@Pyrephox @peasoupling I'm so glad you guys are having fun 
@Cobaltasaurus we would super love to have you over at gray harbor! We've got an amazing team of STs at the moment who are always doing stuff. @krmbm and I are working on metaplot and side plot stuff. We are also brainstorming on some faction plots since we have a few active groups (hospital, crime/police, etc). And most importantly we have an amazing playerbase!
Hope to see you there
So I mean what is the alternative there? Fred is a boring Rper but still wants to play my game and be involved. Does he never get access to plot, does he only get limited involvement? Etc. Etc.
@Sunny I gave my recommendation. Engage them in rp. Ensure they have the same opportunities as other players in the same sphere or whatever.
@Sunny if that is the kind of game you want to run, sure. Your game, your rules.
@Sparks I'm sorry, but you're missing the point. It isn't saying sue and fred should have a 1:1 ratio of scenes and theres some kind of magical # that is the correct # of times that you have to rp with sue and fred. It is that fred and sue should have the same opportunity for staff npc time. For example, if you are running a scene to get the mcguffin that sue and fred are both capable of getting, you shouldn't immediately go "nah" to fred because hes boring or leap on the opprotunity to give it to sue because she isn't.
I get it. I get you have people you enjoy GMing for. But those people shouldn't get all of your attention. Maybe fred just needs a different plot to come alive in. Or maybe fred is just super boring forever but he still plays your game and deserves the chance to be apart of it.
@Kanye-Qwest I mean sure. That is why staff should have PCs.
@Kanye-Qwest said in Difference between an NPC and a Staff PC?:
@Wretched do you honestly think staffers are not going to prefer rp with players that are fun for them to rp with, regardless of TS?
It's your responsibility as a staff to engage with all players regardless of how fun they are. Players someone would consider "boring" deserve interaction, too.
@Wretched said in Difference between an NPC and a Staff PC?:
Some of ya'll have never had to answer jobs about players wanting to know their relation ship status with NPC's they were TSing after a staffer quits and it shows.
Gross.
@Sparks said in Difference between an NPC and a Staff PC?:
@bear_necessities said in Difference between an NPC and a Staff PC?:
This isnt a pearl clutch. I will just never understand why staff feels the need to utilize their NPCs to have "romantic plot" or bring a child into the world or fuck somebody (which again, does that benefit the game or at least a certain group of PCs? Because it sounds like it benefits 2. The PC you are boning and the NPC).
So, let's say you're in a modern setting but where a lot of the conspiracies around secret societies are real. The Illuminati, the Templars, and so on. And there's an NPC, a senator who is a mid-level member of the Illuminati. And he'll do favors for the PCs, pull strings to get them resources, but he always asks things in return. And owing him open-ended favors is... unsettling, because sometimes when he calls them in, the people who are called come back subtly different.
Now, here's your character, who needs a piece of information they know that NPC has. The price, however, will be too high. So your PC decides to seduce the NPC senator. Maybe this is because they think if they succeed, the NPC will feel more inclined to do them a favor without demanding one in return. Maybe this is because they think if the NPC takes them back to a hotel room, they'll be able to take his phone while he's asleep, use his fingerprint to unlock it, and get the information for free.
Either way, this is a situation where the PC seeking romance/sex with the NPC serves the story; the PC can gain something which advances their storyline. If they were trying to get that information for a plot involving multiple people, it advances storyline for multiple PC's!
Or maybe the PC has been pushing something politically which a sinister secret society wants stopped. PC knows they want this, but has refused to be cowed by their demands, to a point that the society has decided to act. The NPC is a master assassin hired by that society, and wants to get close to the PC in order to poison them in private; once poisoned, they can blackmail the PC into doing what they want by withholding the antidote. Try to force them to turn on their allies and serve this society's interests instead. And what better way to get them in private and poison them than to seduce them?
Here's a place where the NPC seeking sex with the PC serves the story.
There honestly are reasons where it can serve story. I'm not saying it always does when people do it, but I think it absolutely can.
Counterpoint: why would you use NPCs in the last situation? This could be easily accomplished and provide a better story for PCs to have the "master assassin" charge a lower level PC assassin to do this in order to prove themselves or move up in assassin society? Now you are providing story for multiple PCs and not making your npc a pivotal part of the story.
@krmbm I think you hit the nail on the head. It is about the optics. It is important for the health of your game to use your NPCs responsibly, ensure they have access to the PCs they need access to, and are giving plot equally regardless of relationship to specific PCs.
The best way to do that is to use NPCs sparingly, ensure they are used to progress the plot, and use your PCs to play all the mini golf you want
This isnt a pearl clutch. I will just never understand why staff feels the need to utilize their NPCs to have "romantic plot" or bring a child into the world or fuck somebody (which again, does that benefit the game or at least a certain group of PCs? Because it sounds like it benefits 2. The PC you are boning and the NPC).
If you want those plots, why cant you have a PC that pursues those plots?
@surreality lol I just struggle to think of a situation where I would go... you know what this plot needs? My NPC's dick
How does TS further the interest of the game?
I think if a game makes a distinction between NPCs and PCs, there shouldn't be a muddied difference or inconsistency in the use.
Use your NPCs to create story that PCs can star in. Use your PCs to TS until your hearts content and have romantical relationships between other PCs. Once you use your NPC for that, you create a game culture that is weird and uncomfortable.
@Wretched said in Difference between an NPC and a Staff PC?:
@bear_necessities said in Difference between an NPC and a Staff PC?:
What drives me crazy is when a staff has an NPC but that they use to be the star of a plot. No. Stop that. That is for PCs. If you want to be the star of your show, make a PC.
Addendum: ALSO PLEASE STOP TSING PEOPLE WITH YOUR NPC'S AUGH
Say it once more WITH FEELING!!!!
Why cant you "just create" an NPC? It is character generation. You run them through CGen. Slap a BG on them and bam, you have an NPC.
Anyway, basic difference IMO is that an NPC is meant to be a story device. NPCs are there to move plot. They are the "quest givers" basically. They shouldn't be regularly played and they should be played ultimately to support PCs.
What drives me crazy is when a staff has an NPC but that they use to be the star of a plot. No. Stop that. That is for PCs. If you want to be the star of your show, make a PC.
@krmbm said in MU Things I Love:
A comment in another thread about how hard it is to find people who want to ST things for other players reminded me...
I'm really not good at figuring out people's handles on MSB, but Alexander, Carver, Penny, Dahlia, and August at GH volunteered to be storytellers, and I can't say enough nice things about them.
They run scenes, pick up RP jobs, execute longer plots, and brainstorm "cool things to do." I feel like we've gotten very lucky with the number of proactive players who are keen to tell stories for other people.
Our STs are AMAZZZINNNNNGGG!!!! It makes me really happy 
On GH, I will regularly award players with luck points that I see being inclusive and 'sharing' plot hooks with other characters. I am always on the lookout for players who rope in other characters outside of their "typical" social circles and I think good RP behavior should be rewarded.
That being said, I have to agree with @faraday to a point - I'm never going to set up a REGULAR reward system, because the point of playing a game is to tell stories. But hey, every so often? I'll give people kudos as a thank you for spreading the love.
I think the atmosphere of MUSHing has changed in the sense that you need to be proactive in your search for RP. Like a few people said, putting on the RP request board that you're looking for RP doesn't really get as much of a response anymore as offering up some kind of scene idea, for example.
I also see people have way more success when they are sitting in a public space with an RP flag on (as long as they make it known that they have a public scene open). Ares makes that a little easier with you being able to tag a scene "open", and then you give a shout out on RP Request or whatever channel going "hey I started a scene at the diner, come on down if you want RP".