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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JamesonCourage" data-source="post: 6094704" data-attributes="member: 6668292">In my current campaign using my RPG system, I mark down the following information on any NPC I think they might really speak to more than once: "Name (Gender, Race, [sometimes level]): Minor note of who they are (year they were born in) (Personality Trait, Personality Trait, [Something that drives them to act], [Something that inhibits them], [Something they don't know or question])."I've found this to go very, very far when helping me determine how NPCs act. I also have a d100 chart for these things (not name, gender, race, or level, but the rest), so I sometimes get really interesting combinations. Right now, in my campaign, the nation the players are in is at war (in a sense; undead invasion + dealing with newly organized orcs + skirmishes with a neighboring nation). They've interacted a few times with a man named Yidon Terane, who is organizing the army's movements out of the nation's capital city. Here's what I rolled for him:Yidon Terane (Male Human, Level 10): A knight that coordinates the war effort from the capital of Nymous (born at -45). (Cowardly, Funny, DF: Generosity, CH: Gentle, MY: How do I serve my family?)So, here's the guy responsible for directing troop movements, and he's cowardly. That was surprising to me, but I could totally see it; he's sitting safely in the capital city, in the castle, where he's maneuvered himself over years to get off the front lines. But, he's also funny, so he's not as formal or intimidating as people might think, which might disarm them socially a bit. His sense of generosity is what drives him to act, so that's been worked into all of his interactions with the PCs. He's a gentle guy, to the point where it sometimes gets in the way of doing his job. And, lastly, he wonders the best way to serve his family (the major noble Terane family), so he may be involved in court politics to some degree, or doing favors to those members who are, or even questioning if doing what he's doing really meets that end.When I rolled those five things up, it completely solidified his personality in my mind. And it only takes a minute to note, and I know his motivations, his personality, even a flaw. I think determining motivations in NPCs is incredibly important, and while I don't advocate rolling for every NPC (or most, necessarily), I love the working in motivations with what I roll. I placed a knight named Yidon Terane in that position before I rolled for that stuff, and I had already decided what he was doing. The extra stuff just interacts with that, and it gives me tons of ideas for why he's doing what he's doing. And I've found that to be immensely helpful when determining NPC actions.Anyways, like KM, I think this may be largely independent of "scene framing" since I rarely specifically set up scenes for players to resolve. Maybe you can shed more light on it? As always, play what you like <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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