Quickly populate your world with meaningful characters that the players need to know.
NPC's are the tool of a GM. They are how you draw the players into your world, they're how you communicate with them, they're expressions of all your plots and schemes and worldbuilding. They're entertaining, they hold secrets to uncover, they allow great roleplay, and work together to create suspense! Easier to just say they do everything. So we better make 'em good. We offer our NPC Creation Guide in order to do just that.
We've solved a lot of our previous stumbling blocks with our NPC creation guide. No more hours spent tweaking the perfect badass outlaw that's absolutely crucial to the plot, only to have the party push him off an airship just to watch them fall. No more disastrously named and conceived NPCs that force you to throw out all your prep, as the party now wants to make them ruler of all the lands. Just what you need, when you need it.
In The Sanctum of Scholars, we get an idea of the NPC we will build in this episode, starting with why we want them in our game in the first place. Running with our concept of "A child that needs protection and moral guidance so they can know how to handle their new powers and responsibilities", we crack open a couple of psychological concepts to inspire them. The first is the theory of psychosocial development from Erik Erikson, which helps us put this kid firmly in the middle of an identity crisis. The second comes from It's Not All About "Me": The Top Ten Techniques for Building Quick Rapport with Anyone by Robin Dreeke, which gives us a few ideas for how to make sure the party likes them.
In Orrick's Landing, we explain how our NPC Creation Guide works while putting it to work on this character. We come out the other side with a wise, confident kid that's naive to how the world really works. At only 12, she can be found going about her many temple chores while having a thrilling conversation with her best friend Candle. After greeting the party with a friendly gap-toothed grin, she asks for help finding everyone she's ever known.
As always, huge thanks to our patrons for making this episode a reality.
Inigo the Brave, David P., Adam F., Alex R., Steve A., Sigma, Kuraidoscope, Skyler E., Deadman, Ninja Duckie, PseuArt, Blackthorne, First Law, Peacockdreams, DM Thunderbum, Marley R., Timewarp, Dangerous Marmalade, Zach G., NoMaam, Michelle T., Adlerious, Chris F., The Senate, Lucas D., Lyla G., The GM Tim, Nevermour, Thomas W., DM Natske, Heavyarms, Leprecan, and Will H-P.