As a general rule, I think it's a bad idea to foist DMPCs onto an otherwise helpless party. Railroading and worse may occur...not least of all, stealing the spotlight from your own players.
Except, here's a campaign almost entirely DMPC-centric. Thoughts/advice?
Yes...but forty of them?
The term "DMPC" is a bit charged. There are, of course, numerous NPCs in every campaign: what seperates a "DMPC" from them are the fact that they have PC-like qualities: they go on the quests, play an outsized role, and look out-of-place.
In Wormwood Mutiny, the name of the game is coalition buidling. Here there are dozens of NPCs, and yes, some of them will be friendly. But since you're lost in a swarm of them, no individual one is capable of playing an outsized role.
And your fear is railroading, but really, the first 2/3rds of this module is railroaded, in so far as there is a daily schedule and the PCs can't do jack to influence it. It's all about getting a taste of pirate life - which is fine for an introduction that only lasts a limited time.
The only traditional "adventuring" part of the module (on Bonewrack Isle) specifically takes away your two best friends (ie those most likely to help you). Can the PCs choose to take other, less helpful sots? Sure, but then, it's a choice, not something being foisted on them.
Once you start book 2, I imagine the crew takes a step back in power. It will be like Children of Westcrown, Councilmembers in Kingmaker, or Caravanees in Jade Reagent. They're too low level to help out, but they provide an "in group" for the PCs to interact with.
In summary, I think there's a huge difference between Sandara being your friend in the midst of a crew of pirates, and the times when a DM rolls up a Cleric and sends him with the party as they do dungeondelving otherwise by themselves. Not all persistantly available NPCs need reek of DMPCs.
I don't think you can really count the entire crew as GMPCs. They are the background cast, the random folks milling around while the main cast does the important work. I think the adventure does a fairly good job of emphasizing the PCs as instigators and agents of change, rather than just another part of the crew. That the crew members are given names and descriptions doesn't necessarily make them more important than Castle Guards number 1 through 20.
Sandara is the closest to a GMPC I see in the adventure, and she is pretty thoroughly relegated to a support/mentor role. While a GM could easily make her a GMPC, stealing spotlight from players, she doesn't necessarily have to be. It is all going to depend on how things turn out and how much initiative the players take for themselves. A gung-ho party might keep her as little more than a heal battery, while a group more aligned to railroading might allow her to chart their course to glory. But either way, I don't think this adventure is worse than, say, Council of Thieves. Certainly better than Jade Regent in these regards.
I've been running a long term pirate campaign (Reavers on the Seas of Fate) and the PCs have a ship with 30 named NPCs, some of which are high-ish level and notable from other APs (Lavender Lil, Samaritha Beldusk, Jaren the Jinx, Bojask) and one of which is an ex-PC. Before they had their own ship they worked on one for another captain. It can work out great - they form real relationships with them. If you are a DM who considers relationships and interpersonal interaction to be a "distraction from the action," then it's probably not positive. But our PC captain and his mates spend a lot of time worrying about personnel management. Is Slasher Jim really a serial killer? How do we manage having women aboard a ship (everyone knows that's unlucky...)? How do we keep the crew busy enough that the ex-slaves and captured pirates don't get at each others' throats again? They are especially affected when someone they know and has known for a year dies...
IMC, pirates with a flair for advancement sure as heck try to steal the spotlight from the PCs... It makes them up their game and try to be even more infamous.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The NPCs in the Wormwood Mutiny not DM-PCs.
A DM-PC is exactly as it implies - the DM is playing a PC that is a regular member of the PC party. The DM-PC goes were they go, shares in the XP and the rewards that the party receives for adventuring.
Having Sandara accompany the party for a brief section or excursion doesn't make her a DM-PC any more than having another some NPC minion guide the party to some location (a staple in many adventures).
As, a DM-PC as not automatically a 'bad idea' as some people (in past threads) maintain. It is very situational and very much dependent on the dynamic of the DM and the players around the table.