Session #12: My Greatest Weakness are NPCs that Players Like

I feel like I've talked a lot about things I feel confident in with ttrpgs and things I think I'm good at so now...now is the time to admit what I think is my greatest failing: NPCs.

Now, to be entirely clear, creating NPCs is not my problem. I enjoy planning NPCs and I do think my improved NPCs are relatively great. The issue I have is consistency. I have a very hard time remembering how NPCs acted, how they should react to the players, the world around them etc. To me, NPCs feel like the pot boiling over. The last moving puzzle piece to the GMs campaign that feels like a bit too much.

I've played in campaigns where the GM has this ability to bring back NPC whether they at the front of the players mind or not. Meanwhile I feel like I forget about NPCs that have been supposedly following after the players for weeks. (I'm talking to you Lulu, you where a pinnacle NPC that I almost never remembered to include.)

Some of this weakness I will blame on my ADHD as I find that I struggle a lot with object permanence (think how excited a baby gets while playing "peak-a-boo" only now imagine being an adult). It is one of those unfortunate side effects to have as someone who enjoys being a GM as if I don't have it written in my notes...it never existed. It's a problem as recent as last night where my players shucked out a full name, description, and history of an NPC and I stared at them like they'd just slapped me across the face.

Anyway, I'm not hear just to complain about my failings. Instead, I'm hoping I can use this as a way to hopefully help you all do better while I try to do better.

There are two types of NPCs that I struggle mostly with:

1. NPCs that my players like

2. NPCs that my players want or need to bring along

The NPCs that my players like.

Now I'm guessing most of you are asking "Julia, if they like the NPC, then just put the work into prepping for them." And I do...or I try to.

Here's an example: Ireena from Curse of Strahd. She's a pretty major NPC for the campaign. Even if she's killed, she is the initial driver for Strahd to come after the players. And my players liked Ireena. I made her into a far more savior rather than a damsel looking to be protected. Some of that was how they naturally wrote her in the campaign book...a lot of that was because I couldn't keep up with her.

My players started by taking her with them, assuming she was safer with them than sitting in a boarded up home while Strahd tried to take her over and over again. One of the players even had a backstory tied to Ireena when she was Tatyana. And yet, after they started to explore the farther reaches of Barovia and my hands were full with all of the different locations and puzzles and travel...I decided that Ireena would feel a personal connection to keeping the towns people of Vallaki safe.

Was it a bad way to defer the work? No, and it did help ensure the players kept returning to Vallaki to check in on her. But I do wonder if the campaign would have been different if I'd let her stay with the players. If I'd had her run by one of the other players and grow and improve with them rather than trying to throw a Noble stat block at vampire thralls.

How am I going to improve here, then?

1. Improve on taking notes during the sessions of how the NPCs interact with the characters (and vice versa)

2. Create a list of "things to do" for them that they would be doing during their free time.

3. Give them proper motivation unrelated to the players.

By doing the above this makes me feel like they're more "automated" in how they interact with the world. "Is NPC A at the tavern" "No, because you all didn't agree to help him so he's going to save the orphans himself." That way the players can have an impactful NPC that has more of a brain than just waiting around for the players to interact with them.

NPCs that my players want or need to bring along.

I discovered the horror of this while running my first campaign of Descent to Avernus where Lulu became nothing more than an NPC that just showed up when she was needed. Was there ever a risk of her dying? Nope, that would mean she'd have to be involved in the actual story. Now, it didn't help that my players didn't really care about Lulu so they even forgot that she was there but I've heard about so many other fun and horrifying stories of people interacting with Lulu that I feel like I really missed out on this one.

Generally, I just forget that these NPCs are here if no one brings attention to them. I feel like a juggler that just got asked to add a fourth ball (to those of you that aren't fellow jugglers, adding a fourth ball is the same thing as running your first marathon in the Olympics).

The characters end up getting set to the side and very typically become flat and one dimensional. They are just things to drag along and even when my players ask if they're joining the fight I frequently tell them no because I can't add yet another stat block to keep track of.

How am I going to improve here, then?

1. Designate one of my players to control their stat block during combat.

2. Put together clear motivations on why the NPC is with the players.

3. Have the NPC ask one question at the beginning of the session about any of the players.

Being doing this I feel like it both gives me a good base to roleplay the NPC from while also using the NPC to help influence the other players to roleplay. If there is anything I like about traveling NPCs is that they can be used to ask the questions that need to be asked or to help create space for backstory reveals and solid discussions. Not having to run another stat block is just a bonus of it all.

And then what?

Well, after all of that talking it's now time to change to a bunch of doing. Some of it is going to require a bit more prep on my end but I'll feel less like I'm floating in an ocean (hopefully). And, if I can great better NPCs I hope it will help flush out more of the worlds that I try to create and add more depth for my players to better enjoy.

What do you all think? Do you struggle with NPCs? Do you have any recommendations? Do you have any GM weaknesses that you are trying to improve on?

Looking forward to your sentiments.

See you next session.

Julia