You’ve managed to coordinate all the schedules to get your players to the table (or most of them, at least). You’ve even put in some planning time on the
campaign you’re running. Sounding familiar? Everyone who said they would actually show up…actually did! Only this time, one of them brought a friend. No need to fret! You can always incorporate a special guest star. While the preference is to try and have this planned out in advance, often short notice is the only time you’ll get (if any at all), to prepare for someone else at your table. Even with the surprise of a last moment guest addition, there are still different ways you can handle it. In case this happens to you, why not take a look at some of the advice below from your friends at Never Say Dice, so you’re at least a little prepared. (And maybe you’ll let us come guest star at your table sometime, too!)
Assuming your guest is familiar with the game/campaign you’re planning to play that night, or at least with the system you’re running it in, your options are wide open. The quickest and easiest solution is probably to have them play as an existing character. There's a good chance someone else wasn’t able to make this session, and that could be your solution for getting your guest a character. This does come with some difficulties, though - the guest is unlikely to know how to play the character in the way the other player did, and won’t be very familiar with your storyline or that character’s own personal story. The guest (or the player who is out) may not be comfortable with this approach. So, unless you're able to get consent from both of them, you may want to avoid this strategy. You also have the option of the guest playing an NPC. You, as GM, will have a little more control in this situation. You already know which NPCs are already allies to the PCs, and that likely presents a wide breadth of characters to choose from. You also know how those characters might be played and what their stories are, which can make it easier to coach the guest star on how they might want to play things.
On the other hand, even though you’re probably short on time, there's still a good chance they’ll want to play their own character. This can avoid the difficulties mentioned above, gives your guest a lot more freedom, and it will likely make things easier for them. This does open up new issues, though. It may be difficult to work their character in, for instance. Make sure to spend a few minutes before starting to have a mini “session 0” of sorts to see where the guest player stands and build out a way they could have an existing tie to the characters already in your campaign. If the guest is familiar enough with the system, it's likely they already have a character made that you can quickly scan over before you go, or it won’t take them long to create a simple one. Either way, you can work with them to tweak this character to fit into the session. To make things even faster, you may want to have a stockpile of ready-made characters on-hand. What GM doesn’t like creating a bunch of characters to feel their way around a system, prep some NPCs, or just to see if they can? That also gives you a chance to build in ideas to tie them into the campaign. No matter which way you go - premade character, NPC or quick custom creation, you’ll need to consider that character's future. The guest star may end up very invested and want to continue joining you for future session. Or, if they don't, you can still end up adding them as an NPC. Either approach could be a campaign changing event.
It's possible that your guest isn’t already familiar with the system/game, and there isn’t enough prep time to get them set up, even if you already have pre-made characters. In this case, another way to go is to bring on the baddies. Having someone else to roll the dice and select targets can free you up a bit and be an excellent way to include your guest in the action. However, it can also be scary to hand off that kind of control. I wouldn't recommend loaning out the BBEG of your campaign in this way, at least not without significant prep work and planning with your guest. A few henchmen, random monsters, or even just neutral townsfolk in a fight shouldn’t be too much of a worry, though. Make sure you conference with your guest “GM assistant” as needed to keep things running smoothly.
Failing any of these plans, you could always just run something else. This might be a great time to break out a “beer and pretzels” game like
Risus, or one of those non-RPG tabletop games collecting dust on your shelves. There's no one solution, but it's good to have options at your disposal. Your guest may not want to play anything at all, and just want to sit and watch, which is certainly okay, too! No matter how you handle things, do your best to make sure the guest is comfortable at your table - even if they decide to just be a spectator for the evening. Treat them the same as you would any of your other players (Okay, maybe a bit better than how you'd treat them. After all, you're serving as an ambassador for both the group and the game.) Check in with them during comfort breaks to see how things are going. Until next week folks, enjoy your tables, or enjoy guesting at one... now get out there and break some dice!
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