Who's This Guy? Designing NPCs.

So you've got your maps prepared, you've got a world ready to put together, but what's the glue that will make it all stick together? Using the example of Newport(you can find the example town of Newport here:), I'll try to answer that. What will make Newport stand out? It's just a small town, much like any other. It doesn't have any notable geography, nor any exotic exports. In fact, the most exciting news is that they've found a vein of iron ore in the cliff wall of the valley. What will make it stand out?

The Non-Player Characters that populate it, of course. A miserly tavern keep with watered down ales, old bread, drafty rooms and a nasal voice. A customs officer with shifty eyes and suspicious packages. The foppish Captain Rosseau and his clinking chain mail that's seen better days. The drawling Sheriff and his long dark mustache. Maybe they find a lost pair of Dwarven Fighters who've wandered into a dungeon and can't find their way out. The way a character is designed goes beyond an equipment list or stats, and their goals clashing with the Player's goals makes for even more memorable encounters. The miserly tavern keeper sneering at the Players as they complain about the service. "What, you think this is Cormanth? We don't offer a tea service here, laaadies." The foppish Captain Rosseau challenging a Player to a duel over an unintended slight. "How dare you! I challenge thee to honourable combat, you impudent rapscallion!" The Mayor's daughter, seemingly drenched in perfume, flirting with the players. "Oooh, what big strong muscles! You look like you could pick me up...*wink* and lift me too." Lord Shasp, standing strong in front of the gates of the town, Dwarven-crafted war axes clenched in each hand, bellowing, "Archers! FIRE! Infantry, CHARGE!" As he  leads his faithful retainers straight into the goblins.

And remember, each of these NPCs has their own agendas. Perhaps the tavernkeeper is really a spy for a neighboring lord. Maybe the Mayor's daughter is planning on making her boyfriend jealous and causing a brawl in the bars. The tavern's visiting bard could be spying for the Harbourmaster, to find out who his wife is cheating on him with. A cheerful caravan of halflings could be a band of thieves, assassins in disguise, or as they are, a band of merry folk who may contract the Players to guard them on their way to the capital.

A good NPC can drive on a plot, but ultimately, it's the way your players react to them that makes them memorable. You can prepare several interesting, entertaining, or devious NPCs, and the one that the players remember with most fondness may be the young elven maiden who braided them each a daisy crown as they went out to face the goblins on the day of the battle.

Motivations make the game world go around, and your PCs won't want to be pawns to others very often. But a well made NPC with ulterior motives, who convinces them into doing something for him which turns out to be for the worse, can really bring a session to a boil, especially if said NPC will become a focal villain for your game. A good escape plan on his part, and your players will want to track him down, for justice, to right what they did, to reclaim an artifact, or good old fashioned revenge.

Next time, I'll tell more about making a good villain, and tools you can use to make your villains stand out, die well, and to use them to link a story together.