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Dungeons & Dragons - Role Playing Tips
Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #88
Designing Npcs: 6 Miscellaneous Tips
Contents:
This Week's Tips Summarized
Designing Npcs: 6 Miscellaneous Tips
- Have a 3rd Party Run An NPC At Least Once For Each
- Use Broad Brush Strokes When Designing NPCs
- Give Every NPC A Bowling Trophy
- Use Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs As An NPC Tool
- Use Role Models
- Use Tarot Cards
Readers' Tips Summarized
- Assassin Fiction
- Mapping Method
- Mapping Drama Tip: What Do The Players Enjoy?
- New GM Tip & Dealing With Large Groups
Return to Contents
A Brief Word From Johnn
GM Questionnaire Help
Last week, at my About.com RPG site, I posted a request for
question ideas to help me create a GM analysis & feedback
questionnaire. Being the end of August and peak holiday
time, I received only one response with four great
questions.
So, I'm putting you to task now. :) I'd like to build a free
survey tool for RPG groups to use to generate feedback and
help them improve.
The original article about GM Feedback is here:
http://www.roleplaygames.about.com/library/weekly/aa082401.htm
If you have any ideas about questions for the survey, please
drop me an email. Thanks!
Print Friendly File Of Archives Available
Jim Matthews put in a ton of work and has created a print
friendly, trimmed, raw text file of Issues 1 - 83 for us.
Jim says the file is about 300 pages long in Courier 10
point, and about 250 long with Courier 9 point. It's not
pretty, but if you've been wanting to print issues out this
is a good file to do it with because Jim's gone to the
trouble of deleting repetitive header and footer information
and double spacing to make things as short as possible.
Thanks Jim!
You can download the file from here:
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/downloads/
Issue Posted In Forum
I've posted this issue in my Game Masters forum for your
feedback. Last week's issue about assassins drew a couple of
great posts containing good advice and tips. Hopefully this
week's issue will do the same. See you there!
Here's the URL:
http://forums.about.com/n/main.asp?webtag=ab-roleplaygame&nav=messages&lgnF=y&msg=588.1
Cheers,
Johnn Four
johnn@roleplayingtips.com
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Roleplaying Games Articles & Reviews
Check out my other Roleplaying Games web site: http://www.roleplaygames.about.com
New This Week:
Enhancing Magic Items Without Sacrificing Game Balance:
http://www.roleplaygames.about.com/library/weekly/aa083001.htm
Game Review: Star Wars: The Dark Side Sourcebook
http://www.roleplaygames.about.com/library/bldarkside.htm
Game Review: Harvest of Thorns for Tribe 8
http://www.roleplaygames.about.com/library/bltribe88.htm
Return to Contents
Designing Npcs: 6 Miscellaneous Tips
- Have a 3rd Party Run An NPC At Least Once For Each
Last session I had a player run an NPC who has been with the
party for many sessions. Though I gave the NPC some
personality and have been roleplaying him well as an NPC,
the player put all of my efforts to shame. It was a
brilliant performance and I encourage you let someone else
play your important NPCs. Here's why:
- When you play NPCs you have many, many other things to
think about. However, a player is able to focus completely
on the NPC as a character and bring it to life.
- The player will give you a completely different
perspective of the NPC than you had while playing it
yourself, giving you more ideas and material to work with.
- When the player is finished playing the NPC for you,
you'll receive a more fleshed out character with greater
personality. That makes it easy for you to play the NPC
better in future games and stories.
- The player can help you develop any details you missed,
including filling in the blanks on the NPC's character sheet
(providing you use sheets for NPCs).
- The player has nothing to lose, and so might rise to the
occasion with a brilliant performance. Cautious players might
enjoy the freedom of using a "disposable" character. Bored
players might enjoy playing a different character for a
change. Shy players might roleplay better a character with
an already existing personality.
Here are some situations where this technique can be useful:
- The party splits and one or more players is left out of
the action.
- A new player has joined--or is thinking of joining--the
group and you want to "try each other out" before deciding
on permanent membership.
- A player whose character has been incapacitated and will
be out of play for a long while.
- You're short on players for the game session and ask a
friend or relative to play.
- An old friend is in town and wants to play before
returning home.
- You bring a person in specifically to help flesh out
an NPC.
- You want to try having a co-GM without revealing all your
campaign secrets until you know the two GM thing will work.
Return to Contents
- Use Broad Brush Strokes When Designing NPCs
When planning for most campaigns, you're better off creating
a number of interesting NPCs, using brief descriptions, than
to spend all of your planning time on making a few, highly
detailed NPCs.
John G. writes:
"Most NPC's don't have to be 3-dimensional, they just have
to appear that way to the players. The average NPC can be
summed up in a few descriptive words. For example:
Aaron Stonestaff. Retired warrior, owner of the Pegasus'
Wing Tavern, has a soft spot for adventurers, will often buy
them drinks in return for stories of adventures, has no
thumb on his right hand, and after a few drinks will regale
patrons with the story of how it was bitten off by an ogre.
The trick is to use broad strokes to describe him, then give
him a noticeable personality quirk or physical feature that
you can hang your roleplaying on. Details can be done on the
fly."
I've also found that, when faced with an NPC sheet full of
details while GMing, I "tighten up" and run the NPC poorly.
There's just too much information to deal with and I make a
wooden delivery.
All that information tends to diffuse my mental image of the
NPC as well. I deliver a far better performance when I have a
clear picture of the NPC in mind than when I'm trying to
piece together a lot of details into a distinct personality.
Return to Contents
- Give Every NPC A Bowling Trophy
Here is an excellent tip from Indigo Shift:
"A long time ago I read an interview of a comic book artist.
The interviewer was asking him for drawing tips. He said the
most important thing in drawing a room, an office, or other
space "owned" by a minor character is to include a bowling
trophy.
Everyone, no matter how great or small, has his or her own
"bowling trophy", whether it is a certificate of
achievement, an article of clothing awarded for some feat,
or a medal presented by a dignitary in recognition for
whatever. No matter what form it takes, it's a reminder of
something the character has done, and did well. As an
amusing contrast, the bowling trophy could be given for
something ridiculous (greatest sheep farmer in the western
territories!) that the NPC is still very proud of.
I use the same theory in designing NPCs. When I sit down to
create one, I think up a bowling trophy. It doesn't even
need to be an actual object. Just the concept behind the
object.
Every NPC I make has something they do that they're very
good at. Or, it's something they are known for, something
they enjoy (a hobby or obsession), even something they wish
for every day--a goal or dream.
This "bowling trophy" is what drops me into their character
when I'm playing the NPC at the table for my players. It's
the NPC's "point of view"...everything they do or say is
influenced to some degree by this character anchor.
Examples:
One NPC was a vampyre (in the NightLife RPG). Her bowling
trophy consisted of her old occupation, when she was a
smuggler of sorts. Everything she did or said, every action
she took, was influenced by this old job. As a result, she
had her own maddeningly unique ways of dealing with everyday
problems (including the PCs). They had a hard time figuring
out how her mind worked until they discovered this aspect
of her past. Then it got a little easier and they had fun
trying to figure her out.
Another NPC was a scholar in our Talislanta campaign. His
bowling trophy was the fact that he was a very respected
scholar and authority on ancient myth. His tagline was "I'm
a scholar by trade," which doesn't sound amusing unless it's
used in certain circumstances. Even the repetition got more
and more amusing, not to mention the dialogue.
Think of the bowling trophy as an anchor, or a foundation
everyone has. Something to be proud of. Because *everyone*,
no matter how unimportant, has something they did in their
life that they're very proud of, and it tends to color their
thinking forever after that. And, as long as you remember
to give them their trophy every time you make an NPC,
they'll never be two-dimensional."
Return to Contents
- Use Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs As An NPC Tool
Abraham Maslow was a psychologist who believed that people
acted and behaved according to their current human needs,
rather than as a result of having broken brains. He felt
that some needs were universally more important than others,
and he went on to create a prioritized list of the major
ones:
- Physiological Needs. Oxygen, food, water, shelter. These
needs are the strongest because they are based on pure
survival.
- Safety Needs. To feel secure in one's surroundings,
stability, and future safety.
- Love, Affection and Belongingness Needs. To be accepted
by others, have friends, feel needed, and the ability to
give and receive love.
- Esteem Needs. To be competent and receive respect from
others. If these needs are not met, the person feels
inferior, weak, helpless and worthless.
- Self-actualization Needs. A person's need to be and do
that which the person was "born to do". "A musician must
make music, an artist must paint, and a poet must write".
A person must fulfill each step before proceeding to the
next one. When creating your NPCs then, work them through
Maslow's hierarchy:
- How do they see to it that they survive immediate
threats?
- What provides them with long-term security?
- Where do they get companionship?
- What are they good at?
- What provides them with intellectual and spiritual
satisfaction?
Pick the number with the key question for the NPC, and start
from there. Devote the most attention to the question you
chose, and less and less to the ones farther away from it.
For example, a typical orc might be the most focused on
staying alive. So, think of strategies for how the orc does
this - perhaps it is paranoid and likes traps, maybe it has
a tendency to hide, run away, entertain, infiltrate. Maybe
it has a tendency to avoid trouble by doing what it is told
without much interest beyond that. Maybe it gets its sense
of security from religion and chose the way of a fanatic.
In any case, the orc has undoubtedly also prepared against
immediate threats, yet it's advanced enough to crave
companionship as well, though this might be in rather
unusual ways. A pet could supply these needs nicely.
On the other hand, an esoteric sage could devote his time
and attention to intellectual challenges. He is good at
spellcraft and arcane knowledge, and tolerates an inept
apprentice so he would not be completely alone. He does not
have time to be thinking about security, and would almost be
helpless against a direct threat to his life simply
because the idea he might die has not crossed his mind in
years.
For more details on Maslow, check this page out:
http://www.connect.net/georgen/maslow.htm
(Thanks to Aki Halme who sent in this tip!)
Return to Contents
- Use Role Models
Aki Halme writes:
"Pick someone you are familiar with as material for an NPC.
Maybe the fit is good - perhaps not so good. Either way, it
makes for an interesting NPC without much work on your
part."
- Friends
- Relatives
- Co-workers
- Celebrities
- Politicians
- Historical figures
- Characters from movies
- Characters from books
- People profiled in magazines and newspapers
Return to Contents
- Use Tarot Cards
Another tip from Aki:
Tarot cards are an attractive and efficient way to develop
NPCs. Think of what you wish to know about the character,
and draw a card for inspiration on the answer.
Return to Contents
Readers' Tips Of The Week:
- Assassin Fiction
From: tsuntsue2001
There was a book published about 4 months ago called
"Assassins Fantastic". It's an anthology of assassin
stories. It is well written, showing the failed assassin,
retired assassin, and the different genres of assassins.
Return to Contents
[Johnn: the next two tips are in reply to Issue #1 in the
archives: Mapping Dilemma: How To Stop Your Players From
Yawning]
- Mapping Method
From: Mulkey
In my games, we lay out chalk board or a large artist's
drawing pad (2'x3') and I draw the shape of the room to
whatever scale and allow the PCs to place their miniatures
on it. As the map changes we turn the pages of the pad. This
generally works for a linear path i.e. they go left, they go
right, etc. If they encounter a teleport (one of my
favorites) or something exciting I keep drawing the map as
they see it and let them sort it out.
They still get lost and they still have fun attempting to
figure out where in Hades they are and are supposed to be.
Return to Contents
- Mapping Drama Tip: What Do The Players Enjoy?
From: Rick K.
One problem I have, because I love looking at my awesome
maps, is that I often forget that the PCs can't see all the
loving detail I've put into the sketch. All they see is what
I can put into their mind's eye, and sometimes even the best
DM will not be able to provide the flavor necessary to
maintain interest, especially since the players can't tell
that their sixteenth left-right decision will decide
whether they end up falling into sewage or arriving in time
to save the fair princess (or prince). All they know is that
you've posed the same question (left or right, basically) 16
times and nothing has happened yet.
In a good novel, you will never read the following: The
heroes went left for 20 feet. The passage turns and after a
brief discussion, they went left again. Use novels as
inspiration. They gloss over those minute details: After a
series of lefts, the heroes suspected they had gone in a
circle. Somehow, they ended up at a tall, mysterious door.
Perhaps not the greatest example but try it.
After the PCs enter your masterpiece don't ask them
anything that doesn't directly add drama. You can pretty
much tell them which way you want them to go, and give clues
when it really is important. That way, when you don't give
any clues, it will still seem important.
"After nearly 15 minutes of creeping down the central
passage, crossing silent side tunnels and alcoves filled
with grotesque gargoyles, the path ends abruptly. A faint,
chill wind blows from left to right down the final T in the
passageway, uttering a faint moan as it drifts through the
complex. Which way do you go?"
OR
"DM: There's a side passage that splits left, or you can
continue straight. Which way? PCs: Straight. DM: After 20
feet, another side passage goes to the right. PCs:
Straight. DM: After 20 feet, another side passage goes to
the left. PCs: Straight. DM: After 20 more feet, the
passage ends at a T. Which way? PCs: Left/Right!"
Which way do you think the PCs would prefer?
Return to Contents
- New GM Tip & Dealing With Large Groups
From: Casey D.
Just wanted to add a tip to the "new GM" topic that I didn't
see but think is useful. First, to get a group moving at
the beginning of the game when they just want to sit around
and talk, a GM can do probably one of the most powerful
things in any game: pick out a player and say "Roll." I've
found that all the talking goes away when I start having
players roll the bones, since no one wants to be left out.
This is an especially useful technique when the GM has a
large group, which is my second tip: dealing with large
groups.
I've found that a good size for a GM's span of control is 4-
6 players; I've managed 14, but that wasn't "GMing" it truly
was managing. But what I learned stayed with me throughout
all my games: pacing the action so no player got bored.
Players got one "move" usually a die roll, I'd make a note
of the result then I'd move on without telling him or her
what happened. Then I'd get all the rolls complete, I'd move
back to the first player and, using the combined results of
all the rolls, I'd begin roleplaying the consequences of
their actions.
But sometimes I'd RP action and counteraction with one
player for a while, then I'd move on to another. Also,
initiative shouldn't always go to the elf with the best
dexterity: sometimes the wisest understands first, or the
most charismatic charms the evil sorcerer and gets the first
move. Pacing comes from changing the style of play and
keeping the players guessing on what's going to happen.
They'll be more attentive, more quiet, and have more fun.
Return to Contents
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