player in a game too? I mean they are the Dungeon Master plus they have a character they created following along with the party. Do you think this is a good thing knowing that its the same guy that could kill your character also playing next to your character shoulder to shoulder. There are some strategic imbalances that I could only see benefiting new players or very small parties but why not say its an NPC. What do you all think?
I can see why a Dungeon Master would wish to have a character in the game, I've felt that myself.
But it is difficult enough to run DMPCs on a temporary basis without overshadowing the players somehow. Get an invested character in there instead of a throwaway cameo…
Yeah, I've had that feeling on one or two occasions. What I would do is have a recurring character be someone the group would run into fairly often be "My character." That fact was known only by me. The group didn't need to know that. I can't really think of any way to have a Dungeon Master run character as part of a group without throwing everything off. I mean, the group would follow whatever the Dungeon Master character did and even if the Dungeon Master showed the group his/her character wouldn't always be right they'd still tend to do it. No, this isn't a good idea.
Kn,
Yes, that is the best way to do things. Any recurring character I have in games I Dungeon Master tend to be someone who provides guidance or the occasional helping hand/nudge in the right direction. They are never normal members of the group that are always in the adventure.
This can only work out in my mind if the Dungeon Master keeps the character more or less mute on party conversations and actions unless its a bunch of newbies and the Dungeon Master is using his character to guide them.
I could see the Dungeon Master running a PC if the party is very small. If there are only one or two players they would need some kind of help. At that point the Dungeon Master might as well make it a PC since the character will most likely be a permanent part of the group. As Hunter said they would have to be a folower type and not be a leader.
Yeah, but if it's a follower type are you really running a character. Okay, let me rephrase that, if the character is basically mute and a follower with little to no input is that a character or an NPC that travels with the group for additional firepower?