Help Making Characters Interesting

[texastoast]

Most of my RPG time these days is DMing a game for my family, and I'm having a hard time imbuing my NPCs with any real personality. The same is somewhat true for my PCs, but it's a less pronounced effect.

My biggest challenges include:
1) All the characters basically talk like me. I don't do voices, so there's that, but also I tend to use the same sort of vocabulary and whatnot.
2) I never know when or how to be untruthful as an NPC, either because the NPC has their facts wrong or is trying to mislead the PCs.
3) The characters are boring. Or at least they seem boring from my perspective, either as I'm portraying them or in retrospect.

Does anyone have any advice for how to make my characters more dynamic and lifelike?

 

[KahlessNestor]

Maybe try doing some voives, just a little. Not saying go full on Matt Mercer, but change things up. Put a little growl in your voice if you're an orc or a grizzled veteran. Maybe a little higher pitch if female. A bit of whine if a goblin. You migjt feel a bit silly, and maybe have some laughs over it, but it will become easier.

Think of a TV or movie character to model it off of. Speak a little bit like them. Drop some Gs from endings and such.

Use the quirks table in the DMG and adopt some mannerisms or physical posture.

Give them goals and motivations.

I believe one of Matt Mercer's GM Tips videos has NPC advice. Find that and watch (about 10 minutes ).

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[Sunseeker]

Try doing some voices, if you're comfortable with your audience. They don't have to be AAA-game voice actor quality but a little differentiation in tone and pitch can go a long way.

If you're not good at voices, try expressions. (whole body ones) Stand if you have to. Imitate how the person is moving, even if it is silly or stereotypical.

If you'd rather not try voices or expressions, try to pick words that person would commonly use. Do they call everyone "hon", or use some silly make believe words in their speech or repeat a certain word a lot like "amazing" or "totally" or such.

As for if they're doing or not, you're a bad judge. You're the artist judging your own art. Ask what your players think of your characters.

 

[MichaelSomething]

Make some NPCs inspired by Jack Black characters. And some based off of Ben Stiller characters. And a few from Adam Sandler too.

 

[texastoast]

Thanks for the suggestions all. I'll definitely have to try to be more performative.

I'll check that table on quirks, but does anyone have other suggestions for creating personality traits for NPCs? That's also always my biggest challenge when creating PCs. I'm pretty good at creating bonds and goals and whatnot - the big picture character elements - but I have trouble translating those facts about the character into behaviors that come out when role playing.

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[Caliban]

Try to mimic memorable characters from shows or movies you like.

Watch celebrity impersonators on youtube. They often use a particular character trait from the original person, then exaggerate it to make it more memorable and build the impersonation around that.

Watch theater performances on youtube - stage actors have to use more exaggerated body language and speech patterns because the audience is farther away and won't notice subtleties.

These don't have to be realistic portrayals, being memorable and fun is more important, at least initially.

 

[Eltab]

Can you find some 3.x era rules supplements and DMGs? There is advice and charts for creating NPCs that feel more like people and less like "NPC#1, NPC#2, &C."

Besides the acting advice above, A GOAL is important. The PCs tell Generic NPC (played by you) that a dragon swooped in and flew off with a lamb in its claws; how will he react?
If he was supposed to be the shepherd, he will be very upset - he could get fired for not doing his job!
If he is a vegetarian druid, he may not care; not his problem at all.
If he is the rancher that owns the whole flock, he's going to want to call for some effective dragon-slaying Heroes - pronto.
If he is a business rival to the flock's owner, he might just laugh at his rival's misfortune and go on to other business. Or he might worry that his cattle will be on tomorrow's menu of freebies.

For every important NPC, have a page in a notebook.
-What does he know?
-What happened while he was 'on-camera'?
-What is he trying to accomplish (raise self-sustaining sheep herd)?
-Does he have a quirk (drums fingertips on jawline when thinking)?
-A 'signature item' (Green Gus always wears his Irish-green jacket no matter how hot and sunny it is)?
-A personality trait that surfaces often (manipulative, greedy)?
-Does he know any secrets (cave in hillside conceals treasure chest; hire a lock-picker later)?
Some of this will be single sentences or phrases, some answers will be paragraphs.

 

[amerigoV]

A simple approach is just ask what does the NPC want from the interaction (a sale, money, information, attention) and how would they get it (adoring, groveling, bullying, nice, bribery, friendly, too cool for school, etc).