[GM tips] On GMPCing

As you probably know GMPCing is the noble art of playing a Game Master Player Character. In other words, being both the arbiter of the game and an active participant.

And you'll probably have heard the advice: "Don't do it, not ever. Just no." But I'm here to tell you: "Nah, fuck it, let's go and experiment!"

Of course, there's some things to take into account. That near-ubiquitous advice isn't near-ubiquitous for nothing. There's good reasons to discourage this hybrid role, because it's easy to fuck up. But just because something is hard doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. In fact, I think you should do it at least once, just to see how it feels.

Do's and dont's

The tl;dr of creating your GMPC is as follows:

• Preferably play a supporting character, like a healer, that lifts up the rest of the party without having too much of an impact on the opposing side (i.e. does little damage).
• DON'T play a spotlight character, like one that does massive damage, has really cool moves, or has great social skills. It'll make the other players feel like you're just using your own game for self-gratification, with them as the audience.¹

The tl;dr of playing them is as follows:

• Always remember that you are not a PC (Player Character). As you are also the GM, you have a unique position and are in constant danger of "playing with yourself". Use your GMPC as a means of enhancing the setting, rather than interacting with it. You can do this by having your character drop quests, hand out lore, give hints, etc.
• Support the other players, but DON'T become a lightning rod or damage sponge for them to offload bad consequences on.
• DON'T solve puzzles. Use your GMPC as an in-game way of dropping hints to the rest of the party but otherwise stay out of the process.

Lastly, the type of game you're playing also factors greatly into the success, or failure, of playing a GMPC:

• Playing a GMPC is easiest if you as a GM also don't know what is going to happen next. Use an oracle. Push some storytelling responsibility towards your players. Have them decide what complications arise from a botched roll, let them track the party's reputation with other factions². This is much easier with narrative systems, like Blades in the Dark, or rules-light systems like MÖRK BORG.
• Playing a GMPC is also a lot easier if you're allowed to fuck up occassionally³, i.e. if you play with friends. You're bound to run into one of these GMPC traps at some point. Best to admit mistake, laugh it off, and keep going with the story.
• DON'T GMPC in crunchy games like Pathfinder 2E, especially in groups with relative strangers. If you're already juggling rules and scenes and getting to know new people, admit that also running a character might be too much to handle.

What also really helps, as a sort of training exercise, is you could try out a game that is largely or entirely GM-less, like The Quiet Year⁴. It helps you figure out what parts of storytelling you might want to keep to yourself and what parts you might safely outsource to players.

I think that about sums it up. I've GMPC'ed about a dozen times now, mostly for our Blades in the Dark group. We rotate who is the Storyteller per session. Most of the others don't GMPC, either because they don't like doing it or because the system and GMing in general are still new for them.

But when it's my turn to be storyteller, my spy character is along for the ride. During these sessions, he's often a quest giver ("I heard from our patron that there's a sealed message on board the Solitude, she wants to know what's in it.") or someone who does ASSIST and SETUP actions after other players decide what tactics they want to use in a given situation.

It took a while to get the hang of it, but by now I'm getting very positive feedback from the other players and I really enjoy getting to dip in and out of the Storyteller role now and then.

Of course, if you tried out GMPCing and found that it is not for you, that is also completely legit! I hope the experience has taught you something about TTRPGs, how they work (for you) and what is important for you as a GM and as a player.

I hope this has helped you as well, dear reader. If so, do drop me a toot on Mastodon, I'd love to hear about your experiences.