Simple goals/motives

[DongShenYin]

Does anyone have a list or make a generator of simple NPC goals and/or motives? The generators I've seen are for quirks, names, or big villians. I'm looking to flesh out commoner NPCs and maybe a lower-ranking noble or two. Alternatively, if anyone has any ideas, please pass them along. Thanks!

--Dora

 

[philreed]

Track down "Building Believable Characters" by Marc McCutcheon. It's $15, 282-pages, and should be available in the writing section of most bookstores.

A very useful tool.

 

[Mallus]

A list/generator for goals and motives? Sure....

The works of William Shakespeare. Enough to last a lifetime...

If you don't have the time and/or inclination to read throught them, try some of the film versions... and not just the stuff with Olivier and Brannagh... things like Throne of Blood and Ran, which are Shakespeare w/samurai, or Forbidden Planet, which is Shakespeare w/spaceships and robots and...

Or even West Side Story, which is Shakespeare w/Rita Moreno and knife-fighting dance numbers.

Really, you can't go wrong with Shakespeare, no matter how you slice him...