Running NPCs

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Running NPCs

“You see a long hallway made from stone, the ceiling is low and several of the supports along the walls look old and on the verge of collapse. What do you want to do?” the GM said in an ominous voice.

I looked over at Chris, “whadda ya think?”

“That’s got trap written all over it” he said.

“Yea, Lets have our NPC thief check it out and make sure it’s safe.” I looked at the GM.

He nodded his head and said “Cool” and began rolling dice…and rolling dice…and rolling dice. I started flipping through the rulebook out of boredom.

Finally, the GM spoke up. “OK, He discovered three traps and managed to disarm two of the but he failed his check on the third one. Rocks crashed down pinning him at the end of the hallway. He calls out to you in pain asking for help.”

“Oh, Wow, we got lucky there. OK, lets send our NPC barbarian to move the rocks and free the thief.”

“Great, let me make some die rolls.” The GM went back to rolling dice and I went back to flipping through the rulebook.

If that sounds familiar to you, don’t get discouraged. Non-Player Characters are important, and a necessary part of roleplaying games. We have talked about how to build them, how to create compelling NPCs and a few tips and tricks to tie them to the party, but we have never really talked about using them in a game.

If you have ever had an NPC that just magically appeared when needed, but otherwise didn’t exist, this is for you.

If you have ever had a Player come back at the end of an encounter and say, “Hey isn’t that something our NPC could have done?” then this is for you.

If you have ever gone three game sessions and forgot you had a companion traveling with you on your adventures then we are talking to you.

NPCs,

How do you run them, how do you incorporate them naturally into a party, and how do you not forget you even have them? These are all great questions and we are going to talk about that on today’s episode.

Mike, You’ve been doing this awhile, you’ve never had problems running NPCs before have you?

[Kick to Mike]