Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="P1NBACK" data-source="post: 5563673" data-attributes="member: 83768">Give your NPCs/Monsters a goal besides "kill the enemy". If they are intelligent, have them talk about their goals during the fight. "Get the wizard's spellbook! It'll be worth a lot to Crug!" "The boss said bring back a girl! Grab her!" "They've desecrated our holy site! Let us drive them from here!" If they aren't intelligent, have them flee as soon as they realize how tough the PCs are. Most animals won't fight a losing battle, no? That'll speed up the encounters. But, maybe give them a reason for fighting too. Do they have eggs nearby? Maybe the drake flees to the corner of the wooded glade and makes a valiant stance in front of her eggs... Sure, the PCs can't talk it out with the drake, but maybe they talk amongst themselves. "Maybe we should let her be. She's just defending her eggs..." "Screw that, you see the gems lying beneath them!" Or, whatever. When you're creating your random encounter tables, try to write this kind of stuff in there. Instead of 6 goblins, write "6 goblins - they work for Crug, a bugbear who likes collecting human scalps and minor magical tokens" or something. You don't have to know who Crug is, or where he is at first. If the PCs pursue it, talk to the goblins, etc., then you can come up with that kind of stuff on the fly. As for the Fighter guy who doesn't talk a lot, I wouldn't try and force it onto him. Some players are happy to just sit back and let the others do their thing until it's time to bash skulls. But, maybe you could tailor some NPCs to his character? Maybe fighter-types who respect him above the other party members. Ask him questions. Who taught him to fight? Where did he get his first sword? What made him want to become an adventurer? etc.</blockquote>

Verification