I’m not discouraging description - what I’m saying is don’t include anything that isn’t different or distinct from other folks. But then, what if I told you that no matter how faithfully you describe your NPC, no one at the table would draw the same portrait? You might respond, “Chris, then why describe them at all?” For many of us, the temptation can be to provide a complete description, capturing every nuance of the colorful character you’re introducing. Hayes? Using two key details, appearance and personality, we are going to give him that most important of NPC qualities - a voice.ĭescribing a NPC’s appearance is one of the most basic of a DM’s tasks. The brief history we’ve given him might come out over the course of a conversation, but what is it like to walk into the Queen & Assassin and order a beer from Mr. Now that we know Crossbow’s story, we need to know a little about him personally. Step 2: What Would It Be Like To Meet Them? With a few tweaks, Crossbow becomes Laser Hayes, formerly of the Tears of Jupiter Black Ops unit, and the location is a run-down spaceport on the Galilean moon, Ganymede. And in the event that our living, breathing NPC isn’t used in the current campaign, we can send them to any world we want by replacing the place names and titles using time-tested “Mad Libs” technology. He lives in it with them, breathing the same air. With those few sentences, Crossbow is as much a part of The Further as the players. Crossbow’s friend disappeared and Hayes mysteriously found the money to open the Queen & Assassin tavern in the affluent port city of Blackcliff.” He and his friend found a hidden fortune out on patrol one evening. Using that, and the world he lives in, we can give him a short backstory - “Jonathan ‘Crossbow’ Hayes was a member of an elite regiment of crossbowmen out of the desert city of Stormsand, called the Teeth of the Dragon.
BARTENDER MEME CODE
Hayes has had some combat training, on top of a strict, self-centered code of behavior.
BARTENDER MEME FREE
For obvious reasons, feel free to use only the essentials that you feel comfortable with.Ĭrossbow is a Lawful Evil Human Male Fighter. So we start with the essentials: Alignment/Race/Gender/Class. The amount of prep may be different for you, but the idea is still the same - how they got here makes them who they are.
For me, that means just enough to summon them up without too much work. I try to use the “what feels necessary” model when thinking about a NPC’s history.
BARTENDER MEME FULL
Not a full family tree, mind you, but a place in your world.
The first thing that any good NPC should have is a history.
BARTENDER MEME HOW TO
Today, I’m going to give Crossbow some well-deserved screen time to help us learn how to build NPCs better. Normally, we’d just set him aside in our trusty NPC pile, always ready for his next chance. The players took the story elsewhere, so we’re going to make lemonade from lemons like any good DM. Like many NPCs you’ll create or prepare, he never really had time to shine in the campaign. Crossbow Hayes – Our SubjectĬrossbow Hayes, from the introduction, is an NPC bartender I created for 3WD’s homebrew campaign world, The Further. I’d like to share three simple tips to help make all your NPCs shine like our beloved bartenders. Now, everyone in your world doesn’t need to revolve around beer and crossbows (although if you feel it does I’m always looking for a new campaign), but there are fundamental pieces there that we can use to make our other NPCs more interactive and meaningful. They might be the first NPCs we create when fleshing out a new city, in addition to often being our player’s first roleplay interaction. Friend, confidant, drink deliverer, quest giver. DM Chris here! If there is one truly archetypal NPC, the bartender is it. But, enough of that gloomy shit, they call me Crossbow Hayes! What’ll ya have?” She’s for anyone who causes trouble in the Q ‘nd A, especially with the rumors I heard ‘bout undead emerging from the Twisted Forest lately. The bartender, a tall man with a grey ponytail and goatee, notices your interest and points to the weapon, “That there is Betsy.
Navigating between the large, circular tables, your eye is drawn to behind the bar, where the Q&A’s one defining feature hangs - a heavy crossbow, obviously worn with age but still well-maintained. Conversation in the busy tavern stops for a moment as the patrons look up with rough, weatherbeaten faces, before quickly returning to their mugs of ale and games of Three-Dragon-Ante. The creak of the old, wooden door announces your arrival to the Queen & Assassin.
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