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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Starglim" data-source="post: 4605741" data-attributes="member: 17011">To be perfectly honest, I have the same reaction and I certainly wouldn't consider myself a "slayer".I believe one reason is that until quite recently in the history of RPG design, talking scenes haven't been. NPC interaction has not been thought through as a game in the way that combat or skill use has. What's the goal and winning condition of this game sequence? What abilities does each character have to achieve the outcome? When does each player get a turn?We hear that a RPG is cops and robbers with rules, but often NPC interaction is just cops and robbers. Imagine running a combat where the monsters and PCs had no attack scores, position or hit points. Balanced play goes out the window and the player who can talk fastest, loudest and longest dominates a meandering session where the plot drifts randomly to conclusions intended by nobody.If NPC interactions have been designed and run abysmally, how can a designer or a DM be blamed for that, when they don't have the tools to do any better? There are game systems and design tools that do this much, much better. You could do some research on those - it's hard to wrap your mind around a different way of thinking, but I think, rewarding - but as minimal preparation, maybe reread page 22 to 29 in the DMG thinking about how they apply to an NPC interaction scene (rule a big red line through the paragraph on page 21 headed "Conversation" while you're there) and make sure to know some things about any NPCs the party might talk to:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Name</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Relationship</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Basic motivations and drives</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What sorts of people the NPC likes or dislikes (determined, perhaps, by class or skills, so each PC might shine in different encounters)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What pleases or angers the NPC (concrete actions, or facts he might find out about the PCs)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What the NPC knows or might agree to do</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What his boss has kept from him, or he will not agree to do, regardless of how charmed he is</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What the NPC wants to gain from the PCs</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">What limits the duration of the scene. If it drifts, kill it and go on to something more constructive.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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