The 7 NPCs You Will Only Ever Need - GM Tips

guan blacksmith all my life i'll make stuff my name is guerrilla thistle a healer herbalist and friends to animals why not they need friends too i have no time for nonsense be gone before i call the guards oh hey it's you i mean i'm i'm not i'm not your number one fan i can't believe it it's you wow oh brilliant wonderful yes yes we all need npcs we need them now and so here is how hello and welcome to this episode of how to be a great gm my name is guy and we're looking at the only npcs the only npcs you'll nev you'll ever need to make you'll never need to make mpg no you always need to make npcs and this is how you're going to do it so this is of course i mean it's a complete fallacy and it's a truth at the same time i mean it's a paradox of creativity really you need them but you don't need them but anyway i i'll i'll get more into that in a little bit now this video assumes two things one not all npcs are needed to be actually npcs and two those that are needed to be npcs should then be useful to both the player and the gm because npcs are actually of you the gm they are the metagame master stroke and as a creative spark well they should be the creative spot that kind of really pushes your game upwards into the realm of greatness so so that's where we're starting from those two points but it's the 1930s it's grim it's punk it's a fight to keep your sanity as you struggle against the evils of a uniquely dark world their kickstarter launched yesterday their beautiful dice involved people beautiful dice beautiful books this is our quran more at the end of the video npcs are often overlooked as one of the critical aspects of the game and as far as i look at it you go you've got npcs you've got monsters you've got rules you have plot and you have organization those are the five cornerstones of being a gm as far as i'm concerned they really are so i mean yes you could run a game without monsters uh sure but in that context then the monsters are just antagonistic forces they're things that fight against the pcs so it's just easier to call the monsters right now what are npcs then effectively now i i called them at the beginning of the video the metagame mouthpieces the master stroke they really are i mean they they are the they're the lifeblood that's going to bring your world together you have fantastic descriptions i mean dungeon crawls can be brilliant but without a few npcs they also start becoming very much the same after a while so exploring the idea of how npcs should work and what the different types of npcs are is really important but before we get to the seven npcs are you ever gonna need let's let's discuss npcs a little bit more so they're the metagame mouthpiece because the pla the players have no idea who the npc is or what information the npc might have right i mean there's an expectation absolutely an illiterate slave a slave for example is never going to know the ancient mathematical formula to the dragon's riddle right the dwarven blacksmith isn't likely to know much about elvish cooking methods from 3000 years ago that's the expectation however because you're a great gm you could make it work i mean you you could make it work but generally the pcs won't expect it and if this channel has taught you anything it's that we give our players what they expect but in different ways okay so just because one npc doesn't know something another one might so for example the blacksmith the the dwarvish blacksmith who knows nothing about elvish cooking his sister might be a chef who specializes in elvish cooking the slave is mute and can't speak they're illiterate but they can't speak they're they're mute but they could be covered in like a rosetta stone of text tattoos you know tattoos all over the place so the pieces can read that actually do have the ancient riddle tattooed upon them anyway i mean that's not the point the idea is is that npcs can give information to the pcs in a whole bunch of different ways but they can give a whole bunch of different types of information they can give information that the pcs missed earlier that they glossed over um it could be you know it could be stuff to help the players run a better game that's why it's metagame right so as long as it's plausible as long as there's some kind of link then it makes it feel more interesting it makes it feel real so in script writing we actually call this a convenient history so six years ago i was a guard at the base and learned all the access codes but now i'm just a humble fisherman it's that kind of stuff i mean it's really boring if you do this all the time if every npc has got a history that suddenly gives them the clue for today's you know adventure that's that sloppy sloppy sloppy writing sloppy jamming um and you'll see some tv series they use it all the time watch out for it i promise you it's there so pcs can dispute the history of an npc i mean it well they can't really i mean it is what it is if he was the god he was the god the other side of the coin is that npcs will make your campaign feel real because they have all this kind of history that you're making up to give all of this information but you don't need to use all the npcs in the world you don't have to get i mean it's about making sure that the npcs that you are using you're using them properly um and and we want to make sure that the npcs are doing a job or fulfilling a function so we can do this over time no one spills their entire life story in a single setting and you know in a single sitting i mean npcs take time and you can explore their past as they interact with the pcs and you can grow with them however what must be established immediately when pcs meet an npc is this this is this is the fundamental every npc should have a purpose now there are precious few people on this planet who do not have something that needs to be done it could be as mundane as uh i need to sit in the park building up courage to jump off a bridge oh that went dark um it could be i need to go shopping before it rains it could be i need to take over the world or to break you know or to take a break from a a parent who's who's dying and the bedside is is miserable wow i was in such a good mood anyway whatever the purpose there must be one and the purpose doesn't need to be overriding i mean the npc might be pleased to talk to someone it takes them away from thinking about their their dying parent apparently um i mean it could be that their purpose is critical in which case then they don't want to talk about it oh i've got to get there before the sixth spell and you know it's gonna strike any moment so so leave me alone so if you mix that up you suddenly have a whole bunch of of npcs that have got they've got a purpose they're going in certain directions they're going in different directions plus they have the ability to tell the players all kinds of information we just have to be careful about how we do it and this sort of brings your world to life okay so just before i get to the seven npcs that you'll only ever need to worry about there are some npcs that shouldn't be npcs these are usually the guards the shopkeepers the wagon drivers the people whom the pcs are going to interact with once or twice but with no real intent of finding out more now i i think i mean yes technically these are npcs but they're not npcs i feel are the special characters who have meaningful contributions to make to the pcs and to the players so a word of warning the players are going to find npcs that you dismiss as they're just there right they're going to find them and they're going to attach value to them and they're going to choose them to be amen a meaningful npc don't fight it don't don't say oh no they wonder let it happen i mean they they're engaging with your world that's what you want so adapt the pc into one of the seven that we're gonna talk about and and then you're gonna be golden so i think that's very excuse me that's very very important to to bear in mind okay so the seven npcs that you will need you need a guide now this npc will take the party from point a to point b a c captain an undead gondolier a librarian who knows his books and shows pcs things that they they never knew a fortune teller all of these npcs uh will will will do things that the pcs cannot do for themselves okay so so um they'll have insight about the sea that they're traveling on they'll have insight about the path about the dangers up ahead um the the the guide npcs are really useful in terms of moving the party forward in an easy way okay so that we know what's coming up establishing threats and tension for the area oh we must be careful oh there are undead drop bears around and then for speeding up a mundane journey because now the pcs are likely to make survival checks and rolls and all that kind of stuff because you've got the guide who's doing that now once the guide has reached the end of the journey they must then transform into a long-term npc um and and we'll get to what that is in a little bit so either they transform or they leave the party to seek their own adventure so if we look at the lord of the rings gollum was the guide gollum showed frodo and sam how to get from point a to point b that was his function the next type is the advancement npc now they are not a guide at all the advancement npc drives the plot forward and puts the pcs back on track corrects clues that they might have missed or helps pcs interpret the wrong details sometimes it's a straight-up solution and sometimes it's a hint in the right direction now there must be a cost so it i mean the cost could be friendship it could be coin um so [Music] it is about fulfilling that function now what that means is is that it should be used um as a short process don't invest too much time in this npc you must give the pc's info lead into it and then just be done as quick as possible it's like the king who says go to the mountains of the west and slay a dragon that's an advancement in pc i mean just like a jester who tells the pc secretly that the dragon dances for a royal song so so they're advancing the plot they're sort of building up to that so use advancement npcs to give out platform information to refocus the pcs on their task and to give out additional plot information so gandalf was an advancement npc he drove the plot forward in the lord of the rings he was like yo go debris and fly you fool you know he was he was driving he was giving them all the stuff that they needed in order to actually go on their on their adventure another one and this is specifically for someone who reached out to me on twitter is the rival npc now these npcs uh they compete with the pcs but they're not villains or henchmen or nemesis they're not bad people necessarily they just rival to the party or to one of the heroes uh they're the folks who push the pcs to be better they could even be part of the pt's pc's entourage pt pc's entourage it could be helpful they could be friendly but better i mean they're the motivator in the group or um and and and um they drive the group to fight better so boromir for example in the lord of the rings he did that he was a rival he pointed out the flaws and the pc's thinking um he he was a sounding board you know that's what these guys are doing and then there's a friendly rivalry it's like i've killed 20 ox how many of you killed oh because you're fighting wrong use your weapons like this that's metagame but you see the picture do you see the picture the mentor npc this npc is needed as your meta game voice so unlike the guide who has local knowledge for the journey ahead or the advancement npc who's kind of pointing out the way going well this is the plot go there the mentor npc is the one who's giving guidance on how to do stuff so they don't know the answer they don't know the answer that's important but they provide insight in one form or another i mean they are your voice your your this is the gm speaking basically uh they're a useful example if the party keeps failing combat because they don't work together you could have an a a mentor npc saying euler cohesion only when the stones fall together does it become an avalanche that sort of stuff right i mean it's crazy world building stuff it's super cool but it's educating the pcs and the players at the same time so it's it's really useful for that so you use your np your mentor npcs to give insight into how things should be done or potentially could be done to guide the players into thinking or behaving differently with their pcs to guide the players right into into dealing with their pcs in a different way the mentor should never have the solution to a problem or riddle that's not their job it's like oh no no no no but seek and you will find that's kind of anyway their job is to psychologically assist the pcs and the players towards finding their own solution now thinking of my lord of the rings analogies and and that sort of thing um there were many many in individuals in that kind of space there were you know their own sort of mentors and teachers gandalf wasn't a mentor he didn't really advise he kind of told them what to do so that's why he's an advancement um npc um depending on your perspective of course all right the next one the long-term npc often overlooked i mean this is the npc whom the party will love because they embody so many different things they could have started out as any of the other npc types they could have been a guide or a mentor but they've never left the party they evolved into this long-term role now i would advise never having more than three long-term npcs in the parties space at at any one time they need to have complex backgrounds they need to have solid emotional responses and they must invest in the pcs they could have you know there could be they could be lovers they could be husbands there could be wives there could be friends that are just there to support them to support the players to support the party and to just push it all um i mean it's the emotional reactions and bonds with the pcs it makes the world setting seem that much more alive and and cared for and and real because the npcs are there to simulate real emotions in a fictitious game uh sam gamgee is a long-term npc in the lord of the rings he had hopes and he had dreams and he was there until the very very end uh he never ever overshadowed the hero he never overshadowed frodo but he made sure that frodo could be the hero that he needed to be he made sure that that was that was what sort of happened so that's the long term npc now the next one is the tricky one it's the support npc now this npc doesn't add to the plot they can't guide they can't give good advice um but they do menial tasks that makes the lives easier of the pcs from a diminished edit from an administrative perspective so they sharpen weapons they repair armor they pack baskets of food rations and fresh wine these are the folk in the world that just like to help others and again that just helps make it real so use support npcs to speed up your game by removing mundane tasks oh i've already been to the market master and i've repaired all of your armor and i bought all your spell components for you make the player aware that these tasks are being done um and would have to be done if the npc wasn't there so elrond is a support npc in the lord of the rings it's like yes come to my house stay sleep drink eat birds fine uh need a sword sure i'll reforge that broken one need sanctuary need new clothes el ronda's here because el round is great uh anyway the last type the last time i think it's the last type the comic reflection npc so someone who's funny who's jovial who's super enthusiastic but is perhaps also a little bit too head-strong and comes up with bad ideas uh kind of channel leroy jenkins really it's the murder hobo mindset so you're using these as a mirror for the party so that they kind of go no that's a dumb idea and the npc's going well storming the castle from the front seems to make the most obvious sense i mean that's where the doors are right so you're using this npc to provide some fun elements absolutely nothing no one it's great to laugh but you're also using it to show the pcs the wrong way to do stuff mary and pippen were exactly these characters from the lord of the rings it's like this is what happens if you don't take things seriously and then this is how you grow you know they provided the light the light stuff they reflected the goodness of the characters and reminded them about that sort of thing but they did grow and they did evolve and eventually became long-term npcs but that's initially what they were for so those are the seven archetypes that exist and and they help make our stories better they really do and they help us to help our players learn how to not play better but how to work together better and get rid of their frustrations and that sort of thing so generally speaking i will give my npcs a role when the players start to interact with them i won't give them all that history and all that kind of stuff i don't need that just yet because you never know if it's going to be an npc or which is going to be a a guard so you want to then have that ability to be flexible and and to move around and and and that sort of thing so um and that allows for what happens when the pcs latch on to an npc that you had you had not given any thought to you you kind of like uh oh you really like that person okay cool well actually i need the party to work better together so that person although they're a downtrodden dog they might have been a super general in the past and so now that's what they they're going to give advice in the form of dreams of how the pieces should work together that now become a mentor right so it gives you that really that that strength of of of doing that and then driving that forward um and so i call npcs who i don't need for a long time npcs that are momentary that are brief i don't bother about them they don't need all of that background stuff so don't get bogged down and trying to figure that out npcs that are going to last for a long time or a longish time those are the ones that you need to put your energy into um and i think that's that's really something that we must be very aware of is where do we put our energy anyway it's been a long one so i'm going to shut up now um those the dynamics of npcs in my game those are the any npcs i ever worry about creating did i miss any out i don't think so if i did you know agree with me disagree with me whatever you do hit that subscribe button uh and leave your comment down below why hit the subscribe button uh because you can and it's free and you know just touch it dark world studios was our sponsor today and they just launched a kickstarter for a new d20 based ttrpg set in their own world but kind of correlating to the 1930s of earth yeah 1920s 1930s of earth it's a dark setting and the rules make sure to keep it that way they've got some lovely little rules in there the combat it's bloody it's violent it's deadly i was reading it's going what okay cool they've brought insanity points to track how far your character's gone uh down the dark path as it were uh lots of stuff really cool ideas cool features uh you'll know how to play this tt rpg by the way because it uses the d20 system and that means that all of that that learning curve is just gone and you can just get into the setting and just i mean it's awesome anyway it's called archeron it's on kickstarter now links are down below show them some love and get ready for all that jazz although that was the 1920s well close enough anyway i mean well it's just going to be a blast go out there and shoot them or avoid them or watch out for the tentacles anyway it's a really great kickstarter i do do thoroughly suggest you go and check it out and whatever 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Channel: How to be a Great GM

Views: 194,778

Keywords: creating the campaign, campaign creator, how to be a great game master, how to gm, great gm, campaign creation, dnd campaign, dnd campaign design, dnd campaign ideas, rpg campaign design, rpg campaign ideas, rpg campaign, role playing campaign, campaign design, fantasy campaign, game master guide, dungeon master guide, gm tips, dm tips, epic guide to creating campaigns

Id: PDwOlY4ot8s

Length: 20min 41sec (1241 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 02 2020