This past Saturday I had a "guest" player in my usual campaign.  She was from out of town  and staying overnight at my friend's house who was hosting our game.
  She wanted to join in on the game and my friend gave me a "heads-up" about that, so she and I got together by e-mail and telephone at the last minute and I was able to concoct a character for using the GCA.  She hadn't pplayed an RPG in close to 20 years - but wanted to try again.

My manager at work suggested that I killer character off - since she was just a "guest star" character in our campaign. I considered it ...but decidd I would see how she played it.
 We decided she was a sort of "niece" to one of the other characters(her friend)  - but perfectly capable of adventuring with the rest of the PCs.

 How has everyone else handled this kind of thing ?

 Where a player asks to have a friend play a "guest-star" character in an ongoing campaign?

 Do you say no ?

 Alter your story?

 What would you have done in the same sort of situation?

- E.W.C.

I've had it happen before and was able to accommodate the 'guest' player for two sessions (Friday night and Sat IIRC). The group 'picked up' a short term ally, who left after completing her goals.

It wasn't too hard to include a 'short term goal' into what was going on in the game. I just had to tack on a few new objectives that coincided with what the PCs were already doing.(The retrieval of an item, the scouting of enemy forces, some inside knowledge, as long as it's something that doesn't hurt the PCs)

I'd need more information on what was going on(and what type of game you are running) before offering any more advice.

I typically have an NPC or two that shows up from time to time to help or harass the players so I typically have spare characters about in the campaign that wont really disrupt the game flow if they happen to appear for a session or two then disappear again (you can also use hirelings or followers if your players have any in their party).

Quote from: KoltarWhere a player asks to have a friend play a "guest-star" character in an ongoing campaign?

 Do you say no ?

 Alter your story?

 What would you have done in the same sort of situation?

As a rule of thumb, I maintain very small gaming groups when I GM. Three players+GM is what I find a perfect number. Four players+GM is stretching a little.

Bcause of the small size, I've never said no to guest players. In fact, sometimes I need an extra player and invite them myself.

I don't alter the stories at all, except when playing D&D. In that case, I may re-balance some encounters.

If I was stretched to the limit of my comfort 6-7 people at the table including GM) then I'd probably say no. But to me it's about having fun with friends so I'd just put the books on the shelf and spend the night with everybody

On a related topic, I greatly enjoy being a "guest star". The last time I did it was for three sessions. I was to join the party as a "decoy for an assasin". In effect, my character was genuinely sincere and working with the other PCs but was under suspicion the moment he joined. The reality of the situation is that the real culprit was a trusted henchman of one of the PCs.

What I found really cool is that the GM didn't let me in on it. He just sat me there and by the end of the first session, there was a LOT of tension between the rest of the group and my character. They eventually tried to kill my character in the second session. I slew one of the PCs and escaped. That was the end of it for a (real time) year. Several months later, I was once again summoned for a final session. When the players saw me at the table, they trash-talked me (in a joking matter, we all knew it was just a game). To my surprise, the GM wrapped up the plot nicely so that they could discover who the real assassin/traitor was. Lots of emotional moments.

The way I create campaigns this is what I consider normal.  I try to create a campaign premise that allows for non-static playing groups.  New people are treated no different within the premise.  All I would do is fill the new player in on the nature of the campaign.  If they're not sure it's to their liking I'll let them decide.

Depending on time, either they create their own character or I build it for them based on what they'd like to play.  The character usually appears complete with some sort of plot hook requiring the assistance of the PCs (or that compels the character to help them with a related task).  Otherwise it's just a normal character and, after the guest player leaves, often becomes an NPC.

Depending on the game I'm running, I'll decide if its possible to accommodate them. Sometimes I simply hand over an NPC for them to characterize for a session, other times I custom make them their own PC.

It's a lot easier in say a superhero game, where the tradition of team ups, guest stars, even quite strange ones, are common. Hulk in Moon Knight for example.  

In more rigid genres I'll usually try and fit them in if possible as a guest, if not then I goto the NPC.  But its a good reason why I often have multiple games I can rotate in and out, so that I can get them in on the fun,  one way or another.

Quote from: KoltarThis past Saturday I had a "guest" player in my usual campaign.  She was from out of town  and staying overnight at my friend's house who was hosting our game.
  She wanted to join in on the game and my friend gave me a "heads-up" about that, so she and I got together by e-mail and telephone at the last minute[...]

Amazing!     That is word-for-word what happened last weekend in my game.  Fortunately, we are playing in the Truth & Justice system, which allows very fast and simple character creation.  The setting is the universe of Alan Moore and Gene Ha's Top 10 comics, i.e., super-cops in a city filled with super-heroes, or rather "science heroes."  We simply had the guest character be an intern; she turned out to be a pretty funny gung-ho, idealistic character.  

I suspect that because superhero comics have guest stars and crossovers all the time, it makes it easy for the group and GM (in my case) to absorb and handle the concept for a supers game.  Anyhow, whether it's a guest star, anew power, or a weird story idea, my instinct as GM is to roll with it.  Then again, I game with great players that make it easy.

We've got a guy in the group kinda like that. He shows up for a month or so then disappears. We've got another guy that when school goes crazy with exams tends to disappear.

What we usually do if they're not going to be able to play regularly is have an NPC around they can take over when they come.

I'm very proud of my Open Table policy, as I've stated in 5 other threads identicle to yours. Anyone can come to game, or watch. I encourage players of all skill levels. Unfortunately, there is also a "Star Trek Red Shirt" syndrome- the guest star usually dies to protect the heroes and stars of the show. New players have to burn thru a lot of dead characters until they have the respect and street cred to stay in the game. The other players, to their credit, are usually pretty protective of new players, since they know this will happen, they don't use the newbie as a human shield, which would only bring the bullseye back on them.