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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 9467250" data-attributes="member: 6801845">What else do you need other than to understand what drives and motivates an NPC?  I can't possibly anticipate every action or question of the players, so I know roughly what important NPCs know, what they want to accomplish and why.  But then we go to the higher level of abstraction.  I'll map out factions and organizations that pretty much everyone falls into, with the occasional conflicted NPC thrown in.  Let's say I have sessions occurring in Bleak City. I know the majority of town guards are corrupt and are looking to get ahead any way they can as long as they don't cross some important mob bosses.  There are a handful of guards that want to clean things up.  That's just part of my notes outlining the city, not something I did for a specific session.  When the the players decide to talk to a town guard, something I hadn't anticipated, I know in general how they'll react. If I'm uncertain if this is one of the honest guards or not (I may just decide one way or another for purposes of driving the story forward)  I'll roll for it.  Then I'll quickly pick a name from my list o' names.  Thus Isla, the female guard and one of the few honest guards, potentially becomes an important NPC and contact for the group.  I'll make a note after the session and add a little bio for Isla, possibly fleshing her out a bit.As far as stats, I'll just make that up on the spot based on the role of the NPC. I don't see why making those decisions before the game or on the fly really matter.  I made up Isla on the spot.  While I plan out encounter blocks ahead of time (and typically have 2-3 extra with things that would be appropriate) I don't put much into those encounter blocks other than what monsters there are and how many to hit a certain difficulty level.  If they go off on a tangent I had never anticipated I'll just grab one of the encounter blocks that's close, possibly changing fluff and descriptions on the fly.Do my general outline for the city and encounter blocks qualify as "salient" details?  Heck if I know.</blockquote>

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