hello adventurers and welcome back to the fantasy Forge let's talk about 10 techniques that you can use to create better and more engaging NPCs the first thing you want to do is give an NPC a distinct personality that one seems kind of like a no-brainer but so many DMS and I am 100 guilty of this myself fall into the same voice the same personality but if you just put a little bit of thought into a personality for every NPC you're going to create somebody with a unique personality unique traits
mannerisms that make them differentiate from one another so think about things like their attitude their speech patterns their body language and all of those things that can bring their personality to life and make them more memorable because somebody who talks like this is going to be a lot different than someone who talks like this so consider all of those things the second thing you want to think about is how you can develop their backstories you don't have to create super detailed and compel
ling backstories for your NPCs but if you can think a little bit about why this person is working in this tavern why haven't they gone off to adventure maybe think about why they chose this profession or why they're living in this city little things that you can do to create more believable NPCs for your player characters to interact with and that little twist of creating meaningful connections between NPCs and the world that you created that your characters live in you're adding depth and compl
exity to their characters just by thinking about their goals and their struggles the third thing you want to do is know their flaws if you create an NPC one of the first things and one of the most important things that you can do is consider their flaws and their vulnerabilities this is what makes them relatable to everybody period so think about little things maybe one of your NPCs is quick to anger or another one loves gold just too much these little things are going to make them so much more
memorable because your players aren't going to say oh that Tavern keep they're going to say the tavern keep that took the bribe or the commoner that tried to sell them some paraphernalia beyond that if the NPC becomes somebody who is a recurring character then what you've done is provided opportunity for character growth and character development just by adding flaws because now you can think about how the NPC is affected by those flaws and how they can overcome the if they actually turn into so
mebody that your players come back to time and time again the fourth thing you want to do is provide memorable and visual descriptions chances are you are sitting at a table and you probably don't have a photo for every single NPC you probably don't have art prepared as a DM your biggest tool is your descriptions your voice your storytelling so make sure that you're using Vivid and descriptive language to paint a clear picture of your NPC including their clothing and their distinctive features t
hings like scars or hair color or posture these are all things that they can really remember and make sure that you're engaging your players imaginations by highlighting unique things about them that are visually striking or intriguing the fifth thing that you want to do is to use unique and evocative voices you can assign specific voices or accents to your NPCs to make them instantly recognizable and add depth to their characterizations right you can immediately pick out a Morgan Freeman becaus
e everybody knows what his voice sounds like so try experimenting with different tones different pitches speech patterns all of those little things to bring the personality to life and really enhance player engagement now the sixth thing you want to do is to think about your mpc's quarks think about their idiosyncrasies or their habits that make them stand out and leave a lasting impression on players if there's an NPC that says the same thing often or maybe a quark that is physical or behaviora
l such as they're constantly trying to steal things we all know Fern from critical role these little things add more interest and make your NPCs a little more memorable so think about little things that you can do to make them stand out just a little bit more the seventh thing you want to do is to know what their motives are if you know what their flaws are then you want to make sure that you determine what their motives are this stems from their desires or their fears because these things are g
oing to guide their actions it's either going to be something they want or something that they're trying to avoid happening and these actions are what become the decision-making tools that help your story go just a little bit farther so understand what it is that your NPC wants understand what they're afraid of and you're going to get a much more realistic character with a lot more depth that your players can interact with and it's going to help the story unfold in a much more memorable way I pr
omise you the eighth thing you want to do is to involve your NPCs in the story now you don't need to do this all the time but integrating NPCs into the narrative by giving them meaningful roles and involvement in the story or in the quest or in the plot twist is going to make it memorable how crazy would it be if the big bad guy that the players end up fighting has actually been the barkeep that they've been frequenting the entire time that would be a huge mic drop moment for everybody at the ta
ble because NPCs can serve as allies they can serve as adversaries as Quest givers but they can also contribute to the whole story overall and by doing that by injecting them even into little moments you're creating a much more Rich story and a world that feels like it's actually interacting with the players and not just the players interacting with it now the ninth thing you want to do is to react to player actions so if your NPC is afraid of bees and one of your players walks in and they have
a pet B for whatever reason you need to react to things like that as the MPC again understand ending your NPC's decisions their choices their fears their motives all of those things need to be considered and you want to adjust those attitudes and behaviors based on how the players interact with them and how the story progresses because those little moments are actually going to create a much more Dynamic and immersive experience for your players so react to your players actions as the NPCs it ma
kes for some really fun moments and finally the last thing you want to do is to evolve and grow with the campaign allow your NPCs to evolve and grow with your characters respond to the changing circumstances of the events in the game your NPCs don't need to be static they don't need to be the same character all the time if you provide your NPCs with opportunities for character development they can have their own arcs and that is what's going to make NPCs feel Dynamic and feel real and feel like
they are responding to this unfolding story that you're telling and at the end of the day that's going to make your whole story much more memorable when it finally ends so I hope these 10 tips help you create better NPCs if you think I missed one or if you think that you have some tips of your own leave it down in the comments below I would love to hear how you make your NPC stand out as always thank you guys so much for watching for John adventurers and we'll see you in the next video
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