Making compelling NPCs
5 details I give every NPC and my random generators.
There’s some foul witchery that makes an NPC special to players. Boblin the goblin is equal parts stupid, silly, and bottled lightning. In my games, he’s a mediocre drug dealer who could fall into shit and somehow come out smelling like roses.
That kind of magic happens at the table; I don’t think I can (or even want to) reproduce it.
But I have noticed patterns in my style that make my NPCs more compelling for players. They might not make a Boblin, but they make the game more interesting.
Define 3 traits
1. Something to recognize
This is the first thing players see, hear, or smell when they meet the NPC. It’s a simple detail that signals the character’s place within the story. Fine clothing reveals class just as poor grooming suggests poor health.
To make it random, I use a table like this one. Roll 1d6 for the row and another for the column.
2. Something to discover with RP
Not every player finds fun in RP, but some do, and I like to leave little rewards for them to discover. I imagine how those recognizable traits inform the character’s day-to-day. Players may never know, but just by chatting up these imaginary people, they might learn intimate details that deepen the character and widen their game world.
“Perfume!? I’m not wearing perfume!” he insists. A lie, though. He reeks of it and seems embarrassed.
“My brooch? I’ll not darken your day with that story.” Sadness clouds her face. You realize it’s a mourning mother’s locket.
“No! Silly me, I stood too close to my mare and she let me know.” That explains his broken nose but not his bloody knuckles.
“Oh yes! He left me the flowers this morning - isn’t he darling?” Perhaps, but the flowers only grow by The Ruins - a known witch haunt.
“Sorry for the mud. I was planting Old Da’s north field and the rain came on us.” …it didn’t rain today, and that mod smells like low-tide.
I find that the more intimate I make these details, the more real the NPC feels to the players. Those they latch onto enter center stage and often introduce their own side quest.
3. Something to investigate.
For those who don't like RP, I drop in details they can learn as players instead of characters. This might be through investigation or interrogating the fiction, but never blocked by a die roll. The game starts when they decide what to do with it.
I like to localize these, too, so they're easy to track down and build on the environment.
He’s not wearing just any perfume - it’s a lover’s perfume and a known favorite of the Marquess. Has she taken a lover?
She's been mourning for a while, judging by her age, and yet no one ever knew her to have a child. What happened to her baby so long ago?
That mare is dead broke and wouldn't flick an ear at her rider. But someone might have tried to steal her…why not say so?
She's starry-eyed for some lover she's never met? Those flowers reek of witchery, and likely whoever is plucking them knows it. But why her?
Why lie about rain and mud? Unless he’s bootlegging again. The rill runners always stink of low tide…
Identify their want
This can be simple, expensive, immediate, or delusional. It doesn’t matter what it is; it matters if the players can deliver it easily and if they earn something for doing so.
Here are some wants keyed to the Wenderweald.
Connect the NPC’s wants to the players’ needs
For some players, it’s enough reward to help their fellow human (or demihuman). For the rest of us, we need a mechanized boon that’s worth delaying our glorious hack n’ slash.
Money works - even the nerdy cleric will accept it for tithes - but I like to contextualize rewards, so they feel like a gift from this NPC in particular.
The Marquess and her lover offer fine horses for the players’ discretion. Blackmailing them might earn more.
Bending an ear to a mournful mother gleans new information and an old map of where she lost her child.
Rescuing young Jonas from the bandit recruiters earns his trust and his thief’s cant code.
For breaking the spell on starry-eyed Svetla, she’ll provide free ale, bread, and cheese — for life.
Sharing an ale with Old Da costs a copper but buys clues as to where his son hid the missing temple gold.
If you want to try these NPCs in your game, I added a one-sheet you can download.
Watch for the Wenderweald watching…
—Odinson.
Thanks for your view on this extremely interesting topic! If I may share to you, there's a post I wrote about it... it's here:
https://viviiix.substack.com/p/npcs-as-onions-peeling-back-the-layers
Great article!