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Message: <blockquote data-quote="seasong" data-source="post: 425147" data-attributes="member: 5137">Hey Dragongirl, I hope you'll forgive a rambly answer <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />.My favorite NPCs (as a GM) are those that provide me with one of the following: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The worshipful awe of my players. Although making appreciative noises with their mouths works about as well.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The opportunity to ham it up. I like speaking in accents, and I like interacting with player(s) in real-time, in character.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Story satisfaction. Harder to define, but basically, an NPC who either allows the players to do something simply grand (like a good villain or NPC-in-distress) or who has a good tale to tell.</li> </ul>In the worshipful awe category, I've had a number of female characters whom the players have adored for various reasons, although two archetypes have cropped up the past few years that were particularly favored: Matriarch Grandmother, and Ultracompetent & Cool. The Matriarch Grandmother is elderly, physically frail, with a deathgrip on political power, a sharp mind, and an almost motherly demeanor towards those with the proper amount of respect. U&C, on the other hand, is a bit more typical, and many movie producers have tried to create this as the strong female lead (to listen to Hollywood, you'd think this was the only strong female lead).In the ham category, I've had one or two, but it's my old men and crotchety misanthropes who tend to dominate this category. On the other hand, I ran an X-Men campaign where the PCs encountered Rahne (who I ran as a sweet-hearted but sharp-tongued, red-headed Irish-Catholic) and the players quoted snippets of her ("Yuir weeeak!" and "Och, ye daft boy!" among the faves) for weeks. That was grand, for certain.In the story satisfaction category, there's not that many. NPCs usually get the short shrift here (by intention), but there are a few. One in particular, Amber, was a spoiled, blonde brat who eventually matured into her role on the throne and became a highly effective politician, all in a believable manner. I liked that one a lot.</blockquote>

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