Topic: Have you ever had fictional characters pop up in your game?

[Colin-ICE]

Have you ever had fictional characters pop up in your game for a single 'episode'? I'm thinking something like Doctor Who or Quantum Leap where they move between worlds, popping up for a very limited amount of time and then disappear again.

If so, how has it gone? If not, do you think it sounds like an interesting idea or idiotic and annoying? (I'm asking for a friend).

[Torshavn]

Not for this time. But it's a nice idea, because i like Doctor Who.

Otherwise i had a herogroup of pathfinders, wandering through the dreamlands in search for new worlds. Starting on Middle-Earth, going to Kryn or Aventuria.

[Spectre771]

One time we were switching into Pathfinder at the end of the D&D Beta and we had to face our D&D selves and defeat them as our Pathfinder selves.  Technically, we were fictional characters and it was only  as singular event.

[Majyk]

Fun idea, but don’t introduce the characters with names.

Just be very, very, descriptive yet anachronistic(instead of a gun/sonic screwdriver, “a bulbous but strange, shiny, metallic wand lazily sits at ease in a smart leather holster at the hip of a bug-eyed, grey-haired, multicolour scarf-laden Grandfatherly-old man”, and let the Easter Egg light up the players’ eyes when they figure it out for a good giggle!
Share your results.

[Wm_Humphrey]

I ran a sci-fi campaign once upon a time (original GDW Traveller) where the characters, due to some very unusual circumstances and battle damage to their ship, had their FTL (Jump) drive malfunction add land them in alternate universes: Star Wars (Ep. IV), Buck Rogers (Gil Gerard/Erin Gray) & Star Trek (Wrath of Khan) before their last jump got them home but hundreds of parsecs from where they started.

Part of the fun was describing things in generic terms so they had to puzzle out where they were. Then, the truly amazing part was how concerned they were that their presence not *&^%$#@! up the outcome! For instance, upon arrival in Federation space, they were intercepted by the Enterprise just before it meets the Reliant. After being tractor-beamed into the shuttle bay and taken to sickbay for examination & questioning, they were unable to convince anyone that they had knowledge of what the Reliant was about to do until too late. In the Mutara nebula, they reasoned that their Traveller tech would be unaffected by the nebula and hacked the shuttlebay to launch. They were of some assistance in the battle; their shot was the straw that broke the camel's back and finished severing the Reliant's warp nacelle. They then had several very tense moments trying to get back to the Enterprise before Spock could put the warp engines back online (given that their Jump drive was still FUBAR). Their ship just barely cleared the bay doors so they crashed into the shuttle bay with many NSFW jokes about how that looked! After being released by Starfleet security on Star Base I, they helped the crew steal the Enterprise in return for help stealing their own ship too.

[Nightblade42]

Fun idea, but don’t introduce the characters with names.

Just be very, very, descriptive yet anachronistic(instead of a gun/sonic screwdriver, “a bulbous but strange, shiny, metallic wand lazily sits at ease in a smart leather holster at the hip of a bug-eyed, grey-haired, multicolour scarf-laden Grandfatherly-old man”, and let the Easter Egg light up the players’ eyes when they figure it out for a good giggle!
Share your results.

Does this "Grandfatherly-old-man" offer the PCs Jelly-Babies?    Or does he perhaps appear younger & wear a fez? 

Nightblade ->--

[Grinnen Baeritt]

As a GM/DM I often ask my players to submit a good portrait likeness of their character, which can be artwork or photo, I'm happy for them to use celeb photos to do so, as long as they "fit" the genre that I'm running.... I print these out and keep them in card protectors. This serves two purposes, firstly we show them around the table (I look like THIS!) and secondly, I'll use them to record initiative order... (on the rear I'll put some game related stats...so I don't have to keep asking ).

In turn, my NPC's (and monsters) also have cards...... what this means is that fictional characters nearly always end up turning up in my games as NPC's since I find it quite difficult not to play them the same way... ok, the names *might* change.. but the players automatically seem to relate to them as the fictional character portrayed on the card regardless...

For example, in my current game, the elderly forgetful mage? Well, that's represented by none other than a certain *forceful* character played by the  late  Sir Alec Guinness... 

[jdale]

Our GM tries to find pictures of all his significant NPCs (and some insignificant ones), but they aren't usually famous. I find a lot of good character pictures on deviantart, we also get the occasional computer game character, cosplay, etc. I've taking to collecting as many useful pictures as possible in preparation for the D&D game ending and being replaced by my RM campaign (same world as my other campaign, different region and focus).

Personally I would try to avoid a highly recognizable character because it distracts from immersion, but that's really a matter of taste and gaming style. Whatever keeps your players entertained and focused.

[Grinnen Baeritt]

Personally I would try to avoid a highly recognizable character because it distracts from immersion, but that's really a matter of taste and gaming style. Whatever keeps your players entertained and focused.

My players seem to think it actually helps with the immersion.. and yes, whilst it initially creates a distraction, I find it aids the focus for all concerned in the long run, players relate and that makes it easier to roleplay (and distinguish) the NPCs... having a pre-set impression/image helps jog the memory between gaps in sessions. 

[Frabby]

In our Middle-Earth campaign, the party has met the Gondorian High Captain of Ships, Lord Castamir - a popular public figure and strong leader. At this time, anyways.
They've also met Radagast in person, without recognizing him (as he was introduced under another name of his, Aiwendil), and one character had Saruman the White, Gandalf the Grey, or perhaps both appearing in his backstory without realizing the true nature of the unnamed old man who said sagely things...

[intothatdarkness]

Forgot that at one point in one of my Old West games the party ran into James West, Artie Gordon, and "the man with no name" at various points during their travels. I don't think they ever really spotted Gordon (he was in many of his costumes), but they did recognize the other two.

I've also found that in specific genres running into "existing" characters does add to immersion. Victory Games' James Bond RPG explicitly encouraged it as a necessary device.