How to Be a Better DM: Dungeon Master Tips for the DM Newbie, the Hobbyist and the Forever DM Questions to Ask Before Creating an NPC
“Well what do you think?” Geva asks you. You steeple your fingers and think for a moment.
“They’re all a very interesting lot aren’t they?” you ask.
“Yes but who would you want be stuck on a ship with for months at a time?” responds the ever wise Geva.
“Well, there is Imora. I think having a tabaxi on the ship would be useful, though we’ll have to do something about her antipathy towards tieflings if we’re going to have her work with Heresiel. I was also impressed with Rudruguk. His strength will come in handy should we come in contact with pirates. He might be a discipline problem though. I’ve asked around and that half-orc loves his strong drink. Lastly, there’s Wupreha. Having a priest on board would be very useful, even though he is a primal priest of Ossus.”
“What about System?”
“The war forged? I don’t know how well he’ll fare on a voyage in the open sea. From what I heard, he’s somewhat unstable, even though he is a genius when it comes to woodworking, metalworking and engineering.”
Geva smiles and says, “Looks like you’ve got a choice to make captain.”
So what would you like to do?
Welcome back to the 22nd episode of How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host Justin Lewis and I am happy to be back with you guys this week. As always you and I are going on a journey to craft more engaging stories for yourself and your players while you DM a session of Dungeons and Dragons 5e.
First thing I want to say is that there are cool things in the works! I know that’s super vague, but I don’t want to spill the beans before it’s a sure thing. Let me just say, I’m working on getting great people on my team and that’s all I’m gonna say :)
Now second thing, I’d like to invite you to sign up for a monthly newsletter I’ll send out with updates and behind the scenes content as well as free home brew content that you can try in your campaigns. If you would like to sign up for that, click this link: https://mailchi.mp/05e568274671/subscription-page
Now that I have done all my selfish self-serving announcing (wink wink) let’s talk about making NPC’s.
Every game is filled with hundreds of NPC’s. From the poor shopkeeper to the ruthless arch villain ruining the universe, you will have to create NPC’s to move your story along and to give your players what their characters need.
So how exactly do you create a good NPC?
We’ll here are some questions to ask yourself to help you do just that?
- What is the purpose of this NPC?
I found myself falling into the trap recently with my own campaign of thinking, “I need to put in an NPC at this castle that they’ll meet and Journey with for sometime.” I never asked myself the question of this NPC’s purpose. So after I did, I realized their purpose was threefold: 1. To give vital information about the plot and help solidify the players’ desire to defeat the bad guys 2. To be a light hearted little-brother type character and give the group some comedy relief 3. Eventually die and make the group all sad that he died (oops, spoiler alert!). Answering this question has already helped me identify a lot about how the character will act. When you answer this question you won’t have those useless NPC’s that seem random. Instead, everything will feel necessary.
- How impactful is this NPC supposed to be on the story?
The answer to this question will help you determine how in depth the answers to the rest of the questions need to be. In the case of a small shopkeeper the party meets when they are level one, the answer will likely be that they are of little impact. That means you mostly need to just make the one encounter the party has with them fun and sensical. On the other hand if the answer is the NPC will be very impactful, then you need to understand that NPC! A little word of warning though, your players also get a vote on who is impactful and who isn’t. Just be prepared to make things up on the fly if your players start asking about the back story of the one hobo in the village.
- What emotion should this NPC cause?
This question goes hand in hand with the first question. I believe every NPC should make the players feel some emotion. Sometimes that emotion is comedy, and other times it’s a deep loathing that lasts long after the session is over. Heck, the emotion could even be boredom if you’re wanted to players to move on with the story (though I wouldn’t recommend that most of the time). Whenever we meet people in real life they act and we react, often with emotions. Our NPC’s should mirror that experience.
- Who will be interacting with this NPC?
NPC’s don’t stand alone in the story. They exist specifically to interact, whether directly or indirectly, with your players’ characters. Therefore, who the NPC’s interact with is important. It’s important because it will determine how they act, what the NPC must know and do and what the NPC wants. If one of your player’s characters is a rogue who has an assassin mentor that no one else in the group will ever meet, that NPC can act very differently toward the rogue than if they were to interact with the whole group.
- What does this NPC care about?
If you are making things up on the fly about NPC’s, then this is the first question you need to answer. Just as with murder, no one does anything without a motive. So why does the shopkeeper want the highest price for their health potions? Are they greedy? Do they have a family to feed? Do they enjoy the back and forth of negotiations? Are they concerned about making rent? Do they love the thrill of enterprise? All of these questions paint the NPC in a different color and tell you how to play them. It also makes them much more interesting.
There you have it. 5 questions to ask when you are making an NPC. There are only 5 questions here so if you think of any more reach out to me on Instagram @geronimolevis and tell me your thoughts!
Again, I thank you all for your support and ratings and reviews and I wish you happy holidays. I’ll talk to you next week but until then, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.
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