NPCs in your campaign: do you use many?

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Ail
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NPCs in your campaign: do you use many?

Post by Ail »

Hi,

I was yesterday reflecting on what has been my campaign til now and I found I have about 40-50 individualized NPCs up to the moment. Some appeared in only 1 or 2 sessions and will never appear again, but others are there for the long run (and others have already died). In any case, I'm not counting generic fillers like a generic guard, a generic innkeeper, a generic shop-keeper, a generic commoner, etc. All these have a name and / or stats and are easily recognizable by the players if given a short description.

This made me think what do others do: do you use many NPCs? do you make your campaigns go more around that kind of interaction or are the PCs self-reliant in most things and widely travelled, meeting only another inn-keeper and such? And are the PCs just important to the task at hand, or are they part of the world that will interact with the PCs in various circumstances?

Thanks.

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Post by Kessler »

Usually PCs have a base or home. From this place they make their guests. And there are some NPCs well known to PCs - either friends or not-so-good friends, about 5-10. And it also depends how active PCs are.

Usual pattern for NPCs: in every new place PCs go (except their home) there is one or maximum two major NPCs. Easier to manage, otherwise if not me then players mix them.

Once they had even VERY detailed place for living: own house, neighbours with backgrounds (about 30 of them and PCs got very friendly with about 10 of them and knew their backgrounds), history of this district etc.
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Post by Ivana_Boritsi »

I've found that you only really need about 10 really good, really developed reoccuring NPCs in a campaign. I've seen campaigns where we've had 50 or more NPCs, but the players mix them up or forget who everyone is.

If you have about 10 solid NPCs, though, who interact with the PCs on a regular basis, this seems like a good number to me.

I used to think that you had to have characters that remained in one place. But I can see how a travelling campaign can work. As long as the 10 or so NPCs keep showing up somehow, then the campaign is still interesting. For example, if the NPCs are travelling as well and keep bumping into the PCs, it'll all be all right.
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

IMC, there are recurrent NPCs important for the story (about 10 to 15), NPCs that are seeds for future adventures (about 1 to 3 per session) and numerous NPCs thrown for domain flavor.

A ball or other important reunion is a great place to show these in a memorable setting.

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Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

I've probably long since lost count of the NPC's in my campaign, as have my players. :) But usually all it takes is pulling out their picture and maybe a one sentence description (The head monk guy from the Guardian's monastery) to get everyone back on track. I've got maybe a dozen or so main or recurring ones, but every town along the way has at least 5 or 6 that are "important." And at one party I had nearly 20 that were important.
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Post by JinnTolser »

My last Ravenloft campaign had a good 15-20 NPCs, I think.

My current campaign (Star Wars) has easily double that, probably more. A lot of them were only 1-2 session characters (though I always keep them on file in case I decide to bring them back), but there's at least a dozen fairly regular NPCs.
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Post by Undead Cabbage »

Ivana has a good idea when she talks about some reoccuring characters. Ravenloft has some REALLY well developed characters, and the players will only ever get to trully know them if their story develops along with them.

This doesn't mean I only have 10 or so NPCs, just only 10 or so NPCs are seen again and again. These characters include George Weathermay, The twins, Alanik Ray, Lacrese, Godefroy (during cut-scenes mainly though), and of course... Allister the Undead Cabbage (The dark, comic relief).

Some characters are best kept a regular part of the players lives. Some characters appear once in a while to help the players. Some will pop up once, and a really cool Camio, and might only ever be seen again if the players loved them.
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Re: NPCs in your campaign: do you use many?

Post by alhoon »

Ail wrote: This made me think what do others do: do you use many NPCs? do you make your campaigns go more around that kind of interaction or are the PCs self-reliant in most things and widely travelled, meeting only another inn-keeper and such? And are the PCs just important to the task at hand, or are they part of the world that will interact with the PCs in various circumstances?
I use generic guards and innkeepers but if the PCs dig in more than "I ask the tall guard with the slightly dented breast plate by the gate where to find the mayor" The NPCs start flowing out of me individualizing. That is one of the things I find fun in RPing and DMing.

Ultimately NPCs get as much attention from me, as from the players.

If the PCs start talking to the guard in the above example, he starts forming better in my mind. Is he suspicious? Is he working with a hidden enemy? Does he views adventurers as trouble? Is he admiring them? Is he jealous of them? Is he rude? Is he straightforward?
Why is the breast dented? Is he careless with his equipment? Does he has so much to do that it slipped his attention so far?
etc...

All in all, since one of my PCs recently was very interested in playing the everyday dealings with guards, innkeepers etc. I ended up with a horde of NPCs in about 30-40 hours of play time. A crazy old woman, the "bad" guys that either have been blackmailed to follow the real villain or have been charmed, the lizard man druid in the swamps... Many, many NPCs.
gonzoron wrote:I've probably long since lost count of the NPC's in my campaign, as have my players. :) But usually all it takes is pulling out their picture and maybe a one sentence description (The head monk guy from the Guardian's monastery) to get everyone back on track. I've got maybe a dozen or so main or recurring ones, but every town along the way has at least 5 or 6 that are "important." And at one party I had nearly 20 that were important.
More in line with gonzoron. There are important NPCs in each settlement to give it color but the "campaing important" NPCs are very few. And 2 out of the 3 I have thought so far haven't come out in the open yet! :)
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Post by Coan »

In my game (which I am just about done writing the second phase of) the PCs were at a family reuninion. I was running about 15 NPCs in the one game alone. I knew it was a one off in terms of NPC size but it needed to be done for the story.

The good thing was that the players began to recognise each of my NPCs by voice alone when I was having conversations between NPCs. Which was a relief as I had to practise a bit to give each one their individual 'sound'.
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Re: NPCs in your campaign: do you use many?

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

alhoon wrote:I use generic guards and innkeepers but if the PCs dig in more than "I ask the tall guard with the slightly dented breast plate by the gate where to find the mayor" The NPCs start flowing out of me individualizing. That is one of the things I find fun in RPing and DMing.

Ultimately NPCs get as much attention from me, as from the players.
This happens to me too. Especially once the Ranger learned Speak with Animals. Now every horse, squirrel, bat, and cow along the way has to have a personality at a moment's notice. :)
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Post by Boccaccio Barbarossa »

I havw to say that I agree with what Alhoon was aying - most NPC only get as much attention from me as my players give them. I have found myswelf frustrated in the past, building up an in-depth character that the PCs talked with for about 2 minutes and then, at the end of the session, they would rather go hang out with the bartender... So, this works best.

Of course, the major players might begin a certain way, you may map them out, but you gotta be quick to drop or change them to keep them interesting. Having said that, I know most of my players well enough now that I can 95% of the time know which characters they are likely to appreciate and why.

But how many? It's hard to tell, and it can be hard to try the line between minor and major, too! I guess it depends on the game and the session... and my preparation time. :)
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Post by Blake_Alexander »

My campaigns are known for the numerious indepth NPCs that dominate the villages and cities of the campaign world. I usually have at least two dozen NPC's in every location that are developed to a major degree, and an equal amount of lesser devleoped NPCs. Since I use the same camapign for three serperate group that I run, the amount of time I put into this developement is very rewarding...some PCs visit the same village that other groups do and they come away with a very different impression than another group that's visited the same community, simple because of whose path they crossed. I find the the more my NPC are developed the more realisitc my world becomes for my players.
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Post by alhoon »

To BBarbarosa: I know my players well too, but they play a variety of roles. The lawful neutral cleric will hang with different people than the chaotic neutral barbarian or the chaotic evil ranger or the neutral good scholary wizard... That's good IMO, since when my players experience different "personalities" they get to see the differences in social life that come along.

To BAlex: A good reward for me is that sometimes the PCs return to a city or village just to check on the NPCs friends. :)
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Post by Undead Cabbage »

Another factor to add in is how 'over the top' you're willing to go.

If my guys are talking to a random Mordentish local with no character sheet, they know he's not too important because his voice is nothing special, I have no props, or I don't have a drawing of him/her.

How many individual GOOD NPCs you ultimately have depends on how many different roles you can play (or are willing to play). If you go too over your ability to bring NPCs out, then players mix NPCs up for other ones, or WORSE, begin to not care due to them all looking the same. It's always good to push yourself so as to continually improve your abilities, but everyone has a limit.

Remember that NPCs aren't always brought out by different voices. Pictures help establish who they are talking to, as do props. If the GM is wearing a Tri-corn hat, players can associate that with George Weathermay (for those of us that actually own Tri-Corn Hats...).

Carrying yourself is an aspect as well. Different characters walk differently (if they walk at all). Keeping a grab bag of 'walks' brings out difference in characters.

If you have a character that has an individual walk, voice, picture, and props, that character will REALLY come out. Likewise, having none of those can cause an NPC to be merely 'dismissed' by the players.

On this note: in the event you have a dementlieuse dualist that is insulting the players, think before you ACTUALLY spit at their feet. One really didn't appreciate my saliva on her floor...
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Post by Faust »

On my next campaign up to date there is only two important npc:

Trillen mistwalker, and a mist fugged priest that live in is small oubliette(a church that lie in ruin, he will be happy to see the players: it has been such a long time that is flock hasn't come to see him also the church need some reparation)

But I have 9 pcs and the only part of the campaign I have prepared is the prologue and chapter one.
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