Great GM: Creating EPIC NPC Dialogue on the fly for Tabletop RPG games - Game Master Tips #GMTips

[Music] hello and welcome to today's episode on how to be a great GM today we're looking at NPC dialogue and how to do it really a lot of people I have heard of will actually write down important speeches that their NPCs need to make and get flumix when the characters start talking to random NPCs and asking them random questions how do you come up with great dialogue that doesn't feel like you're making it up as you go along well as I've said in many videos before imagination the key to how to do it on the Fly comes from four integral Parts one of those is research personal experience is another one of course random Association is a third and then the final very small component is actual inspiration that magic spark that brings all three of those other things together and it is our imagination that you will see will help us create NPC dialogue like you cannot believe how do we start well we start at the very beginning as Maria vont trp said we start with the NPC requiring a goal now a goal is is not nearly as major as they want to take over the universe or maybe it is it could simply be as easy as well I want to go from my house to that person's house because they've got coffee going and I've run out of milk that's a very valid goal and if you use all of your powers of imagination can become part of a 4-Hour dialogue that the NPC will happily engage with the characters on about the important of good neighborliness coffee the way that the door never opens properly and always sticks and how that person who owns that little property really should get it fixed but since her husband died well she's kind of been letting the place go which is not surprising considering who she's been hanging out with after all those kind of people certainly don't seem to be the right type and they definitely don't have any carpentry skills that whole line of dialogue came out of the character having a goal to go and get coffee and of course then us as signing why would the character have difficulty getting that coffee well because the door squeaks and maybe because they don't want to hang out with the person who lives in the house or maybe it's the person that has visitors and the visitors are the thing that this particular character doesn't like so we look at the goal of a character and every character will have a goal and some of it might be very mundane some of it might be extraordinary but UL ultimately the PCS are a stranger and when a stranger meets you you often have a goal and usually that goal is to get away from the strange people who've just walked up to you as far and as safely as possible and that's a perfectly valid goal too so once you've established a goal for your character you can then look into now making the dialogue fit better so the dialogue is going to be motivated by your own experience what would you you say if someone asked you what are you doing the first reaction I might say is well who the hell are you and why should I talk to you anyway if they come up and they're nice and friendly and approachable well my goal could range from wanting to try and sleep with one of them perhaps to perhaps trying to get some money out of them but we're jumping ahead let's pull it back a bit so we want our dialogue to be original we want our dialogue to feel as if each character has been molded and crafted in your world to be the ultimate expression of that particular character even though they're an NPC that the characters have randomly interacted with we look at the backstory or the education of that character is it some kind of lowly peasant or is it a Highborn is it a Starship captain or is it simply a techie who runs the oxygen tanks in outer hanger Bay 4B why is this important well it's important because it allows us to mold our dialogue based on our experience of people with that education level based on our research having watched movies and read books on how those kind of people speak and we can then either tone it down or we can ratchet it up now if you are not a very lacious individual and your diction is somewhat lacking well you might find it difficult to play a very iodite character who's got a lot of high Born High futin educated reading which allows him to understand all them big words isn't it the point is by simply changing the words that you use you're creating dialogue for characters that is really remarkable if they come across a king who goes you will all bow before me I am as I grandness the king and I'd like you all to get on your knees and do the little Bowie thing that's a very different type of dialogue to a King who says I am your Sovereign Lord and Monarch I expect you to bow when in my August presence it's exactly the same piece of information bow in front of this High knob but it's delivered in a very different way so that depends on the education of the character and you don't have to create Reams and Reams and reams of History oh he was educated from the age of five by his mother and then then he moved to the city and he was educated no no no no no just pick a high a level low Middle High and run with that because this is a random encounter with an NPC after all isn't it then you need to look at their origin what are they where do they come from are they Elvish are they dwarvish are they Kling on are they marari zombie perhaps are they a thief because thieves might talk in a different way are they druid is their history that they spend lots of time with plants and trees and wildlife in which case they might be more visually descriptive than linguistically adaptive how's that for some high jumping high words the point I'm trying to make is that if you can create a character based on the species for example perhaps dwarves in your world don't owledge the existence of females so then there are no female uh adjectives or pronouns there's nothing feminine about the dialogue whatsoever perhaps that's how to do dwarvish dialogue Perhaps it is a Vulcan in which case you must attempt to remove all emotion from your voice because emotion is illogical and should impart no additional meaning other than the words used any kind of emotional indicative within the sentence structure may be lost on other species and would therefore be illogical however ever you choose to do it once you've decided on the language and the origin of your character and whether they are someone who's experienced with thievery or who's a druid or who's a wizard or who's a scientist once you've built that sort of image in your head you can then go on to the NPC's disposition now the disposition is basically are they friendly towards the the the PCS are they indifferent towards the PCS or are they against the PCS most of the time your NPC most of the time your NPCs should be indifferent if they're friendly towards the PCS the PCS should be suspicious unless they've done something to Warrant such friendliness of course if they hostile the dialogue that they will be delivering is more along the lines of something that is threatening and provocative rather than something that is helpful once you've got that you then add into the mix the person ity of the NPC because although I might be indifferent to you if I'm a bubbly person and I really well I don't know who you are and I'm not entirely sure that I'm going to help you but wow isn't it a wonderful day I really really am enjoying today now you said you wanted something I don't have a lot of time so let me know what it is and come and find me I'll be over there at my friend's place having coffee unless of course they've invited around those gosh dagn people or perhaps they're depressed and morose in which case they may not be as exuberant as our happy person maybe they're angry but they're not necessarily angry at the NPCs they're angry at the tax collectors because they always arrive and they always take out tax now what did you want Oh perhaps they're defensive I I don't know what you're talking about I didn't do it what what are you what are you accusing I if you're accusing me um I didn't do it perhaps they're overly aggressive yes what do you want speak quickly or I'm out of here now tell me what you want it's not angry it's just aggressive there are a whole lot of other options they could be scared they could be excited they could be closed um it's entirely up to you to decide on this particular NPC and it's always by NPC by NPC basis next question to ask and yes there are a few questions that we are asking but this next question is very important and again relies on you as the as the game master as the creative to draw on your imagination and if the characters walk up to let's say a techie who's working in a hangar Bay and ask him a question all of this must be answered almost instantaneously in your head but what would a techie be doing just before the NPC the PC sorry approached the character what was he doing what was his goal and then you need to work out well now that they've been interrupted by the PCS what then is their goal so if it is the techie maybe he was running a diagnostic on the landing gear of a particular spacecraft he gets interrupted what is his goal well his goal is to maybe get rid of them as fast as he can so he can go back to repairing that uh or running that diagnostic on the wheels because later on he's meeting his buddies down in the bar for a game of domum jot and that's really what he wants to do and I'm going to tell you why all of this is important in a little bit so now we know what he was doing beforehand now he knows what he's going to be doing afterwards we then have one final question to ask and that question is what is the role of the NPC what are you going to use them as because any encounter with an NPC even if it is the characters going oh yeah we're talking to the all right good I turn and talk to the bid or the serving maid or the slave you hadn't planned on them talking to the slave but every single NPC needs to have a function are they going to be a guide are they going to just provide information are they going to become an enemy are they going to try and hinder the party are they just filler are they perhaps going to try and help the party and this is up to you to decide on the ramifications of any of these particular choices but if we look at a filler then it is an NPC who is going to give the characters absolutely zero information about their actual question and so much information about other stuff that what you might find is that your filler becomes the lead into the next adventure much much later on if we go back to the analogy of this lady who likes to visit her friend for coffee well perhaps after the PCS have completed the quest that they're on they come back and they say well why does she always have coffee and you don't is there a coffee Supply shortage and if so is there someone who's attacking the coffee con are the ships being sunk from South America before they can get here and off you go on another adventure it looks like you're a genius p uh GM who's created this amazing little plot hook months in advance of the actual plot itself meanwhile you were just filling time if the PCS want to talk to every single character in The Village because they like to play MMOs where you have to talk to everybody in the village you can just use them as fillers but don't underestimate the power of using them as a hindrance as a delaying tactic to allow your grand villain to accomplish something it will teach them to expedite their conversations with NPCs on the other hand maybe they are just giving out information it's a town guard who talks about the execution that's happening later but does he really care No all he cares about is when does he get off of Duty because his bride to be is waiting out by a tower just out outside of town and that's really where he wants to go or perhaps it is a judge who has a 100 cases to get through and so he is simply going to guide the characters well I'm terribly sorry but you don't have the correct documentation why don't you go and speak to the uh Court Clerk and see if they can get you the necessary permits that you need in order to bash down a door next case please in other words linking all of this information together their function their activities before and after the conversation their personality their disposition their origin the type of language that they use their education and giving them a goal will really allow you just to channel a character just have in mind all of those things and suddenly NPC dialogue really shouldn't be that hard put yourself in their shoes with that goal and then limit yourself according to those values shape it according to those values and always make sure that when a PC walks away they know exactly what was going on with that NPC's life the more that the PCS can feel that every single NPC's got a role in this world and has dreams and desires the realer it will feel and that means that almost any dialogue that you spew out of your mouth will be taken as real a few more examples let's run through the list very quickly so you get a sense of maybe how to do it we're going to have a female character our female character's goal is she is the captain of a Starship and she happens to be on Shor leavea because her Starship is damaged and she's waiting for it to be repaired she is uh fairly well educated but not overly so her origin is that she is from a Backwater planet where they frowned upon Nobles because they gave on orders on on high and her disposition is let's say somewhat opportunistic she wants to get an advantage out of every situation she is however fairly closed she won't reveal too much information about herself because well information is money and uh she wants to try and get as much of that as she can because she's got to pay for her ship to be repaired finally what was she doing before she was enjoying a quiet drink musing over how expensive alcohol has got since the last time she was in this port what's she going to do straight after the convers with the PCS she's going to try and raise some money to pay for the repairs she might go and look for her first mate however money is the major thing on her mind and we decide that she is going to act as a let's say she's going to act as a guide for The Players so we have a closed guide for The Players very very simple so the players say hi we're looking for a job well aren't we all looking for a job honey Cash Ain't flowing freely you know what I'm saying the PCS then might say well um do you know of any jobs if I knew of any jobs I'd certainly take them well that is of course if you're talking about legitimate jobs there's all kind of shady dealings going on but for that You' need to speak to Old Spike just thrown in the fact that she is not an evil enemy character she is fairly trustworthy she has information which they could get and money money money money money money money the PCS might then say well do you like The Color Purple what kind of question is that who likes the color purple ain't that the color for sexual repression or whatever it is that big fancy word I have no idea and you are wasting my time quite frankly Because unless you got a buckle load of credits that you're willing to give me for oh I don't know nothing you can Mosey on over I don't need you again money money money money money a little bit of example that she's not interested in big fancy words leaving it up to the players you mentioned uh was it Spike that we'd have to talk to about getting a job well sure you need to speak to spike he runs all of the illegal activities on this station but I wouldn't go near him he is dangerous and will double cross you in in a heartbeat Don't Go Near him that's my advice yes well he's obviously dangerous but so are we um can you tell us where spike is well everybody knows where spike is but no one going to tell you how to get to spike that's for certain that information is valuable classified information you're not going to get that easily I do know it though give me money I'll give you the information if she wasn't interested in money perhaps she was interested in Prestige instead of giving that last little speech she could say well you reckon you're fairly good Fighters you you you know how to sling a gun you know how to fight with a knife PCS might answer to the affirmative in which case then I might just take you to spike if we make a little deal how about I represent you I'll take you through there and show you around get you into the arena fights you win let's say we'll split it 8020 to me and uh you get to be known as deor crew again she's being helpful she's being close she's not telling too much information about herself although she has given away her name now um you get the point the idea is to give them a goal and try and get that goal out of the PCS if the PCS can give it if they can't give it then quite frankly it's about telling the PCS that unless they want something or have something to give the the NPC they really don't have the time for it which is what most people would respond to I hope that this has been helpful in some small way of allowing you to realize that you really do have the power to create amazing Dialogue on the fly if you just start to get into your head certain routine questions that you are asking every single time your players are doing something in your world and ultimately it really does boil down to having lots of little micro stories of somebody want something badly and is having difficulty getting it and that means every little NPC becomes an amazing opportunity for you to add in stories that just go wild and take your adventure in a totally new way and of course always drive your dialogue based on the goal of the character plus all of the other things that I've spoken about hit that like button hit that subscribe button and of course leave your comments tell me how do you generate NPC Dialogue on the Fly do you have a process like I do do you have this list in the back of your mind that you're filling in every single time the players are asking a question and let me just say quickly I know I finished off but this is for bonus for you who watch right through to the end if the characters turn around and ask an NPC a question you don't have to have all of these answers at the first line of dialogue the first line of dialogue could be who are you and whilst they start answering you start to populate the list but even continuing you don't have to have all of this answered right before the first line of dialogue is spoken that's going to slow your game down you're making this stop on the fly a nice easy little trick to do is to get the PC or the NPC to do or ask a question that will cause the party to fight amongst themselves at least temporarily while they try and answer something or they try and come up with some kind of solution um anything along those lines just to buy yourself some time to just quickly in the back of your head create this NPC story there is something else that's coming up I have been told that maybe it's time to look at patreon um as you can see we love making these videos and we love the conversations but with a little bit of help from you guys outside of just being awesome and sharing on this channel and chatting there is a page that's being made and it's going to launch on the 1st of October all things being equal until then Happy gaming [Music]

Channel: How to be a Great GM

Views: 270,783

Keywords: Roleplaying, Geek, Nerd, Tabletop Roleplaying, GM, How to GM, Roleplaying demo, Roleplayers, How to be a great game master, Game Master, Great Game Mastering, How to, How to be a great dungeon master, TTRPG, DM Tips, Dungeon Master, RPG, Game Master Tips, Dungeon Master Tips, GMing, Tips, DMing Tips, NPC Dialogue, Great Game Master, Great Game Master Tips, Non Player Characters, NPC, Creating Dialogue for characters

Id: C1SfZ2Fp_BQ

Length: 22min 29sec (1349 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 07 2016