Usually, I create around, say, 5 key NPCs which are important to the advancement of the story. The other on the fly, maybe borrowing from some other adventures.
The risk if you over-prepare NPCs is that you will never use them, because the party will create its own path through the story that does not involve all the NPCs.
To date I've done what you mentioned: I have story-relevant NPCs and on-the-fly NPCs.
My on-the-fly NPCs tend to be the shopkeepers my PCs visit when resupplying, or folks they meet during their travels that offer little to no information pertaining to the story line.. For my story-relevant NPCs I tend to place them in the path the PCs are most likely to take; failing that they sometimes just appear too, like just walking into a Tavern. Right now, I have up to 2 story-relevant NPCs to define. But your campaign/adventure may require more or less.
As for preparation, I think we all have our approaches which are neither right nor wrong, but works just for us. For instance, I tend to over prepare my NPCs because I have no idea what the PCs are going to do so I want to be ready. I want to minimize my "Umms" and "Aaahhhs", if you know what I mean.
But, as for making mistakes: Make plenty of them! :-D That's how you'll figure out your approach to being a DM. Experiment! But above all, have fun! :-D
To date I've done what you mentioned: I have story-relevant NPCs and on-the-fly NPCs.
My on-the-fly NPCs tend to be the shopkeepers my PCs visit when resupplying, or folks they meet during their travels that offer little to no information pertaining to the story line.. For my story-relevant NPCs I tend to place them in the path the PCs are most likely to take; failing that they sometimes just appear too, like just walking into a Tavern. Right now, I have up to 2 story-relevant NPCs to define. But your campaign/adventure may require more or less.
As for preparation, I think we all have our approaches which are neither right nor wrong, but works just for us. For instance, I tend to over prepare my NPCs because I have no idea what the PCs are going to do so I want to be ready. I want to minimize my "Umms" and "Aaahhhs", if you know what I mean.
But, as for making mistakes: Make plenty of them! :-D That's how you'll figure out your approach to being a DM. Experiment! But above all, have fun! :-D
I don't have too much experience with creating on-the-fly NPCs, and that's probably one of my greatest weaknesses, but I've gotten better with my plot-important NPCs. Most of these NPCs I can create in just a few minutes by stating who they are, what they do, what they want, and what stands against them.
So, for Barkon the Baconmaster; - Half-Orc male, about 48 years old with greying hair and extra-wrinkly skin folds on his face. - Barkon loves bacon, but is a butcher whom is able to cut fine meats. He raises his own pigs and considers them his most important investment. - Barkon would love nothing more than to be able to try new ingredients with his meats, and relishes the chance to try foods from far-off realms. - Barkon has a feud going with Shelira Mckairn, a Half-Elf vegetarian whom he considers to be too "whimsical" and not down to earth enough. He competes with her in the market, and is pretty sure that some of his pigs that have gone missing are her fault. He'll be very grateful to any adventurer who can prove this to him.
In my campaign, I have 2 types of NPCs - repeat NPCs and non-repeat NPCs. The nature of my campaign is that I don't need NPCs that much, but if they do, it's usually somewhere the PCs are coming back to, eg. favourite tavern or shop. Nearly all of these have been on the fly because few if any have been plot-important. I usually just have to try to remember names if any, but normally function will do. it's a bit of a cheat in the way I setup the campaign, but it works and it makes it way easier to manage
You walk into the Shining Shield Tavern. An older building with a reddish brick foundation with weathered oak beams and walls. You approach the bar looking for the barkeep and you notice a very familiar dwarf who looks like and talks like the same retired adventurer from the last inn you were at. Maybe they are related, right?
This is very common and we are all a little guilty of hauling out a recycled NPC from our box of personalities. We might have forgotten we just used them in our last session which was two weeks ago. Whoops, embarrassing and unfortunate.
Your goal is to build an environment filled with exciting and vibrant personalities that will interact with the players. These can include an Inn Keeper, the local guard, or farmer, a prince of the kingdom and my favourite type, the Villain. Personalities are key.
An awesome NPC can be the heart and soul of your adventure. They can be the driving force of the adventure or perhaps that caravan master you meet on the road that you will one day meet again.
NPC’s are different in that you already know what they are, or what you want them to be. You don’t need random stats and some traits you found on a table in whatever guide book you are using for your game. Bold statement yes, and if you are just making random townsfolk this can work, if not, put the book down and start making your own notes.
We want to create that amazing persona that is going to interact with your player either in a benevolent way or as a dark nemesis trying to thwart the player any chance they get.
Back Story is goal number one. Why are they where they are? What is the driving force behind the NPC and their motivation? I do all this before I even decide the race and sex of my newest addition to the setting. Please take note that you don’t need to write the entire life of your new NPC if it is not important to the story or the players don’t really need to know. The time you put into the extra background will only become important to you.
When picking a race, think about what races are common to the area. You want to make the encounter(s) seem plausible to the players. Finding a half orc ruling over a guild of wizards be stretching it just a bit. I’m not saying that it’s not possible, just perhaps a little hard to swallow depending on your setting.
Deciding a class of you feel your new NPC needs one, can be easy or difficult depending on what you want to accomplish and how the NPC interacts with the players. Think about how the players are going to interact with this NPC or how this NPC will influence the story. Maybe it is just a personality and doesn’t need to be assigned a class. Don’t waste valuable time into something that you’ll never use.
For NPC’s that your players encounter on a regular basis, like merchants and common folk you can apply one of your sourced personalities but just leave it at a personality. There is no need to expand on anything more than that, and if you need some numbers just grab the Commoner stats out of your handbook. The best example I can offer is the players like to pick the pockets of common folk. There is very little point to writing long drawn out background for someone who will never draw a sword. Still, it can be fun, so if that’s what you like, do it.
My first rule is that I’m the DM. I can create, mold and build whatever skills, feats, and abilities I want to fit the needs of the story. As I mentioned I love making the villain. Each one is labour of countless hours creating the perfect nefarious foe. Maybe I just read too many comics as a kid, but a fantasy version of the Green Goblin will be my crowning achievement. Make what you need. If you just a need a fighter or wizard that’s easy to do, but I encourage you to let your imagination run wild.
Using the example of the retired adventure running a Tavern and Inn, do you think the past career might be believable if they were once a druid? Just think about it for a second. My famous retired adventurer was never really an adventurer. He was a middle aged farmer strolling through the fields one day and found the body a real adventurer loaded up with gear and a bag full of shiny coins and gems. It’s something only I will ever know and not really important to the Players whom he normally only serves drinks with the latest gossip from the lands.
For all my common NPC’s there are plenty of pre-made options and stats available so when I begin prepping for a new adventure I use these.
My suggestion is that before you invest in that paint brush for your latest batch of minis you’re about to toss at your players you get yourself a notebook or an index card catalog box complete with cards. These minor tools will serve you better than any addition you can think to boost your tables play. Players are going to remember that completely incredible NPC they interacted with long after the memory of that cool paint job you did on a zombie.
#DMtip There are thousands of characters in books.
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JT "You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
Generally I make sure that I have 10 NPC names written down for non story characters, 5 male & 5 female for each town. When it comes to the rest I will go on the fly. However, if that NPC becomes a focus or a particularly well liked/reviled I have that characters name and afterwards i'll make sure to flesh out more in case the PCs come back looking for them for whatever reason.
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"Be fair. Don't over prepare. Make it fun for everyone." -Chris Perkins
Generally I make sure that I have 10 NPC names written down for non story characters, 5 male & 5 female for each town. When it comes to the rest I will go on the fly. However, if that NPC becomes a focus or a particularly well liked/reviled I have that characters name and afterwards i'll make sure to flesh out more in case the PCs come back looking for them for whatever reason.
I do something very similar with the list of names and with NPCs who somehow become more important than they were originally intended.
I generally have three types of NPCs:
Majors - These are NPCs who are part of the campaign for the long haul and are part of major plot points. They get close to the same full character development treatment that a player character would.
Part-timers - These generally serve some small, short-term purpose - hand out a quest or two, direct the party to X area, etc. Typically I give them a flaw, a trait, and motive. You can use this generator to get some great ideas - it's really nice.
Randoms - These are the on-the-fly NPCs at shops, out in the street, or the people who the PCs talk to when they're trying to work the town for info. These are mostly improved.
One tip that may help is to give your NPCs, regardless of how major or minor they are, one quirk or idiosyncrasy. For example, a Halfling who was giving the party a tour of a place they were in and would say "Moving on!" anytime they were going to the next area or someone in the group said something funny or awkward. There were two guards who were obviously good friends at the entrance to a city - I decided one would be a quiet Elf and the other a loud, vulgar, brash Human. That's it!
If you do voices, try practicing when you're alone in the car or put some headphones in while you're grocery shopping and make it look like you're talking on the telephone. No one knows that isn't your voice. :) Finally, and I learned this from listening to Hank Azaria on a podcast, pick someone you know and just do your impression of them. Do you know someone who has a weird thing they do with their body when they talk? Copy that. With the guard example - I chose brash, then just did an impression of a brash person I saw in some movie.
When you're talking with someone, people watching, or watching something on TV, pay attention to how people communicate - watch their body language, tone, inflection, etc. Just pick up on one little thing they do that you notice and copy that for your next NPC and see what happens. I seem to remember Jordan Peele saying that's what he did when he was developing his Obama impression, the "uhhhhhh..." that he uses as filler in between pauses was what he picked up on and started using.
There are lots of ways to help out. Here's a basic way as well.
I spent some time yesterday making a sub-boss challenge for the now 12th level PCs based on a trinket one of the players wrote into their backstory at 1st level.
That's certainly not the way I handle all of my NPCs but I find that if the NPCs are ones not only based on my backstory but the backstory and vision players have for their part of the world, then role-playing them becomes much easier. Because the player already has an expectation or familiarity with them in their mind and you only have to counter play off of that. That should help unflatten your NPCs and make them more believable - basically let the players do it and then run with it.
This is the kind of stereo-typing that comes off well. If the players fully expect the captain of the guard to be steadfast and competent, you can A) follow that expectation to the letter and even caricaturize it a bit to amplify it or B) go the opposite direction and make them a bumbling oaf that got promoted to the position for X reason. Either of these make the game interesting for the players because it is either instantly believable or so different that it is fun and memorable.
I'm pretty new to running things as well, but I've done two things pretty intentionally so far. The first is that I'll create decently insular plots, and reuse a lot of NPCs, including the ones I have to make on the fly. If my players enjoy an NPC, I'll try to bring them back. Also because I know my creativity is limited, and likely to repeat, if my players like it, and I know I'm likely to just rehash them, why not have that character stick around? (I think players also tend to believe that I plot more of this through when I do that, which kind of works to my advantage.)
Secondly, and I think a lot of other people do this, is character voices. Gosh, I love character voices, and I think that a lot of players do too. Having a soft spoken motherly figure and a hilariously shrieking farmer have been high points of games. Both those characters I found to be kind of bland personality-wise, but it's kind of the the roleplaying behind them that helped bring them to life.
Oh and I also really reccomend creating people with settings when you're plotting stuff out, even if you never use them. For example, sometimes figuring out who some of the important people are to an NPC who you know is a big deal can help you get insight into that already important character, and maybe help you put them into the story on the fly if you need to. They may never come into the story, but that's still really good practice. I personally really enjoy creating families, or important social ties for NPCs because it helps them come to life for me. I hope some of this helped!
They say that a first impression is everything and that holds true with NPC's too. Too often, I see DM's create what I call: "Furbie NPC's". These are NPC's that only become active once a player comes near them, and will probably become inert once the players leave.
Example: "You enter the tavern and walk over to the bar. 'Hello friends, what can I get you?' says the barman."
This introduction is boring, stale and there is virtually no chance the players will have an interesting conversation with him. They'll probably ask him for a room/information and be on their way.
What you want to do instead is really make their introduction strong by making the NPC seem like they have a life of their own outside of the players. An easy way to do this is by having a small "skit" when they first show up, some sort of action or scene that best portrays their dominant personality trait.
Example: "You enter the tavern and spot a man behind the bar, his back turned to you. 'I'll be with you in a second,' he says. He seems to be inspecting each glass on the shelf, holding them up to the light checking for the smallest speck of dirt or imperfection. After finally making his way to the end, he dusts his hands on his apron, satisfied, and turns to face you. 'Sorry about that friends, now what can I get you?'"
This one is much more evocative. The players already know he's a neat freak, maybe a little eccentric, but still quite friendly and open. With that information, your players have so much more to work with in how they interact with them. Maybe they compliment him on the cleanliness of his tavern to get on his good side. Maybe they try to **** with him by not using a coaster. Either way I've provided my players with a little meat to hang on to and let them build something with me.
Of course, you don't need to do this for every single NPC, it might get a little tiresome admittedly if you did it for everyone the players spoke to. But if you want an NPC to be memorable, this is definitely the first step.
I understand and agree with most of this post (especially the part about there being thousands of characters in books), but I don't think it's terribly helpful to a beginning DM simply needing a nudge in the right direction. I think you've offered a 7-course meal to someone who can really only take small bites until they find the methods that really work for them.
To the OP, it's easy to get overwhelmed as you build the skill sets of being a solid Dungeon Master. Lots of people have lots of opinions and are quick to render them in minute detail, making it seem like the art of DM'ing is arduous, tedious, and daunting. It doesn't have to be.
I think the key perspective for someone in your position, relatively new to the practice of running an FRPG game, is to relax a little and don't put too much pressure on yourself. It's entirely possible your NPC's aren't as flat as you feel they are. Skill development will come organically as you become more familiar with the art and flow of role-playing games. A lot of people have given excellent advice on this thread already, but it's important that you not feel the need to absorb it all right away. I'd let the information flow over you, maybe take one or two small techniques to start, then let all the ideas you've been given stew for a bit. Eventually, over the course of time, they'll gel into a DM'ing style that is uniquely you.
That said, I have a singular piece of advice regarding the development of NPC's: Don't be afraid to steal. Gather inspiration from books (fiction and RPG resource alike), movies, graphic novels, etc, and feel absolutely free to use interesting characters that other people have created in your own context. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that everything in your RPG world has to be custom built by you.
Have fun!
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PBP "Beregost Blues" - Dungeon Master of Gnome Slaying +5
In the interests of full disclosure, this is a product I wrote and released some time ago, but I've converted it to "Pay what you want", so you're more than welcome to download it for free if you like. It's been well reviewed as a more comprehensive deep-dive into NPC personalities than what you generally see out there.
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PBP "Beregost Blues" - Dungeon Master of Gnome Slaying +5
Wow, thank you all for the help! I typically play as a PC but I am now making my first one shot and at first, I didn't know how to go about making -an- NPC(s) but you've really helped me!
External inspiration helps to give richness to your NPC’s. There are some online sources, but they tend to be too verbose. I use Rory’s Story Cubes. Grab three, roll, see where your brain takes you. This can be done ahead or at the table once you’re comfortable with it
FWIW, I think of NPC’s in terms of description, motivation, and methods. Something that speaks to the senses, what their views are or what they are trying to achieve, and the way they go about things. I have a list of these pre-prepared. I just attach a name and draw the next set from the list. The idea is to have just enough to work with to make them feel different.
random examples:
description: body odour
motivation: afraid of insects, longs to travel
methods: avoids being touched
description: gaunt, off kilter smile
motivation: people pleaser
methods: always sipping tea - cup continuously gets in the way
I go with the last thing you said.
Usually, I create around, say, 5 key NPCs which are important to the advancement of the story. The other on the fly, maybe borrowing from some other adventures.
The risk if you over-prepare NPCs is that you will never use them, because the party will create its own path through the story that does not involve all the NPCs.
To date I've done what you mentioned: I have story-relevant NPCs and on-the-fly NPCs.
My on-the-fly NPCs tend to be the shopkeepers my PCs visit when resupplying, or folks they meet during their travels that offer little to no information pertaining to the story line.. For my story-relevant NPCs I tend to place them in the path the PCs are most likely to take; failing that they sometimes just appear too, like just walking into a Tavern. Right now, I have up to 2 story-relevant NPCs to define. But your campaign/adventure may require more or less.
As for preparation, I think we all have our approaches which are neither right nor wrong, but works just for us. For instance, I tend to over prepare my NPCs because I have no idea what the PCs are going to do so I want to be ready. I want to minimize my "Umms" and "Aaahhhs", if you know what I mean.
But, as for making mistakes: Make plenty of them! :-D That's how you'll figure out your approach to being a DM. Experiment! But above all, have fun! :-D
I wear pants, short pants.
I also ask a lot of questions; insatiably curious
I don't have too much experience with creating on-the-fly NPCs, and that's probably one of my greatest weaknesses, but I've gotten better with my plot-important NPCs. Most of these NPCs I can create in just a few minutes by stating who they are, what they do, what they want, and what stands against them.
So, for Barkon the Baconmaster;
- Half-Orc male, about 48 years old with greying hair and extra-wrinkly skin folds on his face.
- Barkon loves bacon, but is a butcher whom is able to cut fine meats. He raises his own pigs and considers them his most important investment.
- Barkon would love nothing more than to be able to try new ingredients with his meats, and relishes the chance to try foods from far-off realms.
- Barkon has a feud going with Shelira Mckairn, a Half-Elf vegetarian whom he considers to be too "whimsical" and not down to earth enough. He competes with her in the market, and is pretty sure that some of his pigs that have gone missing are her fault. He'll be very grateful to any adventurer who can prove this to him.
In my campaign, I have 2 types of NPCs - repeat NPCs and non-repeat NPCs. The nature of my campaign is that I don't need NPCs that much, but if they do, it's usually somewhere the PCs are coming back to, eg. favourite tavern or shop. Nearly all of these have been on the fly because few if any have been plot-important. I usually just have to try to remember names if any, but normally function will do. it's a bit of a cheat in the way I setup the campaign, but it works and it makes it way easier to manage
You walk into the Shining Shield Tavern. An older building with a reddish brick foundation with weathered oak beams and walls. You approach the bar looking for the barkeep and you notice a very familiar dwarf who looks like and talks like the same retired adventurer from the last inn you were at. Maybe they are related, right?
This is very common and we are all a little guilty of hauling out a recycled NPC from our box of personalities. We might have forgotten we just used them in our last session which was two weeks ago. Whoops, embarrassing and unfortunate.
Your goal is to build an environment filled with exciting and vibrant personalities that will interact with the players. These can include an Inn Keeper, the local guard, or farmer, a prince of the kingdom and my favourite type, the Villain. Personalities are key.
An awesome NPC can be the heart and soul of your adventure. They can be the driving force of the adventure or perhaps that caravan master you meet on the road that you will one day meet again.
NPC’s are different in that you already know what they are, or what you want them to be. You don’t need random stats and some traits you found on a table in whatever guide book you are using for your game. Bold statement yes, and if you are just making random townsfolk this can work, if not, put the book down and start making your own notes.
We want to create that amazing persona that is going to interact with your player either in a benevolent way or as a dark nemesis trying to thwart the player any chance they get.
Back Story is goal number one. Why are they where they are? What is the driving force behind the NPC and their motivation? I do all this before I even decide the race and sex of my newest addition to the setting. Please take note that you don’t need to write the entire life of your new NPC if it is not important to the story or the players don’t really need to know. The time you put into the extra background will only become important to you.
When picking a race, think about what races are common to the area. You want to make the encounter(s) seem plausible to the players. Finding a half orc ruling over a guild of wizards be stretching it just a bit. I’m not saying that it’s not possible, just perhaps a little hard to swallow depending on your setting.
Deciding a class of you feel your new NPC needs one, can be easy or difficult depending on what you want to accomplish and how the NPC interacts with the players. Think about how the players are going to interact with this NPC or how this NPC will influence the story. Maybe it is just a personality and doesn’t need to be assigned a class. Don’t waste valuable time into something that you’ll never use.
For NPC’s that your players encounter on a regular basis, like merchants and common folk you can apply one of your sourced personalities but just leave it at a personality. There is no need to expand on anything more than that, and if you need some numbers just grab the Commoner stats out of your handbook. The best example I can offer is the players like to pick the pockets of common folk. There is very little point to writing long drawn out background for someone who will never draw a sword. Still, it can be fun, so if that’s what you like, do it.
My first rule is that I’m the DM. I can create, mold and build whatever skills, feats, and abilities I want to fit the needs of the story. As I mentioned I love making the villain. Each one is labour of countless hours creating the perfect nefarious foe. Maybe I just read too many comics as a kid, but a fantasy version of the Green Goblin will be my crowning achievement. Make what you need. If you just a need a fighter or wizard that’s easy to do, but I encourage you to let your imagination run wild.
Using the example of the retired adventure running a Tavern and Inn, do you think the past career might be believable if they were once a druid? Just think about it for a second. My famous retired adventurer was never really an adventurer. He was a middle aged farmer strolling through the fields one day and found the body a real adventurer loaded up with gear and a bag full of shiny coins and gems. It’s something only I will ever know and not really important to the Players whom he normally only serves drinks with the latest gossip from the lands.
For all my common NPC’s there are plenty of pre-made options and stats available so when I begin prepping for a new adventure I use these.
My suggestion is that before you invest in that paint brush for your latest batch of minis you’re about to toss at your players you get yourself a notebook or an index card catalog box complete with cards. These minor tools will serve you better than any addition you can think to boost your tables play. Players are going to remember that completely incredible NPC they interacted with long after the memory of that cool paint job you did on a zombie.
#DMtip There are thousands of characters in books.
JT " You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
Generally I make sure that I have 10 NPC names written down for non story characters, 5 male & 5 female for each town. When it comes to the rest I will go on the fly. However, if that NPC becomes a focus or a particularly well liked/reviled I have that characters name and afterwards i'll make sure to flesh out more in case the PCs come back looking for them for whatever reason.
"Be fair. Don't over prepare. Make it fun for everyone." -Chris Perkins
I generally have three types of NPCs:
One tip that may help is to give your NPCs, regardless of how major or minor they are, one quirk or idiosyncrasy. For example, a Halfling who was giving the party a tour of a place they were in and would say "Moving on!" anytime they were going to the next area or someone in the group said something funny or awkward. There were two guards who were obviously good friends at the entrance to a city - I decided one would be a quiet Elf and the other a loud, vulgar, brash Human. That's it!
If you do voices, try practicing when you're alone in the car or put some headphones in while you're grocery shopping and make it look like you're talking on the telephone. No one knows that isn't your voice. :) Finally, and I learned this from listening to Hank Azaria on a podcast, pick someone you know and just do your impression of them. Do you know someone who has a weird thing they do with their body when they talk? Copy that. With the guard example - I chose brash, then just did an impression of a brash person I saw in some movie.
When you're talking with someone, people watching, or watching something on TV, pay attention to how people communicate - watch their body language, tone, inflection, etc. Just pick up on one little thing they do that you notice and copy that for your next NPC and see what happens. I seem to remember Jordan Peele saying that's what he did when he was developing his Obama impression, the "uhhhhhh..." that he uses as filler in between pauses was what he picked up on and started using.
I hope this helps!
There are lots of ways to help out. Here's a basic way as well.
I spent some time yesterday making a sub-boss challenge for the now 12th level PCs based on a trinket one of the players wrote into their backstory at 1st level.
That's certainly not the way I handle all of my NPCs but I find that if the NPCs are ones not only based on my backstory but the backstory and vision players have for their part of the world, then role-playing them becomes much easier. Because the player already has an expectation or familiarity with them in their mind and you only have to counter play off of that. That should help unflatten your NPCs and make them more believable - basically let the players do it and then run with it.
This is the kind of stereo-typing that comes off well. If the players fully expect the captain of the guard to be steadfast and competent, you can A) follow that expectation to the letter and even caricaturize it a bit to amplify it or B) go the opposite direction and make them a bumbling oaf that got promoted to the position for X reason. Either of these make the game interesting for the players because it is either instantly believable or so different that it is fun and memorable.
I'm pretty new to running things as well, but I've done two things pretty intentionally so far. The first is that I'll create decently insular plots, and reuse a lot of NPCs, including the ones I have to make on the fly. If my players enjoy an NPC, I'll try to bring them back. Also because I know my creativity is limited, and likely to repeat, if my players like it, and I know I'm likely to just rehash them, why not have that character stick around? (I think players also tend to believe that I plot more of this through when I do that, which kind of works to my advantage.)
Secondly, and I think a lot of other people do this, is character voices. Gosh, I love character voices, and I think that a lot of players do too. Having a soft spoken motherly figure and a hilariously shrieking farmer have been high points of games. Both those characters I found to be kind of bland personality-wise, but it's kind of the the roleplaying behind them that helped bring them to life.
Oh and I also really reccomend creating people with settings when you're plotting stuff out, even if you never use them. For example, sometimes figuring out who some of the important people are to an NPC who you know is a big deal can help you get insight into that already important character, and maybe help you put them into the story on the fly if you need to. They may never come into the story, but that's still really good practice. I personally really enjoy creating families, or important social ties for NPCs because it helps them come to life for me. I hope some of this helped!
I'm a fledgling DM but the DM training me told me two things when creating NPCs.
1) Create important and story driving NPCs as well as just random NPCS just in case you need one and don't have enough time to quickly create one.
2) Don't be afraid of making up NPCs on the spot and....don't get attached to any you make.
They say that a first impression is everything and that holds true with NPC's too. Too often, I see DM's create what I call: "Furbie NPC's". These are NPC's that only become active once a player comes near them, and will probably become inert once the players leave.
Example: "You enter the tavern and walk over to the bar. 'Hello friends, what can I get you?' says the barman."
This introduction is boring, stale and there is virtually no chance the players will have an interesting conversation with him. They'll probably ask him for a room/information and be on their way.
What you want to do instead is really make their introduction strong by making the NPC seem like they have a life of their own outside of the players. An easy way to do this is by having a small "skit" when they first show up, some sort of action or scene that best portrays their dominant personality trait.
Example: "You enter the tavern and spot a man behind the bar, his back turned to you. 'I'll be with you in a second,' he says. He seems to be inspecting each glass on the shelf, holding them up to the light checking for the smallest speck of dirt or imperfection. After finally making his way to the end, he dusts his hands on his apron, satisfied, and turns to face you. 'Sorry about that friends, now what can I get you?'"
This one is much more evocative. The players already know he's a neat freak, maybe a little eccentric, but still quite friendly and open. With that information, your players have so much more to work with in how they interact with them. Maybe they compliment him on the cleanliness of his tavern to get on his good side. Maybe they try to **** with him by not using a coaster. Either way I've provided my players with a little meat to hang on to and let them build something with me.
Of course, you don't need to do this for every single NPC, it might get a little tiresome admittedly if you did it for everyone the players spoke to. But if you want an NPC to be memorable, this is definitely the first step.
You're doing a bang up job
I understand and agree with most of this post (especially the part about there being thousands of characters in books), but I don't think it's terribly helpful to a beginning DM simply needing a nudge in the right direction. I think you've offered a 7-course meal to someone who can really only take small bites until they find the methods that really work for them.
To the OP, it's easy to get overwhelmed as you build the skill sets of being a solid Dungeon Master. Lots of people have lots of opinions and are quick to render them in minute detail, making it seem like the art of DM'ing is arduous, tedious, and daunting. It doesn't have to be.
I think the key perspective for someone in your position, relatively new to the practice of running an FRPG game, is to relax a little and don't put too much pressure on yourself. It's entirely possible your NPC's aren't as flat as you feel they are. Skill development will come organically as you become more familiar with the art and flow of role-playing games. A lot of people have given excellent advice on this thread already, but it's important that you not feel the need to absorb it all right away. I'd let the information flow over you, maybe take one or two small techniques to start, then let all the ideas you've been given stew for a bit. Eventually, over the course of time, they'll gel into a DM'ing style that is uniquely you.
That said, I have a singular piece of advice regarding the development of NPC's: Don't be afraid to steal. Gather inspiration from books (fiction and RPG resource alike), movies, graphic novels, etc, and feel absolutely free to use interesting characters that other people have created in your own context. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that everything in your RPG world has to be custom built by you.
Have fun!
If anyone's looking for an interesting little book on generating unique NPC personalities, I highly recommend a look at this:
Spark - Fantasy Personas
In the interests of full disclosure, this is a product I wrote and released some time ago, but I've converted it to "Pay what you want", so you're more than welcome to download it for free if you like. It's been well reviewed as a more comprehensive deep-dive into NPC personalities than what you generally see out there.
Wow, thank you all for the help! I typically play as a PC but I am now making my first one shot and at first, I didn't know how to go about making -an- NPC(s) but you've really helped me!
External inspiration helps to give richness to your NPC’s. There are some online sources, but they tend to be too verbose. I use Rory’s Story Cubes. Grab three, roll, see where your brain takes you. This can be done ahead or at the table once you’re comfortable with it
FWIW, I think of NPC’s in terms of description, motivation, and methods. Something that speaks to the senses, what their views are or what they are trying to achieve, and the way they go about things. I have a list of these pre-prepared. I just attach a name and draw the next set from the list. The idea is to have just enough to work with to make them feel different.
random examples: