Tips on playing NPCs?

[dreaded_beast]

Last session the players meet survivors from a keep infested with vermin. The survivors were made up of the commander, a cleric, a small serving boy, and 9 troops.

The NPC doing the most talking was the commander, with a few asides from the cleric, and "background noise" from the troops.

I'm not sure if it's because I was feeling tired (it was near the end of the session) but I was unhappy with how I portrayed the NPCs. I felt that I didn't have a good grasp of their personality or what they should say.

Any tips, ideas, etc., would be appreciated.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

I'm not sure if it's because I was feeling tired (it was near the end of the session) but I was unhappy with how I portrayed the NPCs. I felt that I didn't have a good grasp of their personality or what they should say.

Any tips, ideas, etc., would be appreciated.

Given them a memorable trait for starters. Something that will stick out in the minds of your players. Give the Captain a patch over one eye a limp and smelling of sweat. Describe the Cleric as having a shaved pate and smelling of incense. In most cases I believe smells are very much forgotten which is a shame because in real life a particular smell brings back memories of events from the distant past. Using voice inflection is tricky because you might forget what the sound was like but you can definitely say that someone speaks with a lisp or stretches their "R's".

 

[Eye Tyrant]

I've found I remember NPC info/traits much better if I make up the NPC myself as opposed to using something pre-fab... Other then that, maybe think about changing playing times so you aren't so tired (I had to do this recently, changing to Sunday afternoons).

 

[Cake Mage]

well when i DM, the npc's charater is what makes or break my game. I could just simply play a PC as normal as possible, but then the game drags. So I find that if I play NPCs by over-acting and giving them unique personalities and style of speaking, then they become more memorable. Also the actions the NPC take also make or break the reality, if you will, of the character.

Like right now in my game, I just brought in one of the characters twin brother (over played I know, but I needed something). Now this NPC is crazy, literally. I had him come down to the common room of the tavarn the PCs were in, having the PCs think he was player. (he went out for food and i took his charater sheet, had the Players think I was playing him) anywho, He came downstairs and I tried to make it seem like something is wrong with him, so I out a big grin on and started talking like I was really exicted and happy but what I was saying was inane or simple. "Whaaaat are you guys dooooiiing?" Things like that. Then when i angried one of the PCs by dishonoring him (samuri) I used his disjoiner ability (oathbound Presitge class, destroys stuff good) and mangled everything with in a 10 foot area including weapons, clothes, ect. Well it was memorable!

 

[Ed Cha]

Pick up "GM Mastery: NPC Essentials" by Johnn Four:
http://enworld.rpgshop.com/product_info.php?products_id=32181&

It beat out my own book "World of Whitethorn 1A: The Hamlet of Thumble" in the 2004 GameWyrd Weird Game Awards for The RPG or Supplement Most Likely to Inspire Good Roleplaying.

I picked it up myself a couple of months ago and it looks like it's got a lot of great tips in there for convincingly playing a diverse range of NPCs and just improving your game, in general.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I've found the easiest way for me to give my NPCs some life of their own - rather than just being me-with-a-different-accent, or whatever - is to assign them either a real person or a movie/tv/literary character to model them off.

Sometimes it's obvious to the players who they're based on; sometimes it isn't.

For example, for the LN priestess of St Cuthbert, I decided she was very proper, a little chill, and generally not very emotional. I'd be very surprised if any of my players realised "Hey, he's doing an impression of Judi Dench's 'M'!", but keeping her in mind helped me stay in character with the priestess. I gave me some vocal mannerisms to use.

On the other hand, for the scroll maker, I decided he ran his shop because he needed to earn a living, but he didn't really like having customers, since they distracted him from his research. Every single player recognised Basil Fawlty from about the second word out of his mouth.

But it didn't hurt the game at all that they recognised the inspiration for the character's mannerisms - in fact, it meant that with those first two words, they had a complete physical description in their heads, and could 'see' the way he moved and talked, because they were all familiar with the original source character.

Basically, if there's someone you're familiar enough with that you can picture the way they'd speak and react, it can 'wake up' an NPC performance.

Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry; Whose Line's Colin Mochrie in 'manic' mode; Emperor Palpatine; Andre the Giant as Fezzik; Clancy Brown as the Kurgan; Deanna Troi; they're a bunch of NPCs sitting there waiting for you

-Hyp.

 

[beldar1215]

I always read in posts about NPC's that you should use accents or different voices. What ideas do poeple have that don't invole those things. I'm very bad at both and would just sound like an idiot doing them !

 

[Hypersmurf]

I always read in posts about NPC's that you should use accents or different voices. What ideas do poeple have that don't invole those things. I'm very bad at both and would just sound like an idiot doing them !

One of the main reasons for using different voices is that it makes it immediately obvious who's talking - is it the DM, the necromancer, or his ghast servant?

It doesn't have to be as blatant as speaking in a Scottish accent, which - especially if you're bad with accents - can indeed make you sound like an idiot. Especially if it sounds exactly the same as your Russian accent and your Mexican accent... I've known people like that

But simply changing the cadence in which you speak, or the volume, or the pitch, can make a difference.

So when you're speaking as the DM, you use your normal voice.

When you're speaking as the necromancer, maybe you're channelling Christopher Lee as Saruman. It's still your normal voice... but just a little bit deeper, and slower, and more dignified than usual. Don't worry about an accent... just take your time, and keep your facial expression stern and majestic.

When you're speaking as the ghast, imagine any number of Igor performances in any number of bad Frankenstein movies. ("Enh! Enh! I have the brainsss, Massster!") Or deliver every line in a loud whisper. Or in a flat monotone, like Lurch from the Addams Family.

The voices don't have to be complicated, or silly, or even very different from your normal speaking voice. They just need a little bit of distinctiveness.

If you really, really want to steer clear of modifying your voice at all for any reason, then you need some other way of letting people know who's speaking.

Maybe have a card or slip of paper for each major NPC, with either a picture or just a name, that you can hold up while you're talking.

Maybe go with some props and hand gestures - put your evil necromancer beret on while you're being the necromancer, hold up your hands like claws while you're being the ghast.

Or, going with the minimalist approach, just begin every sentence with "The necromancer says", or "The ghast says"... which is workable, but I've never found it anywhere near as much fun

-Hyp.

 

[thundershot]

In my Exiles campaign (where the characters "leap" from reality to reality), some of the supporting cast include Al Calavicci (Quantum Leap), Biff Tannen (Back to the Future), and Charlie Townsend (Charlie's Angels, and no, he can't be seen.. long story). I can do all of these voices pretty well, and it heightens the interaction between the PC's and these NPC's, because the players know at least one of these three, and make a connection.


Chris

 

[Ed Cha]

I always read in posts about NPC's that you should use accents or different voices. What ideas do poeple have that don't invole those things. I'm very bad at both and would just sound like an idiot doing them !

Not everyone is good at voice acting, though I think you should certainly try if you can. How about making certain gestures for each individual NPC? Perhaps a wise, old wizard could make broad strokes with his hands when telling a story or a crazed lunatic could be flailing his arms about wildly. A cleric who worries a lot could put his palms to his face a lot when troubled. Some bewildered farmer might point a lot when showing the way to where the bandits ran.