Bone2pick
Minority of One
If you're a longtime veteran of group adventure roleplays, and if you've played under several different GMs, you've likely encountered what I'm referring to. For those who haven't please allow me to clarify. There are GMs out there who relish the opportunity to create superior (nigh unbeatable) NPCs. Furthermore, they love to populate their worlds with them. And not only are they dominate in almost every significant way over the PCs, they regularly gloat about their supremacy.
For example, if the PCs are medieval thieves the GM will introduce their "master thief." Whenever the PCs fail one of their missions the master thief will typically mock them, solve the problem with little effort, and then explain that if the characters weren't such imbeciles/incompetents that they wouldn't have struggled with their task. The GM loosely presents this as a "teaching moment" for the players, but in reality it's merely an opportunity to upstage everyone. The PCs were destined to fail, and the NPC couldn't lose.
To make matters worse, rather than just having one obnoxious NPC, some GMs will sprinkle them throughout their setting. A local sheriff who can never be fooled. A thief who can never be caught. A drunken swordsman who can never be bested. A beautiful vixen who can manipulate anyone. A smug merchant who never makes an unfavorable deal. Superiority is everywhere, and they (the offending NPCs) always remind the players of their "place in the world."
It's fair to call them Mary Sues, but seeing as how they're merely NPCs and that there can be so many of them, I prefer the term Pet NPCs. I've encountered this particular GM defect twice on this site, and I quickly dropped both roleplays once I spotted the pattern. Believe it or not, I've actually encountered it more often in kitchen table RPGs. But that is likely because I have the luxery of being more selective of my forum roleplays.
Have you played under a GM who enjoys using Pet NPCs? Regardless if you have or haven't, what are your thoughts on the topic?
For example, if the PCs are medieval thieves the GM will introduce their "master thief." Whenever the PCs fail one of their missions the master thief will typically mock them, solve the problem with little effort, and then explain that if the characters weren't such imbeciles/incompetents that they wouldn't have struggled with their task. The GM loosely presents this as a "teaching moment" for the players, but in reality it's merely an opportunity to upstage everyone. The PCs were destined to fail, and the NPC couldn't lose.
To make matters worse, rather than just having one obnoxious NPC, some GMs will sprinkle them throughout their setting. A local sheriff who can never be fooled. A thief who can never be caught. A drunken swordsman who can never be bested. A beautiful vixen who can manipulate anyone. A smug merchant who never makes an unfavorable deal. Superiority is everywhere, and they (the offending NPCs) always remind the players of their "place in the world."
It's fair to call them Mary Sues, but seeing as how they're merely NPCs and that there can be so many of them, I prefer the term Pet NPCs. I've encountered this particular GM defect twice on this site, and I quickly dropped both roleplays once I spotted the pattern. Believe it or not, I've actually encountered it more often in kitchen table RPGs. But that is likely because I have the luxery of being more selective of my forum roleplays.
Have you played under a GM who enjoys using Pet NPCs? Regardless if you have or haven't, what are your thoughts on the topic?