How Pro D&D DM's Make NPCs That Aren't BAD

How the DM's of #criticalrole and #dimension20 create and run Non Player Characters in DnD
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[@laserbeastjr]

Best NPC advice ive ever heard: "Drive your NPCs like stolen cars"

[@Scarletraven87]

WTF *rams NPC sheet in folder and leaves it hidden for 10 years*

[@feitocomfruta]

Aabria’s NPCs being unlikeable and combative also grounds you into the world. Just because your party is heroic doesn’t mean everyone HAS to like you. These NPCs serve as a reminder that the party’s work is vastly important to some, but has no bearing on the lives of some others, so doing it for the fame is a shallow and pointless reason to adventure. In fact, the fewer people that know how your party defeated the BBEG, the bigger the impact on the world because you enabled people to just live their lives.

[@mikelundun]

Also tropes are tropes because they work ;-)

[@BigCowProductions]

Aabria is great

[@charleshaines9715]

Critical Role has a team of writers and a director.

[@BonusAction]

Of course, it’s a live broadcast show with ad reads. It’s also a Dungeons & Dragons game.

[@Fluxion77]

Lol. “Best DMs in the world.” Bro, what are you talking about? These are some of the worst DMs you could find. In fact, I hesitate to call them DMs. They’re just wanna be actors performing for an audience (the viewers) for clicks and advertising revenue. They’re traveling salesmen, and their “players” are D&D tourists. A real DM makes it about the players, and their imaginations. The players are supposed to be the stars-not the DM. The DM should be a referee and a narrator. These people that you’re holding up as superstar DMs are nothing more than content creators who found a niche market (TTRPGs) to monetize.

[@festoga8890]

Aabria has an important point in putting unimportant NPCs into the game. Often players hang on every DM's word. By mentioning unimportant objects or characters in the game makes attention, involvement of players and checks more important. It freshens up the descriptive parts, and let the players guess which things are vital for the campaign and which not. --Players, the crates on the dock are not suspicious only because they are there, or are they?

[@Haexxchen]

I'd love if this would work on my players. Players often fixate and it is hard to let them run into nothing and waste so much playtime with no progression. It really is a curse. I do more voices with throwaway NPCs, so my players always love them. Suddenly I need to find a storyline for that church, they are 100% sure is involved in the drug scheme.

[@timeittells]

see the dream is to play DND like a Lego video game- break everything, it might have money

[@umagotlib8446]

Abriah's npcs have very realistic reactions, and that is what great about them. There is no reason for every person in town to be relevant to your quest, to be friendly and so on. IMHO, that makes the game way more entertaining and actually enables player's mind

[@mikelundun]

I'm thinking of putting a bottle on a wall of the tavern labelled Checkov's rum! and having a tradition that if its your third visit to the place, you have to drink from it! :-)

[@TulkOrkan]

Characters make the world.

[@BonusAction]

Very true!

[@claudiamcfie1265]

Matt's most memorial npc imo has to be Victor the black powder merchant. I've heard that npc was improvised the first time he made an appearance. Its been my DM inspiration since.

[@KyleDyerSilverWolf949]

Henry Crabgrass was better

[@LemonLicker]

@@KyleDyerSilverWolf949 And that's what the best part is, he's so good at making npcs you have people debating who was most memorable

[@Haexxchen]

I wholeheartily agree on the topic of unlikeble NPCs. What does a competent friendly NPC do? They do the players job for them, probably better. They are willing and able to help and probably even do all that before the players even arrive to notice the problem. Now I am playing against myself instead of the players (in the tactical sense. Roleplay still is a cooperative thing.) But when I take out the naive and ignorant, my players instantly have the goal of protecting them and opening their eyes. (Or using them.^^) When I play them grumpy and introvert, it makes the players work for receiving information and help. Rightout agressive NPCs will cost the players time and other resources to get information out of them. I don't want my players to look up to NPCs for the solution (which is just the logical choice, when they are competent). I want THEM to save the day. With an environment, that does not need the PCs I don't have a story. So if I am constantly playing an unlikable bastard with incompetence 3000, so be it. Actually it is more fun than playing nice guys even. But when the first person in power they meet is so uncooperative they go "That must be the BBEG.", but there is still doubt, so they do not confront until the last act, nearly forgetting about him. And how great they feel after then looting his dead body only to find out he was merely a puppet of the real BBEG. Man, that's just great.

[@TheEldarGuy]

It kind of helps he's a voice actor. I heard someone say that Mercer has damaged being a DM, setting the expectation of what a DM is supposed to do and be. I love what they (Critical Role) have done for the game, but the unrealistic expectation for regular humans who don't have access to tons of cool and free stuff, with great players that commit as equally. You'll find, these techniques are what he needs for his actual work.

[@LucasCarter2]

Critical role did to TTRPG’s what modern porn has done to sex. It sets completely unrealistic expectations that are guaranteed to be let down and might damage your enjoyment of the activity in the short or long term.

[@hadesblackplays]

there is a fireside chat where the people made the suggestions for Orly's character (second in command in fjord ships) and you can see matt aplying the method you just described here

[@BonusAction]

Oooh I will have to hunt down that clip for a future video! Thanks!

[@jrm13]

I think Aabria Iyengar's antagonistic NPCs are (in part) her commentary on normal people: they suck. Hear me out. Most human interactions we have with people we don't already know and care about increasingly feels either pointless or like an obstacle. The social fabric is fraying. If someone approached you today on the street and said, "Excuse me, can I ask you a question?" your reaction would likely be one of visceral dread. This guy is either a solicitor, a proselytizer, a scammer, or a fool. In other words: an obstacle. This isn't everyone, of course! But when was the last time you answered a call from a number you didn't know?

[@BonusAction]

This is a cool observation!

[@BakaPope]

I mean, that's what I was thinking. She's just projecting herself as a person, a useless obstacle.

[@Rain-Falling-Out-My-Eyes]

@@BakaPope I encourage you to grow into a person that doesn’t feel the need to belittle people who do things a little differently from you.

[@BakaPope]

@@Rain-Falling-Out-My-Eyes It was abrasive on purpose, but I truly do not think she does a good job as a dm and is more of a hindrance to her players than anything else. I also am not the biggest fan of Brennan and only really care for about half of Matt Mercer's style, so please intensify my burning at the stake but I am not going to stop. Edit: If you'll remember op was commenting on how most interactions with people are undesirable at best, so I was just echoing that sentiment and you're continuing to prove it.

[@angstyteen1215]

@@BakaPopewouldn’t you also be proving it?

[@jarlnils435]

Oh I love my NPCs, I put much work in them. But like Captain Jack Sparrow answered, when Davy Jones asked if he would sacrifice a friend; Yes I would without a second thought sacrifice my NPCs. No problem at all.

[@addisonjayvinson8212]

I really love you content and analysis of these great DMs! Also your thumbnails are great lol not clickbaity at all

[@BonusAction]

Haha thanks!

[@RoosterStranglr]

😂

[@notgerheinz]

Honestly, I am not sure on the whole voice acting thing. Those are professionals, even voice actors. It is their unique talent and trying to emulate it badly will do more hurt than good, I am afraid. It would be like trying to finish with a dunk when playing Basketball in the park if you are a regular Joe/Jane. Just won't work. Not your style, not your range of capabilities and your game will be worse for it. Stick to what you actually are able to do and do that better.

[@DiegoSanstwen]

Regarding Aabria, I don't think it's about her NPCs always being villainous or adversarial, it's that there's so few in between that aren't. They start to feel like the same character who's sassy and snarky for no reason. As far as my favorite NPCs, they're mostly BLeeM's. Pretty much all the NPCs from Calamity who are all so varied (from the kids, to the Purvan, to the PCs side-buds (Alessander, Dweomir, Cerrit's co-worker, the half-mask, Evandrin, to feaking Asmodeus, and the main character... BOLO ). The variety is just incredible and fitting for a realistic world. It feels like each of them has a story to tell and sometimes they do. An improv moment in Bolo literally made Travis keep track of her due to her sheet absurdity in a passing conversation.

[@BiggerinRealLife]

Omg how Bolo turned into such a thing was hilarious. But those KIDS! I'm so glad you brought them up. Travis gets a call on a sending stone I'm sure he didn't know he had, all the players are tensed, waiting for the bad news call they're sure is coming, and Brennan pills out the voice of a 10yo child and immediately the whole table changed. A) they relaxed B) you could see on their faces that was their first clue that Brennan was doing something different. Because here was an NPC, fully realized, and who through sheer exposition gave them more information about Travis' character than Travis ever could have through explaining "my character is a dad." So so SO GOOD.

[@davidevans2863]

I both like and dislike Aabrias distrustful and antagonistic NPCs, on the one hand it is more realistic that many people would not be agreeable to strangers asking a load of questions and showing up out of nowhere, and there is going to be just random unrelated people just around the place, but its a fantasy game where heroes and legends are real so the a🎉at the sametime the unlikeability of so many of her characters plus her inability to compete against the adlibbing abilities of many of the people she DMs for it often comes across as pointless and we have to watch in real time the delays as she tries to come up with an attitude filled response to what somebody has said and it makes those moments look amateurish, something that would be much easier to RP if the NPCs were less combative for combatives sake.

[@KaleDavid]

Love the change of removing ancestry stat increased.

[@mikelundun]

The more I see of Aabria the more I realise what an unsung genius she is. The way her npcs engage the players and the way she can actually get the whole table shitting themselves is incredible. Burrows End is a masterpiece! Misfits and Magic is amazing too! I can see there.is so much to learn from her!

[@BiggerinRealLife]

She is hands down my favorite. I aspire to be as brutally fair as she is.

[@Endlessvoidsutidos]

fantastic video thanks for the great break down woots :D)

[@aivylotus4583]

Season 1 of Oxventure is a good example of what PCs can do to totally change the characterisation of NPCs. Poor Alfred Strangetide got turned from an adult archeologist scholar that "fancied himself somewhat of an adventurer" into a toddling child that got put in a papoose (and was somehow still an archeologist scholar with 2 PHDs) and no one in world questioned it.

[@CaptainFlintthePirate]

Hey @BonusAction any thoughts on how you would run a year long class on D&D for 35 middle schoolers?

[@DentZilber]

Currently working on a Warforged Juggernaut, Artificer: Armorer, Guardian (15levels) with 5 levels in Wizard.

[@Xingmey]

dungeons and dragqueens... even referencing that shit is a no go

[@BonusAction]

Howcome?

[@pitchforksdragon1252]

Character idea 💡 "Kyle Drywall-Foe" the open hand monk 😂

[@plagueparchments]

needed this video! thank you so much!

[@BonusAction]

Needed this comment! Thanks!

[@anthonystone2089]

Neal Pass Erikson or Koibu is the great DM that is not a actor.

[@mytrados]

This was such a great topic!

[@BonusAction]

Thanks! I enjoyed researching this video a ton!

[@jaydarquem2029]

🤘

[@golmgolm]

DM's → DMs

[@Hanayuni]

That explanation of Aabria's NPCs was good, but I still can't stand her style of DMing. It's such a shame because she's a great player!

[@BonusAction]

Yeah and I wish we could normalise people just not liking different styles of DMing with out having to dislike the DM! Its all subjective!

[@remus-alexandrusimion3439]

I honestly love her style of DMing more than Matt's and Brennan's. It feels more real to me. I feel like her characters are less deep than the others' but their initial contact to the party feels more real. If you're the guard's captain for years and you suddenly meet yet another band of people who look like trouble (weapons, loud, nosy) your not gonna go much past obligatory dialogue willingly. You're gonna be defensive, eager to have them leave before blood is spilled (which is what happens with most of these folk according to previous experience). A random peasant who has likely seen (or at least heard of) pillagers and meets these dangerous looking folk will also try to cut the conversation and interaction with them as short as possible. Most people in medieval times didn't enjoy chatting to "outsiders" at all because "outsiders" usually meant "danger" (you know, the whole concept of "stranger danger"). Folk back then didn't really understand nomadic lifestyle all that much and thought of them as mostly brigands, outlaws (why else would one leave his family and the safety of his home?) or crazy people. Going back to the NPCs, i feel like once they know the party a bit more they all open up and become friendlier (albeit still reserved because they're still outsiders and even though they themselves have proven to not be dangerous, their "backgrounds" might be).

[@Hanayuni]

@@BonusAction I really liked her in Exandria Unlimited Calamity and New York by Night. I think she brings the same type of "not your friend" vibe to her player characters and I prefer that. I tried to watch her DM but I truly don't vibe with her unhelpful NPCs. I guess if I played at her table though, I might have more fun because as you said these types of tricky interactions are mostly for the players, they're a puzzle to solve and sometimes it's just really boring to watch someone struggle with a puzzle ^^

[@Hanayuni]

@@remus-alexandrusimion3439 Yeah I agree with you about her NPCs being more real. It's logical to have unhelpful or scared characters in these situations. I guess it's just up to the DM and their players to see what they prefer to have. Maybe in a campaign, there could be both types of NPCs depending on the needs of the scenes. Some can be close to the players, they can help the players who really need it because they're stuck and others could be realistically antagonistic and slow them down?

[@xdrkcldx]

Aabria's NPCs working only at "home" and not in a live play seems like a cop out. It sounds like she puts pointless NPCs to have something happen but she doesnt know what to do with it so it leads to nothing. Forcing roleplay in that way isn't satisfying.

[@CrazyPan9000]

I disagree, it makes the world feel more alive, more realistic. You encounter people all the time who have pretty much 0 impact on your life. If every NPC is important, none of them are.

[@daoneandonlystevy]

Hi BA, I mean this with the best intentions but I really feel like you should stop using these "clickbaity" thumbnails using the faces of Matt, Brennan and other notable figures in order to draw attention. It really devalues your channel, because the content is excellent but it feels cheap to rely on the recognition of these famous people. It also makes it really hard to notice or find your videos in my subfeed. Regarding the NPCs, I think that Matt have great NPCs that are obviously carried by his acting skills and one of the bigger contributors of the 'Mercer' effect. I love them, but you can't set that expectation for yourself in your home game.

[@BonusAction]

Hey I will take this criticism on board! But I am not sure how putting Matt and Brennan in a thumbnail of a video specifically about Matt and Brennan is clickbaity. But I do agree my thumbnails are all starting to look the same, I will experiment to see if I can find other styles that also perform well!

[@daoneandonlystevy]

@@BonusAction Thanks! Keep up the great videos!

[@heart.9889]

Did... Did you watch the Video? It's LITERALLY about Brennan and Matt. That's the actual topic of the Video. What would you put as a thumbnail? 😅

[@nobody342]

So you have to remember, Matt's show is designed as a TV show, not a actual game, He is 'Playing" with voice actors, and is basicly just telling a story for YOUR entertainment. They are not making their characters more memorable for themselves, they are making them memorable for YOU the audience! Roleplaying can include much more then just "ACTING" like a "ACTOR" You are watching a show, you do realize that dont you. The reality is, I would rather play with a DM who is great at creating situations for you to interact with, then one who just tells flowery descriptions! Been there done that for 40+ years.

[@BigCowProductions]

4:40 🤢

[@winterbear8633]

I didn't even know such a thing as dungeons & drag queens existed. Pretty good video up until that point

[@brocobra1833]

Lost me at dungeons and drag queens. Disliked. Thx for VEC though, its a solid method.