There's a lot of attention and negative connotation around DMPCs. So much so that you've found your way to this blog post! I trust that if you're reading this, you've been asking yourself a few questions on DMPCs and how to run them properly. I'll share some experience, and hopefully we can all benefit from it.

To make a good DMPC, aim to make a good NPC instead. Your DMPC should be liked by the party, defer decisions to the party, and should avoid overshadowing the party with unfair advantages from the DM. Use you DMPC as a storytelling tool, and as a way to fill a specific skill gap in the party. Like any good, interesting NPC, your DMPC should have their own agenda.

Do read on. I want to ensure that you see success with your DMPC.

Make your DMPC likeable

Like any NPC that you want your players to interact with, let's make your DMPC likeable.

• Make your DMPC a normal person. Although your players will often latch onto eccentric, quirky, and strange NPCs, try making your DMPC a regular person with a regular occupation.
• Give your DMPC a stereotype. Using stereotypes makes things instantly recognizable to your players. For example: a friendly stout dwarf looks like a potential loyal teammate, while a secretive hooded rogue looks like a potential betrayal.
• Make your DMPC a genuine, good person. Or make your DMPC whatever they need to be for your party to like them. If your party distrusts secretive NPCs, then don't make your DMPC secretive. Also, avoid making your DMPC overly good and honest. For some reason, most of my groups distrust NPCs that have nothing to hide.
• Give your DMPC goals, ambitions, and an agenda. You might be fortunate to have a group of players that will readily invite your DMPC into the party. If not, your DMPC will need a reason for offering to join. Having an agenda and a personality is what makes your DMPC more than just words and numbers scribbled in your session notes.

You should tailor these to your group's interests and tendencies to maximise your chance of success.

Give your DMPC their own voice

Like all other NPCs in your game world, DMPCs need their own point of view. Give your DMPC an agenda. When they act, make sure you role-play their agenda and personality confidently.

If your DMPC doesn't act in their own agenda's interest, the DMPC won't be believable. The players' immersion will start breaking down as they suspect the DM is trying to steer the players with the help of the DMPC.

Imagine this: your party has been drinking at the tavern all night, and they're ready to brawl with rivals. The mead-loving DMPC dwarf says "maybe we should leave them alone for tonight" instead of saying what a mead-loving dwarf would say - "hold this while I knock their lights out!" In the former situation, it feels like the DM is trying to hold you back while in the latter, it feels like the DM is cheering you on!

Use your DMPC as a tool

Once your players accept the DMPC into the party, the DMPC becomes an instrumental tool to the DM.

A DMPC that's been accepted into the party can:

• Fill a specific gap in the party's skillset
• Act in favor of moving the story or the game forward

If the party is missing a specific skillset, your DMPC can be designed to fill it. If you have a small group of players, their choice of characters won't likely be ideal. They might be missing a thief, a melee fighter, or a healer, and the DMPC can be brought in after you've identified the gap that needs filling.

You can take that one step further, and actually make a character sheet for the DMPC. That way, the party can control them. Small groups might be needing an extra body or two in combat for balancing the combat mechanics.

In our example above with the mead-loving DMPC dwarf, some of you may have thought that having the DMPC try calling the group in for the night would be fine - the DM might not want to run a barroom brawl. However, if the players wanted to have a barroom brawl and worked towards having one, they would feel like their expectations have just been violated and that you've just taken that option away from them selfishly.

The pitfalls of playing a DMPC

Your DMPC can significantly influence the party, but each time they make a suggestion, you put your reputation on the line. There are pitfalls to running a DMPC, and making mistakes can often harm your integrity as a DM. Here are the things you should not do when running a DMPC:

• Play in your own game
• Make decisions for the party
• Force the DMPC to stay in the party

Don't run a DMPC because you want "a chance to play." There are so many issues with creating a DMPC with this mentality, but at the heart of it, it's selfish. It doesn't serve the players or the table. It serves you alone. Selfish behavior doesn't contribute to a better game, so keep it away from your table. "Forever DMs" sometimes run a DMPC for this reason, but there are better ways to solve the "forever DM" problem. Playing in your own game is a poor shortcut to take, and may even further entrench you into that role. I'll have to write on some ways to break out of the Forever DM role in a future article.

Give your DMPC a voice and an agenda. This is not just re-iterating from one of the previous sections, because this time I'm telling you that your DMPC needs a voice and agenda. If you fail to give them this bit of personality, any action they take could look like you're intruding in the game. Selfish behavior is a red-flag and root-cause of many bad DMs. You may not ruin your game today, but left unchecked, it can grow resentment among your players.

The DMPC should defer decisions to the party. They absolutely can make their own suggestions (as long as it's done with their agenda in mind), but they should let the party have the final say. If your DMPC is the type to kick down the front door and fight, it might be funny to have them do that, but no more than once, or they're taking away agency from your players. Pulling a Leeroy Jenkins is a great way for anyone to show they personality of the character they're playing, but doing it at every opportunity "because that's what my character would do" is annoying for everyone.

And don't force your DMPC to stay in the party. Unless your DMPC has compelling reasons to stay in the party, or is required for the story, this is touching again on the selfish behavior.

These are some pretty heavy consequences! Give your DMPC an exit plan. Check out Sly Flourish's article on NPCs. Give your DMPC a reason to leave the party in case you feel the DMPC is unsuccessful. Some ideas: an insatiable wanderlust, a deathwish, a previous commitment, fear of danger, fear of the party.

Assess why you need a DMPC

The truth is - you're actually just creating an NPC. The term "DMPC" describes a degenerate case where the DM is trying to live the player experience of the game through an NPC.

Here are the guidelines to running an NPC without letting them sabotage the game:

• Don't force the NPC to join the party
• Don't force the party to keep the NPC
• Don't let the NPC make all the decisions for the party
• Don't use the NPC to "play in your own game"
• Don't force anything onto your players

With these guidelines in mind, I invite you to stop using the term "DMPC". We should instead be discussing the root cause of this problem and addressing it by what it is: selfish behavior.

I don't think you need a DMPC. I think you need something else. Maybe you need to make more NPCs for your game, or maybe you need to make them more interesting. Maybe the things you're doing in your game aren't sustaining your enjoyment. Either way, if you thought you needed a DMPC, you might consider reflecting some more on your game.

Now go have fun with your NPCs! Bring all sorts of interesting characters to the game!