Making Memorable NPCs Your Players Will Love…or Love to Hate

Creating memorable NPCs is one of the key skills that every Game Master must develop. Interesting NPCs breathe life into a setting, provide opportunities for roleplaying, and give the players extra motivation to care about what is happening around them.

Adding just a few bit and pieces of character to the people and creatures your party meets will go a long way to making your game more immersive and interesting. You don’t have to be as over the top as Chris Perkins, whose Iomandra D&D campaign introduced upwards of 750 NPCs to his players, but you can learn how to easily add some pizazz to your own stable of NPCs.

In his series The Dungeon Master Experience, Chris Perkins detailed 5 aspects that need to be in place to create a memorable NPC. Put these quick & dirty steps into play, and you’ll have an extraordinary member of your cast that you players will love…or love to hate.

1. The Name’s the Thing

The first time you introduce a new NPC as “Bob the Goblin” you might get a laugh out of your players, but after a while this wears thin. Genre appropriate names make all the difference in building believable NPCs.

Fortunately for you, we have devoted an entire blog post to helping you find names for just about any species or creature you can image. Click here for Who Else Wants Easy NPC Names.

Keep a list of names at the ready, as nothing bogs down a game and ruins the story telling moment like the GM drawing a blank on a name. A simple 3×5 index card with names on it might be the most valuable part of your session prep.

2. Secrets

Roleplayers love secrets. They like their characters to have secrets and skeletons in their closet (sometimes literally), and they enjoy discovering the NPC’s secrets as well. If you create a pattern where your NPCs have their own agendas and secrets, your players will begin to invest more time in getting to know new characters that appear on the scene.

Tease them with questions like…

Why is that tall ranger in the corner staring at the party? What brings four traveling hobbits to the Prancing Pony late at night? Why does Thorin Oakenshield hold such malice toward the Elves of Mirkwood?

Secrets can be unknown aspects of a character that provide their motivation, or they can contain game changing information that drives many sessions. Bottom line…NPCs are more interesting if they have something to hide, or something to tell.

3. Stats

If you are looking to limit your prep time, then your best bet is to grab a few stat blocks that you can just reskin and use. Sly Flourish said it best in his book, the Lazy Dungeon Master:

Of all the tools and techniques vital to the life of a lazy dungeon master, few have the power and impact of reskinning. Reskinning defines the act of replacing the flavor, story, and description of a set of roleplaying mechanics such as a monster, an encounter, a trap, terrain, or an environmental effect. In its simplest form, you might take all of the mechanics of a skeleton but replace it with the flavor of an animated scarecrow.

Your NPCs won’t be memorable because of their awesome stats, they’ll be memorable because of the name and personality you gave them. Fudging a little on the stat blocks won’t hurt a thing.

4. Voice

Close your eyes and imagine Darth Vader or James Bond. What immediately comes to mind…I’m guessing it’s the booming voice of James Earl Jones, or the much imitated but never duplicated accent of Sean Connery. Voices make for more interesting and thus memorable NPCs.

You don’t have to be a trained voice actor to give your NPCs a little more punch. Vary the pitch of your voice slightly, put your mouth in a different position than normal, put your hand over your mouth, or simply talk faster or slower than normal.

If accents aren’t your thing, then use different speech patterns. Perhaps Grog the Barbarian only speaks in 1 or 2 syllable words, while Eldrigar the Learned Scholar uses big words and flowery language.

A final word on voices…save your best efforts for your most important characters. A throw away NPC should have a name, but doesn’t necessarily need a Mark Hamill-esque voice acting treatment.

5. Layers

Layers are those little extra details that turn an NPC from token or miniature into a living, breathing entity. You don’t need a bunch of these right at the start, just “layer them in” as the story unfolds. Layers reveal a side of the character that may be unexpected to the players, as well as fleshing out what they already know.

One excellent way to use layers is implementing the “X but Y” method. X is a general character aspect, while Y is the part that stands out from it. You can use the X but Y method with both appearances and motivations.

For example, Grog the Barbarian is a mountain of a man, but is surprisingly graceful and is as light on his feet as a ballerina.

Or…

ISB Security Agent Kallus will do anything to see the Rebels pay for their crimes, but he wants to be the only one credited with capturing them.

Putting the Icing on the Cake

NPCs really come to life when you add appearance traits, personality traits and mannerisms. We’ve included a few examples of each kind below to get your started.

Appearance Traits:

1. Disfigured
2. Double Chin
3. Buxom
4. Pale Skin
5. Prosthetic or Missing Arm
6. Disheveled
7. Piercing Eyes
8. Greasy Hair
9. Rugged Clothes
10. Wild Hair
11. Hollow Cheeks
12. Homely
13. Statuesque
14. Missing Eye
15. Bearded

Personality Traits:

1. Shy
2. Expressive
3. Emotionless
4. Naive
5. Modest
6. Mediator
7. Obsessive
8. Disrespectful of Old People
9. Self-Serving
10. Feminine
11. Overly Cheerful
12. Superior
13. Nonchalant
14. Unable to Relax
15. Traitorous

Mannerisms:

1. Goes Quiet
2. Clucks Tongue
3. Rubs Fingertips
4. Stares Menacingly
5. Chews Fingernails
6. Sings to Self
7. Exhales Loudly
8. Smiles Happily
9. Picks at Clothes
10. Uses Big Words
11. Sighs Frequently
12. Gestures Impatiently
13. Raises Eyebrows
14. Moves in Close to Listener
15. Straightens Clothes

Other Resources

WriteWorld.org:

For more personality traits, and character quirks, visit WriteWorld.org/characterquirks

You’ll find a big list of quirks, phobias, manias, superstitions, and habits you can add to your NPCs to flesh them out. Also, choosing a celebrity or fictional character for inspiration is a fantastic way to make your NPCs more memorable.

Writing the celebrity’s name down with the NPCs stat block will help instantly remind you of the voice and mannerisms you need to use when playing that character.

Universal NPC Emulator:

With just a handful of dice rolls, UNE can help create a surprising non-player character (NPC) with its own motivations. A few more dice rolls, and UNE can provide more direction to place the newly-created NPC smack dab in the center of the story. It can even help determine the NPC’s general mood towards the player characters.

Grab your copy here

Dungeon Master’s Guide - 5th Edition:

The DMG for 5th Edition has an excellent section on creating memerable NPCs. It outlines a 10 step method (one sentence per step) complete with roll tables to get your started. With this info in hand you can create NPCs complete details for:

1. Occupation & History
2. Appearance
3. Abilities - high ability, low ability
4. Talent
5. Mannerism
6. Interactions with Others - how do they interact/behave
7. Useful Knowledge
8. Ideal
9. Bond
10. Flaw or Secret

Grab your copy of the Dungeon Master’s Guide - 5th Edition