Advice/Help Not playing the authority figure in your own rp?

[StrixDesmodus]

I've been having a bit of a craving. I'd like to make a roleplay about a semi-secret society of vampires in which there is a hierarchy that characters either support or rebel against (or are neutral, whatever floats your boat).
The problem? I don't want to play the leader of the vampires. On one hand, I figure it ought to be alright. On the other hand, I can't think of any such roleplay in which the main authority figure- be it a king, principal, or anything else, wasn't played by the proprietor themself.
So, I'd like to get some opinions, or even see if somebody would volunteer.

 

[Mediumrare]

This sounds a bit like a "Vampire: The Maquerade " setting. I have, and am currently, still the DM for a group playing in that setting. It is absolutely possible to have another player play an authority figure, but it requires a few things to work.
Ideally it would be an experienced player who knows how to seperate character- and player knowledge. Secondly they would need to be very good at communicating with the other players - it's a bit of a balance act to exercise authority without blocking the players too much and frustrating them.

If you want to give this a shot, and aren't sure how ask another player for it, you could try explicitly looking for a DM/GM. There are some around here

 

[Crayons]

First up, I'd consider the idea of having nobody play them. Does this authority figure need to be in the story? If you need them to exercise their authority you could have one character (preferably yours) relay the information they've been given in secret to the rest of the characters. Or even just keep them as a shady presence lurking in the background.

I have run an rp where someone else is playing the authority figure, and it's not necessarily easy but it can work well IF you trust the person entirely and if you work out beforehand who is really in charge behind the scenes and how that works. If you want to keep control of the RP, you will have to feed info OOC to your friend, and they will have to be willing to accept that, and consult you when necessary. Either that or you allow the friend to take complete control, which you could do, but you would end up with them as the GM and not you. Depends if you're ok with that or not.

I don't particularly like playing authority figures, so it's worked mostly fine with me and my friend who enjoys characters with power, but we know each other very well and both of us are mature enough to make it work. in some ways it can be better than one person GMing because it's splitting the responsibility, and you can support each other. I would not recommend handing out this power on a whim though.

Happy to talk more about it if you want.

 

[Idea]

Funny thing, I was in fact once part of a roleplay in which I did the kind of thing you decribe- I took the authority figure. It was a wolf pack RP, with a plot about a war between the two packs of the Sun and Moon (I think), where I took the first pack leader. I did enjoy the character I made back there and the kind of role I got to play. Lawneck is to this day a character I remember quite fondly. However, there were quite a few issues, starting with how skewed the numbers became. A number of things contributed to this, Lawneck was a caring but rules-heavy leader with a vision and personality, while the other pack leader was someone who basically did whatever the player felt was the right thing and this happened to get pretty much every character, even within my own pack, on the other side or at least utterly disloyal to Lawneck... and part of what contributed to that skewed nature of things was, I have no doubt, that one of the pack leaders was a mere player, and the other the GM.
Not that I don't think there was anything I could have done myself. Back then I complained, but I think today I might've tried to roll with it maybe roleplay the distress of the pack leader doing his best to lead well but ultimately failing to get the hearts of his people due to not having the same laid back thinking as the other side...

In any case, onto my thoughts on the matter:

The way I see it, the GM's responsibility is always in the realm of keeping the roleplay's future and quality secure, within the bounds of what they proposed to do in the first place. However, as a GM you naturally hold the real authority over your players within your roleplay. Hence why a GM normally takes the authority figure- they are the one who actually has the authority, the power to do something.

The obvious solution then would be to get a co-GM. Co-Gms don't need to be the owner of the roleplay, but they can be given real authority and assist in the development of the plot to a much greater degree. It wouldn't be strange for a co-GM to take an NPC / PC normally used by a regular GM.

Another potential means of handling things is to just create the roleplay in such a way as to either not need an authority figure or make their authority irrelevant narratively. You being the crown prince may not mean much in a merry band of adventurers going through forest, for instance. Sandbox-type RPs might work very well this way too, given the extensive character freedom with no particular plot direction they provide, it could be a lot easier for a player to jump into the authority role.

Now, one thing you absolutely shouldn't do is create the roleplay, then just dump the GM powers and authority over to one of your players. If you are planning on doing that, you're better off just not making the roleplay.


Anyway, hope this helps, best of luck and happy RPing!

 

[StrixDesmodus]

For those who are interested in the aforementioned roleplay, more information can be found at the following link.

Fantasy - Tyranny at Bloodstone Manor !!! Vampiric leader and other roles wanted !!!

In places like our setting, Boston, the existence of magical creatures has been known for a couple of years, though little is fully understood about them and their state of being is heavily stigmatized. However stigmatized their existence may be, the state of Massachusetts is one of many to make...

www.rpnation.com

 

[rae2nerdy]

I would recommend making the authority figure a NPC. This way you don't have to worry about someone dropping out of the roleplay and leaving the whole operation in the lurch. Or a player accidentally derailing your ideas for the plot. By having them be an NPC they can show up as necessary to move the plot along and then just fade back into the background when they aren't needed.

 

[Lorsh]

there can never be a roleplay without my totalitarian control