Game Master Guidance: The Curse of the GMPC

The "Game Master Player Character," or GMPC for short, is a roleplaying game faux pas rivaled only by railroading in most circles. While the game master has control of their campaign's world, they still exist apart from the party and their interactions. While a good GM will offer a cast of developed characters, these figures will almost never have the prominence of the player characters. In comes the GMPC, an apparent solution to the issue. The term has come to mean a number of different things but generally it’s a character the GM inserts into the party. On paper this might sound fine but those with first hand experience know better. The GMPC will often end up dominating the plot, pulling the story out from underneath the players’ feet and putting it solely in the GMs control.

More than the story can fall victim to a GMPC. These characters will often be created with the same rules used by the players, for the sake of fairness. What this really means is that the GMPC has all the complexity of a regular PC. Aside from bogging down combat, they’ll get advantages regular players won’t, on account of being controlled by who dictates the dice.
Most GMPCs will be deemed “important” and so the GM isn’t in a rush to have them suffer the same way the rest of the party does. There are obviously exceptions but I think it’s safe to say that the standard GMPC is guilty of all this to some degree. GMPCs are a burden narratively and mechanically and players quickly resent their presence.

That doesn’t mean you can’t have NPCs tag along with the party. It’s useful to have characters that genuinely know the main cast. They can offer responses to their actions or as a sounding board to their ideas. If the players grow attached to these characters, the more invested they’ll be in the story. And the fact it, it’s harder to feel connected to a character that’s lucky to show up more than once. However, these GMPCs should never be anything more than supporting characters. That doesn’t mean they should be helpless but it’s still the players' show. I tend to make sure such characters have a personality to match their limited role. They should certainly have likable qualities but it’s always underlined by combativeness, cowardice, or just plain old foolishness.

To avoid the worst excesses of the GMPC, make sure they’re not anymore invulnerable than anyone else. Give them statistics you’d expect from a person of their position, never more but maybe a little less. That being said, the party’s allies shouldn’t be remotely as powerful as even the most non-combat oriented player. Additionally, don’t pull any punches, no matter how much you or the players have grown attached to the GMPC. Being around the party shouldn’t automatically shield a person from death and injury. They can be involved in an important storyline but they shouldn’t be the center, barring extreme circumstances. Like any other NPC, the GMPC isn’t going to be a mindless drone of the party (unless it literally is) and will have their own beliefs and motives. If staying with the party will put those values in jeopardy, they’ll end up parting ways, barring a particularly good reason for them to stick around. Don’t be afraid to have an NPC follow alongside the characters. It’s only when you treat them any differently that they become a GMPC.