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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ThoughtBubble" data-source="post: 2905072" data-attributes="member: 9723">kigmatzomat pretty well hit my technique "The mook binder" I basically keep every NPC in a shorthand format that can be retrofitted on to most characters with a quick whirl and a weapon. It also helps that my games level slowly and loot upgrades are more relationship/favor based than looting. Dungeon/buyable/sellable loot tends to be of the expendable kind. I also tend to try to do some big 'broad brush' planning in advance to give myself a board to work off of. Simple stuff like, North = Cold with ice trolls, polar bears, and goblin tribes. So, just in case they head into that region, I'm set with the big picture, and the details usually sort themselves out. Also, have a bunch of names and personality quirks handy. Even a change in tone of voice can help pull an NPC out into the 'obviously not made up on the spot' category. Don't worry about letting the PC's win. Not everything has to be a challenge. So, the 5th level party headed out into bandit territory, and you've only got stats for 3rd lv bandits. Let them win. If the charming bard is using his maxed out diplomacy on an NPC who doesn't have any particular reason to be able to resist, make a roll on what you think is reasonable, and if the NPC has no chance, than the NPC has no chance. You won't always be able to offer a 'proper challenge' and that's ok. Also, the big things are mutable. So, the Black Knight is involved in a protection racket and the players obviously hate him, but head into the spider cult's domain, and you really wanted a showdown with the Black Knight, you can put him in there anyway, and run with it. The more the important stuff can be shifted around or re-used, the more you can use it. <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=":)" />And yeah, prepwork helps. The more you know about the major players involved in whatever's got the player's interest, the more you can guestimate what seems reasonable for them to do.</blockquote>

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