How To Maximise Your NPCs as a Game Master

[@Peachpilled]

You will probably never read this, but your haircut is so clean, Guy.

[@grapejuice6604]

haha right? looks on point in this video

[@Peachpilled]

@@grapejuice6604 Shit, I might copy it. I look somewhat similar to him IRL and it's so smart man.

[@Peachpilled]

Lol cool scam fellas

[@Henry_Slatyki]

One thing i see most PC struggle with Is the fact that not every NPC is willing to talk or help them.

[@elgatochurro]

yeah... idk how to deal with it... i tried doing that before, the adventuring party are just considered strangers and they're all armed to the teeth and people in town dont know them... the players dont like it when npcs dont care about them and want them to buzz off somewhere else cause they're likely to start trouble in their village, town, whatever... the players dont like it, i get why but i see it as an important part of the world building, people dont know you and dont trust you... this isnt skyrim where you suddenly become the leader of every faction possibly if you want within 3 days of work...

[@joppa560]

elgatochurro make the NPCs annoyed at them, make the PC realize that not every NPC can or don’t want to deal with the party for one reason or another. Heck if you have to make a villager so angry and annoyed at the nagging adventurer they ether assault the party member or even get the authorities involved. Imagine what are the possibilities in real life if some random guy pestered you about an ancient artifact or where a camp of criminals were located. Depends on the NPC and that’s where you kinda have to improvise a quick character personality real quick

[@Dawg93]

Have a NPC lie to the party and point them in the wrong direction

[@joppa560]

Rat Dawg there are up sides and down sides to that depending on how that is used. It can be used well if that individual was helping the big bad guy in stopping the party and could be really cool, or it can be frustrating and a waste of time. But definitely is an option

[@Henry_Slatyki]

@@Dawg93 problem with that os that it could backfire And now u have an extremely paranoid party.

[@scotthallmusicofficial]

Your knowledge of the craft of role playing, and especially game mastering is evident in each and every one of your videos. Keep it up! Also, I have a question that I would appreciate your advice on (maybe even address it in an upcoming video?!). That is: how does one keep a campaign going, where the gm is losing interest, but his players are gripped and deeply intrigued? Its something I'm currently dealing with in a game of mine and would appreciate your brilliant insight!!!! As always, love you Guy and happy role playing!

[@guntisveiskats6053]

Not likely getting a practical answer till you give a bit more info. What ruleset do you use, and why losing interest?

[@scotthallmusicofficial]

@@guntisveiskats6053 D&D 5e. Its not that its a particularly bad game, but as I know the twists and turns, I find it hard to tell the story I've had in my head (and in my notes) for a long time. My players love it, every week their excitement is evident. But i have story ADD - I have trouble sticking to the same old thing. Not that the story is bad, but maybe I have commitment issues?...... Maybe a better video idea would be: How to Deal With All 37 Campaign Ideas You Have In Your Head

[@vesperiadragon3221]

You know...I actually think Guy did do a video that covered that...I’ll go searching for it in the morning, but I found it about a year ago when I tried to watch every video from this channel (never completed that goal...anyways, it’s definitely an older video from a few years ago).

[@vesperiadragon3221]

Maybe not as far back as I thought. I haven't had a chance to watch through this again (had enough time to search for this during work, but not enough to do my due diligence before posting this), but I'm fairly certain Guy talks about your situation in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mYSwh2qLgb6grKc

[@scotthallmusicofficial]

@@vesperiadragon3221 hey, thanks a lot actually. I'll take a look at it

[@michaelramon2411]

I use a lot of character pictures, mostly prepared in advance from my large collection of Pathfinder images and photos taken from my many Adventure Path books (where I source many of my NPCs). To keep them organized, I made Powerpoints not for showing, but simple for my use. The NPCs and enemies are ordered by approximate order of appearance, with little bios and character notes next to them. For in-person sessions, I would have a second Powerpoint open, the "safe" Powerpoint, where I would quickly copy-paste the NPC's picture from the regular document and type their name (usually I can tell a minute or two in advance that this NPC is about to make an appearance) and then turn around my laptop to show the players the picture. (I use a laptop rather than a GM screen.) All the characters the PCs met would be saved onto the "safe" document, so when the NPC reappeared again, I could easily show the players the picture again to jog their memories. I once tried to keep track of them in an Obsidian Portal wiki the players could access, but that ended up being too much work. In the solely-digital sessions of late (done with a combination of Discord and Roll20), I have a #pictures channel specifically for putting NPC portraits/names, maps and similar images, which I do by simply copying and pasting them onto the channel (which is faster than properly uploading the file, and it means I can easily have it cropped appropriately). Because nothing but images go there, the players can easily scroll up to see a character introduced several sessions ago. (A separate channel, #notes, includes things like the names of NPCs who have been mentioned but haven't appeared, or that X City is this NPC's hometown.) Obviously I don't do this for bartenders and other minor characters, but my games tend to have a lot of NPCs, so the imagery really is important to help the players keep them straight.

[@TheRejectsdnd]

I have been GMing for 6 years now and this video is very good advice for new and old GM's alike

[@bloodiedporcelain6320]

World Anvil has been a godsend for me running a one on one campaign. He wants to talk to everyone, which is amazing, but I'm constantly in a mad dash for more pictures and their quick format for NPCs being added to campaigns has been excellent.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Thanks for Watching! Find out how to do *NPC dialogue* on the fly here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWK2l41oe9WSeLM And if you're looking for some more awesome dice (who isn't) Check out the Endless Dice Kicstarter here: www.kickstarter.com/projects/kakapopo/endlessdice?ref=2qemft

[@GuitarGodofRock]

Damn, Guy coming in spittin knowledge and a Phresh haircut!

[@robertlombardo8437]

Thanks, Guy! This'll come in useful for the Maximum Apocalypse game I'm running. Yes, I fully supported the Kickstarter because of you! 😄

[@jmoore527]

Portrait Workshop is dope. Got my beta yesterday, been playing with it ever since.

[@scubasteveop3594]

Does it have a randomization option for the Fodder NPCs?

[@deathbymischief9106]

I liked how you said you'll talk about endless dice at the end. Very nice play on words.

[@PurrsPlace]

Guy, I like the dice and think they are beautiful except for one thing - the numbers. They don't stand out. Call me lazy, but when I roll dice, I am looking for information and if I have to peer and squint at every die while adding them up, well, that just doesn't work for me. May I recommend those dice with the numbers colored in? If you have gold dice, perhaps add a touch of red to the numbers? Black dice with silver numbering? Like a good weapon, I enjoy dice that are good-looking, but I enjoy them far more when they are practical. Thank you for the videos! I enjoy being one of your subscribers! =)

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

I thought as well but on camera the numbers seem vague. The two sets I have - the numbers are remarkably clear. I completely agree with you though on non-legible numbers.

[@Alresu]

This is the first time I see those chapters in a KZbin-video. That's neat.

[@Scarletraven87]

Endless Dice are the kind of dice you'd be served in a velved padded, carved wooden box when playing at the table of the very rich kid.

[@LordReginaldMeowmont]

I didn't get my notification for this and I'm upset. I look forward to these videos.

[@MrDidz]

First time I tried to GM a game on Roll20 I had prepared atmospheric backgrounds for every scene and NPC portraits for every character the PC's were likely to encounter. I even had background music and sound effects assigned to each scene so that as the story unfolded the sounds enhanced the backdrop. e.g. "Picture of a snowy road winding through a dark forest and the sound of a horse and cart plodding along." etc. Two sessions into the campaign and things seemed to be going ok except that I wasn't getting much feedback from the players and I wondered if all the effort I was making to set the scene and atmosphere was working. So I asked what they thought of the scenes and sound effects and the character portraits. They looked at me confused 'What sound effects?' I don't have the sound switched on when I play. 'I never saw any NPC portraits, where were they then?' and 'Oh! I always have the chat log maximised when I play so I didn't see the background scenery.' Completely destroyed my confidence as a GM. Oh! And for what it's worth this is my personal collection of images that I gathered for us in my campaign if anyone is interested. www.pinterest.co.uk/davidh4012/boards/

[@richardhealy]

*offers a socially distant hug*

[@PossumMedic]

Some of the filler NPCs in our games have been drafter into the party and even carried on into different table top games! So the record keeping is very huge for me! At this point I would be more surprised if Jacob and his bird calls didn't make it into one of our games! xD Awesome vid thanks! Love the three senses idea! :D

[@thebakerofbananabread3237]

The 5 senses. Never gets better than that

[@morganeclipse9038]

Describe the 6th sense, make sure they know that they can still tell which way down is.

[@IWFDI]

Ca. 15 years back when I got my first printer, I printed pictures of NPC to show my players... best thing I ever did a GM

[@enxman7697]

I agree on giving important npc a portrait, but sometimes i worry that players will dismiss any other npc knowing that. On this thesis when i created an investigative quest i had to provide tons of portraits for not have the group exclude someone even before starting investigations...

[@davewilson13]

With google image search I can grab 3 pages of 10 -12 portraits quickly. I have 60+ images at every game, I use them as needed. Always seems like I’m super prepared, even when I invent people on the spot.

[@brynbarz]

Just wanted to say you make great content, and it's really helped me! Thank you!

[@anthonywilson7391]

I personally do not tend to use a lot of pictures. Now granted pictures can set a scene much easier then descriptions of the scene. So, what I will do is have just a few pictures usually of main NPCs (quest givers, BBEGs, Kings, or major information people that will reoccur in the story) this allows in my opinion a way to help the players remembers how the person is. Also when describing I concur that less can be more at times.

[@TheMetalHeadbangger]

really dig the background

[@stevevondoom4140]

wizards art team has been pretty on point with most books etc. i had to open up the full page art of Waterdeeps(Dragonheist) griffon cavalry for the players. the skyline of the city would take easily over a thousand words to otherwise describe without doing justice...

[@markissleepy]

I have to say, those endless dice look cool, but also very hard to read. We play (when we can actually get together in person) in a deliberately low-light environment to add to the drama and in the video I could almost never tell what number was up on any of the dice displayed and that's with promo lighting; under low light I bet I would never be able to tell what I had rolled. Unlike most of the PCs in my group, I don't have darkvision. :) Loving the beta of Portrait Workshop though - I found out about that Kickstarter from your channel and I am thrilled that I did. It's fantastic for creating quick NPC images. I can't wait until the full art sets and options are available.

[@guntisveiskats6053]

Tried UV light? 😎

[@markissleepy]

@@guntisveiskats6053 Well, that would identify any vampires in the group. ;)

[@Cthulhuftagniaia]

I've never used NPC portraits myself, I am far too picky and will never end up choosing something. I usually do my best to emphasize auditory, social, and the npc's facial expressions rather than an overall visual description since I kind of want my players to cultivate their own idea for what a character looks like.

[@jessewieman6955]

I am constantly doing things to speed up my game. I make quick double sided NPC cards. Pics on front and info on the back for each town the party is heading too

[@Zakiel97]

had a game yesterday and our GM wanted to show us pictures of some NPCs that had an illustration in the module we're playing and it illustrated some of the things you talked about here to me. Like, he introduced them first, described how they looked and then went looking for the pictures, but the pictures he pulled up switched around what he was describing earlier so it confused us for a moment. Like it wasn't anything major and it got cleared up almost immediately but there was that slight delay in there that could have been avoided. No shade to the guy, he's still pretty good for a first-time GM but organizing your NPCs is a thing I'm thinking about doing more for the games I run, most of my NPCs (the non-plot-related ones) so far have been pretty much improvised with some notes after the game so I don't confuse the players with changing up their looks or mannerisms, but I think I should invest some more work in that aspect of my game. Great video, as always.

[@Robert-vk7je]

I had my first game as gm some weeks ago and the "buffering" was strong with me, too. Next time I know, how to organize my information better. Hopefully. x)

[@murgel2006]

Maybe it is because I so old fashioned in my playing, I do NOT like portraits for my NPCs very much. I like to have a portrait of my own characters and certainly do not blame players who make them or have some made. But in my games, I really like to stay on the "mind's picture" side of things. I use pictures very rarely and my descriptions are always intended to stimulate the players' fantasy. Quite funny listening to a group discussing an NPC and finding the differences in their pictures. Anyway, the only pictures I use are those of Celebrities like kings etc. whose pictures might be found around. I also do not like to show the players pictures of places, buildings etc. I select pictures I like, which inspire me etc. and then describe them and my feelings and ideas about them. That way, each player has their own specific "picture" instead of something I like but he would not. The same description will have different "pictures" in each player based on the players own associations. For my players, I hope, that associations, feelings and that personal picture make the world real, personal and beautiful.

[@Scarletraven87]

Unrelated to RPGs: Buffering has nothing to do with still images. Buffering is pre-loading of the N seconds of an audio file or a video. Buffer is the gray part in your youtube video loading. It's purpose is to keep feeding something should the incoming data drop for a brief time.

[@guntisveiskats6053]

He used the word to denote the time necessary for digging up the proper pictures to show to the players. Which inevitably causes delays in play.

[@KäptnKrückschwank]

DUH

[@davidirimia6463]

When players request information I don't have, I ask another player "what does his tabard look like?" or "what type of plate mail is this?". If they don't say a good answer, I'll say something among the lines of "I don't think that's what the plate mail looks like". It's a collaborative story telling game, after all :)

[@richardhealy]

I had the exact opposite problem: complete and total disinterest. As you come back into town you see a large and raucous crowd at the end of the street to your left two preachers are pointing at the crowd in loud disagreement - and.. -! "I'm going to the pub. Whose coming with?" "Me." "Me" "Me too." And just like that the side quest to meet an actual god and the other side quest to perhaps interviene in a public lynching got tossed away because my players can't be bothered to let me finish a fucking sentence before they declare themselves "bored". To make matters worse the pair didn't come to the next session which turned out to be a shopping episode selling off the loot from their last adventure and picking up some magical goodies. They then spent the next week complaining how I was giving out the magical items to the other players. Me-through griited teeth: YOU. WEREN'T THERE. You ever feel like you can't win with some people? They turn up, they're disinterested. They stay away, they get jealous. Oye gevalt! A blizzard of questions about NPCs and their clothes? I think I'd die of shock if I received so much as one!

[@guntisveiskats6053]

"Know your players" seems to be especially relevant in your case. Have you discussed with them, what part of the gaming is most fun for them? Such discussion is best done individually - and sometimes the answer may have to be found behind a pile of superficial answers. Maybe their main goal is being in the company, not the game itself? Maybe it is their ordinary life that interferes and even undermines their involvement? Finding a group of players with interests compatible with ours may be quite a task. I, for one, am into narrativist camp, but nearly all roleplayers here are content with plain monster bashing and looting. Which has become too boring to me.

[@richardhealy]

@@guntisveiskats6053 We work together in the same company. We have spoken about it. It was a rather strange conversation as I recall in that we spoke about having fun with role-play in general and I gave examples of creating characters in Skyrim and Divinity Original Sin 2. He spoke about Skyrim as which exploit can I use to mechanically get 100 in every skill. "The story in Dos Ii is really good" I said - he said "Oh I just play whatever, skip creating a character and skip the dialogue and cut scenes. I didn't play it after that.it's boring" - and me knowing that game how subtle dialogue choices and how different skill builds can radically alter the dynamics and survivability of the game I felt quite adrift - we play these games radically differently.. In the same conversation he breezily discussed murdering the town council of port nyanzaru as something he might do for "unscripted fun" And I was like "I'd really rather you didn't." (Me thinking you want to attack a 9th level archmage with your crossbow in a room full of guards?) A different, earlier though related conversation about worshipping gods in game most of the PCs have a religious bent, so I'm pinching the piety system from Theros and modifying it for them. He's was playing a godless college of swords bard as a drow but wanted in on the action so I found for him a good aligned drow goddess whose whole schtick is redeeming the drow's curse by being amongst other things master bards and swordsmen - "Perfect!" I though. Nope. His idea was he wanted to worship Deadpool and get piety points for breaking the fourth wall. I left that time thinking "what on earth am I going to do?" All these conversations it felt irreconcilable. Like "I'm telling you this so you'll break up with me." More in the mode of a break-up or a divorce. Anyway that was all a few weeks back. It's been a strange and tough time what with Covid and all that. Quite stressful in different ways for different folk. Real world bleeding into the make believe. I enjoy the fantasy precisely because it isn't real. He thinks time and distance might help. I've been on holiday this week and relaxed with family, rebuilding my pc (and I had a cool idea for a heist quest for them). As we left it, he might leave the game. And had announced his intention as such which then immediately flaked when I agreed he could. But assuming he meant it and assuming I meant it it may be the simplest answer and I can play the game with folk who enjoy playing the game with me rather than be antagonised by me and my style if dming. (A constant bugbear between us: he believes in absolute imorovisation I take the advice of guy and other of plan enough to feel comfortable improvising). But we'll see if matters have improved or devolved further when I go back. I'd say as things stood it was 50/50 either way. The other player (I spoke of two originally) has said he'd disliked the eldritch knight build he had, so would like to try an artificer build instead. I'm open to that and I've found a way to write out his current character and have them become an NPC running a business in Port Nyanzaru and we've had a couple of exciting discussions about that and how to bring in this new character concept. Him, I am less worried about and we play together in a different group which is meeting this Saturday. And I'm looking forward to that. It'll probably be okay it was just rather seared in my memory given recent events of that one time I tried to describe the town: the sights, the smells the interesting NPCs and roughly 2/3rds of my party "well this is boring!" and wandered off - and how starkly different this was to Guy's intro with a party interested in the embroidery of every tunic the guards are wearing. My lot seem to want minimal description lest their precious attentions wander. Not "the royal dockland smell of brine and old wood, the sound of the sea lapping at the harbour wall, the cry of circling seabirds high above and the rhymithic breathing of the huge hadrosaurs loading a cart laden with goods" Just You'are the port. There's boats and shit. I am planning a fresh session 0 with this group when they hit level 5 and head into the jungle. Cards on the table which parts of this are going to be fun for you? Get them levelling up together and (hopefully) getting more of a team spirit going because that was not how this game started (one shot > campaign and folk have left and new folk have joined with better more rounded characters than the ones we ported over from the one shot.) I feel we've suffered from that ever since because about half the group now weren't in the original session zero I ran which wasn't about the adventure I'm now running. Hence why I think a reset may be the best solution.

[@KäptnKrückschwank]

Richard Healy why do you even put up with that shit? There seem to have been some obvious red flags in you pre-game talk

[@richardhealy]

@@KäptnKrückschwank I put up with it because I'm quite patient and not hasty to act. We're friends and colleagues and that counts. As I said it's starting to feel irreconcilable trying to keep all these elements in check and it's affecting the fun. If person 1 wants to leave the game I am at peace with that. I'd regret it but if he's not enioying my game it may be for the best. Person 2 I am less concerned about and think that will work out. I started this thread simply beause my recent experience bore almost no relation to Guy's idyllic description of rapt attention on my world design and I guess I had a lot on my mind and writing it down was a way of processing these thoughts snd feelings.

[@notoriouswhitemoth]

I use heroforge for character portraits, I'm very much looking forward to their color feature going public

[@1garryrippon]

Hey,Guy! Is this a new channel? I'm pretty sure I was subscribed to one of your others but not showing up now...

[@JoseRS1186]

The Buffering... Oh! The Buffering!!

[@tengwean6182]

On the topic of npcs: you suggest to give them quirks but i don’t quite get what falls under that? Is there a list with some examples?

[@AndrewBeisel]

You can do all of this on Fantasy Grounds Unity so well

[@JamesAnderson-dp1dt]

Question for everybody - what RPG or adventure game gives the most complex treatment of NPC interaction? I’m looking for ideas to improve my homegrown adventure game.

[@calebharendt6924]

I love the new hair

[@scubasteveop3594]

Does Portrait Workshop have a randomizer option?

[@andreazaltron6850]

really beautiful dice BUT i own something similar and it was really difficult to see the number. I had to retrace them with a golden sharpie. Also the d6 roll badly on metal dice. the plastic ones bounce and roll better. final note. there is always, always 1 stupid player that will throw metal dice with too much force, or from too high, leaving marks on your table. build or buy a dice tray.

[@fiesesalien]

I just use pictures for key-npcs. Stay crunchy.

[@Taifoon808]

In regards of the portrait workshop app, is there way to buy it or download it? Ive clicked your link and the page crashes

[@waynedryden6737]

Love the do.

[@joebywan]

Didn't you do a video on people being shit players for bringing dice that are so wierd you can't easily spot the numbers? Those sponsor dice would be super difficult to see the numbers at a glance.

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

They do seem so on camera. The two sets I have - both are clear to read otherwise I wouldn't have promoted them :)

[@jessingram4649]

Are you related to shad of shadiversity? Ylu look and sound very similar

[@robot7759]

A gm's npc's are a players pc's, times a thousand. Mhoahaha (insert demonic laughter here), gm's rule! No wonder we get to play all the bad guys 😈 Just love it.

[@77Stonepython77]

woah

[@KäptnKrückschwank]

to read those dice you‘ll have to squint your eyes, they will make you look older fast

[@rookangelofmercy7283]

Ifind it hard o make star trek tasks any advice

[@HowtobeaGreatGM]

Join my live show on Saturdays at 7pm GMT and ask that question for a live answer!

[@lechugalechuga44]

ahh, the advantages of being a gm who is also an artist

[@SirZelean]

3:22 I guess NPCs have a... CRITICAL ROLE Hm? Hm? No?

[@kjmeep3460]

89th Comment! God bless you!

[@AmaleeWilson]

😂

[@DoctorLazers]

Portrait Workshop looks MEGA ugly. There's been better portrait software on the internet for like a decade. Is HeroMachine still a thing?