Selling Them The Farm: Growing NPC’s With Personality
Let me warn you again. This is going to be another post about tabletop rpg’s. If you want something else to read, how about the 10-year deal that Bungie and Activision just signed. Take THAT Infinity Ward! Or, the always incredible Gameplaywright take on the NEW Sam Fisher for all you Splinter Cell fans. If you like that, take a look at the Gamasutra article. We’ll be right here when you get back.
So, you’re a tabletop gamer. I’m a tabletop gamer. You run games. I run games. Call it DMing (I like that because of my awesome initials), GMing (also works with my initials), Storytelling, Refereeing, whatever. You’re the guy behind the screen (even if you don’t use a screen). No matter how often you get together for gaming, everybody pulls out their dice and character sheets and looks at you. No pressure. After all, you’ve got a great adventure planned for the session and you’re ready to rock ‘n’ roll!
Except, when they ignore your hook and do something you hadn’t planned for.
Once, the party was out in the woods, looking for the ruins of an old monastery where is was rumored that the monks had all gone crazy and turned on each other. After wandering through dense undergrowth for hours without a lead, the parts stumbles onto an old trail. Suddenly, a bent old man in tattered robes appears out of the trees some ways down that trail and begins shouting gibbering nonsense at the party before scampering off into the woods down the old trail. How did the players respond? They ignored it, and the trail, and kept moving in the same direction with a collective shrug. They eventually found the place, and realized that the trail the old man disappeared down would have led them there with much less effort. This incident led to my players joking for years that they needed the spell “Detect Plot Device.”
We’ve all had it happen. And there are a million articles out there for advice on what to do when it happens. This isn’t necessarily one of them.
Since I run mostly modern horror-themed games, when the players miss a string of clues or ignore the obvious, it runs the risk of completely destroying the atmosphere you’ve been building by increasing the dramatic tension towards an event or encounter. Sometimes the players just need a break from the tension and will send their characters out for a night on the town, go interviewing NPC’s you didn’t think of when you envisioned how they were going to find the “Cannibal Killer” or just plain do something you never expected. In many cases, these sidetracks involve NPC’s. Whether it means interviewing the guy at the Oriental Market on 5th Street, hiding out in a crowd of revelers at a Cinco de Mayo fiesta, or hanging out in the club where the killer stalks his/her/its victims, you may very quickly find yourself in serious need of some generic NPC’s. In case your game of choice uses different terminology, here I use the term NPC to mean “non-player character” or a character that you, as gamemaster (again, an arbitrary term), control.
Personally, I like all of my NPC’s to have personality. I don’t like the party wandering through a scene filled with cardboard cut-out throwaways. Sometimes, I introduce an NPC on the fly that I think I’ll never use again, and the party likes him, or keeps going back to him for information, or just enjoys torturing the shit out of the guy for some perverse reason.
Over the years, I’ve come up with a system of organization… actually, system is FAR too generous a term for what this is. This is more like… a mnemonic NPC’s for dummies device that still helps me to categorize my NPC’s and select the right type of personality out of my head for a given situation. I like to call it:
Let’s talk about farm animals. No, not in THAT way, you sick bastard! I’m talking about taking some cues from George Orwell and thinking of NPC’s as farm animals. If we classify some basic NPC types into farm animal categories, it helps us pull up the right personality when the need arises. Yes, there are a ton of stereotypes here, but my NPC’s have never organized a protest or uprising about it. Here are some of the NPC animals on my farm:
- Cows: Correctly or not, we often see cows as dumb, slow creatures. The Cow NPC may not be dumb at all, but he/she is deliberate. The Cow NPC is a thinker who takes time to make decisions and often can, through inactivity, stand in the way of the players when decisive action is needed. An example of the Cow NPC is the small-town bureaucrat who has to consider how he will look to his voters before cooperating, or even hindering the party; in a crowd scene, the Cow NPC may be rooted to the spot by indecision on whether to run, hide, fight, or shit her pants. That latter may happen no matter what, but the Cow NPC may have to be rescued (or not) by the players as she just stands there, despite any apparent danger. She may even be clueless as to the existence of said danger. Alternatively, Cow NPC’s may also be the oblivious fans at a concert who don’t know enough to get out of the party’s way when they are chasing the villain or his henchmen through the club. They may also object to being violently shoved out of the way by the party and resolutely stand their ground, ignoring prudence or common sense.
- Bulls: Bull NPC’s often charge through their scenes with little or no seeming regard to the consequences. This may or may not be stupidity. It may just be that taking the direct approach is the only way the Bull NPC knows how to handle himself. Quite the opposite of Cows, Bulls waste no time making decisions, often making them before they have all the facts about a given situation. A Bull NPC may think nothing about making unfounded accusations against the party (“Them Zombies didn’t start showin’ up until you folks came around!”) or rushing off to deal with something that is totally out of his league. Another example of a Bull NPC could be the business magnate who attempts to run the Villain’s upstart company out of business, without bothering to learn that in every town t which the company has expanded, people who’ve tried that have gone missing. In a crowd scene, the overconfident Bull is likely to charge the villain, causing the party to have to consider the option of saving him, or the Bull may try to organize the crowd to mount an impromptu defense. Which leads to:
- Sheep: Sheep NPC’s are characters that follow directions without question, often en masse. The starry-eyed teenaged groupies that practically worship the villainous lead singer of a Vampiric band are an example of Sheep NPC’s. Congregants who blindly adhere to the tenets of of a cult despite the disappearances of their friends and family members are Sheep NPC’s. On the other hand, a group of thugs who will do anything their gang leader says to avoid looking weak, or an elite fighting unit who believe they are doing the right thing by enforcing all of their tyrannical commander’s draconian laws are also Sheep NPC’s. Also, Sheep don’t have to be found in groups. Sheep make great Vampiric thralls. A lone sheep could attempt to seduce or murder a party member at the behest of her master. In a crowd scene, the Sheep NPC’s are either obediently doing whatever the most charismatic and in-control character tells them, or are fleeing en masse towards the most obvious exit or point of safety. In such scenes, a large group of Sheep NPC’s can serve to block an escape route or obscure lines of fire. Or they could just make the possibility of civilian casualties go through the roof. Which brings us to:
- Lambs: It’s an old cliche, but “like lambs to the slaughter” is a universal phrase. Sometimes it might be necessary to turn Sheep NPC’s into Lambs. That group running for the exit? They just happen to be right in front of it when the grenade meant for the party rolls through that door. A potential Lamb NPC might also be alone. He may be that small child that that will die if the party chases down the villain instead of pulling him off the edge of the cliff. Generally, I look at any NPC that exists only to die (or potentially die) a horrible death, or even suffer grievous injury in service of the story. They work even better if you let players get comfortable, or better yet, emotionally close to them. Let a character start dating Lamb NPC, or the mother of a Lamb.
- Chickens: Chicken NPC’s are scared of their shadows, or even overly pessimistic. ”There is never any hope” (Chicken Littles) or “We must abandon the town tonight” (Boneless Chickens) are statements made by Chicken NPC’s. An example of a Chicken NPC is the town elder who secretly sells out the party to their enemies in exchange for him agreeing to leave the town alone. In crowd scenes, Chicken NPC’s can be like Sheep NPC’s but instead of having a sort of group mind, they scatter in all directions at once, seriously disrupting lines of fire and escape routes. Chickens may cling to party members and beg to be saved, hanging on to them for dear life and restricting their movement.
- Hens: Not really related to Chickens, Hen NPC’s are the town gossips and rumormongers. Hens are great sources of information for the party, but are just as likely to spread information back to their arch-nemesis just because they can’t resist sharing a juicy piece of gossip… and maybe sowing a little creative discord.
- Roosters: Again, not related to Chicken NPC’s, Roosters are the dominant alphas in the NPC community. A Rooster NPC may take control of a group of Sheep and create all kinds of havoc, sometimes causing the players to think that the Rooster is really the Villain, when he may just be a misguided high school quarterback encouraging his entourage to slip laxatives into the school milk supply just to have a little fun. The local television newscaster can be a good example of a Rooster NPC. The townsfolk respect him and will listen to him in a crisis situation, if only the party can convince him to broadcast the right news.
- Chicks: I know. This one is horribly sexist, but if it makes you feel any better, Chick NPC’s can be male as well. The Chick NPC is there are eye candy, or a potential dating pool, possibly to be later turned into a Lamb. These NPC’s can turn into an interesting distraction, or lead the party to other NPC’s or hooks. Think of the typical beautiful Chick that always seems to walk into the private dick’s office with a problem in all those noir stories. In a crowd scene, the Chick could be the hometown hero (former football star turned war hero turned local boy who made good) that the party convinces to calm the Sheep before tragedy strikes. Chicks can be self-sufficient like the prior example, or helpless potential Lambs. Whatever it is, there is something about the Chick that the party finds irresistible. They just feel compelled to love and/or protect the Chick. Cute kids can also be used as Chick NPC’s. Kids say the damnedest things and the Chick could be that adorable and informative NPC that the party just wants to protect, and pinch his cheeks.
- Pigs: I hate to upset the pork farmers, but when I say Pig NPC’s I mean NPC’s with less than stellar ulterior motives. The Pig NPC may be a corrupt mayor who is willing to sell out his constituency to allow the Villain to run a highway right through the middle of town, in exchange for some compensation or course. The Pig NPC almost always is more than just misguided. He is filled with questionable morals and shady ideas. In a crowd scene, the Pig NPC wants to do whatever it takes to ensure his personal safety or benefit, no matter what happens to everybody else. He may take control of the Sheep and use them as human shields, or at least hide among them to make sure that he gets on the first lifeboat.
- Donkeys/Jackasses: The Donkey NPC, or Jackass if you prefer, just seems to act out of spite, usually towards the party. This NPC just seems to have some kind of vendetta out for the party, a chip on his shoulder, or some grudge. He isn’t the villain, just a minor (or possibly major) annoyance, that seems to show up at disadvantageous times for the party. He takes offense when the party phrases a question the wrong way during an investigation. The NPC that one of the characters is dating may be the ex-boyfriend of a Jackass NPC. She may later show up to embarrass this character publicly, or pay a Sheep NPC to slash her tires. The stubborn Jackass NPC may show up in a crowd scene with a group of Sheep and try to prevent the party from escaping, possibly turning into a potential Lamb NPC when the Super Villain shows up and the Jackass is trapped between the party and their nemesis. Will the party save this annoying NPC or let her death buy them some time to escape.
- Goats: Goats are the downtrodden of the NPC world. Often misunderstood or misrepresented, Goat NPC’s always seem to be taking the blame when something goes wrong, or taking the fall when an unthinking Bull, a careless Rooster, or spiteful Jackass needs someone to go down in his place. Goat NPC’s can be lovable losers, or they can bring all their misery on themselves and deserve everything they get. An example of a Goat NPC is the town drunk who gets hauled in as a precaution anytime the local sheriff even smells a misdemeanor. Another Goat may be the spooky old man who lives in the creepy house on top of the hill. The local kids are always telling stories about how he cooked and ate his family, but they were really all killed by the game’s Villain, even though nobody believes him. In a crowd scene, the Goat may end up being used as a human shield by the Jackass who was is now trapped between the Villain and the party.
- Horses: These reliable NPC’s are the ones the players will end up turning to time and time again to help them when the chips are down. These Horse NPC’s often help pull the story along, sometimes dragging the party forward by providing clues, information, resources, etc. These horses are often likable (to get the players to remember them and want to go back to them), but can be snarky and have a superiority complex (“Don’t yell at me, Wilbur. I’m not your wife.” – Mr. Ed), but have something that the party needs or wants that keep them coming back for more. Horses are usually reliable and some can be used to assist the party, even in a fight. These horses can be useful allies in crowd scenes, such as the likable grocery store manager the players enlist to help them lead the Sheep to safety before the villain arrives.
