NPC Roleplayingt Advice

[AlHazred]

So, I'm usually good with roleplaying various non-player characters, and can come up with decent ones on the fly. But in the game I'm currently running, the PCs have encountered a derelict spacecraft with a 12-year old girl in cold sleep.

I'm not sure how to roleplay her correctly. I know a few 12-year-olds I could go by, but the NPC in question grew up on a ship with basically just her father for company. I know 12-year-olds brought up with little contact with peers and no chance to form normal relationships is going to be strange, and I'm not sure how to reflect it.

Add to this the fact that the text indicates her father may have used a personality overlay device on occasion on her, and I imagine she'll have issues. Does the collective have any advice?

 

[Timerover51]

So, I'm usually good with roleplaying various non-player characters, and can come up with decent ones on the fly. But in the game I'm currently running, the PCs have encountered a derelict spacecraft with a 12-year old girl in cold sleep.

I'm not sure how to roleplay her correctly. I know a few 12-year-olds I could go by, but the NPC in question grew up on a ship with basically just her father for company. I know 12-year-olds brought up with little contact with peers and no chance to form normal relationships is going to be strange, and I'm not sure how to reflect it.

Add to this the fact that the text indicates her father may have used a personality overlay device on occasion on her, and I imagine she'll have issues. Does the collective have any advice?

Did you design the scenario with this in it or is this the result of random dice rolling on an encounter table of some form?

 

[Dragoner]

It's Expedition to Zhodane, Adventure 6.


The girl should be scared, but motivated to rescue her father.

 

[Timerover51]

I have that one, and looked at it briefly when I bought it, quite a while ago. Decided that was one that I would not attempt to use at all. I could not see how I could run it convincingly.

 

[Dragoner]

I ran it, nearly 30 years ago, rock and pebble were cool, the party was captured and re-educated by the Zho's on Chronor if I remember.

 

[saundby]

Based on your description, the sort of "read" I'd give the character:

Speaks in an "adult" fashion, but with an underlying uncertainty about what is said.
Emotionally cool in general, but very brittle.
Objective-driven, but easily distracted by side issues or technical puzzles.
Appears bright but intellectually undisciplined.

Then I'd pick a couple of behavioral quirks and speech mannerisms to match. Perhaps does professorial hand motions when speaking, broken by scratching the nose and making a face, and says "this is important for you to understand in spite of your age" to emphasize something--without parsing it for its original meaning.

Lots of other ways it could be done, this is just what comes off the top of my head.

 

[AlHazred]

I've run her for a couple of sessions now. Lisan is done as somewhat immature (she's spent little time socializing with her peers) and has glommed onto the PCs. It's been working so far.