Hi Kat! (and everyone else :) ) I was wondering if you had any tips for playing a member of the party without becoming a "DMPC"? Maerie and the Guardians work so well together, and I'm going to have to add a character to my party to help my newbie players, but I don't want to cause problems by unintentionally favoring my character or having an unintentionally all-knowing character the players can ride off of. Thanks! And love the show
This is a great question!
I think the main thing is to remember that as the DM, the world is your character. Maeri isn’t my character, she is part of the world. So she’s never really there to help the characters, or to be a party member-- she is there in service to the world and the story that I’m telling. Like with any part of the world you’re creating as a DM, you want to be making things for your players, and I feel like that’s the crux of having a successful NPC party member. Don’t make them a stand-in PC, and don’t make them your character-- make them part of the story and the world, and let that story intersect with your players’ story however that feels natural and believable.
Also there is a naturally limiting factor when playing a party member as a DM-- having this party member interact with literally anyone other than the PCs is horrible. You have to do two voices and have a conversation with yourself. It’s the worst. There’s a reason that Maeri rarely speaks up when the players are in conversations with NPCs.
