A Tip To Help Create Characters and Non-Player Characters

If you have ever had a person in your group tell you the non-player character (NPC) you are running is just like the other one you ran, good for you. When you enjoy being a game master (GM) you are developing NPCs on the spur of the moment and they can get confused. I have done this many times.

A friend of mine developed a way for him to provide a quick variety of general attributes for his NPCs which I now use. It can also be used for quickly developing player characters. He chose ten traits which were scaled from one end of a spectrum to another. Here is the list he settled on.

Brave – Cowardly

Energetic – Lazy

Forgiving – Vengeful

Generous – Selfish

Honorable – Treacherous

Reactive – Cautious

Merciful – Cruel

Proud – Modest

Trusting – Suspicious

Quiet – Talkative

I am not going to go into defining each of these, and I don't think you always need all of these to define a character. Instead let me explain what he used, and then how I use this on the fly to create new characters being encountered.

Each pair represents a continuum and a score was given to the trait for the character. The one he settled on was to give a score from +5 to -5. Zero (0) was average and then it would be closer to one extreme or the other.

In my daily life I work with statistics and I see things not so much on a straight line. I think there would be a lot more "zeros," then +-ones, until you reach the ends—a bell curve distribution. This can easily be represented with how the numbers are assigned, but I am not always watching that while I am in the middle of running a game.

I fall back on using three six-sided dice, rolled for a random result. Ten/eleven becomes the average and the higher and lower numbers reach out towards the ends of the spectrum. This creates a fast, simplified method of creation. Of course, I make adjustments to fit the needs of the adventure, I think every GM should.

With a quick set of scores you have an easy reference for the next time that NPC needs to be presented again. You can also use this information to progress your character in ways not determined by experience points, but by experiences. If you have a character whose bravery is average, and they succeed at something heroic, they may see themselves as now being braver. With this in mind you can use these traits as tools for future play, and not as absolutes.

When I am in a hurry to bring on a NPC I don't try to figure all of these out. I create the scores I need at the time. If the other scores are needed later, I can create them, or, I assign them at ten and then take notes during game play.

NPCs add a lot to role-playing games. They are great encounters for role-players, and sometimes turn into interesting combat situations.

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