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Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2012 8:19:55 GMT -8
Gents,
I'm basking in the glow of a new (to me) system to explore and keep my hind-brain occupied while I'm at work...
I've found that the Thrilling Tales book from Adament has a random adventure generating system that was pretty easy to automate in Excel, but I don't feel good about my ability to generate NPCs worht mentioning. the Thrilling Tales process has a great chart to form the kernal of an NPC, but I'm wondering if there are fully formed NPC generators out theres that are worth the effort or if I should just lock myself in the spare room and watch film Noir all weekend?!?!?
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Post by ironnikki on Apr 30, 2012 7:14:26 GMT -8
You've likely already seen this, and it's not a perfect solution, but there's a personality table on pg 81 of SWD. It's a pretty standard generation table: roll a d20, and it provides you with a general personality trait for an NPC. From there, you can extrapolate some more interesting details, or roll a couple more times to create a more varied personality.
A more robust generation toolkit can be found in Pathfinder's Gamemastery Guide, starting on page 94. If you don't already have the book or PDF, I wouldn't buy it just for that, but if you do have it, check it out.
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Post by jazzisblues on Apr 30, 2012 11:06:42 GMT -8
I've never had much luck with generators so I tend to write everything myself in large part because they have to fit into the story and contribute specifically to it. It just works better for me to write them anyway.
JiB
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Post by inflatus on Apr 30, 2012 12:08:52 GMT -8
It just works better for me to write them anyway. JiB I agree it is better to do them yourself. I feel vested in the NPC's when I write them down. There is something to be said for having a book full of handwritten NPC's from the past years.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2012 17:44:51 GMT -8
I'm sure I saw the random personality table in the SWD book, but I completely forgot about it...
I think part of my problem is that I'm simultaniously afraid of under and over thinking the NPCs.
I remember back in the days of Basic D&D I had a folder of low level characters I could use as NPCs and now playing 4e I see NPC's that are fully fleshed out with powers and abilities just like player characters.
I'm a kinda not sure how much "less is more" in these cases... I'm sure I shuldn't be building mooks, grunts and thugs as full-blown characters, but where to stop.
I don't know if anyone has seen the adventure generator in Thrilling tails, it has a table to generate NPC's but it's not stats, just a short list of descriptors; most of which don't directly translate to edges and hinderances.
Am I just being lazy and not using my knoggin'?
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Post by gandalftheplaid on Apr 30, 2012 18:53:45 GMT -8
I probably wouldn't build out a complete set of stats for an NPC unless I expect them to be important. Even then for someone important I wouldn't fill it completely in. I'd take whatever my inspiration dictates and fill in a few hindrances and edges. Then I'd fill in major skills based on what seems right but intentionally come up a little short to what a desired experience level would dictate. Basically I don't fully plan out the NPC right up front, just what's important at the time.
Then as the character is used, if I have need to use an unplanned skill, I may add the skill on the fly. "Hmm.. Swimming is something this guy could reasonably have a bit of. I'll flip a coin/roll a die to decide if he actually has it." Or whatever random chance generator comes to mind and who's odds feels right at the time.
If the party will meet this NPC later, I may add an edge or up a skill to show the major NPC also improving over time.
As to the inspiration, lately I've been happy with the sorts of things I'm getting out of my 760 Patrons Traveller book. I am perfectly happy with taking a character example from one system and adapting him/her to another system. Whatever inspiration suits you, have fun with it. I've built one shot Deadlands characters for on Egg Shen, Jane Cobb and Matt Quigley for example.
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Post by jazzisblues on May 1, 2012 6:42:44 GMT -8
I'm sure I saw the random personality table in the SWD book, but I completely forgot about it... I think part of my problem is that I'm simultaniously afraid of under and over thinking the NPCs. I remember back in the days of Basic D&D I had a folder of low level characters I could use as NPCs and now playing 4e I see NPC's that are fully fleshed out with powers and abilities just like player characters. I'm a kinda not sure how much "less is more" in these cases... I'm sure I shuldn't be building mooks, grunts and thugs as full-blown characters, but where to stop. I don't know if anyone has seen the adventure generator in Thrilling tails, it has a table to generate NPC's but it's not stats, just a short list of descriptors; most of which don't directly translate to edges and hinderances. Am I just being lazy and not using my knoggin'? I totally work from the story to the mechanics. I write all characters to fill their place in the story and then I do mechanics to fit what the character needs to be based on that. Cheers, JiB
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Post by ironnikki on May 1, 2012 6:42:54 GMT -8
I like to use generators as a jumping off point for my NPC's. Generally, the first step is the hardest one for me, so after getting a few key words, I can generate a back story from there if it's necessary. Other than that, they're useful for on-the-fly personalities when an interaction occurs that you hadn't planned for.
If you're talking about building mooks, make 'em extras. Just give them the stats that you think they should have combat-wise, and move on. If they're all generic thugs, give them all the same stats, but vary their equipment a bit if you'd like. Extras are pretty much just there to be knocked down, so fleshing them out too much will probably be a waste of time. You might pick a single combat edge that would be appropriate for all of them to have, but chances are good that non-combat edges and hindrances on extras won't come into play. I generally only assign edges and hindrances to Wild Cards.
I also like to compose a list of stats for generic extras the PC's may encounter during their game. For example, I ran a short game of Savage Worlds based in Rapture from Bioshock. I created one stat block for each kind of splicer that the PC's might encounter, and just used the same block each time they ran into that particular kind. Having a kind of cheat sheet for extras is nice because you don't have to spend time preparing that before each game, and it's right there whenever your players happen to fight something you don't expect them to.
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Post by jazzisblues on May 2, 2012 11:51:26 GMT -8
For my current campaign info for which can be found here -> "]http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/sturmgeist]I created two wildcard villains, one wildcard ally, and then very brief (stat only) two different kinds of extras (nazi thugs and another group). Everyone beyond that I make up on the fly if I need to. Cheers, JiB
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HyveMynd
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Dirty hippie, PbtA, Fate, & Cortex Prime <3er
Posts: 2,273
Preferred Game Systems: PbtA, Cortex Plus, Fate, Ubiquity
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Currently Running: The Sprawl
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Post by HyveMynd on May 2, 2012 19:03:03 GMT -8
I think that random NPC generators can be a great jumping off point, as ironnikki mentioned. But I usually only use them during the "story planning" stage; the time where I'm still figuring out who all the major players of the situation are and how they all relate to and interact with one another. Getting a random single word personality description can really get my brain going. "Wait, it says this guy should be 'naive'. I hadn't imagined him that way, but... oh! I see how that'd work now. Interesting." Of course, you get non-sensical answers sometimes, but that always happens with random generators.
I don't often design mooks though. My games are usually relationship-based, with the PCs interacting with a small to medium cast of fully fleshed out NPCs who all have their own motivations, goals, and alliances. When I say "fully fleshed" out, I don't only mean stats; those are usually the last thing I do for my NPCs. I usually start by deciding (or discovering) that a specific role needs to be filled for the story, and then thinking of someone interesting for that role. Then I find a way to add some little twist so they're not just a cookie-cutter stereotype. "OK. The Spring Court's going to need a Spring Queen. Who is she? Hmm... Wait, why does it have to be a she? I'll make the Queen a guy. Hey! Even better, she is female, but she's a post-op transexual. Yes. Awesome."
I used to stress out a lot over doing up "correct" and "balanced" stats for NPCs. This is easier in games that have levels or CR ratings (like D&D), but when I fell in love with nWoD and Ubiquity I had to throw that out the window. Those games systems, like Savage Worlds don't really have an easy way to calculate how tough an NPC is in relationship to a PC. So I (eventually) stopped sweating it, and just made NPC stats based on how powerful the story needed them to be.
But there's no need to detail and stat out everything. I do what gandalftheplaid does; I just give major NPCs the important stats, the stats that make them "unique", or the ones I think will be used a lot. Manipulation, Persuade, Socialize, and Bluff for the social types; Athletics, Brawl, Firearms for the combat types, etc. Then, if a situation comes up where I need a stat that I didn't detail on the sheet, I make a quick and dirty estimation of how good the NPC should be at that skill on the fly.
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