Creating NPCs in a Tabletop RPG |DM Tools What to Work

Creating NPCs in a Tabletop RPG |DM Tools What to Work
What fun is having story without your supporting cast. In D&D that is all of the non-player characters. Which of course are the characters that all are controlled and role-played by the DM. It's the game masters job to bring these characters alive in the campaign. Whether is a dragon in a fantasy rpg or an alien in a sci-fi game. A big part of dming is playing all those other characters for the players interact with whether they be friend or foe.
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[mikegould]

For NPCs, I tend to focus on a name, a "look/vibe/personality", and their motivation. They are there to set up a scene, provide a clue, add flavor to an encounter, or other support roll. They do not need anywhere near the same mechanical depth of a PC, so really a DM can just "fake" successes or failures for an NPC as needed by the story. If you really wish more detail, flush it out only when needed. Otherwise it's work for work's sake. The following is an example of how flushed out I make an NPC.

"Moms" Beatrice - Hefty lady in her middle age with an Irish accent and a quick wit. Owner of the "Two Crows" roadside inn...and secretly the head of the local "Trident" Thieves guild. Acts like a mother to everyone, if only to find out how best to smuggle things in and out of town.

Arthur Widdle - Halfling farmer. "West country UK" accent. Big heart, easy talker, but easily distracted. Tendency to ramble on and reminisce. Always seen with a floppy wide-brimmed bat and and ever-smoking clay pipe.

Sister Melathyss - Elven Monk. Nun of the Abbey of the Four Winds. Practitioner of the "Hands of Wind" style of Elven Gung-Fu. Head shaved bald, and still quite alluring, she is quiet, respectful and withdrawn. She rarely makes eye contact and is completely loyal to the Abbott. If asked for advice or information, she will tend to speak in Zen metaphor, bow, and leave.

Grunk - Grunk means well. He's gruff, even for a Half-Orc, but this likely has to do with spending his childhood among other Orcs. He likes to try and impress strangers with a game of "I bet I can eat this", which usually ends in a stranger vomitting and Grunk confused as to why.

I could probably go on and on from here, but you get the idea. Write down enough so that you can "see" the person. That's all. The players will likely want a description, so that's all you really need - enough to create that description. A few colourful hints are enough to spark the players' imaginations, and they'll mentally fill in the rest.

[borisstremlin]

Good suggestions. You can combine the index card with the Everway approach. Everway was a rules light card-based game from the 90s designed by Jonathan Tweet (before he went on to become one of the leads on 3e). The box-set had a deck of cards with with images of NPCs, places, and items on the front. And on the back, there were three questions, such as: 1) Why is this orc smiling? 2) where did he find that mean-looking axe on his belt; 3) what are those worms in the bowl he's eating out of. So that was all you needed to know about that NPC for starters. You could find any picture, download and print out, and staple it to the back of your index card, show players the image, and keep your notes on the other side. In a way, though, it's easier if you play online, because you can use the screen-share feature, and keep your notes on your device also.

[gregoryfloriolli]

I find my best NPCs are ones I can sum up in a line or two like: The gnome evoker whose likes are things that blow up and dislikes are things that do not blow up. Or the Tiefling information broker who says, "What's the point in being a Tiefling if you're not willing to embrace your infernal side and have a little fun?"

[Greg]

my npc trap is when the dm makes an npc and uses them but later if we come back to them he has forgotten about the npc but we haven't

[crazyscotsman]

In this world I have created I have over 50 NPC's who are leaders of factions in different cities, and what their personality is like. And I also have like 30 named NPC villains the party can fight, and I actually statted out the good NPC's so that the party can try and kill the Good aligned leaders. If they so choose, it wouldn't be a good idea but it is there.

[UncleRiotous]

I have a party who will sometimes randomly end up in a fight with NPCs and talking with monsters. What do you do when someone draws a sword on the NPC who is no more than five sentences. I overstat because I'm not sure how to improvise stats and especially spells.

[terminaro]

The problem is: this way is great only if the party has no deep interraction with the npc.
My Vampire the Masquerade storyteller just created an entire city for us to play in, but he was forced to create every single vampire living in it, because he cannot improvise one on the fly. Even the superficial outlook and behavior need some thought about his goals and his secrets, the way he planned to achive em and the contacts he has.
I'm afraid this tip cannot be used in games where the focus is not on the party but on the environment as a whole.

[gabrielrahn]

I have two great resources for my NPC's. One the lazy dm guide, thanks to Nerdarchy, and second the 5e D&D DMG NPC creation tables. All my NPC cards have appearance, strength, weakness, mannerisms, and motivations. I don't include basic info like race, alignment(barf), age, stats, etc. I've never been able to keep my players away from the NPCs. If anybody wants to really create an interesting fleshed out campaign or story with minimal effort, read the lazy dm guide, seriously... read it...it's like 10 pages long or something.

[Lowe]

Great topic Dave.Believe it or not I'm about to take my crew threw Gygax's Village of Hommlet via 1979.There are a whole bunch of NPC's with all the stats but not much on personalities, goals or function with the storyline.Gygax left these out on purpose to let the DM play them his way.So with that said, que the index cards.Starting now.Thanks.

[ThatZommy]

I'm going to take the no statting suggestion, I had to take a ten-minute break just statting an NPC party so they could steal from my player. I should have realized that it was unnecessary, but it just didn't come to mind.

[Tareltonlives]

Should I bother statting NPC characters?

[maromania]

I have a character who's in every single campaign. has a travelling hut and warps through portals, appearing everywhere from caves and forests to multiple places on the same road depending on what I roll on the encounter chart. super huge NPC right?

don't even have stats. he started as questgiver and ally in a fight and is currently travelling shopkeeper with small references to all my campaigns, but I seriously just have a vague idea of what he's like. it's far easier to just think 'yeah, that seems like something he could do' and roll with it than come up with all the stats and sheets for your NPCs. because if you make those sheets, Ithe players will usually find a way to not let you use them. they actually fought the guards? eh, pretty well trained in this town so lets say 1d8+6 for spears damage, and 26 seems like a good amount of health.

That being said, if big bad is the NPC then it might be good to have stats. and if they turn out to fight the Good NPC instead of the Evil one, they have no idea which one that stat sheet was for XD

[thekillbreathfamily]

How do you organize your NPC/cards? Suppose you have 50 cards, details, and a box to store it. Each NPC has just the right amount of name, race, personality. Some are frequently seen, others are not. Some city based and others very country and in the sticks. I see flaws going by name or race or frequency of appearance. Thoughts?