Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
How to Design Better Urban Adventures
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="carpedavid" data-source="post: 3062019" data-attributes="member: 6971"><p>First some general advice for NPC-heavy games:</p><p></p><p>1. Things happen without the PCs interacting. You should know what the NPCs are doing, when they're planning on doing them, and why. This allows you to do the following:</p><p></p><p>a. If the PCs don't get involved, interesting (probably bad) things happen. If the PCs haven't picked up on the hook, or just don't care enough about the hook, then the consequences of their inaction can serve as a hook into the next adventure.</p><p></p><p>b. If the PCs do get involved, but do things you don't expect, then knowing what, when, and why will allow you to adjust the NPCs reactions in a realistic way. It'll feel to the players like the NPCs are reacting, and not just reading from a script.</p><p></p><p>2. Make the next course of action easy to figure out. Take a lesson from computer and console RPGs here. There's nothing more frustrating than walking around trying to figure out what you're supposed to do.</p><p></p><p>a. Gather Information checks and the like should provide concrete and useful information - not something the PCs need to puzzle out.</p><p></p><p>b. Remember that every important NPC has an enemy, and is capable of conducting Gather Information checks themselves. If they find out that a group of adventurers is poking around looking to foil their enemies' plots, they may give the PCs all the information they need.</p><p></p><p>In your case, I'd suggest the following: don't railroad. If the PCs are given the opportunity to get involved and don't, they should see the consequences of their actions. They'll get involved more next time. When the Good Cleric hires the PCs to keep the Bad Wizard from summoning the Evil Demon, and they spend all of their time getting into bar fights, let the Evil Demon be summoned.</p><p></p><p>Also - it somewhat sounds like they view all NPC encounters like combat encounters - they're out to "win." This might be due to lack of experience from your players, or it might be due to how you present the encounters. If they're always trying to squeeze every bit of info they can find out of every NPC, they might see all encounters as adversarial.</p><p></p><p>More infomation might be helpful. What exactly is the constantly Bluffing PC trying to accomplish? When you say they don't share information - is that between players or between characters?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="carpedavid, post: 3062019, member: 6971"] First some general advice for NPC-heavy games: 1. Things happen without the PCs interacting. You should know what the NPCs are doing, when they're planning on doing them, and why. This allows you to do the following: a. If the PCs don't get involved, interesting (probably bad) things happen. If the PCs haven't picked up on the hook, or just don't care enough about the hook, then the consequences of their inaction can serve as a hook into the next adventure. b. If the PCs do get involved, but do things you don't expect, then knowing what, when, and why will allow you to adjust the NPCs reactions in a realistic way. It'll feel to the players like the NPCs are reacting, and not just reading from a script. 2. Make the next course of action easy to figure out. Take a lesson from computer and console RPGs here. There's nothing more frustrating than walking around trying to figure out what you're supposed to do. a. Gather Information checks and the like should provide concrete and useful information - not something the PCs need to puzzle out. b. Remember that every important NPC has an enemy, and is capable of conducting Gather Information checks themselves. If they find out that a group of adventurers is poking around looking to foil their enemies' plots, they may give the PCs all the information they need. In your case, I'd suggest the following: don't railroad. If the PCs are given the opportunity to get involved and don't, they should see the consequences of their actions. They'll get involved more next time. When the Good Cleric hires the PCs to keep the Bad Wizard from summoning the Evil Demon, and they spend all of their time getting into bar fights, let the Evil Demon be summoned. Also - it somewhat sounds like they view all NPC encounters like combat encounters - they're out to "win." This might be due to lack of experience from your players, or it might be due to how you present the encounters. If they're always trying to squeeze every bit of info they can find out of every NPC, they might see all encounters as adversarial. More infomation might be helpful. What exactly is the constantly Bluffing PC trying to accomplish? When you say they don't share information - is that between players or between characters? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
How to Design Better Urban Adventures
Top