Simon T. Vesper
First Post
What's your process for making NPCs in your world? (Feel free to be as detailed as you like.)
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World building: NPC Creation
- Thread starter Simon T. Vesper
- Start date
Emerikol
Adventurer
I'm assuming you mean giving them personalities and not just rolling stats.
A lot of books exist for writers that detail various traits and characteristics possessed by people with those traits.
https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Guid...4648&sr=1-1&keywords=Writers+character+traits
It might be fun to create a long list of traits and then randomly generate a few. The 1e DMG had such a list. Odd combinations might be fun.
A lot of books exist for writers that detail various traits and characteristics possessed by people with those traits.
https://www.amazon.com/Writers-Guid...4648&sr=1-1&keywords=Writers+character+traits
It might be fun to create a long list of traits and then randomly generate a few. The 1e DMG had such a list. Odd combinations might be fun.
MNblockhead
A Title Much Cooler Than Anything on the Old Site
Important NPCs I'll spend time stating them up and creating backstories. Otherwise, I make up on the fly. The only random tables I use are for names. Even then, for certain cultures/areas, I'll make up the name on the fly rather than look at a chart.
Rolling on random tables seems more work to me and, in game, on the fly, break the flow of the game.
Sometimes the "important" NPCs end up unused, make only a brief appearance, or meet an earlier-than-expected death. Sometimes my made-up-on-the-fly NPCs become central pillars of the campaign because inspiration hits me, or, more likely, the players mistake the NPC as more important than I intended. So...it becomes important. Because of this, I spend less time on creating "rich" NPCs. They become deep and flavorful from in-game interaction.
The MM and Volos help by stating up common NPC types, like scouts, thugs, etc. The Tomb of Beasts by Kobold Press does as well.
DnD Beyond makes it easy to quickly create an NPC. You just select a class and level and it will randomize the rest.
Rolling on random tables seems more work to me and, in game, on the fly, break the flow of the game.
Sometimes the "important" NPCs end up unused, make only a brief appearance, or meet an earlier-than-expected death. Sometimes my made-up-on-the-fly NPCs become central pillars of the campaign because inspiration hits me, or, more likely, the players mistake the NPC as more important than I intended. So...it becomes important. Because of this, I spend less time on creating "rich" NPCs. They become deep and flavorful from in-game interaction.
The MM and Volos help by stating up common NPC types, like scouts, thugs, etc. The Tomb of Beasts by Kobold Press does as well.
DnD Beyond makes it easy to quickly create an NPC. You just select a class and level and it will randomize the rest.
ccs
41st lv DM
1/2 the NPCs in my games are created on the fly as needed. If I need to know their stat mods I either assign them a bonus or roll a d5. HPs start off as average for class/monster. I make the rest up as I need.
After the session I write them up in a more refined form.
The other 1/2 of the NPCs start out fully detailed because I already know I'm going to need them.
After the session I write them up in a more refined form.
The other 1/2 of the NPCs start out fully detailed because I already know I'm going to need them.
Tony Vargas
Legend
I guess it goes something like this:
There's an NPC in the background: quick description, no name, no stats.
There's an NPC being interacted with, briefly, and not too important: quick description, maybe a position rather than a name "a guard" or "the seneschal" or whatever
There's an NPC being interacted with, and it might matter: quick description, stats in the relevant attributes skills
There's an NPC being interacted with and it might come to blows, but he's not a 'combat challenge' per se: basic combat stats: hps/defenses, representative attack or special ability.
There's an NPC being interacted with as part of a combat challenge (on either side): full 'monster' style stat block.
...and...
There's an NPC being interacted with, and it'll likely be interacted with again, repeatedly: finally, grudgingly, gets a Name and a note thereof.
There's an NPC in the background: quick description, no name, no stats.
There's an NPC being interacted with, briefly, and not too important: quick description, maybe a position rather than a name "a guard" or "the seneschal" or whatever
There's an NPC being interacted with, and it might matter: quick description, stats in the relevant attributes skills
There's an NPC being interacted with and it might come to blows, but he's not a 'combat challenge' per se: basic combat stats: hps/defenses, representative attack or special ability.
There's an NPC being interacted with as part of a combat challenge (on either side): full 'monster' style stat block.
...and...
There's an NPC being interacted with, and it'll likely be interacted with again, repeatedly: finally, grudgingly, gets a Name and a note thereof.
Simon T. Vesper
First Post
Honestly, I've never seen that resource before. Will have to check it out; thank you.
I stole a list from a psychology website (can't remember the name) and it's part of my NPC generator; haven't tested it, though, so I don't know if it skews results one way or the other.
Simon T. Vesper
First Post
I've done the same but every once in a while, I felt like I was repeating myself with descriptions or mannerisms or personalities. (When the NPC needed those things, I mean.) It's like... the older I get, I more I realize how much I just don't know about the world.
Do you ever find yourself in a rut or repeating yourself with NPCs? If you have, what have you done to get out of it?
MNblockhead
A Title Much Cooler Than Anything on the Old Site
Meet more people, read more books, watch foreign films.
Movies and TVs seem to dip into the same character types over and over. Of course, books do as well, but I've found that I find more variety in books.
Also, putting yourself in situations where you'll meet a wider variety of people helps. While not everyone can travel widely or have easy access to highly diverse groups, you can still improve your NPC improv by paying attention to the details of the people you interact with. Sometimes, to keep myself entertained in meetings, I try to imagine the participants as NPCs. How would I describe them? What do they look like? What is their voice like? Do they have any distinquishing mannerisms?
I find that a lot of the body-language "science" to be bunk--but reading it can help you with describing people.
Something I've been thinking of doing is reading up on how police sketch artist elicits sufficient information from witnesses to come up with their sketches. I'm assuming that would help me greatly with describing people physically, which is an area I would like to improve.
Tony Vargas
Legend
A perennial truism, wisdom is not what you know, but the understanding & acceptance of how little you know...
I'm sure I have - NPCs are not my strong suit, I like coming up with societies, magic/technologies, & situations, but people stuff eludes me, especially painting an NPC as 'likeable' ...
So my NPCs tend towards cackling villains, frightened innocents, and patient/selfless helpers...
