Is there a website out there that has a large list of motivations/personal events you can use for recurring/semi-major NPCs? I don't mean stuff like in the DMG where it assigns traits like 'smells bad' or 'laughs constantly', I mean stuff more like 'had aspirations of becoming a mercenary when younger but couldn't cut it, has lingering feelings of bitterness' or 'decided to take up magic when they were middle-aged and had a mishap, blowing up part of their leg; is undeterred by the incident and still practices haphazardly'.
And if there isn't, I think that we should make one.
A list of detailed NPC traits.
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Lago PARANOIA
- Invincible Overlord
- Posts: 10555
- Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:00 am
A list of detailed NPC traits.
Last edited by Lago PARANOIA on Sun Jul 05, 2009 7:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: A list of detailed NPC traits.
I am game.Lago PARANOIA wrote: And if there isn't, I think that we should make one.
Should we do it by category? I think Loss (a character whose personality I worked out for a friend's game) could supply some for the evil undead lord.
As I recall...
-Uses pseudonym to save his family (yes, he has some fairly close relatives around) the embarrassment of being known relatives a brutal Death Knight.
-Has a sweet tooth; he managed to score some preservation before decay set in *too much*, and sweetness is the thing he tastes most clearly. So it's entirely possible to run into him when he's nursing a lollipop.
But that level of detail and quirkiness just sorta happens. But, let's see...
I suppose you could do categories and things which work/would be appropriate for the right category.
So, as a stab at categories...
Alignment (Good/Evil/Lawful/Chaotic)
Class (Warrior/Magic User/Skilled)
Type (Undead, etc)
Age
Social Station (Nobility, priesthood, commoners, middle-class)
Religion (What and why)
As I recall...
-Uses pseudonym to save his family (yes, he has some fairly close relatives around) the embarrassment of being known relatives a brutal Death Knight.
-Has a sweet tooth; he managed to score some preservation before decay set in *too much*, and sweetness is the thing he tastes most clearly. So it's entirely possible to run into him when he's nursing a lollipop.
But that level of detail and quirkiness just sorta happens. But, let's see...
I suppose you could do categories and things which work/would be appropriate for the right category.
So, as a stab at categories...
Alignment (Good/Evil/Lawful/Chaotic)
Class (Warrior/Magic User/Skilled)
Type (Undead, etc)
Age
Social Station (Nobility, priesthood, commoners, middle-class)
Religion (What and why)
Last edited by Maxus on Sun Jul 05, 2009 8:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
He jumps like a damned dragoon, and charges into battle fighting rather insane monsters with little more than his bare hands and rather nasty spell effects conjured up solely through knowledge and the local plantlife. He unerringly knows where his goal lies, he breathes underwater and is untroubled by space travel, seems to have no limits to his actual endurance and favors killing his enemies by driving both boots square into their skull. His agility is unmatched, and his strength legendary, able to fling about a turtle shell big enough to contain a man with enough force to barrel down a near endless path of unfortunates.
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
--The horror of Mario
Zak S, Zak Smith, Dndwithpornstars, Zak Sabbath. He is a terrible person and a hack at writing and art. His cultural contributions are less than Justin Bieber's, and he's a shitmuffin. Go go gadget Googlebomb!
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MartinHarper
- Knight-Baron
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- Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2008 7:54 pm
Something like this?
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate. ... =quickchar
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate. ... =quickchar
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Lago PARANOIA
- Invincible Overlord
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- Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2008 3:00 am
Not really, MartinHarper.
I don't really care for the one-word 'unethical' or 'happy-go-lucky' traits. They don't really provide any motivation for why an NPC would act the way they do and it's kind of bland.
For instance, going back to my earlier example, 'angry, shifty-eyed ex-guard' might have some flavor, but I think that 'An angry Gwen, paranoid and resentful after years of service in the guard secretly donates military gear to the Pelorian Brotherhood creates a different impression than 'secretly sells military gear to the thieves' guild'. In the former, you get an impression of a disillusioned sergeant who doesn't like their regime and tries to help the forces of good, though mindful of the consequences. In the latter, you get an impression of a greedy, graft-hungry guard who doesn't give a rat's ass about other people as long as the gold is good.
Then after doing some very broad assumptions (stereotypes), you can extrapolate behaviors and motivations for these characters. For example, the first Gwen might be receptive to an offer to join the Resistance but the second one would sell the party out. And so on.
I don't really care for the one-word 'unethical' or 'happy-go-lucky' traits. They don't really provide any motivation for why an NPC would act the way they do and it's kind of bland.
For instance, going back to my earlier example, 'angry, shifty-eyed ex-guard' might have some flavor, but I think that 'An angry Gwen, paranoid and resentful after years of service in the guard secretly donates military gear to the Pelorian Brotherhood creates a different impression than 'secretly sells military gear to the thieves' guild'. In the former, you get an impression of a disillusioned sergeant who doesn't like their regime and tries to help the forces of good, though mindful of the consequences. In the latter, you get an impression of a greedy, graft-hungry guard who doesn't give a rat's ass about other people as long as the gold is good.
Then after doing some very broad assumptions (stereotypes), you can extrapolate behaviors and motivations for these characters. For example, the first Gwen might be receptive to an offer to join the Resistance but the second one would sell the party out. And so on.
Josh Kablack wrote:Your freedom to make rulings up on the fly is in direct conflict with my freedom to interact with an internally consistent narrative. Your freedom to run/play a game without needing to understand a complex rule system is in direct conflict with my freedom to play a character whose abilities and flaws function as I intended within that ruleset. Your freedom to add and change rules in the middle of the game is in direct conflict with my ability to understand that rules system before I decided whether or not to join your game.
In short, your entire post is dismissive of not merely my intelligence, but my agency. And I don't mean agency as a player within one of your games, I mean my agency as a person. You do not want me to be informed when I make the fundamental decisions of deciding whether to join your game or buying your rules system.
It's a decent idea, but you're going to end up with some pretty specific entries and probably difficult categorization.
I think you might be better off just throwing up a post for your NPCs your writer's block kicked in over, give some plot points and then let us locals toss ideas until you get something hot.
I think you might be better off just throwing up a post for your NPCs your writer's block kicked in over, give some plot points and then let us locals toss ideas until you get something hot.
Last edited by mean_liar on Sun Jul 05, 2009 7:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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CatharzGodfoot
- King
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Wikipedia is a decent source of characters, although they tend to be powerful or influential.
The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as the poor from stealing bread, begging and sleeping under bridges.
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack
-Anatole France
Mount Flamethrower on rear
Drive in reverse
Win Game.
-Josh Kablack