GMMichael
Guide of Modos
They had it right back in 1987 (note the innkeeper):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8PHmi2L7FY
While realizing what a tangled web we weave the other day, it occurred to me that most NPCs shouldn't need more than one line of dialogue, like in some of the earliest Nintendo RPGs.
Doesn't that sound boring? Less-than-one-dimensional NPCs?
It's actually really practical. Hear me out. Any given book - those that contain the stories we know and love - contains a handful or three of characters who provide the majority of dialogue in the book. This is the "cast," if you'll permit some TV/movie terminology. The rest of the NPCs are the extras - all the other people in the world who get only one line of dialogue to use for their entire lives (though "extras" don't usually get dialogue).
Game masters have a significant burden: the duty to turn a pile of rules into an exciting game. This is almost impossible to do if every NPC is supposed to have a unique name, voice, backstory, family tree, place in the world, and equipment list. It's just too much information, and honestly, a waste of the GM's creative energy when it must be spent on one-liner NPCs. The story needs to be told, and too many characters will actually get in the way of it.
You can convey this to players with the named/unnamed convention. The "innkeeper" gets one line, while players can expect more dialogue from "innkeeper Carl."
Should players expect fleshed-out NPCs to be everywhere? Can GMs provide a single line of dialogue (or less) for an NPC and not ruin immersion for the players?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8PHmi2L7FY
While realizing what a tangled web we weave the other day, it occurred to me that most NPCs shouldn't need more than one line of dialogue, like in some of the earliest Nintendo RPGs.
Doesn't that sound boring? Less-than-one-dimensional NPCs?
It's actually really practical. Hear me out. Any given book - those that contain the stories we know and love - contains a handful or three of characters who provide the majority of dialogue in the book. This is the "cast," if you'll permit some TV/movie terminology. The rest of the NPCs are the extras - all the other people in the world who get only one line of dialogue to use for their entire lives (though "extras" don't usually get dialogue).
Game masters have a significant burden: the duty to turn a pile of rules into an exciting game. This is almost impossible to do if every NPC is supposed to have a unique name, voice, backstory, family tree, place in the world, and equipment list. It's just too much information, and honestly, a waste of the GM's creative energy when it must be spent on one-liner NPCs. The story needs to be told, and too many characters will actually get in the way of it.
You can convey this to players with the named/unnamed convention. The "innkeeper" gets one line, while players can expect more dialogue from "innkeeper Carl."
Should players expect fleshed-out NPCs to be everywhere? Can GMs provide a single line of dialogue (or less) for an NPC and not ruin immersion for the players?