Hello,

As a GM, I like running my own NPCs. But there are times when I think it would be fun to have "guest" NPCs, where another GM would roleplay a random mercenary, merchant, town official, low level bad guy, noblewoman, etc. Just to keep it fresh, and save me from having to make up a personality for every minor character in my world.

No matter how diverse I try to make NPCs, I'm sure they end up being sort of similar, due to my natural writing voice.

Ideally, I'd envision these to be short term things, just to throw some different voices into the game, and to let a GM have some fun playing a no-strings NPC. I'd be happy to do this for other games as well.

What do you think of this idea, good, bad? Would anyone be interested in playing one, or requesting one?

Yeah, sure. There's nothing like a guest NPC spot - it's like being an extra in a movie.

"Hey, you in the red shirt. Go and check behind that rock!"

Well I personally like the idea, I might be willing to help out with an NPC once in a while, just throw a PM my way.

I think this is a good idea, and I wish I had the time to help out. Unfortunately, I can't even commit to running a single guest NPC at the moment.

It is a good idea. I can't elaborate as to why, but it is.

Personally the reason I like the idea is, no matter how good a gamemaster is, there are always limits to ones imagination, though some on here has been making me doubt if such a limit exist in some people, let's be realistic, there is always a limit and we all get some "habits", traits and flaws that we put into a few too many characters/NPC's than we should.
This would bring some diversity and a breathe of fresh air to a game, since suddenly, you can't rely on what you have learned of the gamemaster during play, suddenly someone else might add an entirely new twist that no one could foresee.

Conclusion: It makes the world more realistic in many cases, adds some more "perceived randomness" and most important, it adds diversity to a game.

Now what does it add to a site like this and as a community? It brings gamemasters closer together, giving them a chance to get a "sneak peak" into their playstyles and find people who they enjoy working with, without having to tie themselves down into a longterm game with this particular person.
What good does it do the players? It gives the players to experience more gamemasters and as before mentioned, get a sneak peak into their style, giving players a better insight into what GM's they would enjoy to play with.

Now the consequences of this is, it's one more person to wait for to post, which slows games down.

I would enjoy having guest NPCs or being a guest NPC. It adds a nice spark to a game and helps DMs offset the load of making 900+ npcs (well maybe not that many but you know what I mean) I happen to have a campaign thats perfect for guest NPCs right now, though it's just getting started and we may not need one for a bit.

Ok, cool, thanks for the feedback! I think a "guest NPC" role would be fun, no commitment, just trying out a random character, roleplaying it however you like.

Sounds like Muggie2, Teraki, BlueShaine, and Archenstone would be willing to try playing one.

Teraki brings up a good point that the DM would have to trust that the NPC would be able to keep up with the posting rate. I agree that is a potential concern. Especially since one of the advantages of a DM NPC is that the DM can have them post as often as he/she wants. A "guest NPC" is dependent on the guest, just like a regular PC. But that's ok, it's just a short term role anyway.

In any case, the next time I have the need for an NPC (and I do fairly often, I like using them), I'll PM someone to ask if you want to give it a try. If you don't want to be PMed, just let me know.

And if any of you DMs want to try using a guest NPC, just shoot me a PM, and I'd be happy to play one. I'm on MW all the time, so I'm able to post often. I wouldn't hold up your game.

I have a couple kind of brilliant chars laying around that could be used as NPC's, so feel free to PM anytime.

Guest NPCs sound like heaps of fun, I'd definitely be willing to give it a go.