Ok, ill backtrack for everyone, we ran illumination succesfully, well.. even further than that

My pary consists of my younger brother, playing as an undercovr orc "suicide special troop" ala highly trained killing machine that wont be missed, from a program from a semi-radical inquisitor, he wears full armour so people see him as hired muscle for my scum other member, played by my older brother, ok fast forward

after 2 sessions of illumination, which the highlights were the first trip to the pittswhjere my brother spat out his soda and bent over laughing at the drunk man who said "iiiim da onlay buwwet buyaaah hheeeeear" in my stupidest voice, him throwing a fire bomb on the bomb the raiders were dragging up the cathedral steps (hehe) and other escapades

Now then, the session after that was fairly short, which consisted of them delivering a small spherical package to a drop site a few miles away, on the way, they look up and see an imperial naavy size starcruiser above em, an alien drop pod fall down out of the sky, and my BBEG/ Party DMPC, (i say this because i tend to make an npc that i generally control and use as my *character* in a way) so then he throws a knock out gas grenade on their heads (was originally going to be a hallucinogen rpg, but then a hallucinogen bola, but i just hads him chuck a nade) they get knocked out, and taken aboard, they wake up in a cell with the alien (picture humanoid dragon/kobold thing in full body/fullface high tech power armour, but a hint of gothic design, and ya got it. also hes psychic) he greets them, i get a bit o' fun insulting my pcs (love saying imperial dogs hehe) but yada yada, fluff about his main planet was eaten by tyranids, blah blah and he proposes to let em live if they join his crew, which is sentient thanks to a dark-humored machine spirit inhabiting it, anyhow it ended with him showing the pcs the armory, which has plasma guns, bolters, xeno-tech lasers etc...keep in mind these ar 2-3 leveled pcs...

is this a NoNo?

P.S i plan to have them attack an imperial vessel, and need hint on what to do

to me, the whole thing would be a "no-go" from the start. Including the orc trooper (or even saying "no-no" is a "no-go" to me!).

But it seems you guys enjoy your games that way, so "go for it!"

Well since I'm planning on running a Dark Heretics game some time in the near future I must admit to a little intrigue into the background of why the PC's would consider working for said Draconian lizardman from outer space. Yes their inquisitor may be a radical but radicals in their own demented way still do what they think is right for the Imperium.

As to the question of whether or not this is a no-no. I would have to say there is no such thing as good/bad fun. Is it necessarily in keeping with the universe? Not particularly, but eh it's your game and your universe as soon as you pick up the book and start gming.

They didnt really have a choice, if they didnt hed just dump em into outer space, and I think the pcs knew that

The only part that you've described that I would consider to be a "no-no" would be the having a DMPC.

In my personal opinion, having an NPC that the game master treats as his or her own personal PC can foster resentment from the players. This can arise from the players feeling that the GM is showing difference to his or her own pet as opposed to the real PC's making them feel like second string supporting cast in the story about the GM's awesome pet. Even if the GM dose not initially favor his or her own pet, they can and usually do subconsciously. Even if they don't start out that way, such pets can rapidly become the primary character in the story steeling the spotlight from the actual players resulting in a GM who has an audience to watch him play with him self -and, trust me, no one wants to see that.

With all else, as long as everyones having fun, it's all good. GMPC's just tend to lead to games where everyone is, indeed, not fully enjoying themselves (except for the Gm who's pleasuring his or her self of course) and, as such, are a no-no in my opinion.

Gregorius21778 said:

For me it would be more of a (C.S.) Goto.

Graver said:

Depending upon the role of the NPC in question that is possible. However I currently have an adept in the group that I run for. He's not a combat character and generally helps the pc's in their investigations. Basically I use him to ask pertinent questions to the PCs and give them useful hints on the setting. They don't have much experience so when they get lost in what to do they look to him for a baseline and then go from there.

Zarkhovian_Rhythm said:

Oh, I wasn't saying that the GM shouldn't have a stable of reoccurring supporting characters or even additional NPC's within the PC's party/cell it's self. Heck, in the out of the box DH game, the GM will, at the very least, have the reoccurring powerful NPC of the characters inquisitor. The problem only arises when the Gm begins to think of one of the NPC's as His Player Character.

An NPC exists as a part of the world and story that the players experience. Their primary role is as supporting actors to the stars of the story, the PCs, in order to help in the telling of the story. Once an NPC becomes a PC, it is no longer a member of the supporting cast but a star themselves. Once they become the star, it is all too easy for them to steal the spotlight and become the leading man / lady (esspecialy since such a character is, for all intents and purposess, boffing the director ;-) )