Top 5 Ways To Build Memorable NPCs

Our Professional Dungeon Masters are often asked how to create memorable NPCs. In a nutshell many of them will tell you that they take people from their own lives and turn up the volume… but it is a bit more technical than that.

Here's a slightly longer answer....

The best way to think of your NPCs is they're your pawns, your campaign building blocks, and if used correctly, your strategists. No campaign world can run and remain interesting without them, and characterisation of your NPC’s is the way players humanise with your world and get the most of your game. Immersion is the number one element that at Rolldark Game Master Agency we care about most. So when you take one of our DMs for hire, you get whisked away to the Forgotten Realms while never leaving the comfort of your dining room.

Below you will find 5 elements to consider when building your NPC’s, developing rich three-dimensional people, capable of forming real connections with your players. These points work more of a tick box list that is easy to follow, and you can get on top of NPC creation for beginners and not suffer from overthinking one NPC to another:

1. Give them a backstory. Consider tragedy and circumstances, why are they there, doing whatever it is they’re doing?

2. Flesh them out further, what are they particularly good at? Give them stat blocks, and what skills do they struggle with? If they have a special skill, how does this interweave with their backstory?

3. Give them an agenda. What is it that they want in this scene? Don’t be afraid to play the game like you want them to win and your players to fail, it will make the game so much more interesting if there is more at stake

4. Make them quirky and avoid class race typecasts: An Elf Druid is not as interesting as an Orc florist.

5. Give them grudges and favourites. Favouritism and distrust can make for extremely funny interactions between your players and NPC's