DM's... do you identify with your NPC's??

[Mallus]

Spawned from the seemingly endless DoVD/Comparative Morals 101-102 thread, comes my first thread start. Please join in...

Someone {SJ maybe} suggested that DM's don't identify as closely {or at all} with the NPC's they create as players do with their PC's. This struck me as odd, since I do. Obviously not with an entire world-spanning motley of characters, but certainly with some. This has a bit to with me being primarily a DM.

But mostly I think it's just something that comes naturally out of the creative process. Part of you ends up in what you create, no matter what you intend for the NPC and what use you put him/her to.

Part of it comes from the drive to create good, vibrant NPC's for your players to play with. I think that alone fuels a sense of identification, as you attempt to flesh out complex, real-seeming motivations and personalities.

Then of course there is the pride angle.

So what do you all think? Do you as DM's just push peices on an imaginary board? Do you indentify with some of your NPC's? If so, how much? As much as your own PC's {with me it's more so...}. Is said indentification useful and/or neccessary for the creation of really top-notch NPC's?

 

[Drawmack]

My campaigns always have a venger type. This NPC (usually a group of them ) who is a constant thorn in the side of the PCs. They start as low level and work their way up in levels staying about par with the PCs. They gain experience from their plots that the PCs don't foil. I call them my antiparty. These character I relish in as much as any character I have ever played but the rest of the NPCs I don't identify with much at all, maybe a little here and there but nothing big.

 

[The Lemon Merchant]

Depends on the NPC, some are just cardboard cutouts, even my primary adversary sometimes and others I go into great detail. It really just depends on where my muse takes me. A good example of this is my current campaign most of the bad guys haven't leaped out at me as deserving development and so I just go through the motions with them. On the other hand I've spent over a week developing the quirks of a rather minor NPC, the parties butler, Gordon. His only significant role may be this week when he contacts the party (currently delving through the Tomb of Abysthor) and informs them that a new recruit is awaiting their inspection back at the compound (the party are the sole survivors of a mercenary company that was wiped out by the Great Hunt). After his bit part he may never be seen again but that hasn't stopped me from developing him.

 

[Maraxle]

I get attached to some of my NPCs, but not every barkeep and shopkeeper in every little town the PCs pass through. I do have a few that seem to pop up in every campaign I run, though.

 

[PeterDonis]

The NPCs I identify with most as a DM are the ones that were previously my PCs (a friend and I switch off being DMs in our campaign). However, there are also a few villains that I've put quite a bit of work into, so that I feel I have a pretty good insight into what makes them tick (I'm not sure that "identify" with them is the right word).

Peter Donis

 

[seasong]

I always try to make my NPCs a bit human, and so there is always some level of identification with them. But ultimately, what I identify with is the story. I think of my characters in terms of flats and rounds, hooks and anchors, flavor elements and meaty story archetypes.

On the other tentacle, my players often identify strongly with this or that NPC, and that makes necessary a certain amount of additional investment in the character to maintain the level of "channelling" that the players want for that NPC.

For example, in the "New Avengers" super hero campaign I'm running right now, one of my players is obsessed/infatuated with Dr. Black, a haughty London telepath known for her composure and grace. So I practice a faint English accent (accented, upper class), devote fair mental resources to maintaining her general "air", and so on. And although she's a flat and anchor (story archetype: elder advisor), I know that killing her would have a HUGE impact on where the campaign went - murderous revenge would merely be the start . So I cultivate her, and I won't kill her on a minor note.

Probably the most identification I've ever had is with Trakini, a merchant who crops up in many of my high-magic fantasy campaigns, plying his trade across dimensions. He's a real bastard, but he's also too useful to simply dismiss. And he's got a quirky attitude that I like playing out .

 

[roytheodd]

I tend to use characters from movies, TV, books, and real-life as my NPCs so I don't really identify with them.

 

[StalkingBlue]

I wouldn't say I identify with NPCs.

I put work into handcrafting prominent NPCs, a lot of thought on making them act and react plausibly, and more work and thought if they turn out to be recurring characters - IMC, NPCs of long-standing will be dynamic rather than static, meaning that they sometimes level up, may learn or acquire (or lose) new things.

But I always remain aware of the fact that my NPCs, as well as the rest of the world I present to my players, are really part of the stage I provide for the PCs to act on.