The easiest solution for winging it for me is typically a roleplaying encounter. After that, a skill challenge would be good, particularly if the players are creative with their skills. I would avoid combat encounters unless the tangent the players want is definitely combat oriented.
(Coming up with an interesting and balanced encounter would take me at least 15 minutes. Sacrificing one of those things would save time, but then who wants to play an unbalanced interesting encounter or a balanced dull encounter?)
For NPCs, I also steal blatantly from books I have read that I know most of my players have not. There are some really good "characters" in both nonfiction and fiction, so give yourself wide latitude.
One of the things Patrick O'Brian does well is give characters modern day psychological or medical issues but, of course, nobody knows that these are "disorders" in the early 1800's. Examples:
1) Dyslexia (confuses left and right).
2) Type A or B personalities
3) Introvert v. Extrovert, and other Myers-Briggs categories
4) Asberger's (obsessed with seemingly mundane things, difficulty socializing)
5) Narcissim
6) Institutionalized
I even keep the character names, if they aren't out of place in fantasy.
(Coming up with an interesting and balanced encounter would take me at least 15 minutes. Sacrificing one of those things would save time, but then who wants to play an unbalanced interesting encounter or a balanced dull encounter?)
For NPCs, I also steal blatantly from books I have read that I know most of my players have not. There are some really good "characters" in both nonfiction and fiction, so give yourself wide latitude.
One of the things Patrick O'Brian does well is give characters modern day psychological or medical issues but, of course, nobody knows that these are "disorders" in the early 1800's. Examples:
1) Dyslexia (confuses left and right).
2) Type A or B personalities
3) Introvert v. Extrovert, and other Myers-Briggs categories
4) Asberger's (obsessed with seemingly mundane things, difficulty socializing)
5) Narcissim
6) Institutionalized
I even keep the character names, if they aren't out of place in fantasy.