My question is exactly what the topic suggests as a Gm is it possible to play along side the PCs in a game and enjoy at the same time

If you're making the most of GMing you should be enjoying playing the NPCs I think. I do.

I don't know how you challenge a party legitimately if one person always knows the story and the details.

I would say that it would be rather difficult as a GM you're controlling the environment and know the behind the scenes stuff. However, think of it this way....

You already are playing along with the others at the table. You control the NPCs. Give them life. Get into their characters. You actually have the better of the two worlds. You have an unlimited number of characters to play rather than just one.

Myself and another player in my group trade off the responsibility of gming every couple of months, so we both have characters of our own in the group. The way we do it I essentially give them control of my character while I'm gming or I don't do anything with him until someone in the group prompts me. I do think it is hard to try and GM and actively play a personal character without becoming biased.

It's possible, but a bit difficult. You are, essentially, being a significant NPC.

I've got a character, because the idea at the outset of the campaign was to occasionally rotate GM duties. As we get further into the campaign, that's not entirely feasible unless they want to just do one-off standalone sessions, as I've got several subplot lines percolating in the background. So, the bulk of the use of my character is his staying behind to handle the administrative end of our *ahem* "perfectly legitimate business enterprises" while the rest of the group is off having fun. Occasionally, I pull him in to plug holes in the group created by player cancellations.

For example, out pilot elected to drop out of the campaign this past weekend, so my character subbed for her and tagged along to fill the combat hole she left (which was fine...I'd planned on him tagging along for the reveal about him that's been waiting to drop, and this was the perfect session to do so). But, when my character's along, he always takes the last PC initiative slot, lets the others determine course of action (despite being the owner of the ship), and basically serves as a glorified NPC.

It's possible, but a bit difficult. You are, essentially, being a significant NPC.

I've got a character, because the idea at the outset of the campaign was to occasionally rotate GM duties. As we get further into the campaign, that's not entirely feasible unless they want to just do one-off standalone sessions, as I've got several subplot lines percolating in the background. So, the bulk of the use of my character is his staying behind to handle the administrative end of our *ahem* "perfectly legitimate business enterprises" while the rest of the group is off having fun. Occasionally, I pull him in to plug holes in the group created by player cancellations.

For example, out pilot elected to drop out of the campaign this past weekend, so my character subbed for her and tagged along to fill the combat hole she left (which was fine...I'd planned on him tagging along for the reveal about him that's been waiting to drop, and this was the perfect session to do so). But, when my character's along, he always takes the last PC initiative slot, lets the others determine course of action (despite being the owner of the ship), and basically serves as a glorified NPC.

Yeah basically how I do things too.

I really like how Kat does it in the Campaign Podcast with her character Lyntel.

I like to play my own character alongside if we rotate GMs. Not because I don't enjoy playing all the other NPCs and manage the story and adventure, but to keep the group for the most part of together.

Though while I am the GM my character becomes a NPC and is just another tool in the toolkit of me as GM and another tool to use for the party in combat. In general it is useful anyway to have a few NPCs alongside the party, because helps you to manage the adventure without railroading the adventure, they can offer perspective, help to transport idea or concepts which you might have not explained well enough in your initial description and simply hep with the game flow. There is no harm of one of those is your PC when you are not the GM.

There is just one trap you absolutely need to avoid: Don't steal the spotlight with your character. No campaigns build around your character (usually), the focus are the actual player, not your own char, if you keep this up there will be no problem with tagging along with your character. Though personally I would not bring my own PC if I am not planning to switch GMs anytime soon, it just less convenient that having your "favorite" npc directly in the group for all the advantages and makes your job as GM indeed a little harder without proving any advantage if you are not playing the character with someone else in the GM chair.

A good word of advice, if you do decide to use a GM PC, is this: make sure they don't know how to solve the problem. Their solution may be just a little off, or they don't have an idea, or their idea is batshit crazy. Otherwise, your players will rely on that character's advice, and your stories will follow the blandest path.

Incidentally, this is also good advice for any NPCs you run, too.

Honestly, I am not a fan of this whether it is I who is GMing or another. I've played in games with GMPCs before and while the GM is quite often really good and everything, no insult to them there, the GMPC just kinda detracts from the game, even if they keep them to the background (in fact this often a detraction itself, who is this weird guy following us around not saying much?). If your players are fine with it then go ahead, but I personally like to either GM or play, not both.

Honestly, I am not a fan of this whether it is I who is GMing or another. I've played in games with GMPCs before and while the GM is quite often really good and everything, no insult to them there, the GMPC just kinda detracts from the game, even if they keep them to the background (in fact this often a detraction itself, who is this weird guy following us around not saying much?). If your players are fine with it then go ahead, but I personally like to either GM or play, not both.

Yeah I see your point, but if you have a revolving GM schedule, its almost necessary. I don't want to keep making new characters when its my turn (even though I just did because my last guy died) or keep explaining why an old character keeps popping back up sporadically.

There is certainly a very real danger with a GMPC.

However, if you can do your job properly when you’re the GM, then they’re nothing more than a regular NPC during that time, and not necessarily any more dangerous or useful than any other NPC.

But outside of a situation where you’re switching GMs every so often, I wouldn’t recommend running a GMPC. Just run normal NPCs instead, and if one or more of them become regulars, that’s okay. Just run them as normal NPCs, and you should be fine.

Yeah, it is just personal preference for me rather than a belief that it can't be done.

I've run a GM character, as a sidekick to my son's PC. It worked okay, but it's hard not to give them a life of their own, which only detracts from the player's experience.

I have a friend who always insists on running his own GM PC, and while nobody has complained to him, we don't really like it. His GM PC is always several orders of magnitude more powerful...basically the Gandalf or Aragorn to our Hobbits...showing up when we're in a tight spot or steering us on a different path. It's irritating to be honest.

I have a friend who always insists on running his own GM PC, and while nobody has complained to him, we don't really like it. His GM PC is always several orders of magnitude more powerful...basically the Gandalf or Aragorn to our Hobbits...showing up when we're in a tight spot or steering us on a different path. It's irritating to be honest.

I know it hard to confront someone about something like that, but maybe its time to do so. Especially if it marginally sours your gaming experiences

I have a friend who always insists on running his own GM PC, and while nobody has complained to him, we don't really like it. His GM PC is always several orders of magnitude more powerful...basically the Gandalf or Aragorn to our Hobbits...showing up when we're in a tight spot or steering us on a different path. It's irritating to be honest.

I know it hard to confront someone about something like that, but maybe its time to do so. Especially if it marginally sours your gaming experiences

He's running a short new campaign soon using D&D5, we've been play testing the rules a bit so he's not totally new to it when he hosts. Then he mentioned wanting a GM PC and I guess my face gave it away, he said we would run him except for special events. Then he wanted to start the GM PC at level 4 (while the PCs start at level 1)...at which point I got a bit irritated and we had a friendly argument about it. I'm pretty sure he came around, but it's hard to tell.

This campaign is a one-off (over a weekend camping for 3 nights...nothing but chill nights, fires, coyotes, and the clatter of dice...awesome! ) so if it becomes a problem I will bring it up afterwards and suggest he don't use GM PCs anymore.

What do you feel that a GM will get from a play experience having a GMPC instead of an entire galaxy of NPCs that need to follow few if any rules?

I've run a GM character, as a sidekick to my son's PC. It worked okay, but it's hard not to give them a life of their own, which only detracts from the player's experience.

I have a friend who always insists on running his own GM PC, and while nobody has complained to him, we don't really like it. His GM PC is always several orders of magnitude more powerful...basically the Gandalf or Aragorn to our Hobbits...showing up when we're in a tight spot or steering us on a different path. It's irritating to be honest.

I had a long-time GM that did/does that. I don't play there anymore. Any time I think about running a GM PC, I remind myself that all NPCs are GM PCs.

This campaign is a one-off (over a weekend camping for 3 nights...nothing but chill nights, fires, coyotes, and the clatter of dice...awesome! ) so if it becomes a problem I will bring it up afterwards and suggest he don't use GM PCs anymore.

That sounds like an awesome time, I'm totally planning for something like that next time I go camping with a few friends.

Hope everything with your GM goes well.

Speaking of gamenight on the weekend: Our current GM explicitly switched her GM PC to a NPC simply because she thought that the character was to distracting for her and took away to much focus from running the adventure. This is something worth considering especially when you are new to the GM position. Stuff that is happening can become a little overwhelming at the beginning and playing your own character on the top is certainly not helping with that.

Admittedly, there's a temptation to run the character as if I were just a player, but these sessions aren't what that's about. He may or may not end up getting killed off or otherwise written out, since it looks like I'll end up being the sole GM, but we'll have to see how that aspect goes.

Since he is [/i] designed with being an occasional PC in mind, I do award myself XP on the occasions I use him, but only 50% of what the rest of the group gets (rounded down).

This campaign is a one-off (over a weekend camping for 3 nights...nothing but chill nights, fires, coyotes, and the clatter of dice...awesome! ) so if it becomes a problem I will bring it up afterwards and suggest he don't use GM PCs anymore.

Man, I have the perfect outdoor gaming space, rain or shine, but I live far enough away from civilization as to make that a moot point. Consider me jealous!

(Probably doesn't help that this grumpy old hermit doesn't much care for going off his land to talk to people, either.)

I have a friend who always insists on running his own GM PC, and while nobody has complained to him, we don't really like it. His GM PC is always several orders of magnitude more powerful...basically the Gandalf or Aragorn to our Hobbits...showing up when we're in a tight spot or steering us on a different path. It's irritating to be honest.

I had a long-time GM that did/does that. I don't play there anymore. Any time I think about running a GM PC, I remind myself that all NPCs are GM PCs.

To his credit the stories are good and the art is great, and he doesn't resort to the GM PC at the drop of a hat. It's almost always a fun time, which is the main thing, but I think his games would be even better if he lost the crutch.

We flip flop GMs on a semi-weekly basis, and I'll maintain a PC for the times that I'm not in the hot seat. Over the years I've gotten pretty good at having my PC fade into the background when it matters. She'll hang around for the BSing at the cantina table character building moments, she can do stuff that wont drive the plot - but when it comes time to plan or attack a base or whatever, well you always need someone on the ship to come racing in for a rescue or do computery things.

TL;DNR - it can be done, but with a great deal of care.

I will say that my DnD 5e / SW RPG group has tried the GMPC in the past, when we rotated GMs within the same campaign / game. As someone who played a PC and then played that character as an NPC while I GM'd, I will say that it actually became more of a burden than a benefit to me. An extra initiative slot I had to deal with, another character to track ammo / damage / spells effects on, etc. Another character to move on the playmap (we play on Roll20), another character to keep updated with xp, treasure, gear, etc. When the roles switched and I went back to playing while another guy became DM and ran a GMPC, I found myself thinking I was an observer to some other story sometimes as his GMPC acted in combat against foe NPCs, got attacked, etc. Another guy who switched over to GM in that game to run an adventure actually ended up writing his PC out of the story in a temporary fashion - to free up his own focus on the broader game while still preserving that character in the world to come back to the storyline later.

We eventually transitioned to where we run two campaigns now, one in each system. The GMs are different and don't play GMPCs in the game that they run. I think it's working out better. I can focus on being the GM in one "world" while fully exploring the growth of my PC in someone else's "world."

That's my $.02

- GM Khyrith

p.s. If I have a cool character idea in the game I run, I might create an NPC that shows up briefly in a cameo and then goes away (but doesn't approach "Gandalf" status)... or when new guys join the game without a good idea for a character, I roll up an idea (at the PCs level or a bit lower) that I have, and then passively observe how that character works when someone else plays it!

Running an NPC that advances with XP like a PC does isn't really all that different at the table from running any other NPC. Away from the table, it's more bookkeeping.