NPC cards

So if you are familiar with spell cards, I plan to do the same with NPCs. For personal use. But just wondering if you would do this, for party base NPCs

Greetings Naylortristan79,

Everyone plays the game differently, and if you feel that NPC Cards are something that will help you while you DM, dive right in :)

As for if the players will find the Cards useful, I assume you might have some info on the Card to help you and some of that info might be information that the PCs have not yet found out, so I would not show them the Cards.

Now, if you want to create two versions of every NPC Card, that seems alike a LOT of extra work, but if it makes playing at your Table more fun for you AND your players, go for it.

I do have a question on the Cards though... Again, each DM has a different style of organization and play, but I would find trying to keep a stack of cards for all of the NPCs a bit difficult... Why do you want to create the NPC Cards (over other ways of documenting the information for your NPCs)?

I just create a Google Doc with all of the NPCs that I have created for an adventure, all of their info., including what they sound like (what type of voice I should use), mannerisms, personality and what drives them. I have an index that tells me what page to jump to for each NPC, etc, and it seems to work pretty well. (this could be printed if you like paper)

Cheers!

I play in person and it’s more of a way for the players to see the NPCs that they will be interacting with while in their base

That's a neat idea! I suppose it would be best suited to full Campaigns (with a capital C) in which the players meet certain NPCs over and over, but often at long intervals. Like if the party goes back to a certain city and I mention that they bump into a certain NPC, it may take them a few minutes of browsing their notes, and a few prompts from me, for them to remember who this person is and what their connection to the party is. But if I put an NPC card with their picture, name, and location on top of the DM screen, it might help that recognition happen faster. I just wish I were a good enough artist to make cards like this, and I wish I were smart enough to have had this idea back when I began my current campaign. 

But yeah, this might be a great side hustle idea. Make packs of cards and sell them. Maybe a pack of mixed NPCs (tavern keeper, blacksmith, town guard, merchant, sage, etc), and packs of specific jobs (20 different bartenders, 20 different merchants, etc). So whenever you need an NPC you can just pull the next one from the deck and *boom* you've got one ready to go with minimal prep.

I'll be browsing Kickstarter, waiting for you to post this. This is a great idea. 

I don’t have the time but can post results when they are made

Quote from AnzioFaro >>

I just wish I were a good enough artist to make cards like this, and I wish I were smart enough to have had this idea back when I began my current campaign.

 You don't need to be an artist to create NPC cards if you're playing locally with your friends. You can just search Google or Pinterest for applicable images for the NPCs. Just don't go selling them and/or claiming them to be your own artworks.

As for NPC cards in general, I like the idea as the PCs would know directly who's there and who's not. Although I would outsource them to the players. Have blank cards with placeholders (e.g Name __________, Location __________, etc.) and the players fill them out. The DM will have a lot of information not available to the players about NPCs, so let the players choose the relevant information available for them.

My plan is:

Name: _______

image:

Basic info: ________

on the back stats that I need