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Creating Impactful NPCs
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I’m nearly done with this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VfxEeSevfE
about a bit character in Stranger Things Season 4 (caution, spoilers) and how to create – and then kill – a character that viewers engage with and want to know more about.
And I had to pause it because I was thinking, “Wow, this has a lot to do with how we create short- to medium-term NPCs, I should share it.” So here I am.
What are some of the other ways that you create NPCs who hook players/characters in?
Formerly known as Seraphim73 (he/him)
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@Roadspike The big thing is that I give them an interior life and goals. A sense that they are Doing Things even if they aren’t ‘on screen’ at the moment. I create backgrounds that I slowly tease out over scenes, but I have them behave with those events and goals in mind even if they don’t talk about it.
If it is a villain, I give them a more complex motivation than ‘just evil’ even if that is what they might appear to be at a basic glance. If it is not a villain, I give them flaws that undermine what is ‘good’ about them.
I also think it is very, very important, even if this is a very high power NPC, that power is never used arbitrarily against PCs unless that serves the story in some capacity. If it is only to ‘show’ that your NPC is a bad-ass by humiliating or hurting a PC in a scene that is only for the purpose of showing how strong the NPC is, then I think the GM needs to go back to the drawing board and figure out if there is a better way to show that. In fact, I think with more powerful NPCs, that power should be downplayed in play because a good NPC will likely show restraint and a villain wouldn’t want to give all of their capability away. If the NPC is the type that will use that power in the instance of an insult, then I probably don’t bring them on screen as much and just have them as a sort of menacing presence lingering in the background.
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I’ve gone to great lengths when creating my NPCs to suggest that yes, they are powerful, but they are not immortal. Nor are they infallible. Sometimes, they’re a cypher for a quest, sometimes they’re a red herring. Good-aligned NPCs should be helpful, but not so much that they do everything for the players, they should nudge things. They also should only have some answers, or at least decent ideas on what to do, though the ideas don’t always mean they’re right.
Comparatively, NPC villains shouldn’t be wholly mustache-twirling evil, but at the same time, they should not be treated like idiots. They’re a threat for a reason, they’re an antagonist for a reason and many likely didn’t get where they are by being dumb(granted, not always true). Villains also should not be nigh-unbeatable. Powerful, yes, but again, not immortal, which does cause for a particular level of balancing in what’s considered a threat and what’s not.
And then you have Wild Card NPCs, who are neither beneficial nor a hinderance. They have their own angle which really only means anything to them. I like using them as an option, but again, if you’re trying to use an NPC as a cudgel or blunt forcing a point, then I don’t they’re being used effectively.
I think there’s a lot of reliance on some big-name NPCs depending on the game, but I’ve tried to make sure they’re used sparingly so that their importance isn’t undercut. Also, so they don’t overstay their welcome.
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I create my NPC’s as if they were PC’s. They all have their own motivations, drives, goals, but, I am horrifically silly about the level of detail I can put into things.
Also, an NPC to me, is very different than a nameless mook.
Not all nameless mook’s are baddies. Sometimes they’re the poor unfortunate scenery involved in the thing.
NPC’s are special. They’re a type of PC, even if it’s a ‘Non’ type.
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@Roadspike Oh my god I am the WORST at this, I will watch this video and take notes.
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Yarr. NPCs are characters of import. Otherwise, they’re just mob characters and/or monsters.
I haven’t had an NPC, so my advice might be flawed. Grain of salt time for me, please.
From an outsider’s view:
Don’t be afraid to stand up for your NPC and not have it just be a Pez dispenser for plot. Sure, it has the capacity to create plot, but that can very quickly get tedious if your NPC is being treated like a questgiver rather than a human being. If people are just trying to hit the correct trigger word to make your NPC give them a quest, it gets super old, super quickly. Sometimes an NPC in a room reminds me of people in EQ trying to brute force the right answer to a quest.
What sword
What shining sword
What dragon
What shattered emerald<- (The one that never fucking drops, that’s what.)I’ve had a lot of good scenes where the NPC was doing cool NPC things, but the thrust of the RP was really just, like, ‘Hey, here we are. Two people. Doing people stuff. Talking. Bickering. Drinking. Killing time.’
Interacting with NPCs in this way is often more impactful to me than going on a big awesome quest, because sometimes it’s just cool to see this big powerful awesome creation just… hang out, and shoot the shit with you. And then three weeks later demolish an army single-handedly or something. Knowing the NPC can, should, and is every bit as rewarding as knowing what the NPC knows, or getting a shiny.
A powerful or peculiar presence that happened to nudge or brute-force the trajectory of the PC’s life from that point forward, or even just that the characters feel proud to know or have known.
Because at the end of the day, people will remember that type of NPC more than they remember the Sword of Buttkicking+1 or ‘How to cure Acorn Fever’.
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How I design NPCs is very different for initial worldbuilding and scenario setting than it is thereafter.
When doing the initial work, NPCs are to help set Theme and Flow. These tend to be a little more fleshed out than NPCs that are created later, by virtue of having to serve as skeletal structure for the setting and initial story hooks.
After the game launches, NPCs are tools for solving the problems of Storytelling. The central axiom of how I run games is that NPCs (and Stories) have no substance beyond the superficial until they have made contact with PCs. I look at the practice of running a game as the application of smoke and mirrors. Implying as much of the goings-on of the setting as possible with the fewest number of lightest touches. This lets me stay flexible and helps me avoid what I see as the main failure mode of storytelling; making something happen in the game world that no one cares about.
I see NPCs as just another trick used to achieve theatrical immersion. This actually dovetails really well with working with a large, collaborative staff. A NPC can be launched with nothing but the merest whisper of an idea, but with a concrete purpose. Hook PCs on this plot, provide a face for some rumor or angle a PC has displayed interest in, etc. When I or the staffer are done playing them, we write down what happened in interaction with the PCs and make notes about the impressions the PCs have been left with. This informs how we continue to mold the NPC. The key is that it all grows from the interactions with the players, rather than having a fully-formed idea that maybe does or doesn’t land. I get the scene tone I want every time because it was cued off of the players, and not some idea I’ve overthought in a vacuum.
Some NPC patterns I use over and over:
- Beloved Org Leader Who Will Eventually Die: My workhorse pattern. Their role is to establish the culture around some element of the game like a Knightly Order or a Mage Circle or a Thieves Guild. Through their RP, players will pick up on the themes, activities, and plots we want associated with that element. They will guide and mold the PCs that end up in their sphere. Ideally, they will eventually pass on the leadership role to a PC that has excelled at meeting the Theme.
- The Plot Mule: Shows up to hook PCs into some plot. Always getting themselves into trouble or dropping ancient lore or whatever the angle is. When players see them around, they know we’re rolling something out.
- The Decider: I tend to avoid letting PCs take the role of the game’s highest order authority, if there is one. The Queen or whatever. I get a lot more use out of having this character remain firmly in staff control. Both in terms of controlling theme/culture but also so that I have a NPC that the buck stops with in case things go weird and I need to wrangle something back into lane.
- Backpfeifengesicht: German term for “person with the punchable face”. PCs want to punch this person in the face, figuratively or literally. These tend to arise from observation of what individual and groups of PCs are trying to accomplish; the forces standing in their way.
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I wing it based on whatever is going on.
I’m sorry, I know. I’m a goblin.
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I watched this video last night (along with another really great one about Max from Stranger Things and making her a stronger character), and it was really good.
A couple takeaways for me:
Many of the things people suggest in this thread - giving them their own lives, creating them as if they were PCs - are the exact things that make NPCs really hard for me.
Creating a PC is a process that takes me a LOT of time and effort. A lot of who they are is actually a result of RP with other characters. I struggle to write rich backstories that result in a full-fledged, complex character out of the gate, and rely on building up a sense of the person via many early interactions with other characters.
NPCs don’t have this luxury. They may get a handful of scenes, but they’re often scattered and occasional. I also do not have the time to expend the effort on NPCs that I do on a PC.
For me, an NPC really needs to be a tool in a way a character isn’t, because my creative bandwidth just doesn’t have room to create them like a character.
So from that viewpoint, there were three things that really struck me from the video that ARE fairly easy to apply.
WARNING: I tried to avoid real spoilers, but this is about Stranger Things season 4 and there are some minor spoilers for episode 1 in here.
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Showing two sides of a character, usually in conflict, makes them immediately feel deeper and more complex and gives a glimpse at a rich internal life that players can extrapolate even if you never address it directly. In the example, you see a happy, popular cheerleader, and then you are shown that she has some sort of serious sadness or anxiety in her life, and this creates a more complex character than either view by itself. It’s important that these glimpses come quickly together, because you have limited time with this character.
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Lean into archetypes. With short-lived characters, archetypes help ‘fill in’ the emotional beats you don’t have time to actually trigger yourself. This one I particularly like - and I like that the example they used was a pretty specific one (girl with body issues, controlling mother, possible eating disorder) rather than broad (popular cheerleader). There ARE lots of these pretty specific archetypes out there that we can lean on. In this particular case, part of what worked is that they merged two (or more) archetypes to make her feel more unique.
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To make a short-lived story feel impactful, set up a future that will not exist. I think this is a really great point when it comes to making it feel BIG when you defeat a villain. Refer to events they won’t make it to, plans that won’t come to fruition, etc. In the video, this is done casually (‘you should come Friday night’). It was a great example of how dialog can feed a bigger sense of the story.
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I’ll watch it when I eventually get around to watching S4 of Stranger Things. I’m trying to not get spoilered.
I don't know what I'm doing. Poke at Seven Nations sevennations.aresmush.com port 2021
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When I really think on this question, yes, I stand by my statement that I’m winging it. Mostly because so much of it boils down not only to what a plot needs, but what do the players need and want? So I tend to start off with:
Character has suffered a major set-back but is here now to improve things as a mentor to others.
The ‘to others’ part is REALLY important and one I can’t answer alone. What players are going to gravitate to my NPC? Absolutely no idea. Could literally be anyone. But as I meet them, I flesh out details to suit the situation.
Character is a successful life long military commander with strong feelings about topic
Why does he feel that way? Do players care? Does he have a family? How do I feel about the subject in the exact moment somone asks me?
I guess I really just like the flexibility. Dealing with my NPCs can be a little ‘choose your own adventure’ I guess.
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@Testament It is spoilery, but only for episode 1.
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@Tat I’m just honestly really bad at keeping up with watching tv. I still haven’t watched the two other seasons of Castlevania. But thanks for letting me know.
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The key to the “NPCs are written fast and loose” strategy is to take copious post-PC-interaction notes. For example:
@tsar said in Creating Impactful NPCs:
Character is a successful life long military commander with strong feelings about topic
Why does he feel that way? Do players care? Does he have a family? How do I feel about the subject in the exact moment somone asks me?
I love to be able to send NPCs out with a simple handful of lines like this, and let whoever is playing them come up with what feels right for the tone of the scene they are in. To me, that scene transpiring in a totally holistic fashion is the goal itself. And I want the person playing the NPC to be able to make the judgment call about what feels right.
And then I definitely want them to come back and write down as much about what happened as possible so that we can synthesize it all together. My experience is that this creates NPCs that are consistently more engaging for the PCs, who have unknowingly influenced how the NPC develops through the tone/events of the scene they participated in. It achieves one of my core goals in running a game; to have significant amounts of observational data and subtle influence on the game flowing not just from staff to players, but the reverse.
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@Tat Yeah, leaning into archetypes was a big takeaway for me too — I tend to do that anyhow for NPCs and PCs (and then break hard away from them when I can with PCs).
The other big takeaway that you mentioned also really should be — in my mind — generalized for more than just NPCs: show the status quo and then break it. I think that this works for games, scenes, NPCs, PCs, and just about everything else. If we don’t know and get used to the status quo, big changes just aren’t that big a deal.
As an example: if you start your pirate-magic game off with a big magical event without giving characters more than a week or two to settle into their piratical status quo, then it will never be a pirate game, it will be a magical creatures game.
Formerly known as Seraphim73 (he/him)
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I build all my NPCs with the PCs in mind. What is the purpose of this character to the PCs’ story? What are they trying to do and how is that going to be an obstacle/boon for the PCs? What challenges will they provide to the PCs - whether physically in combat or psychologically as a challenge to the way PCs have expressed their views of the world.
I measure impact in effect on PCs. I don’t want NPCs to have their own stories, because for me, that’s not their purpose. But I want the PCs’ stories to be affected by the NPC in complex and interesting ways.
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@Roadspike My strategy is to try to use ‘tropes’ as emotional cues. Love them or hate them, they should provoke a reaction
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@Roadspike said in Creating Impactful NPCs:
As an example: if you start your pirate-magic game off with a big magical event without giving characters more than a week or two to settle into their piratical status quo, then it will never be a pirate game, it will be a magical creatures game.
‘How to start a game with the right tone’ could be a whole other thread. I do really like this, though. It works both for overarching game stuff - and I think games need a periodic return to normal, too - and for NPCs who you want to give a compelling story.
@Pyrephox said in Creating Impactful NPCs:
I measure impact in effect on PCs. I don’t want NPCs to have their own stories, because for me, that’s not their purpose. But I want the PCs’ stories to be affected by the NPC in complex and interesting ways.
I think generally an NPC’s story is SHAPED by the PCs - that’s part of how they affect the PCs’ stories in turn.
For example, some of @tsar’s NPCs had entire ARCS - enemy to kind of okay to straight up redemption - that were almost entirely a result of a PC making an unexpected decision to choose connection over other more nefarious means of gaining information. I think those arcs felt very satisfying to the PCs, because they were both true to what they knew of the character and the world and were a clear ripple from things they had chosen.
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@Tat said in Creating Impactful NPCs:
‘How to start a game with the right tone’ could be a whole other thread. I do really like this, though. It works both for overarching game stuff - and I think games need a periodic return to normal, too - and for NPCs who you want to give a compelling story.
I always use some sort of Seasons format in games. Sometimes more explicitly than others, but there’s always at least some form of cyclical structure to the timing of plots. The beneficial effects are too many to name in a tangent.
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To be fair, I have altitis, so coming up with new pc’s, of any variety, is exceptionally easy for me.
So when I create my NPC’s that are as fleshed out as any character, it’s because it’s how my brain works. I would always say for anyone to do what works for them. Those who run stories have their own methods, we’re all unique, do what makes it great/easy for you to run stories people have fun with.
