Multiple Characters per Player

[Shaft]

I'm running a game with 6 players, and inevitably, the friendly NPCs tagging along tend to evaporate. I don't mean that friendly NPCs disappear or turn on the group. There are plently of allies and contacts that walk on, present their info, interact, etc... But the NPC team members tend to get forgotten about. At the same time, I don't want to just forget the NPCs since they tend to have more specialised functions within the team- they're not always needed, but when they are needed, they are invaluable (the common example I can think of is The Atom in the JLA; usually, he doesn't do much, but when they need him, he's on center stage).

I'm toying with the idea of bridging the role of NPC and PC by assigning a specific NPC to each player, giving the player instructions for "motivating factors" and letting them run with that as need be, excercising veto only in the most dire circumstances (so the character isn't a full PC, but he's hardly a full NPC either).

Does anyone else have any anecdotes, thoughts or warnings about multiple characters per player?

[wrestlinggeek]

Dude, you have six players? In my opinion, you neither need to have people play multiple characters nor NPCs tagging along. Six supers on the team should be plenty.

[McCoy]

Dude, you have six players? In my opinion, you neither need to have people play multiple characters not NPCs tagging along. Six supers on the team should be plenty.

What he said. However, if you're going to go with this, I'll suggest a retcon, each "semi-NPC" has a past connection with the PC their player also plays, going back to before they joined the team.

I would consider them followers/sidekicks. I think this is the balance you are looking for between the player running the character and the GM having a veto on their actions.

You could handwave it, or you could give each PC a "follower" perk, combined with a Disad that balances it (DNPC, sidekick; Psych limit, feels responsable for sidekick's parents death; Enrage if sidekick wounded; etc) even if this would exceed the normal disad limit.

A suggestion.

[Shaft]

Dude, you have six players? In my opinion, you neither need to have people play multiple characters not NPCs tagging along. Six supers on the team should be plenty.

Sorry, I didn't make this clear, but my plan is not for all the players to always have two characters concurrently. If adventure A has NPC teammate number one tagging along, I'd give him to player X to "manage". One the next adventure, NPC teammate number two might tag along, and player Y would manage him.

A full roster of twelve player characters would be insane, though it might be fun to play out if an attack on their base were to occur...

[Shaft]

What he said. However, if you're going to go with this, I'll suggest a retcon, each "semi-NPC" has a past connection with the PC their player also plays, going back to before they joined the team.

I would consider them followers/sidekicks. I think this is the balance you are looking for between the player running the character and the GM having a veto on their actions.

You could handwave it, or you could give each PC a "follower" perk, combined with a Disad that balances it (DNPC, sidekick; Psych limit, feels responsable for sidekick's parents death; Enrage if sidekick wounded; etc) even if this would exceed the normal disad limit.

A suggestion.

And a whole bunch of darn good ones. Rep for you. One of the NPCs in question is actually the wife of one of the characters. He's ~425 pts, while she is about 375.

My thinking was sort of a two tiers of power level sometimes seen on a team. To (on again) use the JLA as an example, Superman and Batman would be the main player character types, while Supergirl and Huntress are the slightly less powerful, members that might have a link to the PCs.

[Hyper-Man]

Sorry, I didn't make this clear, but my plan is not for all the players to always have two characters concurrently. If adventure A has NPC teammate number one tagging along, I'd give him to player X to "manage". One the next adventure, NPC teammate number two might tag along, and player Y would manage him.

A full roster of twelve player characters would be insane, though it might be fun to play out if an attack on their base were to occur...

Well, in the last 1 year champions game hosted at my place we had about 3-4 consistent players and another 3-4 that showed up with varying consistency. We solved this issue by designating their characters as part-time npc's and a couple of the most inconsistent players (no fault of their own, crappy work schedules, transportation issues etc..) would just play whichever character was free that night. We never had a game where the 'full crowd' all showed up on the same night (seating would've been tight with 8 players) but everyone had a good time. The poor GM had it rough though since he could never be sure how many or which players he would have for certain storylines.

[Vondy]

If you do have them run more thn one character at a time, insist they do the dialogue between their PCs and the NPCs "in character."

[bigdamnhero]

I'm toying with the idea of bridging the role of NPC and PC by assigning a specific NPC to each player, giving the player instructions for "motivating factors" and letting them run with that as need be, excercising veto only in the most dire circumstances (so the character isn't a full PC, but he's hardly a full NPC either).

I did something along these lines in my last group. There were only 3 PCs, and after awhile it turned out that there were 3 major NPCs hanging around with them. One of them was a girlfriend; the others were just other NPCs that had joined the team for one reason or another. Like you, after awhile I got tired of "Invisible NPC Syndrome." So I started asking the players to each help manage one of the NPCs. Mostly it was just in combat: "What does "X" do?" But it helped the players get invested in the NPCs, and seemed to make it easier to remember they were there the rest of the time.

Don't know how well it would've worked with 6 PCs, tho.

[The Souljourner]

The game I'm in is 4 players, and we rotate between 3 characters each (never running more than one at a time in real time). It sometimes can make for a difficult to follow plot, but it lets us explore a lot more character possibilities. I tend to love to create new characters, so it's been great for me not to be stuck playing the same character all the time.

I think giving control of a few common NPCs can be just fine, but that means they move out of your control, so you can't depend on them for any plot critical actions. Plus, it puts them out of GM fiat range, so if the party needs a quick heal and Mr. NPC Healer is out of END, you can't fudge it for them.

I don't think it's ever a good idea to have players running more than one character concurrently in real time.... it's too hard for the player to keep track, and too likely that they'll get run with too much knowledge and cooperation of the other character.

-Nate

[Enforcer84]

anyone ever try it the other way? Multiple players per character?

[Hugh Neilson]

anyone ever try it the other way? Multiple players per character?

In one campaign, we had one Hero NPC. He had a full character sheet, and a pared down "combat only" sheet. In combat, a player whose character was KO'd would take over running the NOC (reducing the frustration of having nothing to do while that character who got hit with a lucky shot is out).

Does that count as multiple characters per player, or multiple players per character?

[Enforcer84]

Yes

[Kirby]

If it both you and the players feel more comfortable, then let them play the NPCs; however, let me provide an example of a similar situation that I've been in where ALL the PCs in a large group had NPCs. This was in a Birthright AD&D game.

PC - NPC and their relation
GMPC (Baroness) - Had her Champion/best friend
Me - Paladin betrothed to the Baroness - Sister was a Priestess
Female Elvin mage - "maid" (an 18/00 STR protector )
Male Dwarf fighter - girlfriend dwarf rogue
human swashbuckler - elven girlfriend
male thief - Ok, maybe he didn't have any one. I'm pretty sure he did, but I can't think of who it was (something tells me he was trying to teach a street kid the ways of theifdom).

Anyway, these NPCs came along with us on ALL our missions/quests, etc. And usually there were other NPCs that tagged along for an entire "adventure," such as the baroness's bard who was jealous of the swashbuckler's elven girlfriend because the elf had a perfect voice from birth, not practice.

The GM ran ALL of these NPCs (and more) without any problem. Something he did though was to not give the NPCs too much lime light unless the PCs were talking with them (though, the Baroness being the highest royalty was a shoe-in for plot devices). All the NPCs had small scenes so-to-speak and were essentially DNPCs for us that were present on a 14-. For combat, the GM rolled for them, but sometimes, when necessary for one reason or another, he hand-waived the rolls so certain actions/results would happen. (Heck, sometimes he rolled, but I could tell he wasn't adding the dice behind his screen.)

You may just need a piece of paper with the NPCs and PCs names on them, when they go in combat and leave it at that. This will remind you of who all is there when the tough stuff happens (combat, decisions, embaressing social situations, etc.).

For role-playing, just throw in a comment or two, or questions from the NPCs every now and then. Make sure it's role-played more often than not as opposed to "I tell my lacky all the info you told me." Roleplaying the NPC interaction will help the NPCs not evaporate so much.

YMMV.

[Shaft]

The GM ran ALL of these NPCs (and more) without any problem. Something he did though was to not give the NPCs too much lime light unless the PCs were talking with them... For combat, the GM rolled for them, but sometimes, when necessary for one reason or another, he hand-waived the rolls so certain actions/results would happen. (Heck, sometimes he rolled, but I could tell he wasn't adding the dice behind his screen.)

You may just need a piece of paper with the NPCs and PCs names on them, when they go in combat and leave it at that. This will remind you of who all is there when the tough stuff happens (combat, decisions, embaressing social situations, etc.).

Yeah, it's mostly the combat where I find the NPCs evaporate. I do sometimes use a sheet of paper, but what I find most effective are using miniatures (a lot of us are Heroclix players, so we have no shortage of figures to use).

I guess I'm just looking for a way to make my NPCs seems as fleshed out as the players. But the players are the ones who get top-billing...

[Shaft]

anyone ever try it the other way? Multiple players per character?

This one amuses me. Only kill one of him.