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<blockquote data-quote="AlViking" data-source="post: 9667139" data-attributes="member: 6906980">Assuming &quot;they&quot; refers to players I base it on what I think is common knowledge in the world which doesn't change much from one character to another or even one campaign to another if it's in the same world. Everyone knows the common symbols for the various gods, people know you need to use fire to burn a troll and so on.&nbsp; After that it's based on background, both the literal background from the book and their story background we discussed in session 0.&nbsp; If it's more obscure knowledge training in a skill or tool will often automatically give them knowledge or a chance to know.&nbsp; Occasionally it's a secret.I have established NPCs and factions, a history of the world.&nbsp; So I have a general knowledge of the NPCs goals, morality, approach.&nbsp; When it's an NPC made up on the fly I consider if they're aligned to a specific faction and what their role is such as gopher flunky, enforcer, bureaucrat, high ranking member.&nbsp; If they aren't aligned to a faction then what role they are in the scenario, bartender, random thief or so on.It's up to the GM to breath life into these individuals so I try to make what I consider likely decisions from their point of view, including rolling the dice if I'm unsure.&nbsp; I'm probably not as organized as some people but improvising NPCs and their reactions is a skill you learn by doing.&nbsp; Main thing is to represent them in a way that is consistent with who they represent.For a region I have general high level ideas of factions, their conflicting goals and methodology.&nbsp; There's also potential goals for the characters, those change depending on what the players are interested in, what impact the characters have had on the world.&nbsp; The players can have major impact on how events play out based on what they do.&nbsp; Cities have fallen, enemies turned into allies, emperors installed because of player decisions.Whim means that it's random and capricious.&nbsp; I'm not just making decisions based on some generic table that has nothing to do with what has been established in the fiction of the world, tone of the game, what the characters have said or done.&nbsp; I do not make decisions based on a whim, if I thought a GM was I wouldn't stick with the group.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AlViking, post: 9667139, member: 6906980"] Assuming "they" refers to players I base it on what I think is common knowledge in the world which doesn't change much from one character to another or even one campaign to another if it's in the same world. Everyone knows the common symbols for the various gods, people know you need to use fire to burn a troll and so on. After that it's based on background, both the literal background from the book and their story background we discussed in session 0. If it's more obscure knowledge training in a skill or tool will often automatically give them knowledge or a chance to know. Occasionally it's a secret. I have established NPCs and factions, a history of the world. So I have a general knowledge of the NPCs goals, morality, approach. When it's an NPC made up on the fly I consider if they're aligned to a specific faction and what their role is such as gopher flunky, enforcer, bureaucrat, high ranking member. If they aren't aligned to a faction then what role they are in the scenario, bartender, random thief or so on. It's up to the GM to breath life into these individuals so I try to make what I consider likely decisions from their point of view, including rolling the dice if I'm unsure. I'm probably not as organized as some people but improvising NPCs and their reactions is a skill you learn by doing. Main thing is to represent them in a way that is consistent with who they represent. For a region I have general high level ideas of factions, their conflicting goals and methodology. There's also potential goals for the characters, those change depending on what the players are interested in, what impact the characters have had on the world. The players can have major impact on how events play out based on what they do. Cities have fallen, enemies turned into allies, emperors installed because of player decisions. Whim means that it's random and capricious. I'm not just making decisions based on some generic table that has nothing to do with what has been established in the fiction of the world, tone of the game, what the characters have said or done. I do not make decisions based on a whim, if I thought a GM was I wouldn't stick with the group. [/QUOTE]

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