NPCs! | Running the Game

[@colinpapendick5628]

"You'll be using this the rest of your life" - 2070 - Location: Nursing home "The shop keep is a halfling" "TOP O THE MORNIN TO YE!" he shouts, as you enter, "CORKER'S ME NAME, SELLIN YE POTIONS IS ME GAME!"

[@NerdyCatCoffeeee]

'IF AYE WAS A BAD DEMOMAN AY WOULDN"T BE SITTIN HEARE TAKING WITH YA NAW WUD I?"

[@Xenibalt]

fucking eh you sound like a great DM

[@Xenibalt]

@@NerdyCatCoffeeee irish vs scotish lol =]

[@drury2361]

Mercer's secret - No shame.

[@amandadube156]

3:02 - Mercer displays lack of shame 4:27 - still no shame 5:19 - Mercer does something shameless

[@toastghost9145]

It's actually his hair, but that works too.

[@eclairz9275]

Do you guys means Colville?

[@elgatochurro]

And tons of practice

[@AnEnemySpy456]

And the fact that he's a professional voice actor with far more experience than your average person.

[@11DaltonB]

Im surprised no one said Clarota. I thought he was a great NPC mostly because of Matt's crazy awesome voices, but also because the whole time they sort of teamed up with him, they didn't know whether or not he could be trusted. I loved their adventure in the underdark

[@klausgaming7365]

Mercer has a bunch of memorable NPCs: Jarett (the captain of Greyskull Keep's guard), Lady Kima, Lady Allura, Kaylie (Scanlan's daughter), Earthbreaker Groon, Dr. Anna Ripley (Percy's antagonist), J'mon Sa Ord, (omg, I forgot the Sun Tree), etc. They are many, each one with its own uniqueness. Clarota, Victor and Gilmore are just the icing on the cake.

[@edcellwarrior]

11DaltonB He was pretty good, but Matt ruined his character by having him betray the party at the end. That made him go from a pretty unique character to a generic backstabbing villain.

[@jesseward4115]

Or Larkin. Best Dwarf that never was.

[@lordbiscuitthetossable5352]

edcellwarrior but on the flip side the players never really intended to integrate or challenge cortas point of view, and they knew full well of his intention to reunite with the elder brain, thus was going to do just that if only done otherwise. I never felt his betrayal was concrete nor out of character for this alien species. That is both the boon and the burden of being a GM, they alone don't write the story, it is up to the players to invest in those NPCs.

[@Kalsimir]

@@edcellwarrior It's not about what he wanted. He was assimilated into the hive mind, his will wasn't really his own at that point. If he would have willingly betrayed them or not is unknown.

[@LemanRussVanquisher]

I actually discovered Critical Role through this channel, not the other way around.

[@terrancat]

Ditto

[@emsilly741]

Agreed. I tried to get into it, but the first half-hour was promotions and I got bored

[@rydenbarr9041]

Same

[@robertnett9793]

Funny enough me too. But, while I really think that they are great players and great DMs at this table - and while I love to play and DM RPGs myself - I am just not into watching other people play. It feels like missing out on the opportunity to play myself. On the other hand I really love all kinds of RPG-Information, DM-Tips - even Newbie-stuff. Everyone has a slightly different approach and style - you get different opinions on matters and loads of interesting information. How to organise your stuff - how and when to play and when to discribe - acting vs telling etc. I often try stuff I never did before, try to improve my own style of DMing... And while I know Critical Role and a few other online - RPG tables, I really like more the stuff from Matt Colville, or How to be a Great GM or Seth Skokorwsky :D

[@mostlyharmless5149]

same

[@MrBlooDeck]

But I am British. I can do a British accent right?

[@Welverin]

That's just talking normal for you, not affecting an accent.

[@Wikrin]

Nope, sorry. It says here your credit score only qualifies you for a bad Jersey accent. We're sorry if that's inconvenient, but in this economy, you take what you can get.

[@catnamedvirtue5825]

No

[@MrBlooDeck]

Thanks, I'll work on my Mid-West accent right away.

[@trolleymouse]

Your accent, yes. Other British accents, no. That would be cultural appropriation.

[@thelogicalghost]

"so if you live close to work or school, move." I legitimately did bark a laugh, perfect delivery

[@collinbrooke8428]

A couple of other quick notes about why Victor is an important/memorable NPC, besides Mercer's voicing of him: -He is the most convenient source for a limited resource that one of the characters needs -He "evolves" over multiple encounters, kind of comically -Finally, without spoiling, some of the information that VM gets from him foreshadows some pretty dramatic future events My guess (tho I can't know for sure) is that Victor began as a kind of comic relief. But he turns into an important NPC pretty quickly because Mercer layered him into the life of one of the characters and into the broader plot of the story. ps. i think someone's done a supercut of his appearances if you don't want to watch the relevant vids

[@kossowankenobi]

Ya, Mercer has said that he created Victor from thin air (even, literally, the name - watch their first meeting closely :) ) and then only added to his persona once it became clear Percy would return. This is classic DM ad-lib followed up by post-game reflection.

[@tiph3802]

Someone suggested the whole point of Viktor was the break Taliesin and make him laugh, and I 100% buy it.

[@MaskofFayt]

So if I'm English I shouldn't talk like a Texan and scream "YEEHAAW" for no reason as a goblin?

[@bjornseine2342]

As a goblin? Of course you should if you feel comfortable doing it! Goblins are 250% the fun if you give them crazy voices (i.e. both accents and manerisms, mostly the later). Also as I understood it, the point was not that there was anything wrong with using accents, but that other things are more effective. If you are willing to do it, things like that still make NPCs/PCs/races more unique and therefor memorable.

[@zacharyharwell351]

As long as Texans can do an English accent and scream "Tally Ho!" for no reason I don't see a problem. Jokes aside, I found this hilarious :)

[@CuleChick11]

I once had a DM who gave all the halfling NPCs deep southern drawls. It was kinda dumb but very entertaining. You do you as long as everyone is having fun.

[@stupidhead_2812]

There is nothing that says that. Goblins are funny and should be played as funny.

[@MarinoiaParajiuana]

I give all my elves a ridiculously poor english accents in order to combat the feeling that choosing a language doesnt matter. If nobody speaks Elven.... You better be good at deciphering

[@digadigado]

The artists asking for blood type might be because they come from japanese tradition where blood type is treated like a zodiac sign where it predicts their personality.

[@mcolville]

Well that's ridiculous.

[@cloudsora]

Well I mean it's basically the same as trying to predict how people act based on astrological symbols... and yet people believe in that all the time too.

[@Renigade16]

This is the single best response I've seen all week. I laughed so hard I cried, thank you.

[@HiopX]

@@mcolville just like western horoscopes

[@christopherclubb9167]

@@cloudsora except in D&D your beliefs usually manifest in reality through various types of magic

[@KanuckStreams]

"Dwarves are short Klingons." I'm gonna be stealing this for my campaign!

[@Nerdarchy]

It comes back to the mantra of quality writing- show, don't tell. Great advice Matthew! Focus on making the characters live when presented to the players and not in voluminous notes! -Ryan

[@andrewjacks2716]

True! Good writing advice is useful for DMs, since we're engaging in the act of storytelling similar to how writers are! I'd like to argue though that you can "tell" as a DM, but you have to make your players want the information first.

[@ROYBGP]

I have no fucking idea what you just said

[@Xenibalt]

genius praising genius all is right in the world

[@farhanjazli2780]

My fav NPC from CritRole is actually the Sun Tree that talked to Keyleth. I can't repeat this enough, but I think all Matt are good DMs.

[@tamikof7786]

i know right? Out of my top 5 DM's, 3 are Matts! (Mercer, Colville, Click)

[@Noon3rs]

Well, going to go change my name now...

[@matthiasmurr84]

I hope you are right

[@brianfarmer858]

Suntree was awesome. I hope the mighty nein go to Whitestone.

[@matthewgallaway3675]

Thansk

[@ReclaimerMkII]

I do love Smaug in that animated film. As a child, that old Hobbit film planted the seed of fantasy fandom within me. "I am SMAUG. I KILL WHERE I WISH."

[@elfberserker]

I am a fan of the term "doobly-do"

[@joshuabrown-clay4858]

I believe it’s doodley-do.

[@Roma-kp4qg]

@@joshuabrown-clay4858 No it's doobly-doo, and it's from the 2000's era of KZbin (check out some old Vlogbrothers videos and you'll see what I mean!)

[@joshuabrown-clay4858]

@@Roma-kp4qg I stand corrected.

[@MrPopsnap]

think the term originates from the youtuber wheezy waiter

[@DrMaiXiang]

Here's how I do NPC voices Drow = French Elves = Welsh Dwarves = Scottish Dragonborn = Jersey/New York Mobster Gnomes = Irish Tiefling = Russian

[@JesperoTV]

"You don't like dragons, eh? It'd be a shame if something, y'no, happend to yo place heere. But accidents happen, I s'pose..."

[@aidenrobley504]

If tieflings are russian does that make a full demon Putin?

[@bluedwarf1699]

Fat Loser no, because tieflings are part devil, so a full devil is putin.

[@toastghost9145]

I don't really do dedicated accents for races, but I do have certain pitches or moods, like elves=higher/aristocratic, dwarves being gruffer or lower, dragonborn being deep and maybe raspy, gnomes and halfings being cheerful and casual, and tieflings being somber, lower.

[@JohnSmithAprilMay]

Doktar Hoo Drow = great lakes (michigander) elves = great lakes (Chicago) eladrin = great lakes (Milwaukee) dwarves = great lakes (Cleveland) dragonborn = great lakes (buffalo) tiefling = great lakes (Chicago) I found there's a lot of value in just using variations of your own accent. it makes sense to me that elves in a region will have similar accents to dwarves in the same region, but with a few minor quirks.

[@DrageDragonfly]

That NPC´s story is a good read with the context of the Ratcatchers beeing actual players ^^

[@DragonAbode]

I appreciate you acknowledging that Data mistakenly used contractions sometimes. The one time that I’ll never forget was in Datalore, after an entire episode of Lore impersonating Data, Lore had finally been Ousted.... but I got completely hung up on the fact that one of the last things Data says in that episode included a casual unhighlighted contraction. The show never did anything that justified my paranoia, but I still think about that sometimes...

[@oOPPHOo]

The philosophy I take from this, is that at least some NPCs should to some extent force players to take a stance (they are a spice most of all). The NPCs thus serve to make the PCs memorable by forcing players to shape out their own characters in response to the NPCs. Exaggeration can be a great way to achieve this as it is the hardest to ignore. The first black smith you meet is a skeptic man who believes himself wise enough to know the way of things and the way of things is orcs and their kin are bad people. The half-orc wishes for new great axe and the blacksmith with condemning sarcasm replies "My my my, how advanced! Sure I can't interest you in something simpler? OOH, maybe this rock?! I hear they're great for bashing the skulls of little girls. You would like that, wouldn't you?". I believe it's hard for a player to not then think hard about what his next words, if any, are gonna be and that's what I want. The next blacksmith could be on the other end of things: A young man who just recently set up shop. He recognizes the characters as the heroes who cleared out the bandit cave. Maybe he fumbles nervously trying to show his great appreciation while constantly apologizing for everything he does or maybe his talking is full of friendly jabs because he wants to measure himself against the heroes. The key thing here is to think about what you want to confront your players about (ex: being a hero) and the different ways persons of your world might do it (nervous gratitude or a friendly challenge). Message and expression. The third blacksmith on my list can also provoke a reaction from the players by being so utterly indifferent to everything they do. She sits at her table with her head resting lazily on her fist while the other hand slowly picks through the the pages of a book she never takes her eyes off. She speaks mostly with sounds or memorized phrases and might not even do anything if the players leave with an item unpaid for. These are not entirely organic NPCs. They have fairly specific purposes tailored around the party, but they work great for when you want their next time shopping to be memorable.

[@sacredLaggan]

oO PPH Oo wow this is some really good advice .

[@django3422]

That's all well and good but... You spice?

[@mikegould6590]

Memorable NPC's...hmmm... My advice: Take risks - Try something new, be it a voice, body language or something similar. Don't be afraid to think outside the box. If you're not good at accents, try practicing them. Change the pitch of your voice, or find unusual sentence structures for your NPCs. And don't worry if you're "not that good at it." Trust me, the more you do it, the better you'll get at it. I played a Half-Drow Sorcerer whose native tongue was Undercommon, so when he spoke to the rest of the party, who spoke Common, he would screw up verb tense or word order. Think about how romance languages differ from English in sentence structure. Use that same structure, and translate it poorly. Boom. Undercommon to Common speech. Get up - Get out of the DM's chair and stand. When you RP an NPC, the more body language you can express, the more memorable it will be. Standing up will allow for better hand movements. Facial expressions are easier to see when not behind a DM's screen. Walk around the room if you like. Walk around the table and interact with the players by their seat. This can be especially effective if the NPC has a special relationship with that character. I once had to RP an older halfling matron, and she would walk about the table and kept asking the Teifling to "take her hat off", because she could not comprehend that the Teifling had horns. She would walk up to the Teifling player and tap her gently on the arm as if the Halfling were her own mother. Take notes - When you come up with a particular NPC, write a few key notes to make that NPC consistent. It could be things like "hunches, gruff voice, complains about the rats in the basement". Use those notes to interject consistent behaviour into the encounters. I once used Mags Bennett (Justified) as the role model for an NPC in my game. I took notes on her behaviour, changed her accent to Irish, and the players kept coming back to her for help. The fact that she was the local Thieve's Guild leader in the guise of the Innkeeper was just sauce for the goose. Props - If you're not good at voices, try props. Something as simple as a few hats or a scarf could make clear which NPC the players are talking to. When the players have no doubt, neither will you that you've hit the mark. I've used something as simple as a pen when RPing a talking Animated Sword. I found that, after a few quick motions, that the players were looking at the pen and not myself. And Matt said it best: "go for it."

[@sisyphusmarble8460]

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[@grimjudgment6527]

Get up- Yes! I once made a grand thief of the thieves guild that walked with a hunch and had partial facial paralysis. Walking around the room with a hunch forcing my face to twist and contort, it hurt my face all the time. My players still remember him well as Quickpalm. Good times.

[@Nerdarchy]

+1 for great ideas/-1 for cheating on Nerdarchy with your great ideas! :P -Ryan

[@grimjudgment6527]

Nerdarchy You guys are cute with how you guys still go around on other D&D channels and comment Mike Gould and I seem to always cross paths too! By the way, thanks guys for all the good content; I may make a D&D channel myself. Happy gaming and remember, stay nerdy!

[@mikegould6590]

Nerdarchy Ryan, to resolve that, you might want to ask such a question first ;) You might also want to chase me to Web DM and DMG Info/7DSystem. Do I lose my "Nerdarchy website writer" status for sharing the love? ;)

[@GaaMacgfx]

To me It seems that you improvise NPC's backgrounds based on what they goal is, where they live, or in what class of society they are part of. This stuff it's really hard to do when you are a new DM. To me, helps if you set apart the major NPC's and the minor NPC's. The minor ones I give a little description of their personalities, goal and background, this in like, 3 lines of text. The major ones I describe the look, race, occupation, goal, a real background, previous interations with the PC's plus some information they know. The other stuff I improvise myself as every D&D game has some of it. (Sorry if I write something wrong, my english is not very polished)

[@sisyphusmarble8460]

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[@amayasasaki2848]

And that sounds a lot like what Matt Mercer from Critical Role in the GM Tips suggests, so sounds like you're doing alright. Different GMs have different opinions on how to do things. This is just one of many suggestions.

[@Sarivelle]

You like Terry Pratchett's characters too? He's my and my father's favorite author, we've read those books out loud for years. My dad does the best voices of anybody I've ever met, and I steal most of my voices from him.

[@IONATVS]

Reading good novels aloud with you family is also a great way to learn to speak with various mannerisms. It's hard at the start, but when you come across dialogue from characters with particular mannerisms, the very way it's written or described will steadily teach you how to speak with those mannerisms.

[@thekenyonsquad5672]

I've had two NPCs in my game so far who have basically been the dude who gives the party their quests. the second is far more memorable for the players than the first from the moment they met him. this NPC is so memorable that one of my players who also DMs told me that he wrote him into his game. the "secret" is that he was a Commander named Ander. as it turns out, it sounds ridiculous when you say Commander Ander and I didn't know what I had made until I said it out loud, but it stuck and will probably go down in history.

[@iMorphious]

At first my knee jerk reaction was that "No! Backstories are extremely important!" But then remembered that we are talking NPCs. I as a DM feel like character backstories are so very important, especially if you want the players to feel like their story or game is memorable. Using things that the players make up, I have found at least, brings either a twinkle to their eye, or a look of personal fear because they know what is ahead to an extent. But I can see merit in a backstory coming together as the story plays out.

[@WolfmanXD]

For me, a memorable critical role npc is pamuut sol. Though judging from how long ago this video was posted, this was before season 2.

[@hannaburnett9381]

Mercer is just great at creating memorable *shopkeeps* specifically! I mean, other stuff too, but all his most memorable NPCs always seem to be shopkeepers.

[@claudiolentini5067]

@@hannaburnett9381 there's actually a great implicit advice to be taken there i think. As Jacob of XP to level 3 says, having interesting, mostly good-natured shopkeeps is a great way to have engaging roleplay moments, cause in almost every game you play your players wanna buy or sell stuff.

[@aqacefan]

Yeah… the CR clip dates back to before they kicked Orion. Dayyyyyyyymn that’s old.

[@ShivaX51]

I'd say Lady Kima and Jarrett are memorable characters as well. Kima especially since she has no "wacky accent" or anything, but by the way she talks and acts you get her personality immediately.

[@lucasyoungers]

I created an NPC that my players have loved more than any other, and it was, to an extent, the product of a funny voice and a quirky personality. His name is Wilpip, and he runs a magical shop called Wilpip's Wonders. He's an incredibly old and very short gnome, with a white beard trailing down to his ankles, and he "sells" his wares to the players for the price of other strange oddities they've encountered on their quest. For example, one of my players ended up getting their hands on a tentacle from a Pentadrone, which they traded to Wilpip for a hat that summons birds each day. Another player learned to carve wood, and created a bunch of odd looking mushrooms that they traded Wilpip for a stone of healing (you hit someone with the stone to heal them). He's not a complicated NPC, and he was meant to be a one-off originally, but he was so universally love that I made him a recurring character, and his shop will just pop up wherever the party happens to be every couple of sessions.

[@SirKaibel]

Wow, that farmer after story was awesome. Really gets you thinking how to treat NPCs!

[@areshseptango9619]

I wonder if the blood type thing is because of the japanese inherited tradition of using bloodtypes kinda like we use the zodiac to get a broad idea of a persons personality

[@BGFuel]

Came here to say this. In Japan bloodtype is supposed to to be predictive/reflective of personality, and is used as a short hand to show the character "type."

[@abacadian]

Glad someone flagged this up. :-)

[@dragonzord6615]

personally, i come here for that fabulous beard :P The content is second

[@cacho100uva]

Mathew, that small story for what happened next with the farmers family... just so great. The pleading of the children and the mother, the uncomfortable realization that the father, for pride and justice, was about to deprive them from something so valuable that would make their days just a bit easier was so palpable it almost broke my heart. Good stuff.

[@kidsfringer]

HAHAHA! Victor the black powder merchant was the first that came to mind. . . .the animated series are so hilarious. Also memorable was Lady Kima (sp?) She's memorable because she's SO badass, and it was her adherance to her personal code of integrity that makes her so memorable.

[@Rummppot]

Lady Kima - the personification of the phrase "lawful good doesn't always mean lawful nice"

[@UtushoReiuji]

This is the most useful one for everyone so far. With backgrounds you really gotta keep it to 20 words or less, sometimes I'll see a player going in with a novella and I just have to break their heart by telling them it's far too much. As for NPCs, my own secret thing is figuring how they think they could make use of the PCs. One of my favorite instances was a party asking a farmer if he knew of any work and he immediately went it "Well, we got harvest coming up, if you fellers are willing to pick some fruit for the next few weeks, you'll earn a good meal and a warm bed while you're working and we'll let throw in a few coppers and a basket of what you pick too, maybe more if you work hard enough" The PCs may want to find a problem they can resolve through violence, but those apples aren't going to pick themselves.

[@totallynotshirouemiya6957]

4 years later and still a great video

[@cristianbelleville3394]

This is what I really needed to truly flesh out my NPCs. A man isn't defined by the way he speaks, but by what he says, why he says it, and how he says it. Perspective, motivation, and expression. It seems too simple at first but it's really defines NPCs very well.

[@RayPoreon]

Pretty much all of my current DMs NPCs had something to do with military, and most of them were "I swear I'm not a furry" races like Avians or cat people. Most of my group, myself included, got sick of the military porn and just looked for the ones in charge so we could annoy them.

[@kevingriffith6011]

Something that I found helps *a lot* for learning how to toy around with the kind of rapid-fire NPC work that DMing sometimes requires is to just outright practice it. Grab a friend or a player and sit down for a few minutes to an hour and RP out little scenarios that often wind up improvised by DMs (Interrogations, Shopkeepers, that sort of thing). Maybe write up some cards that give you a setup for the scene in an ad-libbed sort of way. It's good practice for both sides of the table, plus it can be quite fun in it's own right!

[@1simo93521]

My advise for NPCs is to change your natural seating position, body language, facial expressions and posture. you will feel like a different person and therefore act like a different person. If your a proud knight sit up straight look the players in the eyes and speak in a determined manner. If your an under world thug hunch over sneer at the players act uninterested and annoyed. etc

[@Arborhawk]

The use of particular wording is really good. I need to use that with the big NPC encounter coming up in my game this weekend.

[@CommieApe]

Class Consciousness in general is something people need to learn and understand. Your economic conditions define who you are and who you become. If you want to know about a place or people look into the economics and politics it shapes.

[@Smashface_McBourbondick]

One of the most memorable NPC's I made was initially just a random Court Wizard, but the Druid wanted to buy spell components for Reincarnate, which is described as "Rare oils and unguents worth at least 1,000 gp". I started off by describing how the Wizard took a bit of the oil and rubbed it on his skin, but with each subsequent visit he'd get greasier and greasier, and it got to the point where he'd just emerge from a barrel coated head to toe in the viscous oil. The PC's ended up murdering him to steal his oil, but he just revived himself with Clone and came back a few hours later with the guards, so the party had to run away and never come back for fear of the vengeful Grease Mage.

[@JT1698]

Your dragonborns sound like the lead singer for Metallica.

[@skibbydibs]

I didn't know you could make Dragonborn sound like tables. Cool.

[@JT1698]

What?

[@skibbydibs]

It's a joke about the Lulu album. One of the songs called "The View" has Hetfield yelling "I AM THE TABLE!" over and over, and it became a bit of a meme.

[@JT1698]

epikpepsi ew...memes...

[@JesperoTV]

eew... a meme hater...

[@reinaldovilla4149]

@1:11 I have not watched Crit roll. But I have been going over your content before I start DMing, for the first time. You've done me a great service, and thank you.

[@zacharyorzech9321]

the first time I heard Matthew Colville's dragonborn accent/mannerism, I started doing it. my players love it.

[@TheExplosivvo]

Great Video Matt, I just want to make reference to something you said above: As I am currently reading through your second book, I find it refreshing that the majority of your characters speak in the more contemporary style. I also like how you made the use of the olde english by some characters such a major part of the story in your first book and something that is jarring for the main character to hear. The fake accent that some attribute to a fantasy or middle-age setting sounds more like (and I'm paraphrasing here) "...something that they felt people must have spoken like in some by-gone era" and less authentic. When I'm DM-ing (thanks to you) I speak as I normally would and if my players want to put on some gravitas and do some fancy speak its up to them, but most don't as my example lets them feel more at ease to act how they want.

[@zeedar412]

Matt, you are awesome. So many videos in such a short time. You are spoiling us. :D

[@ArawnNox]

When you mention NPCs reacting to players with suspicion made me think of the Curse of Strahd game I'm in. I play a tiefling and the DM has been very consistent in making everyone react to my character. Very frequently people freak out, "The devil has come for me!" So, when a group of NPCs -didn't- react to me, raised my hackles and made us suspicious of the situation. The NPCs themselves weren't memorable, but the versimilitude is what was more memorable.

[@HankCarver]

Hey Matt, any experience with the Adventure Zone podcast? Griffin McElroy does a great job of making NPCs memorable.

[@MinecraftIndiana]

Angus McDonald is excellent.

[@empty_sea8274]

Garfield the DEaLs WArLOcK

[@Fiasko-]

Somehow Griffin made almost every character memorable. Although Angus is probably my favourite

[@VidGamer123]

@@Fiasko- HELLO SIRS!

[@ChristopherCampbell1337]

I run a game that includes a guy who played in one of Matt's games a few years ago (I think he worked with Matt). I use the dragonborn voice because Matt's point about their lack of lips is a spot on observation. Well, that player finally met a dragonborn in game so I got the chance to do the voice. Later, the player pulled me aside and said "That voice gave me flashbacks. Those self-righteous dragonborn assholes..." LOL such a huge compliment for me.

[@brockreedy9393]

You're a cool guy Matt, I like you.

[@CorbiniteVids]

I'm only partway through the first campaign I've ever played and already the DM has made this one character super memorable to all of us in the game. He was a lich, introduced in a legitimately frightening way. At first seemed normal, but hooded, then once we attracted his attention he stood up straight and was super tall, revealed his undead face, and just started SCREAMING. At first it was happy screaming, we accidentally earned his favor, and he was just excitedly screaming super high pitched, but we eventually... lost his favor, and he literally screamed until we fell unconscious. And we have a near pc death every time we encounter him. Still every time we hear a character's voice before seeing them, if there's any screaming there's this "oh god no" response. It's amazing. I'd say that's a pretty good example of why memorable npcs can really elevate the experience, it really immerses us in the continuity between encounters with him.

[@WeretigerX]

In my game, I assigned English accents to Elves and some Half-Elves while doing American accents for Humans with some overlap since they mostly live in similar spaces in my campaign world.

[@FishoD]

I'm on a binge watch of your "Running the game" series and I fell in love with you thrice now. First because how well you explain the DM role and what to do. Second because you said you work at Turtlerock studios (I absolutely love L4D and Evolve) and now you're telling me you wrote 98% of Evolve character banter? MAN I LOVED THOSE. They gave the game a character with just words that not even Overwatch can achieve (Overwatch had to use much more material like trailers and videos than just initial banter before a mission for me to to see the characters as actual characters)

[@cubemasterkarma]

I dunno. I actually really like the channel the way it's been running. I'm a bit of a beginner at DMing (a.k.a. I'm floundering), so the running the game videos are not only very interesting, but also very helpful. Plus, the campaign diaries are pretty engaging, so not only am I getting some insight on how to run the game through Matt's eyes, it's also a good story! The review videos are just nice to listen to in the background. So thanks for all the entertainment! I really like your videos!

[@keithwinget526]

My most memorable npc was one i had never intended to make memorable at all. She was a halfling investigator's asistant named Renee Mavencourt, and after the fact I realized I had somehow patterned her after Felicity Smoak from Arrow. I didn't realize this until one of my players pointed it out. The thing that made her most memorable, though, was how attendant she was about rules and regulations and her everquill she used to take down notes and messages. Her boss was pretty memorable, too. He was a very latin-language inspired tiefling fellow named Salvador with a well-groomed appearance and blue skin of all things. Again, not created to be memorable. It just happened by accident.

[@orcassio17]

After reading Willem's perspective, I realize I've been playing NPC's all the same way. Sure with different traits and mannerisms, but ultimately none of them have had actual opinions about things other than what the PC's spoke with them about. Time to, yet again, overhaul my DM-ing approach. Thanks Matt!

[@DunantheDefender]

One of the most memorable NPCs I ever crafted was a door.

[@willmendoza8498]

My current campaign’s list of NPCs includes 3 mountains, a lake, and a thunderstorm, so I get it...

[@kindredtoast3439]

The way you talk in these videos is so cool. So concise, so fast yet understandable. I just paused at 6:40 and felt more like it should be 12:something. And then thought to myself "Yay, that just means I get to watch more."

[@theDMsCraft]

Wonderful advice for new DMs

[@dominicparker6124]

Doing crazy accents as a Dm reminds me of an old music joke of 'play a wrong note once, that's bad. Play a wrong not twice, that's really bad. Play a wrong note three times and you have jazz'.

[@ViniciusLuiggi]

NPC's need to be memorable so players will care about them, and about the plot that happens outside of them because being fair players know you will not flat out kill them, but they know you might kill npc's at will so if they care about npc's everything feels more intense.

[@frostspawn6718]

WOW, i read your farmer pdf after watching this video having no knowledge other than what you said here and that letter. and I even so sad for that farmer and his family i cried! Great job!!!

[@lonelygiant]

So…. queer? Essentially… the way you make memorable NPCs is make them… queer? You know… I think you may be right.

[@michaelbuxton2179]

I love how you include these little extras to enforce how your players impact the world around them! Watching this series is really inspiring me to run a game my self to the point that I'm considering reaching out to my current friend group, I'm mid thirties and kinda worried what the reception will be. Before when I thought about running a game I got bogged down and overwhelmed by trying to create every detail they may encounter ahead of time. But I'm learning to start small and hunt at a bigger world and to let it build its self as and when I need it to. There may be a huge city 30 miles away but the PCs might not go there for 5-6 levels so i don't need to worry about filling it out, just give it a name. Even if they go to explore it I can create a section or district at a time. Ie a 'village' within the city an not a city with thousands of npcs that all need some context.

[@asherniles1707]

Matt Colville's Dragonborn accent is the Mandaran from Iron Man 2.

[@valuebrandmelkor5973]

"I'm an ak-tor."

[@cloudsora]

I'd say for a memorable NPC they just have to fill some archetype you normally don't see in a campaign filled with heroism and adventure, my players (2/3) cried when an NPC who treated them as if she were their mother died because... well they screwed up and basically antagonized the BBEG who was too powerful for them in front of her. She, so they could escape sacrificed herself. I loved the way you spoke as a dragonborn and honestly as I thought about it, it made more and more sense so when my players finally ran into one I tried to make that voice... and I realized I need to practice it. Also I can apparently do a Goblin voice very well because I have a bomb mad goblin NPC "Alchemist" who my players absolutely love. That and a big dumb orc with a heart of gold... just... don't get him angry. Finally for anyone watching Crit Role and this looking for how else to make a memorable NPC/Story (in my opinion the latter is more important) check out High Rollers, it's really great and the DM is a long time friend with Matt Mercer as well funny enough.

[@charlieleelee]

I always try to avoid the "British" accent for my NPCs. I use a lot of southern accents, but that's mainly because I'm from the south. There's only a few NPCs that I actually work on making memorable, namely those that will be reoccurring. However, most of my players remember a lot of the NPCs that they interact with. I also only write backgrounds for characters for my own entertainment. :)

[@karahtar]

I just read the NPC's side after the encounter and I gotta say, I'm truly impressed. That was a great read that put things in perspective and it was only 2 pages long. I envy your talent Matt Colville!

[@calacestar]

NPC must be believable, not memorable. The latter is optional!

[@totlyepic]

Mad props for bringing up Smaug from the Rankin-Bass adaptation. I've absolutely loved that movie since I was a kid (and I was raised in the 90s), and I still enjoy occasionally rewatching it now.

[@jameswilson5087]

"I listen to NPR because I like to know what's going on." -BOOM!

[@WoollyLuke]

When Matt talks about playing the subservient Cleric npc, note that he says that he felt like he was cheating by adding the stammer, & that it was something he remembered seeing done in something he used to watch. I'll bet there was something about the stammerer in that show that Matt really liked as well. My point is this: A memorable character often happens when the DM or player thinks of an idea that is fun, even if it doesn't necessarily seem like the best fit--but it helps the story rather than hinders it; and that there was something familiar enough about that thing you're doing to just start that performance. The most memorable characters people portray often have traits that the performer has known, from family members, friends, tv or film characters. I was performing on stage & screen for years till one event where I got to be one of several people reciting poetry, each part written from the perspective of characters from the Easter story. Mine was a villainous priest who was acting on a very sincere conviction to save his people from Christ & calling his people to be strong. I suddenly had the idea of playing him like Emperor Palpatine but with more of a rasp & cough. I worried that it'd be too cheesy & the writer-director would tell me to knock it off; but I didn't back down, the director didn't stop it, & audience members loved it. Regardless, I learnt that sometimes it's a really good idea to just do something for the sake of your own fun even while hoping that it won't wreck the story. Because if your enjoying it, your audience (players) will enjoy it more.

[@elijahdavila3684]

Your dragonborn accent sounds like Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin.

[@PowerGamesDev]

I actually found this channel back in 2017 or 2018 by searching "Hot to DM" when my friend wanted to play. This year, I finished my first level 1-20 campaign, which took about 2 years.

[@MrJackoL]

Had fun making a old blind gnoll character who became a friend of the players. Whenever I talked with them I just looked off into the room, above their heads. Gotta say understanding what the character's habits/mannerisms are a big part. Like when Mercer was hunched over, shifting his jaw over, and just using his body as another part of making them memorable.

[@johansws]

I always think he says "Independent Fancy Author"

[@Jasems001]

It’s crazy I am just seeing these videos now. They are amazing

[@headrockbeats]

I actually liked the campaign diaries more than the actual play footage. They're far more succinct, skipping the irrelevant parts that I just don't have the time for...

[@DocFleg]

I don't know why, but what you did with Edric for your friend that you were playing with was so beautiful to me. It made me tear up. I just started DMing (after being a player for a whopping 1 time), and I have loved every one of your videos that I've seen, so far. You're great, and I thank you for helping me learn to be a river to my people.

[@kevinbeck8836]

9:43 I knew this guy from watching westerns with my dad! So damn cool, I love cowboy Smaug 🤠

[@allisonhowle]

The "long drive" comment is hilarious. This is how I formed most of my NPC's voices. Really good info, as always!

[@altromonte15]

you say that it's not important to know the backstory of npc but only their motivation and personality, but isn't writing a a backstory a way to came up with their motivations and personality? sure, a guard is generally gonna be suspicious of strangers and try to avoid dangers, but maybe i know the players will have to interact a lot with one specific group of guards for some quest, so i write down a bit of backstory to make them feel more real, maybe bobby the guard was raised by gnomes and isn't suspicious at all, but the guard captain Bill had his leg eaten by a ghoul and now is especially afraid of undeads, not so much of normal people i'm not saying that you need a backstory to decide the personality of an npc and obviously you're not gonna write something for every random hobo on the street, but i think it's good to have something written down: it helps you being coherent, remembering how the npc is between sessions and decide rapidly what the npc would do if the players do something you didn't expect and you had not thought about

[@mcolville]

It's a way to do it, sure. But one I find a needless distraction.

[@fabledredeyes]

Looking back, this video helped me immensely to become a much better writer in the four years that passed since I first watched it. Thanks.

[@kokushin55]

I don't think, as you said, that a DM should aspire to make a character memorable. They should be believable and interesting, if it is going to be a recurring NPC, easy to remember (with distinct flaw or accent). PCs are the ones that make those characters memorable with their interactions. And they often make memorable the NPC you least expected. And Matt, please, don't be "pressured" to do any type of video. Most of us that don't comment often are here because we love how you tell stories, how you explain your ways of DMing and how your share the things you are passionate about. And your hair of course. The whole package basically 😀. /* Start of subliminal message ************** Lost Mines of Phandelver prep video ********* * End of subliminal message **********/ 😀😀😀

[@kimhill3614]

I was watching an old episode of Adventuring Party with Brennan Lee Mulligan and Brian Murphy when they recommended this channel. Anyhow, thanks so much for all this great wisdom, and thanks for getting straight to the point! I'm hoping these videos are going to be the intel I need to get me to my first campaign as a DM. Fingers crossed!

[@jasonfrancis9262]

I'm English and I have a stereotypical southern English accent, but my current character is a rogue who has a thousand voices, Boston, Cockney, Russian. I'm not even sure which is the real one.

[@kossowankenobi]

perfect! :)

[@Nerdarchy]

Lol, please tell me you've used an American accent at one point at time! :D -Ryan

[@theark890]

I make NPC notecards for all my important npcs (ones that effect story, ones I predict will be talked to a lot, etc), and I make notecards for “random npcs” I need. On the notecards I put mannerisms, accent, quirks, appearance details, inventory, morality, story leads, personal interests, trust lvl, battle disposition (whether they will help in a fight) and some base stats (hp, strength, wis-perception, etc) just in case they assist in battle. Doesn’t take a whole lot of time, and if you’re not super creative like me, just make them after people you know, tv/movie characters, etc.

[@THEMADDMAXX67]

Damn Matt. It's 6:18am (EST) where I'm at. did you work on this all night?

[@calebscorner6428]

I put in a crazy voice for a character and the players giggled at first, but after a minute of speaking to them and interacting, they acted normal. After the game in our group chat he keep talking about how much they liked them and wonder how he’s doing now. Thank you Matt!

[@RakabooEntertainment]

What you're using for your Dragonborn voice is called a Dialect. The difference between a Dialect and an Accent is that an Accent carries parts of one language to another, while a Dialect carries variations of one language to itself. For English speakers German, French, and Italian are Accents. For English speakers Australian, Scottish, and Southern are Dialects. If you are basing your speech off of another language, it's an Accent, but if it's derived from variants of one language it's a Dialect.

[@ryanw8509]

This is not at all the difference between accents and dialects. Accents are variations in pronunciation. Dialects are variations of pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. These variations usually arise because of differences in class or location of the speakers. Eg. Cockney and Received Pronunciation are two different English accents that are both spoken in the same place (London, England). But a cockney and a speaker with an RP accent both speak the same dialect. Even a cockney and a New Yorker with a "New Yawk" accent both speak the same dialect. Although there are some differences in lingo, and speech patterns, it isn't significant enough to severely hamper communication (usually). The Cockney and the "New Yawkeh" both speak the same dialect. Singlish (Singaporean English) however, is a different dialect. It's still English, but the differences in the way a Cockney and a Singlish user speak English is so significantly different that the Cockney likely won't understand more than a handful of words the Singaporean person uses. (seriously, look up videos of a person using Singlish and see how much you can understand, it's very hard for most western English speakers to understand much, but it's still considered English.)

[@unknownman2449]

Australian is not a dialect. It is an abomination.

[@levigoings4061]

I love how straight cut and right to the point this is.

[@Abelhawk]

I love running my Warcraft-setting game so I can put Jamaican-accent-speaking trolls into my games :D

[@williammills2092]

It's funny, I don't remember ever actually watching the Rankin-Bass Hobbit movie, but that voice for Smaug has, as far back as I can remember, always been roughly how I've imagined the natural voices of Dragons to sound like.

[@JupiKitten]

I typically like to have a large chart (like 1-100) that I can roll for npc mannerisms and quirks handy behind the DM screen. I don't usually use it for NPCs I'd planned for, but its super helpful when you have to make them on the fly.

[@kossowankenobi]

There's also a little trick that came from back in ye good ole Amber RPG's descriptors - through to Fate - then lifted by John Wick and Houses of the Blooded - then I was thrilled to see in 5E. The idea of "3 things". When planning, if you feel the need to flesh out an NPC (even a villain) - stick to only 3 sentences or short phrases (5E's ideals/bonds/flaws) that describe them. That is all. This is more important than stat blocks. Use that to provide roleplaying direction but as Matt says - once that NPC is born, the paperwork doesn't mean much - roll with your gut. Feel free to change them, or use them as a parachute if you get into trouble. We also used it for PCs in my last campaign (using Pathfinder) and the players found it really useful to provide focus for their characters' motivations.

[@beorn379]

perfect timing for a 6:30 AM DM study session

[@GaaMacgfx]

7:30 AM here, so yeah. Perfect indeed.

[@unluckyfudge7520]

pshhhh 5:30 am here...

[@Milquetoastfireball]

Pillars of Eternity is a great example of varying accents and mannerisms for characterization. And a great example of Matt Mercer talking like a hayseed.

[@xWhiteNova44x]

This reminds me of a post I read about Darksouls. "People:Darksouls lore is mysterious and evocative. Darksouls:they call him big hat Logan because he wears a big hat"

[@gamina8674]

So what I got from this is that making the character feel like a real person with motivations and emotions is a way to make NPC "memorable" without giving them crazy, silly, or extreme personalities or voices. Thats great advice. I'm going to take this to heart.

[@marsgreekgod]

running the game is my main thing. but if you make content you like you make better content!