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Now, I admit, I have not been involved in my storylines. Except for a significant involvement in the Lich/Rook storyline in the Landing, I've only significantly participated in one event, the 740 release event. That said, one thing that has always struck me as somewhat OOC is how everyone will drop everything to interact with a GM controlled character. Now, I understand this, and I expect it, and I'm really not here to argue against it. Lets just say I find it a curious dilemma, and it led me to this question, since I've never really been involved in many storylines.
How often to GMs stealthily pretend to be an actual player? By this, I mean that a character they create for the storyline (not necessarily ALL, but even one) will periodically show up in town, with no special features or behavior to set them apart, and seemingly engage in normal player activities? Only later in the story do they end up being revealed as special?
It seems to me that by doing this, GMs can subtly shift the storyline in a direction they want without making things incredibly obvious, and can also inspire more player-on-player roleplay, by getting the ball rolling. I suppose what I'm really curious about is how often does this happen, if at all? I also realize that "being a player character" is a time consuming task, and GMs spending their time spelling up in town or going group hunting is probably not an efficient use of storyline time, but still, I'm curious.
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>Barnom exclaims, "I smell delicious!"
>Barnom says, "Like sage and nutmeg."
Good point on interaction, but at the same time those characters are meant to spur such events and interaction.
I can say that PCs have had, I believe, random characters they've used to enact a storyline in-game, extend a particular story, or encourage an event. They are often mistaken or presumed to be GMs in these instances or perhaps they were GMs. We can't always tell as they tend to be one off situations. I even have logs from some of them like Nordril or when we thought a player's companion, a super rare one, was him as a GM character.
I don't believe in hindsight they were in fact anything other than players with a good story to tell and this is an RP game.
-G
I can say that PCs have had, I believe, random characters they've used to enact a storyline in-game, extend a particular story, or encourage an event. They are often mistaken or presumed to be GMs in these instances or perhaps they were GMs. We can't always tell as they tend to be one off situations. I even have logs from some of them like Nordril or when we thought a player's companion, a super rare one, was him as a GM character.
I don't believe in hindsight they were in fact anything other than players with a good story to tell and this is an RP game.
-G
>Good point on interaction, but at the same time those characters are meant to spur such events and interaction.
Oh certainly. What I think might be interesting is if a GM could have a character "on the inside" of the player's group. For instance, in the Lich storyline, there are a number of groups working together. One group adamantly opposed to the Lich and Rooks is the one primarily comprised of Sarvia, Ravashaak, Arpelli, Kiske, Maags, and a few other comers-and-goers. They frequently meet and discuss things, make plans, try to figure things out, etc. Now, when a GM shows up and makes a comment about the direction of something, or makes a statement, its often listened to with extremely open ears and taken as gospel (by the players). But there is a lot of subtlety in the way that players can, through their exploration of things, guide the direction the storyline can take.
In this case, what if Kenstrom wanted to attempt to incorporate a new aspect into his storyline, but was incapable of doing it without it being too heavy handed? If he had a "spy" player character who could join into these conversations and guide the topic in the right direction, without being to blatantly obvious . . . or he could claim personal interaction with Barnom/Drangell to provide information (this is hardly out of the ordinary in this storyline, dozens of people have "personal" encounters with these GM controlled characters).
Sometimes, the "swarm" of people seeking to be involved can smother subtle storyline elements. These small groups of 2-5 characters are a prime location for subtle direction, but any obvious GM character would raise suspicions or too much attention. I don't know, I'm not saying it would be better, and its less a suggestion, and more me just being curious if its happened in the past.
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>Barnom exclaims, "I smell delicious!"
>Barnom says, "Like sage and nutmeg."
Oh certainly. What I think might be interesting is if a GM could have a character "on the inside" of the player's group. For instance, in the Lich storyline, there are a number of groups working together. One group adamantly opposed to the Lich and Rooks is the one primarily comprised of Sarvia, Ravashaak, Arpelli, Kiske, Maags, and a few other comers-and-goers. They frequently meet and discuss things, make plans, try to figure things out, etc. Now, when a GM shows up and makes a comment about the direction of something, or makes a statement, its often listened to with extremely open ears and taken as gospel (by the players). But there is a lot of subtlety in the way that players can, through their exploration of things, guide the direction the storyline can take.
In this case, what if Kenstrom wanted to attempt to incorporate a new aspect into his storyline, but was incapable of doing it without it being too heavy handed? If he had a "spy" player character who could join into these conversations and guide the topic in the right direction, without being to blatantly obvious . . . or he could claim personal interaction with Barnom/Drangell to provide information (this is hardly out of the ordinary in this storyline, dozens of people have "personal" encounters with these GM controlled characters).
Sometimes, the "swarm" of people seeking to be involved can smother subtle storyline elements. These small groups of 2-5 characters are a prime location for subtle direction, but any obvious GM character would raise suspicions or too much attention. I don't know, I'm not saying it would be better, and its less a suggestion, and more me just being curious if its happened in the past.
________________________________
>Barnom exclaims, "I smell delicious!"
>Barnom says, "Like sage and nutmeg."
<I don't know, I'm not saying it would be better, and its less a suggestion, and more me just being curious if its happened in the past.
I would lean towards saying it has. Perhaps not in the format presented, but in other substantiated ways. GMs are people too and they want to be good storytellers. Terate comes to mind, posts about when an event will occur, GMs watching these groups of roleplayers interact, and sometimes PCs just choreograph some obvious things to GMs, intentionally and unintentionally during interacting that the GM knows they planned then reacts with a mixture of inside/outside knowledge.
I get what you mean though. In the same vein I think every GM was a PC at one point :)
-Geijon
I would lean towards saying it has. Perhaps not in the format presented, but in other substantiated ways. GMs are people too and they want to be good storytellers. Terate comes to mind, posts about when an event will occur, GMs watching these groups of roleplayers interact, and sometimes PCs just choreograph some obvious things to GMs, intentionally and unintentionally during interacting that the GM knows they planned then reacts with a mixture of inside/outside knowledge.
I get what you mean though. In the same vein I think every GM was a PC at one point :)
-Geijon
<<I would lean towards saying it has. Perhaps not in the format presented, but in other substantiated ways. GMs are people too and they want to be good storytellers. Terate comes to mind, posts about when an event will occur, GMs watching these groups of roleplayers interact, and sometimes PCs just choreograph some obvious things to GMs, intentionally and unintentionally during interacting that the GM knows they planned then reacts with a mixture of inside/outside knowledge.
I can't speak for other GMs, but I loved to spy on the players I knew were discussing storyline material. It did give me ideas and thoughts on how to shift things. Other times, I simply put certain plot points into the hands of the players - the most overt had to do with a vote on whether the death penalty should be imposed upon a captured enemy NPC. What the players didn't know was that the NPC, regardless of the vote, would have a last minute sort of spiritual healing, turned from evil to good again...which made it kind of sad when she got the death penalty, turned good, and then had her head lopped off. <coughs>
Sometimes I would give hints, somehow or another, to get action happening, and sometimes, as I implied above, the actions of players would subtly affect my own plans, too.
Sometimes I would watch and desperately wish I was just another PC who was part of the storyline, instead of the fellow running it. ;)
GM Scribes
I can't speak for other GMs, but I loved to spy on the players I knew were discussing storyline material. It did give me ideas and thoughts on how to shift things. Other times, I simply put certain plot points into the hands of the players - the most overt had to do with a vote on whether the death penalty should be imposed upon a captured enemy NPC. What the players didn't know was that the NPC, regardless of the vote, would have a last minute sort of spiritual healing, turned from evil to good again...which made it kind of sad when she got the death penalty, turned good, and then had her head lopped off. <coughs>
Sometimes I would give hints, somehow or another, to get action happening, and sometimes, as I implied above, the actions of players would subtly affect my own plans, too.
Sometimes I would watch and desperately wish I was just another PC who was part of the storyline, instead of the fellow running it. ;)
GM Scribes
