Can you make use of a systemless NPC book filled with colorful characters?

[Croesus]

Quirky character concepts are easy to make. 90% of the work in making an NPC ready to use is creating stats (depending on the game system) and adapting the idea to fit a specific campaign and setting. I would much sooner buy a product that did that work for me (such as "100 NPCs of Eberron for 4E").

Whereas I'm the exact opposite. I find stats are easy, but coming up with NPC's that don't all feel the same is difficult. While I will buy a book of NPC's with stats, I prefer stat-less, as the focus of such a project is on the parts I most need.

 

[Wolf1066]

The stats don't really matter to me all that much unless the NPCs are clearly antagonists that the PCs will likely end up fighting.

Depending on the game mechanics, there could be other interactions that would require stats/skills and you never know what stunts the players are going to pull on you.

What starts out as a basic "go to the store and buy something from the storekeeper" that does not require stats and skill levels suddenly takes on a greater complexity if the players decide that they'd rather haggle than pay the asking price. In the games I run, that would require at least stats and a skill check on both sides (opposed task) - with the possibility of modifiers dependent on other factors as well.

This is why I keep old character sheets.

Player: "I'm going to try to persuade him to throw in a couple of these at less than half price"

Me (Internally): "OK, his INT is... [quickly grab closest old character sheet and settle back as if I had it prepared all along] 7 and..."
Me (Externally and casually): "OK, roll on your persuasion skill..."

Depending on your players, they might just turn around and say "screw paying for this, let's just beat him up and take the stuff..." and fighting stats/skills are suddenly relevant.

Is "Storekeeper A" stronger, faster, cannier than average? Weaker, slower, more naive? Is (s)he more prone to respond favourably to an attractive member of his/her preferred sex? Is his/her proclivity in that matter obvious?

Those are the sorts of things that have very quickly become issues in my games when some wise-arse player suddenly says "I'm going to use my character's natural charm and good looks to elicit a favourable response".

Those sort of characteristics are one way - other than mere physical description - of distinguishing between "Storekeeper A" and "Storekeeper B". "Storekeeper A" is a curmudgeonly chap but is a sucker for a pretty woman. "Storekeeper B" is obsessed with the bottom line and wouldn't give his own mother a 2% discount.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Yes, with pictures--even simple black and white ink drawings.

This, absolutely. Without stats and campaign-specific support, the value as plug-and-play product decreases a lot - and unlikely to be a source for important NPCs

If however, it has decent to good illustrations and character descriptions for more or less common people (i.e. not kings or wizards, but minor nobles, guards, inn-keepers etc.), it's a terrific resource to use to give details more life.

Then I could use it when the PCs come into an inn and say: "the barkeeper looks like *THIS*", while having a nice idea of the character that's in sync with the picture. That would be really great and useful to make the everyday stuff more colourful.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Rechan]

Different GMs need different things.

Some need stats. Because they want to account mechanically IF the PCs have to use any mechanics. Or some can create quirky interesting NPCs, but don't want to bother with creating stats in the first place, hence what they Want is a collection of NPC stats.

Some want interesting NPCs. The stats they can create are easy (or they may not use rules all that much). Depending on system, the stats may not even matter.

So if you're making a book of NPCs, decide who you're marketing it to and then approach that. Because its' unlikely you can satisfy everyone, so seek to satisfy those who you are aiming the product at.

Although, mentioning what skills the NPC would have in rough terms (he's sociable and athletic would let you know he should have the appropriate skills for Diplomacy or whathaveyou as well as athletic skills).

Also I agree that pictures would be MOST useful.

 

[Wolf1066]

The big question is: how "systemless"?

"Still within a given genre but not dependent on any one system that uses that genre" or "not aimed towards any game system at all, regardless of genre"?

The latter would be more difficult/complex as some character types/classes do not readily cross genres. Many do - merchants, soldiers, storekeepers etc - and some others could be "bent to fit" - e.g. corporate echelons based on the various tiers of nobility. Many others, however, will not fit outside a particular genre - no need for generic technicians in AD&D but a potential need in any contemporary or future setting. Likewise, some characters that are needed for fantasy will not fit in historical settings (others will, of course) and some historical/fantasy trades/classes will not fit contemporary or future settings.

The OP references storekeepers and nobles specifically and gives an example of behaviour and the rumours. The rumours surrounding given behaviour would also vary according to a setting or genre.

 

[Wolf1066]

If however, it has decent to good illustrations and character descriptions for more or less common people (i.e. not kings or wizards, but minor nobles, guards, inn-keepers etc.), it's a terrific resource to use to give details more life.

Then I could use it when the PCs come into an inn and say: "the barkeeper looks like *THIS*", while having a nice idea of the character that's in sync with the picture. That would be really great and useful to make the everyday stuff more colourful.

Illustrations would necessarily be very genre-specific but they are a great idea.

For illustrations of characters, I use Heromachine 2.5 - OK, so all the characters are in the same basic pose and the men are all built like Corporal Carrot while the women (to bowdlerise one of the players in my game) look like they've given birth but still have no need for "support", but at least there's a decent number of components to create anyone from a barbarian to a spaceman, a monster to an alien.

It's great to be able to give the players a visual reference and I've found it meshes well with my "organic" character creation process - "Ooh, a prosthetic arm would look cool... hmmm, he's a bodyguard, so let's say he lost his arm defending someone, it's a basic machine-like arm so he's not rich..." and so it goes - picture and basic concept "feed off" one another until I have a well-rounded character.

I'm one of the ones who find that the stats, skills and natural attributes take the most time. I come up with a concept or image and have to spend ages working out how good they are at various things, what levers can be used on them, what will cause them to react negatively etc.

 

[Ghostwind]

A good example of what I am thinking of can be found in Green Ronin's Bucaneers of Freeport supplement. The characters there have no game stats yet you still have an understanding of exactly how powerful they are and what classes you would likely apply to them if necessary. Not all NPCs need to have stats in my experience. But I also realize that others feel the need for stats. It may be that I wind up doing 2 books, one statless and one for Pathfinder depending on the response.

For every character presented, there would be an illustration of that character. An example of the kind of artwork that I would likely use can be found here: Renderosity Digital Art Community

 

[IronWolf]

A good example of what I am thinking of can be found in Green Ronin's Bucaneers of Freeport supplement. The characters there have no game stats yet you still have an understanding of exactly how powerful they are and what classes you would likely apply to them if necessary. Not all NPCs need to have stats in my experience. But I also realize that others feel the need for stats. It may be that I wind up doing 2 books, one statless and one for Pathfinder depending on the response.

This book might be a decent pairing to the forthcoming Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: GameMastery Guide which is supposed to contain sample NPC stats for common adventuring situations.

 

[Saeviomagy]

What I would want from a collection of NPCs:

1. Some sort of categorisation that isn't based off of profession or alignment. Perhaps motivation? That way I could decide I want a greedy merchant, flick through NPCs that might be motivated by greed and pick one. Or I want a mercenary and I go to the same section etc.

2. Pictures. Given my previous request this might just be mugshots, or detailed mugshots on sketched bodies or something similar.

3. Speech mannerisms (hell, if you can manage it then recordings of how the NPC is supposed to sound). As a DM a big way to make an NPC memorable is what they sound like.

4. Roleplaying suggestions: I'm not talking about getting inside the NPCs head here - I want stuff that shows me how this particular NPCs expresses himself when he's doing certain things.

ie
General - Rolf blinks a lot while he speaks.
Deceit - Rolf fidgets with his hands as if trying to wash them.
Excitement - Rolf punctuates his speech with high pitched giggling.
Fear - Rolf's eyes widen, and he stops blinking.

That sort of stuff.

 

[Starfox]

Flying Buffalo did a series of Citybooks back in the 80s that had generic shops and other city sites, including many colorful NPCs. Their NPC profiles were usually about 1/4 of a page and rated the character on a scale of 1-5 or magic, thievery, fighting, etc, along with some signature moves or spells. That worked very well; it was enough to flesh them out of in your own system, yet not cumbersome or overlong.