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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ergeheilalt" data-source="post: 1405981" data-attributes="member: 3460">I ran a game with heavy NPC involvement. They mostly just stood to the side and either proffered advice or lended a hand when asked  to do so. I really didn't want the PCs to feel like they were competing with the NPCs for screen time.The PCs ended up interacting with a peculiar crew of "just this side of piracy" bucanneers. I kept the crew small (12) and low level (party was level 5ish, crew was level 1 for the most part, captain was 6 and first made was 3). There was someone on the ship capable of doing just about everything, but no real adventurers (a physically weak cleric of the ocean goddess, a cowardly wizard (magic airship btw), a couple of rogues, a tinker, and a couple experts). The captain was who they mostly interacted with, so he had the most detail, quirks and sayings.I scoured some of the books I've read which involved drill instructors yelling at their men and found some nice "salty" terms for him to yell at the crew, after which he would always profusely appologize to the party (two females and a paladin of some high sensibilites). In all the combat the party ran into, the NPCs only fought in one and only because the party was loosing badly. Now that I look back, there are some great ideas introduced in Unearthed Arcana. There is always the "quirks" table in the DMG for distinguishing marks, habits and such. One way to ensure an NPC is memorable to the party is to make sure he stands out form the other figures in the game. Rather than Johnny the Cleric of Pelor who heals the party when they're in need, it could be Johnny the Cleric who randomly spouts Confucious like sayings that are really really apparent, (Pelor say, "If rain there is, wet will the ground become").  Don't be afraid to add some of the flaws from UA. Assisting NPCs shouldn't be of the same power level as the rest of the party, so the negative effects of the Flaws add a bit of background or comedy to the character while also knocking them down a bit from the PC's power level.Just my two cents,Erge</blockquote>

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