Vivid NPC's - What do you do

[KnowTheToe]

When entering a town or city or introducing a combatant do you put any thought into the NPC's personality?


Do you use the DM's chart for random personality for store clerks, or do you just flink open the PHB & DMG and ask what the player want to buy or do you create a three dimensional personality including personal motivations? Is every farmer some poor bloke who is tired and has little to no information or do you develope their dreams and their strengths and weaknesses? Are mages boring men and women who will make anything for some coin, or is their more behind their flowing robes?

Does NPC personality make a big difference to your game? What do you do to make your PCs feel attached to your NPCs?

 

[ForceUser]

When entering a town or city or introducing a combatant do you put any thought into the NPC's personality?


Do you use the DM's chart for random personality for store clerks, or do you just flink open the PHB & DMG and ask what the player want to buy or do you create a three dimensional personality including personal motivations? Is every farmer some poor bloke who is tired and has little to no information or do you develope their dreams and their strengths and weaknesses? Are mages boring men and women who will make anything for some coin, or is their more behind their flowing robes?

Does NPC personality make a big difference to your game? What do you do to make your PCs feel attached to your NPCs?

A DM who hams it up as an NPC can really coax roleplaying out of the players. I generally wing it, making up personalities on the fly, then jotting down notes later. My players seem to like the quirky ones.

 

[ejja_1]

jamis bucks npc generator has a setting that generates random backgrounds and motivators for them.

 

[Mark]

I use the CMG PROSE System...

 

[JoeGKushner]

GM Essentials by Johnn For has an excellent book on handling NPCs. Very well detailed and focused on the whole NPC craft and art.

 

[blackshirt5]

I thought this was gonna be a topic about Devon and Evan Stone.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Some good, colorful, well done NPCs can make a simple story very interesting. Or, they can liven up what might be a quiet part of a campaign.

Personally, I try to come up with an outline of the adventure and then populate it with a few good NPCs. Imagine “Star Wars” without Han Solo? (you get “Phantom Menace” or “Attack of the Clones”…) Or, worse, try to imagine if Gandalf had been played by a wooden actor like Dolph Lundgren or Jean Claude Van Damme instead of Ian McKellan? You don’t’ have to create a ton of them, but a few here and there.

 

[Voadam]

When they walk in the city? If they interact with an NPC I will develop a personality on the fly. I've had unctious "magic amulet" sellers sort of spontaneously arise in a poor crowded Indian city, the word magic caught the players' attention until they figured that the bead and clay tablets were not really worth anything.

For me NPC personalities usually arise from conceptualizing the NPC as a full person considering their current world role as I roleplay them, the thief guild kidnapper as a tough brutal professional, the snotty shopkeeper, the arrogant cult leader, the wimpering kidnapped sage, etc.

 

[Greatwyrm]

It depends on how much interacting the PCs actually do with the NPC.

If all they want to do is stock up on arrows and rope, you probably don't need to give the shopkeeper a name. If they go back to the same shop again and again, try to add a small detail or two (appearance, demeanor, habits, knowledge, etc.) each time they come in. You don't learn everything about a person the first time you see them, why should the PCs?

This also helps to keep you from doing a lot more work than you need to on the supporting cast. If you go around statting every barkeeper and tax collector the group runs into, you'll soon have precious little time for anything else.

Major NPCs, on the other hand, should have some background/personality developed ahead of time. Ask yourself why are they doing the things they're doing, good or bad. As you try to come up with rational answers for their behavior, you'll likely come up with more story hooks as well.

Keep in mind, though, how your party will deal with the NPC. If he's some kind of evil badguy, he's likely to get mowed down before his personality gets a chance to shine through. If he's someone they can't/won't kill right away, put more effort into the actual character part. PCs love to hate NPCs they can't just beat the tar out of. Look for atypical sources of power (political, noble, or religious connections, etc.) for adversaries that can't just be dealt with at the end of an axe.

And like JoeGKushner said, get a copy of the GM Essentials NPC book. Plenty of good stuff in there.