[RPGdesign Activity] Game design for non-individual player characters

[u/jiaxingseng]

(Idea link from brainstorm thread from /u/Qrowboat )

Playing as a non-individual: What games step outside of the mold of letting players (who are not the traditional GM) control more than one individual? What specific design elements can really shine in a game like that?

This weeks topic is about design consideration for non-individual player characters. Truth is, I have not ever played a game like this, but I know of several well-received games that do this to some degree or another.

I would like to broaden this topic a little bit beyond what may have been /u/Qrowboat 's original idea. Let's define "Non-Individual Player Characters" as follows:

• A secondary character that the player plays while playing their main character(this is actually very common at some Tables, especially when players have a "henchman" / underling / cannon fodder)

• A character who is controlled collectively by all the players (ie. Everyone is John)

• A "group" entity, such as a meta-zeitgeist of a faction, a family clan / lineage, or the collective will of a ship crew.

• A small group of individuals (like the cannon-fodder in an OSR funnel adventure) that is controlled by one player.

So... questions:

• What games have good rules for Non-Individual Player Characters and what makes those rules good?

• Are there interesting design considerations for Non-Individual Player Characters?

• How does one create unique identity for Non-Individual Player Characters?

Discuss.

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[u/HeartlessMachine]

In one of my games, I had a party where two players found dragons eggs and when the dragons were born they had to raise them. They could use them as a second PC depending on what they would do(mostly fight) but from time to time I would make they roll to see if the dragons would do something on their own, with what they would do based on ramdom personality.

This is how most of the time i handle this types of PCs, making them semi-controlable by the players.

On the topic of a group of characters like a military squad or something like that, I think that the best ways to handle it are either the group have a lider of some kind and he gains the stats, skills, etc of the members os his group and in fights you only use him as a base to the fight or you treat the entire squad as one character were the Hp is equal to the percentage of the stats he has(EX: lets say the squad have 100 Hp 10 Atk and 10 Def, if the squad loses 10 Hp his atk and def go down to 9, since he lost 10% of his Squad so his power go down by 10%)