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<blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 5603578" data-attributes="member: 92305">I like doing it.&nbsp; The dice &quot;tell&quot; me something about the NPC.&nbsp; For example, I just rolled up a guard dog and 3 NPCs for tomorrow's game.&nbsp;Just the way the dice went gave me impressions about the characters.&nbsp; One is a knife fighter.&nbsp; (1st level encounter.)&nbsp; He fights two-handed, using a stilletto in one hand and a dagger in the other.&nbsp; Those two weapons, he wears on his hips.&nbsp; There's a hidden knife under his pants leg on the right hand side.&nbsp; And, across his chest on a wide cross-chest holder, he wears four throwing daggers.&nbsp; They alternate and point to opposite sides.&nbsp; I gave him Point Blank Shot and Weapon Focus:&nbsp; Stilletto.&nbsp;Another NPC, the dude with the dog, is watching the front of the cave entrance.&nbsp; He shaves 3/4s of his head, letting the hair on the back of his head grow long.&nbsp; He's got long side burns, but shaves his upper lip and chin.&nbsp;He's bare chested, wears an animal skin vest, leather trews (pants), and moccasins.&nbsp; Half his teeth are sharpened to points (as if he hasn't finished filing the other side yet).&nbsp; And, he has a small tattoo at his left temple (it's a five leafed clover).&nbsp; His name is Farren, and he also fights two-handed, but he's not as good as Shivas.&nbsp; He's just trying to be like him--looks up to him (though they're both boys, Age 15 and 16, level 1 Barbarians).&nbsp; Farren hasn't been able to obtain daggers, so he uses two handaxes he took from the wood pile.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Little backgrounds like that help me put a lot of &quot;umph&quot; into the NPCs when the players encounter them.&nbsp; Sometimes I'll let the players overhear bits and pieces of dialogue between NPCs (when appropriate), and this type of background helps me ad-lib that.&nbsp; I think it's neat when the players try to figure out what the NPCs are talking about when they come in in the middle of an coversation.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Interesting.&nbsp; I've been creating a couple of encounters for tomorrow's game for about 4 hours now, and all I rolled was stats for those 3 NPCs I mentioned above.&nbsp; I didn't have to roll HP as they were 1st level characters--gave them max points.&nbsp;The actual encounter design doesn't require a lot of rolls from me, though I did draw a not-to-scale map and make a lot of notes on it (for GM use only), allowing the players to explore the area.&nbsp; That took a lot of time.&nbsp; I kept getting creative with it, even developed some local history about the area (The banks of the Blood River, where the interesting thicket trees grow...).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Water Bob, post: 5603578, member: 92305"] I like doing it. The dice "tell" me something about the NPC. For example, I just rolled up a guard dog and 3 NPCs for tomorrow's game. Just the way the dice went gave me impressions about the characters. One is a knife fighter. (1st level encounter.) He fights two-handed, using a stilletto in one hand and a dagger in the other. Those two weapons, he wears on his hips. There's a hidden knife under his pants leg on the right hand side. And, across his chest on a wide cross-chest holder, he wears four throwing daggers. They alternate and point to opposite sides. I gave him Point Blank Shot and Weapon Focus: Stilletto. Another NPC, the dude with the dog, is watching the front of the cave entrance. He shaves 3/4s of his head, letting the hair on the back of his head grow long. He's got long side burns, but shaves his upper lip and chin. He's bare chested, wears an animal skin vest, leather trews (pants), and moccasins. Half his teeth are sharpened to points (as if he hasn't finished filing the other side yet). And, he has a small tattoo at his left temple (it's a five leafed clover). His name is Farren, and he also fights two-handed, but he's not as good as Shivas. He's just trying to be like him--looks up to him (though they're both boys, Age 15 and 16, level 1 Barbarians). Farren hasn't been able to obtain daggers, so he uses two handaxes he took from the wood pile. Little backgrounds like that help me put a lot of "umph" into the NPCs when the players encounter them. Sometimes I'll let the players overhear bits and pieces of dialogue between NPCs (when appropriate), and this type of background helps me ad-lib that. I think it's neat when the players try to figure out what the NPCs are talking about when they come in in the middle of an coversation. Interesting. I've been creating a couple of encounters for tomorrow's game for about 4 hours now, and all I rolled was stats for those 3 NPCs I mentioned above. I didn't have to roll HP as they were 1st level characters--gave them max points. The actual encounter design doesn't require a lot of rolls from me, though I did draw a not-to-scale map and make a lot of notes on it (for GM use only), allowing the players to explore the area. That took a lot of time. I kept getting creative with it, even developed some local history about the area (The banks of the Blood River, where the interesting thicket trees grow...). [/QUOTE]

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