Let's suppose that you are trying to cover a situation where one character is quite different from and/or considerably more powerful than everyone else. This is very common in literature; there, the secondary characters just take it because that's the way they're written. But is that the best way for rpgs?
 
Let's suppose you were going to create a Dr. Who rpg or some other situation where one character stood apart. How would you set it up so that everyone else doesn't feel useless and therefore become disengaged?
 
I can think of a few things that have been tried in the past. In Ars Magica, the troupe system amounts to saying Everyone take a turn playing their cool character while everyone plays second fiddle to them. I've heard mixed results about this - the constant switching requires lots of characters which isn't good for some story types, and without lots of sessions, most people wind up being crappy character most of the time.
 
Buffy mainly uses increased drama pts for 2nd tier characters. This is supposed to keep them from dying and allow them more control of the story and stuff. I haven't tried it but it sounds like it works pretty well.
 
Another possibility I'm thinking of is restricting the special player in certain ways. Due to the nature of their abilities, there are certain actions they aren't allowed to do or certain skills they don't possess. So, they have their special thing but still need others to fill in other areas. Maybe psychics can't kill lest they be overloaded with psychic feedback. The magic wielding priest can't touch metal or technology. Wizards never have time to learn about nature, everyday tasks, or dealing with normals. etc.
 
Or you just tell them "Dave, you're going to play the damned squire and you're going to like it."
 
Thoughts, other directions?

The first thing I think of is for you to design scenarios that simply cannot be completed by one person. Also, give each character unique skill which, while less "powerful" than the abilities of the uber character, are something they can excel in. Give them a chance to use their particular skill as much as possible.

I'm thinking of Firefly as an example. The show never got to where it was trying to go, but it was clear that River was supposed to be the most "powerful" person there. Psychic powers, premonitions, telepathy, genius intelligence, all rolled up in a way that made her powerful in combat. But other members of the crew had leadership skills, military experience, piloting skills, medical skills, mechanical skills, physical strength, wisdom, knowledge of society and etiquette, etc... And in every episode, nearly everybody got to use their skills in an imporatant way. Perhaps not the best example, but I think you can see what I'm getting at.

Exactly...

Regardless of how powerful the characters are in comparison to each other, the important thing is that each character is The Best at What They Do, and that they occassionally get to show that off.

It doesn't matter if the Pilot is 3 or 4 levels behind the Soldier, so long as he is Teh Best Pilot Evar, and can pull some L33t 5tuntz out of his hat when he needs them.

Sharing the spotlight is, of course, crucial in an rpg. But, borrowing from literature, there are some other tricks that might work in particular circumstances:

1. The babysitter approach. The big powerful person is pledged to protect the lesser people, but they aren't necessarily supposed to obey the powerful person--it gives the less powerful people a chance to shine, as well as aggravate the more powerful.

2. The chosen one (s) approach. The powerful person needs to accomplish something, but only the less powerful people will be able to do it (a la Frodo and the ring).

3. The "great power brings great danger" approach. If the powerful one exercises great power, some mechanism exists that will do something bad--bring the attention of even more powerful bad guys, wreck the cosmic balance, lead to the corruption of the powerful one. Therefore, although the powers are there for dire situations, the powerful pc has good reasons to stand back and let others solve most situations.

Obviously not all of these are good for all types of stories. But they do provide some rationales for why the uber-character needs to hang around with smaller fry.

I dealt with this fairly recently. The majority of the group had 8th level characters, and the respect, power, and abilities that come with 8th level.

We had 2 new players. I made them roll up 1st level.

The 8th level characters had just arrived in a new area, and they had no idea about the layout of the land, who to bribe, who to avoid, who to "respect" and who was safe to disrespect.

This put them in great danger.

The two 1rst level characters knew all this stuff. They had knowledge (local) for the appropriate area, while the 8th level ones did not.

Now the power level is sitting at 9th to 6th. It isn't as obvious as it once was, and while the 9th level characters kept thier skills the way they were going for the most part (wilderness/wild land exploration), the 6th level ones have been tailoring themselves to urban/ruin adventuring.

Everyone is still having fun, and that's what counts.

What REALLY helps though, is the fact that I have extensive history and the like for the area. Everyone but 2 players are relative newbies, and only know pertinant information on the setting, the two BRAND new players have the history sheets and breakdowns of the local area, while the other players do not.

The funny thing is, the two players with the knowledge sheets (about 20-25 pages each) refuse to let other players even look at them.

It works rather well in Buffy.  My White Hats have made no complaints.

The balancing factor in Buffy is the Drama Points.  They can let the unlikely succeed, cheat death, and change the game in many ways.  Heroes are just plain better.  They have higher stats, more skills, more qualities.  The only place White Hats beat them is in Drama Points, where they start with 20 to the heroes 10.  Second, the White Hats can buy them at 1/2 price.  Finally, White Hats have more ways to get them for free.  There's an anti-abuse clause though.  After a lot of experience the PC may get to be fairly badass, and no longer get these discounts.

Also, some players like being the support role.  I would never tell a player they had to play a White Hat.  If I get five heroes, so be it.  Currently it's 3 heroes and 2 White Hats.  To use a D&D analogy, the Heroes are like fighters and barbarians.  They're tough and straightforward to play.  White hats are like rogues or low level wizards.  (Or Experts, depending on exactly how Zeppo you are)  They can be a lot of fun in the hands of an experienced player, but you have to be more willing to think yourself through the game.  One of my players (Adam's player for those that have read the story hour) had said it's like he has to say "Okay, how am I going to be useful and/or not die this round?"  

And I think the idea works across genres as well.  Not everyone wants to play Aragorn or Legolas, some people want to be Samwise Gamgee.  It does get a bit tricky with level based games.  It would be tempting to use some kind of action dice mechanics and say NPC classes get twice as many, but it isn't going to be the same.  Eventually the gulf in power from levels will dwarf the class differences, and there's no easy way to say "You aren't a sidekick anymore".  But you can use information or other advantages like in T-Willard's example.

Overall, don't worry about 'balance' but camera time.  It doesn't matter that character A is ten times the warrior character B is, so long as character B has something interesting to do and player B is happy with it.

Thanks, this has helped crystalized a few ideas.  I  was considering a Dr. Who inspired game and don't want the companions to feel so useless that they get bored.

One other way is the approach used in the show The Avatar, where the uber character is much younger and weaker overall all but has their thing.

The sidekick approach.

While the hero is there all mighty and powerful and gets to show off during combats and other dramatic moments, he wouldn't go very far without his sidekick who:

• Accidentally stumbles on important clues: "Jacky, it's a shame you've broken that old Ming vase, but I would never have known otherwise it had a fake bottom hiding this key!" or "Jacky, I hope you're not hurt, but thank you for having pushed that brick during your fall, you've found the secret passage. I just want to know how this banana peel arrived here in the first place."
  
• Has a lot of contacts everywhere, amongst barkeeps, maids and servants, petty thieves, and so on: "Jacky, I don't like having had to hide in a cart of dirty laundry, but at least your friends have managed to sneak us in the mansion." or "So, Jacky, you're telling me the countess actually lied to the cops, according to what her kitchenmaid told you?"
• Has the good solid common sense that makes him carry cumbersome tools that end up proving necessary at a point or another: "Jacky, it's a chance you had this a 3/17 occipital left-leaning wrench in all that clanky, clunky junk you insist on carrying at all time, we couldn't have repaired that engine otherwise." or "Jacky, do you have any idea where we could find an overdrived triphasic fuse capacitor? What? In your pocket? Really?"