Difference between an NPC and a Staff PC?
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@Arkandel I think fully organic interactions are the ideal, but maybe not very practical, especially in an aging player population that is seemingly moving away from (also organic) grid RP toward more structured and plans plots and scenes. It's also worth pointing out that policy laying out PC/NPC distinctions and boundaries doesn't necessarily require they be publicly labeled. Some might prefer this, but player advocacy and staff trust are something you have to constantly balance back and forth. Staff sets rules, but you always have to trust them to abide by and enforce them. Plus, I think the mere presence of some guidelines does tend to help (if the staff is baseline ethical, anyway).
Also, often its going to be obvious, and this goes with the kind of games we run and how we run them. Thousand year old Vampire tyrants, unassailable rulers backed by massive armies or literal divine mandates, magical beings beyond the scope of PC access (dragons, demons, etc): these things often have to (or really should) be NPCs and you may prefer the transparency to rumors of that OP character being so-and-so's PC. Some of this is unavoidable due to the thematic structures of the games we play, but if you want more organic interactions you may need to step away from this type of storytelling: obviously this is an 'ask,' since getting to play the ubergod entities (even under NPC restrictions) is a perk to staffing and you want staffing to be fun, but when every NPC is like this, its hard NOT to end up with those divides.
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@Arkandel I have found/experienced that people treat you very differently when you are known as a PrP runner as well. Even on games where there wasnt a game reward (like xp/beats/story points) for doing so.
Sometimes it meant people treated you a little worse in the sense of behaving like they were entitled to something from you, or that obviously you were a "staff pet" or being suspicious, but most of the time it's a net gain especially if allows you to broaden your RP circle, at least in my experience.
And prp runners even sometimes get the same critiques (only in it for the XP or their friends' pcs!) as staff STs!!
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@mietze I've been on games where I STed more (as a player) than I played my own PC, and it wasn't even close. I was quite happy with that, too.
What bugged me a little though was that in the long term running things for my immediate group left my character a bit detached. How do I explain that he missed out another hunt in the Shadow (again) because I was running it? How do I get him out of signing up for the next one? I'd never play my own PC in a PrP I'm STing which just left a bit of a mess behind.
- He who takes offense when not intended is a fool. He who takes offense when intended is a greater fool.
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@Arkandel yep, I think that happens more often than not. I know I usually havent minded unless people start commenting ic that my pc is "never there" on these adventures/development arcs (I do not st with my pc present) and that sorta pissed me off.
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@mietze Oh! Oh, one more thing.
As a player ST I feel I get to choose who I run things for. Is it my own friends that I enjoy playing with? Although the funny thing is it never turns out like that because soon enough I'm running one-on-one scenes for people I've never met before, at least I still have the liberty to say no and not have to explain myself.
As staff I'd feel really awkward and probably for a reason - after all it's my job to spread plot around. If two people come to ask me to run a plot and one sounds way more fun than the other I'd feel inclined to run both or neither. I can't play favorites.
