Getting a group together and sitting down to play can be fairly nerve wracking for a GM. Building the world that people are living in is a weird sort of skill to expand. I see the expectation time and again in many RPG products, GMs are expected to be able to go create something and make it wonderful for players off the top of their head.
This is not a normal skill for people to have. Creating a scene that is evocative of players’ senses is much more than just a spreadsheet. An RPG scene is made up of certain things: reasons to be there, something for the party to do, and a place for all of this happen in. Today is a look at reasons for all parties to be there, both PCs and NPCs. In upcoming weeks we’ll look at the other aspects of encounter design.
Why do the NPCs care?
A major part that new GMs, as well as some more experienced ones, seem to forget is that anytime the party is dealing with someone else the NPC needs to have a reason to deal with them. With simple motivations for the NPCs you can deal with almost any situation that the players throw at you. Asking the question “why” allows for you to grow an encounter into something much greater than the initial setting you conceived.
Expanding upon the basic reason for an ogre crashing through the forest and into the players’ camp makes an encounter play out differently. An ogre running in fear from a dragon is going to be quite a different challenge from an ogre looking for their next meal. Finding this difference allows for subtleties to start showing up in NPCs and allows the players start to play around with how they deal with NPCs.
Questions to ask:
Is the NPC attacking? Does the NPC want to give up the information the players are wanting? Does the NPC want to give the players false info? Are the PCs trying to get into an area guarded by the NPC?
Why is this NPC the person to talk to?
Of all the characters that the players could talk to the GM needs to figure out why this NPC is the one. Having a character the players find to be good enough for their purposes, but who is perhaps not the best, can allow for even better roleplaying situations than NPCs who might be the pinnacle of their craft. Moving the story forward is the main goal and, if you can use imperfect NPCs to start telegraphing directions that the party could be looking in, it’s even better.
Questions to ask:
Is the party looking for a clue you’ve too masterfully hidden? Are they trying to get from the adventure start to where something interesting is supposed to happen? Is this going to be the place the villain is going to be delivering his monologue for ten minutes, allowing the party to rescue one of their band that has been captured? Does the NPC have the information that the characters need or is this a character the players found after their failed roll?
Why do the players care?
When the party is doing something at the table there needs to be a reason for it. Investigating, attacking, charming, intimidating, even just travelling are all good actions to do where ever they are. The party should have fairly explicit reasons for being there; ask why they are doing things if you can’t divine them.
The players have been brought here because of their interpretation of the GMs implication that it would be a good idea. In the case of a few oblivious groups, they are there because the GM flat out told them that they need to be there for something. The players are here because they want something, whether a bit of information, a clue, or a ‘pet’ hoojib. Now the players think that this is the place they’ll get it from. The GM now sets the scene and agrees with why the players are there, creating the story from what the NPCs want and knowing how the players can get it easily, or figuring why the NPCs resist.
This quick detail is created from the basics that the party is looking for something and you want there to be a second detail other than a faceless NPC who can answer the party with a yes or no answer.
Where do you go from here?
Not every NPC needs to be memorable. Every NPC needs to have a motivation; from surviving the next minute while these big crazy people are swinging magic and swords, to not getting into trouble with their boss and being out on the permacrete tomorrow. Having a reason for NPCs to act a particular way allows for the players to come up with ways of getting around a challenge in a fashion that you’d never think of on your own.
How have you been able to use NPCs to hint at hidden quests and plots? Have you had a secondary NPC become a major part in a campaign from player interest?
