Universal Roleplaying Template | Advanced Gamemastery

THE TOMB OF GYZAENGAXX

The world of your RPG campaign is filled with a legion of characters, and the key to every great RPG -- whether you're playing D&D or Daggerheart -- is bringing this vast cast of characters to vivid life. USA Today Bestselling Author and ENnie Award-winning RPG designer Justin Alexander shares his secret weapon for mastering every character.

SO YOU WANT TO BE A DUNGEON MASTER

ADDITIONAL READING

AFFILIATE LINKS

Editor: Sarah Holmberg

Thumbnail Stock Art: kharchenkoirina

Twitter: @hexcrawl

0:00 Intro
0:58 Briefing Sheets
2:04 Illustrations & Handouts
4:20 Back to Briefing Sheets
5:24 Universal Roleplaying Template

[Marcus-kien]

I had a manager tell me once, "The most important thing about a Brief is to keep it brief." Bullet points and only a few of them.

[pseudoboss]

I've used a similar tool to the Universal Roleplaying Template. One thing I found to be very helpful was to give trigger elements in a character's key info section. First, I put a single-word trait in all caps at the front. Makes it very easy to skim. I then color code the trigger to be either red or green, and it's something that will make a character particularly unfriendly or friendly. An unscrupulous guard might have (in green) "GREEDY: willing to bend the rules for some coin." while a crusading paladin might have a red "SELF-RIGHTEOUS: will quickly grow angry if any doubt is cast on his intentions or actions."

If you're running a game virtually, it's easy to select text and drag it on your screen as it becomes important. Cut and paste to the bottom of your document if an element suddenly loses relevance.

[GregMcNeish]

That "losing my religion" reference in the intro was so smooth. Kudos, good sir.

[hiimkapns]

I’ve started doing what I call ARMS to give a quick brief of my NPCs (I’m certain I didn’t come up with this, but for the life of me I cant find where I’ve found it from)

It stands for:
Appearance - The basic info that I’ll always give the players. Looks, Personality, that kind of stuff
Relations - The NPCs ties to other characters and how they feel about them
Motive - What the NPC wants and strives for. Everything that the NPC does is to forward their goal, including staying alive (can’t complete your goal if you’re dead)
Stuff - Stats, Resources and other tools the NPC has at their disposal

[khpa]

I like to give an NPC a Want that helps define how they relate to the world, preferably a bit orthogonal to their intentions in the story. So maybe a Big Bad's lieutenant is sent to hunt the PCs, but what he wants is respect - the need to be respected, rather than money, fear, sadism or ambition, is what drives him. That helps fill out the NPC, inform how he approaches his task, and potentially gives the PCs leverage to use in dealing with him.

[marianopw]

Dude, I love you. Forgive me if that felt a little forthcoming but everything that comes from your brain and mouth is pure gold. I found your web thrugh your DIA remix (which really elevated the game and saved my sessions), and now I'm really enjoying this Advanced Gamemastery series. I'll get your book as soon as I can. If I'm getting better at GMing it's all thanks to you and both Matthews!

[Vertimoo]

Such useful advice. I love how you implemented this concept in the Infinity RPG. Most useful (and also concise) adventure NPCs I ever encountered.

[jackgame]

I've been using this template for a long time now and it works wonders. Personally, I highly recommend leaning into this idea of a unique behavioral charteristic for important npcs - don't be scared of going overboard. On the contrary, weirdness can be a great hook to peak your players initial interest in a newly encountered character. As always thank you for the great video, can't wait for more!

[oliviasimkinsbullock]

I'm running the Call of the Netherdeep module right now, incorporating plenty of advice from your review/remix on your blog. When I was prepping the module, your universal NPC roleplaying template was SUPER useful for keeping track of point-of-contact NPCs for each of the three key Ankh'Harel factions. The module writing doesn't differentiate these characters super well, while simultaneously expecting the PCs to develop strong opinions on who to support or oppose. Your template allowed me not only to give these NPCs more distinct voices and personalities, but also to keep track of their disparate goals, motivations, and various pieces of key plot/lore info they each have.

My only addition to your template (which I think another comment here mentions, too) was to add a section with notes on their interactions with the PCs. That helps me remember what the PCs have shared with each NPC and that NPC's opinion of the party.

Thanks so much for sharing this invaluable tool!

[burtonmiller]

Not only is your material amazing, but these scripts don’t waste a word. Incredible.

[verityverri]

A crime boss in my Shadow of the Demon Lord was a non-nonsense, business focused, rich asshole. He would flaunt his mahogany desk to illustrate points, like "Do you see my desk? It's mahogany. You don't get a mahogany desk by being indecisive."

It is probably the most iconic npc in that game, and he showed up for one scene.

There's other's, such as Holm, a kind hearted druid based on the painter Kim Diaz Holm, Cheff, the surrogate father/child soldier trainer from the empire, that found a new beginning through community and religion, or Locke, a weed smoking ork artifice, that always has a kind word for anyone who needs support.

[Acmegamer]

I've been using 5x8 cards since the late 1970s, but I do love the concept of the folded small card with a name on top of your gm screen to tap when that npc is talking. Great little video, always something useful from you.

[squeethemog]

Thank you so much for the fantastic tip. Can't wait to start using these templates at my table 😃

[Swooper]

My favourite shortcut to roleplaying NPCs is to try to emulate the mannerisms of people I'm familiar with - celebrities, family members, characters from media, whoever. It's easier for "exaggerated" people. My favourite was probably a count which I played by pretending to be Matt Colville. It doesn't matter if you're not a good imitator and nobody will be able to get who you're imitating - that's better, in fact.

[aliciaantoniadis]

Thank you very much for this one!
It has happened, that when I give Non-essential npcs mannerisms the players remember them all too well. If I do not give an Essential npc a mark, they just can not remember him, Even if he is their employer. Instead they remember the little coughing and nose scratching snot- goblin, who was the employer's side-kick. (Of course she had no stats at the time and her name Gorgazara came on the fly)
Be well Justin and thank you once again for your work!
Sincerely,
Alicia from Sweden

[jrpipik]

I once had a scenario where there was this big party. I made little tents for all the guests with pictures I stole off the internet. The pics were all from LOTR, GOT, etc., and put their in-game names at the bottom. Must've been about two dozen. When the character showed up again later in the game, I'd pull out the tent. Great fun.

[frankhussey]

Great tool. I love the idea of the tent over the top of the DM screen with a portrait on one side.

[Manuel_Mesa]

Awesome video! Now is much easier to handle all NPCs in my campaign 😃

[RyanZibell]

I stumbled across your book at the local library, going to buy it for my son for his birthday! Great work!

[DoanBrianRoessler]

I love this tool - been using it for a while Justin. Thanks for sharing it :) Of course, I must mention that the Algorithmic Overlord is my favorite NPC