Writing Non-Player Characters: What Information Matters? (Patreon)

Now that Blades of the Lunar Kingdom and Denizens of Mountains & Seas are complete (Champion Patrons, make sure you check the Google Drive you have access to), I've found myself debating between working on the setting and the NPCs (non player characters) that occupy it. I decided that I would tackle the most difficult one - fantasy NPCs inspired by the history of the lesser known Chinese state of Yue. 

As with all design, research is the first step. I wanted to see how other publishers/game systems portrayed NPCs. What information is conventional?

Let's start with Wizards of the Coast. How do they approach NPCs? In their latest release Rime of the Frost Maiden, the first NPC players meet in the Cold-Hearted Killer introductory quest is Hlin Trollbane - "a retired bounty hunter who has been stalking a serial killer ever since she found a connection between three murders and a small trading company called Torg’s". This character serves as a mechanism for involving the characters in the politics of the Ten Towns setting. In their usual fashion, the writing team behind this book provided ample pre-written dialogue to further reinforce Hlin's purpose in the narrative. Hlin is portrayed as:

• a neutral good shield dwarf
• a retired bounty hunter with excellent survival instincts
• having the stats of an unarmoured veteran who "wields a battleaxe and handaxe instead of a longsword and shortsword"
• she has many enemies throughout the Sword Coast, prompting her to move to Icewind Dale

I enjoy the amount of detail the writers put into this character, but the bulk of the text primarily serves to drive a single narrative. Is there enough information to use Hlin Trollbane as an NPC in something more open ended? I tend to think not. While there is a bit of information about her background, references to stats, and that she has "enemies", there's much that isn't included.

Now, on the other end of the NPC spectrum is Castle Xintillan by Gabor Lux. It is purely an OSR setting toolkit for the eponymous Castle Xyntillan and the town of Tours-en-Savoy. In this toolkit, NPCs are very minimalistic. For example, Fernand Bonnel the handsome proprietor of the local tavern, is presented as:

That's really it. A bunch of relatively system agnostic stats. However, it is the way that Fernand is introduced to the reader that provides a bit more context. Where Hlin Trollbane is meant to drive a particular plot device forward (she is, in fact, the major plot hook), Fernand serves a different purpose. Details (or lack thereof) are provided alongside location information for the Black Comedian - the local tavern. Fernand can provide the PCs with food, lodgings, and "the special" (rumors about the town). His function as a character to add flavour or (mis)direction to the story works really well. 

But there's still something missing for my ideal NPC presentation.

Occupying the space between these two examples is one of my favourite adventure modules, Kidnap the Archpriest by Skerples. Similar to Castle Xyntillan, this is an OSR toolkit, but with a bit more direction. The players are tasked with kidnapping the heretical archpriest of a metropolitan city. It has instructions on how this can be adapted to multiple genres - this is important when you take into consideration how the NPCs are framed.

Let's look at Issac Bacterian - agent of His Dread Majesty. 

This NPC serves a similar role to Hlin Trollbane as he provides the players with their "mission". However, unlike the D&D NPC, this is ALL that you are provided: appearance, voice, wants, morality, intelligence, and stats. It's very minimalistic, despite serving the same purpose. There's a lot more room to adapt this character to meet any of your needs. This amount of information also actively encourages the GM to modify their own backstories. 

As an added detail, the NPCs that the players HAVEN'T met have a "as the PCs known him now) note. 

So what do I want to do?

Post-Blades, the first NPC I wrote for Chronicles of Spring & Autumn was the Lady of Yue - a master swordswoman and trainer of King Zhao's army. She's based on a folk hero named Yuenü and a tale called Maiden of the Southern Forest. At the moment, I've laid out some preliminary details to establish a relationship with the PCs, the broader setting, and the specific location they are currently inhabiting.

Thus far, I want to include: name, appearance, voice, motivations, demeanor (to avoid the pitfalls of alignment), intelligence, and stats (as a point of reference). I also want to add contextual details like "what are they doing now?" - this will be a table with options for initial character interactions and context for their relationship with a location.