General Role Playing NPCs

[coliver988]

While I can usually manage to at least fake it for a single NPC at a time, as a referee I often have to manage multiple NPCs. And quite often there needs to be some sort of tension between these NPCs for the players to figure things out and drive the story a bit.

For instance, I am starting up the sequel to the last game I refereed, and there are 4 NPCs, 3 of which are complicit in basically hijacking the characters (this started from a predefined adventure that I moved to MTU, but the plot and characters were right out of the book). We'll be picking up on the trip back to the port in a Scout ship, so there is little chance of evading anyone as there are about 8 or so people crowding the craft.

Last time I ended up pre-writing most of the dialog: I am not adept at accents or improv, so I fear that what should be role playing ends up being a monologue.

Any suggestions on handling multiple NPCs at once would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Supplement Four]

It might help to assign in your mind different actors that you know and like. Don't tell the players this, of course. But, in your head, one NPC is played by Jack Nicholson, another is played by Sandra Bullock, a third is played by Sean Connery, and the last one is played by Nicolas Cage.

When you play the NPC, put the appropriate actor in your mind and play him. Chances are, your players will not recognize that you are copying real actors. And, each one you play will come off as different.

Try to pick actors who are very different with their expression. Also, actors with strong personality are what you want. Ji-ji-ji-Jimmy Stewart, ah, yeah, with his stutter. Someone very different than Jimmy is Sylvester Stallone, playing Rocky or Rambo. Sullen faced. Doesn't say much. Dead pan. "Go for it."

You may want to name our NPCs something that is code and reminds you of your players. Maybe the Stallone NPC is named Stal (short for Stallone). The Jack Nicholson NPC is named Jonk, which is close enough to "Joker", one of Jack's most famous rolls (plus "Jonk" sounds like "Jack"). You just want something that will remind you which actor is "playing" that NPC.

 

[aramis]

Good notes on each helps, too. 3x5 or 4x6 chards work really well.

 

[kilemall]

Even if you can't act per se, just changing the syntax, the way the NPC phrases things, will make them differentiate even if you deliver deadpan.


To expand on the movie theme a bit, you might also give each a catchphrase, and a threatening, amusing or ominous line to deliver.


If you aren't the actor that's fine- but you can be the writer. Write good lines and they will remember that NPC forever.

 

[Supplement Four]

And tags. Character traits.

Playing the Traveller Adventure one time, the PCs ended up engaging with the Starport Administrator. I didn't see this coming and created a character on the spot. I gave him a tag--he smoked cigarettes, like a chimney.

I did this, impromptu, for two reasons: One, it was a good character tag. I can't stand cigarettes in real life, and I don't allow real smoking at my gaming table. But, in the game, miming the act of smoking while speaking as the character (I did it in a slightly comical way), it ended up making the character memorable.

And, to be honest, I did it as much for a character tag as I did to buy time while interacting with the players (roleplaying) to think more about what the Administrator would say. The PC would ask a question, then I'd take a puff of my make-believe ciggie, widen my eyes, run my fingers through my hair, with a look on my face like I'd just accepted the end of the world, then answer.

The players got a kick out of this guy.

The next time that they ran into him, on another game session, I was ready with a "moment". As the PCs approached, the dude was panicked because he could find his cigs.

And, it was a hoot with this guy trying to tell the PCs how bad the atmo of the world could be for the PCs--that they needed filter masks--when all the time, this guy was puffing away, blowing smoke in their faces.





A Tag Suggestion

Think of six tags. Make them different. Write them down, pre-game. Then, when you roleplay an NPC, roll 1D6 and play that tag along with the NPC.

1. Smoker
2. Always sorry.
3. Arrogant. Thinks he's better than you.
4. Hippy. Cool with everything.
5. Interested in everything. Easily sidetracked with inconsequential details.
6. Bad teeth, and embarrassed by them.

When you play an NPC, no matter what age, male or female, even some Aliens can fit, then roll 1D and think of attaching the tag to the NPC you are playing.



Tags can also be manners of speech. Think of a character that uses the phrase, "Yes, yes, I dare say, yes," often when he talk.

I was watching the 60's film, Zorba The Greek, the other night. That character had a speech tag. He'd ask a personal question and end it with, "if you please." He used it to give himself permission to ask such a question that was beyond polite conversation. "Where exactly are you going, if you please?"




Pick Someone You Know

Another idea is to pick someone you know and immiate them. Your boss. A family member. Your coach. Your gym instructor. A co-worker. And so on.





EDIT: My locals on Pysadi would spout off something about Mother Pysaid (they worship their world), and would always end their dialogue with "Blessed Be."

"Ah, I see. Mother Pysaid grows the warmth around you. Blessed Be."

It got to be a greeting in passing. Look up, nod, and say, "Blessed Be."

 

[Spenser TR]

A seriously large table of personality quirks, from GURPS but definitely serviceable in any game: GURPS repository list of Quirks

I am a big Matt Colville fan. He mostly talks about DnD but his vid about NPCs is helpful: Matt Colville on NPCs

Some advice about quirks or adding character ( heh ) to your NPCs: don't overdo the silliness. Well, very often. Everyone the Travellers meet can't be the most memorable person ever, but it doesn't take a lot of practice to learn to be better than most Referees/GMs.

 

[Supplement Four]

Everyone the Travellers meet can't be the most memorable person ever....

This is good advice. I wish I'd included it in my comments. Every NPC that you act doesn't have to be an Academy Award winner. They don't even have to be all the memorable.

Plus, you can always add tags to an NPC later. When we first meet people IRL, often they're on their best behavior. Or, the introduction was so short that we got a nod and a smile and that's it. It is only after spending some time with a person that you start to see things that endear them to you, or make you want to vomit.

So, if you make up a random NPC one night and he becomes a "thing" with the party, you can build him later, revealing more of him as the player characters interact for longer periods with him.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I have a picture of each NPC with me, and that the players also see whenever I am role-playing that person for a period of time. I don't have NPCs talking to each other in my sessions. Not at length, at least. I have nothing scripted, because of the sandbox we're in. And I don't voice-act. But I'll say things in ways that only an NPC would say them.

 

[Spenser TR]

I have a picture of each NPC with me, and that the players also see whenever I am role-playing that person for a period of time.

A great use for Pinterest, as we both know

 

[Supplement Four]

With some games, my NPCs can wax into silly. I wouldn't do this with Traveller. It's not the game for it. But, when I ran a D6 Star Wars game one time, I made up an alien on the spot. I used the Squib. These are small (just over a meter in height) aliens with blue fur, humanoid, with a fox-like head.

SQUIB WIKI PAGE

This little guy had a large blaster that ran down the side of his leg in a specially made holster. The blaster was way too big for the little guy. But, he was strong, and fast, and practiced with the weapon.

It wasn't so much what the guy said as it was how he moved and acted. I always did his dialogue fast. I'd rush it, like his life depended on it. Anxious.

But, the funniest thing about him was that he thought he was the fastest gunslinger in the galaxy. And, he told EVERYBODY.

He was leading the PCs somewhere, and he'd stop, right there in front of them, pull his blaster real quick and do a 180, facing them. He wouldn't fire. He'd just draw on them to show how fast he was.

Once he got the draw on the entire party, he was so pleased with himself. He'd smile, looking at the PCs knowingly, slightly shaking his head as if their lives depending on him not drawing on them.

It would come out of nowhere--when the PCs were focused on something else. He'd just draw, smile, shake his head slightly up and down with that grin, and maybe point, as if to say, "I got ya! See. I coulda killed ya, but I didn't! I'm fast, see!"

It's a little hard to describe, but it cracked my players up.

 

[Timerover51]

While I can usually manage to at least fake it for a single NPC at a time, as a referee I often have to manage multiple NPCs. And quite often there needs to be some sort of tension between these NPCs for the players to figure things out and drive the story a bit.

For instance, I am starting up the sequel to the last game I refereed, and there are 4 NPCs, 3 of which are complicit in basically hijacking the characters (this started from a predefined adventure that I moved to MTU, but the plot and characters were right out of the book). We'll be picking up on the trip back to the port in a Scout ship, so there is little chance of evading anyone as there are about 8 or so people crowding the craft.

Last time I ended up pre-writing most of the dialog: I am not adept at accents or improv, so I fear that what should be role playing ends up being a monologue.

Any suggestions on handling multiple NPCs at once would be greatly appreciated.

Your mistake was using a setting where, as you put it, the NPCs are hijacking the characters. At that point, it is no longer fully your players game, as you are in effect, taking control of it. As you are not adept at improv, this also means that the situation does not play to one of your strengths, but a weakness. The fact that you are using what amounts, as you say it, a monologue, just emphasizes your control of the game even more.

My advice would be to admit your mistake, and go to something else which does not use NPCs.

I only use one or two NPCs in a game, and that only for needed skills or a means of passing information to the players that they should know, but I do not like to spoon-feed my players. NPCs do not speak to each other, and aside from volunteering information, speak only when asked a question. The players control what the NPCs do for the most part, unless they are going to do something really stupid, in which case, the NPC will not go along.

 

[mike wightman]

I agree with timerover.

The game is about what the player characters do, the role of NPCs is to facilitate player actions, not replace them.

NPCs have their part to play in setting the scene, showing how the monster works, providing clues - that sort of thing.

NPCs can be memorable, recurring, every bit as detailed as a PC but they shouldn't be 'centre stage'.

I would handle multiple NPCs interacting as a crowd scene -
me 'the huddle of passengers and crew are in a heated discussion'
player one 'is there anything notable I can pick out?'
player two 'yeh, I will eavesdrop as best I can and see if any of them are talking about the starport goon that shanghaied us'
player three 'I'm more interested in anyone staying out of the arguments'

I'm not into amateur dramatics...

 

[coliver988]

Thanks all! To summarize:

Spinward Scout:
It might help to assign in your mind different actors that you know and like. Don't tell the players this, of course. But, in your head, one NPC is played by Jack Nicholson, another is played by Sandra Bullock, a third is played by Sean Connery, and the last one is played by Nicolas Cage.
And tags. Character traits.

Aramis:
Good notes on each helps, too. 3x5 or 4x6 chards work really well

Kilemall:
To expand on the movie theme a bit, you might also give each a catchphrase, and a threatening, amusing or ominous line to deliver.

Spenser
A seriously large table of personality quirks, from GURPS but definitely serviceable in any game
Some advice about quirks or adding character ( heh ) to your NPCs: don't overdo the silliness. Well, very often. Everyone the Travellers meet can't be the most memorable person ever, but it doesn't take a lot of practice to learn to be better than most Referees/GMs

Shawn:
I have a picture of each NPC with me, and that the players also see whenever I am role-playing that person for a period of time. I don't have NPCs talking to each other in my sessions. Not at length, at least. I have nothing scripted, because of the sandbox we're in. And I don't voice-act. But I'll say things in ways that only an NPC would say them

Timerover
Your mistake was using a setting where, as you put it, the NPCs are hijacking the characters

Mike:
The game is about what the player characters do, the role of NPCs is to facilitate player actions, not replace them.
NPCs have their part to play in setting the scene, showing how the monster works, providing clues - that sort of thing.
NPCs can be memorable, recurring, every bit as detailed as a PC but they shouldn't be 'centre stage'

For the last 2 comments: this was a predesigned adventure that I moved to MTU (hangs off the OTU in the Great Rift area but I digress). They actually did not even meet the NPCs for the 1st 2 sessions other than another victim as listed below. And as most of the players had not played Traveller before, I figured this was a 1 shot to test the waters. It was (a) an easy way to get them all together and (b) how the adventure was written. But the background I need to expand on via hints, dialog and other means, such as NPCs. The players do not exist in a world that only they inhabit, but they are the ones driving the action after the initial set up. I just need help to corral the NPCs a bit so that it is not a monologue.

And it must have worked okay - I think I've got most of them coming back and at least 2 more to continue to play (see my blog link in my sig below if curious).

 

[coliver988]

Follow up post-game session

With the aforementioned advice, the next game went pretty well. Although there were only 3 players (3 were out sick, and 1 switched to a D&D game), they indicated they had a good time (my Traveller blog details that session a bit; see sig if curious).

There were no monologues (not even the villainous one with a twirling mustache, although the bad guy did have such a mustache...) and it was a conversation between the sweating NPCs and the players. The NPCs I had created I felt I had more control over and played with more flourishes (and this is why I sort of hate playing with pre-gens: I restrict myself to what I think the person generating the character had in mind and I feel really constricted. But that is a possible new thread for that discussion).

Even though the play turned out a bit different than expected (bad guy did not get away to be a future antagonist due to an excellent shot), there is still the next leg of their journey to their high-end lab ship (the noble scientist rolled multiple times on a lab ship when mustering out; as the previous game played with the traditional lab ship, I switched to a much more luxurious model that I happen to have some posters and miniature for). They will need to make the trip to the next planet over, and there is a stretch Far Trader (an AL2m from Moon Toad) that is a pilot/owner with my Antares corporation that will be able to transport them there. So this will also allow me to introduce one of the corporations in my little quadrant. Still need to decide where to hang that off the Rift...

I feel there will be a bit of role playing during the trip, so I've printed up my cheat sheet with images on the front along with a short paragraph as to the role of that NPC, and on the reverse are my notes.

 

[flykiller]

Any suggestions on handling multiple NPCs at once would be greatly appreciated.

are you trying to act the characters? that's not easy, and it caters to the player rather than to the in-game player character. a simple description of the impression the player character gets would be easier, and more in-game.

 

[coliver988]

are you trying to act the characters? that's not easy, and it caters to the player rather than to the in-game player character. a simple description of the impression the player character gets would be easier, and more in-game.

I've been leaning more towards the above, along with several of the other comments/suggestions. I cannot act (sometimes it seems I can barely talk!) so I do prepare notes as to how the players can see the NPC. I've got a working set of index-card sized cheat sheets that I use to help the players visualize that it is a 20 year old hood and not a middle aged man talking to them, along with some brief characteristics. Back of the card for me has any relevant stats and notes.

This all started by me trying to play a premade adventure that had too many NPCs at a time. I am also no longer attempting that.

 

[Ex_Pendable]

Perhaps the problem is a different sort of visualization?

Do you use any miniatures? You might get a better handle on multiple NPCs if you can place them in relation to the characters.

These can be plastic figurines, Nano Metalfigs, Lego minifigs, tokens, or paper miniatures.

One project I hope to try eventually is to draw up a stack of stock characters and transfer them to shrinky-dink plastic to make myself some flat-stock miniatures that I can slot into bases.

Alternately, you could use one of those Trading Character card makers to make up picture cards for your NPCs and print their stats on the back - the suggestion of an actor is a great one I've used. There are any number of card holders you can use to position them.

But in the end, yes, this is a game for the players - NPCs are bit characters that are there to support the player characters, so you can have a sheet of stats in a table and randomly select them for minor encounters like a bar room brawl - or get a copy of Classic Traveller Supplement 1001 Characters. They're just the odd stranger you bump into the street.

Recurring characters and hirelings ought to have a bit of personality and background, but they should never take center stage. It may be helpful though to keep a history of encounters they have with the characters. They're also really the only characters who can have flair. Which do you notice more? Jack, wearing ship coveralls drinking in the bar, or Akira, Japanese officer wearing a highlander army uniform with kilt, complete with a Scottish Dirk on his belt? Put someone like Akira in the background and your players are going to wonder why he's stands out? So keep flair for secondary bit characters to the basics.

 

[coliver988]

Take a look at my blog in my sig - Lego characters at the moment (let's just say I have enough and leave it at that....) But that's just for any confrontational situations where I think it is important to know where people are in relationship to each other. I also use cardboard heroes - got one of the GURPS CDs and I have card stock so I print them up as needed, as well as other sources for character art.

My group has been good with helping - several of them DM and realize not everyone can multiple roles well. As long as they are having fun, we're good.

But on the transit in jump, I had cards with the crew images and if the players were interacting with them, that card got moved up so that the players knew who I was. It seemed to work. So now there is a folder with the ship and the crew in case they come back around in my sandlot universe.

So as always - there are many good ideas in this forum. On occasion I go back and realize that there is a LOT of good information buried in the forums. Wish there was a way to consolidate some of that into some sort of index (I know people have tried to manually keep post listings, and there is a search, but they fall short of what I feel is needed (and that's an entirely different thread).