Noisms of Monsters and Manuals posted some interesting roleplaying related questions that are relevant to our hobby but that role playing bloggers tend not to write about. Check out his post for the original questions, plus lots of responses in the comments (some people did it right there, some people linked to blog posts, like this). Following are my answers to these questions, as the GM of my group that include my wife and three long term friends. EDIT: After writing this post stream-of-conciousness-style I realise that my Nanowrimo brain is still on. Sorry for the word count.

It was my birthday recently and my awesome wife made me some NPC Description Tables! <3

They’re some handy tables for generating various physical characteristics and behavioural traits of NPCs on the fly or during prep all contained on a single page. Choose results or roll once for each column. She didn’t design it to make coherent NPCs by reading across the rows, but I think you can get some pretty interesting ones by doing that too.

When rolling, for the large table roll a d6 twice and check the results in order, or roll two different coloured d6s. For the d8 tables, if you happen to have only a d6 handy you can just use that, as the results that a 7 or 8 would bring can easily be ignored as they are the least common.

Also, some results have a few choices, sometimes as opposites or alternatives (hairy/hairless) and sometimes to just give a little more choice (bandaged/stitched). When you get a result like this, choose whichever you like best or whatever seems most appropriate.

If you don’t like a result or it doesn’t make sense with something else you’ve already rolled, simply re-roll or choose something else.

I hope you enjoy this gift as much as I have.

You might also be interested in reading...

• IAYC: Fantasy Newspaper (Free Download)
• Things Role Playing Bloggers Tend Not To Write About
• GMing Cues: Impressions, Aims & Pitfalls
• NPC Motivations Table
• ZILLA! – Free ‘Classic Character Pack’

Here’s a simple table for coming up with quick and dirty NPC motivations. It requires a little bit of thought on the part of the GM, but gives a good starting point. Simply roll a d4 and a d6 and compare the results to the table: d4 for the column and d6 for the row.

Some of the results overlap somewhat (like desire for freedom could be a desire for change) but it gets the job done fairly well. I’m hoping this will give me, and others, a good starting point for NPCs.

If you roll and realise that this guard the PCs are talking to has a Fear of Truth, then maybe that gives you the idea that he’s taking bribes and is afraid of that getting out, or maybe he has some evidence that one of his fellow guards is a murderer but is afraid to believe it.

The goal here is not to generate fully fleshed out motivations, but to give the GM a spring board for their creativity. Usually something going on in the plot or the PCs stories and hooks will give you an idea of where to go with the motivations.

NPC Motivations

You might also be interested in reading...

• Things Role Playing Bloggers Tend Not To Write About
• NPC Description Tables
• GMing Cues: Impressions, Aims & Pitfalls
• IAYC: Fantasy Newspaper (Free Download)
• Frame Narrative in Roleplaying

It’s done!

Life has run away on me this year, but I have finally managed to complete the fantasy newspaper I promised as my contribution for I Am Your Champion. I had some interest, but few donations, and that’s fine. I had fun making it and I hope those who donated to my charity are happy with the result. This isn’t just for them though, it’s a free download for everyone. I’ve made a parchment version and a print-friendly version. I hope you enjoy this and get some use out of it

Game masters can the newspaper for hooks, NPCs, adventures and worldbuilding or even just as a source of random rumours, information and goings-on. I think the best use for it, though, is for GMs to read it, think about it, then next time the PCs are in a tavern tell them “Someone’s left a newsletter on your table. It looks like this…” and then just give them the handout. I love doing this sort of thing in game and I hope you’ll enjoy my attempt at a fantasy newspaper, inspired by a thoughtful present my wife and friends made for me a few years ago.

If I get enough interest I might just make another issue. Enjoy

You might also be interested in reading...

• ZILLA! – Free ‘Classic Character Pack’
• I Am Your Champion: Act for Peace
• Campaign Setting: Hang Ups
• Demonsea: Ships of the Demonsea
• Fever Dreams – Entertainment Built on Pyres

• @newbiedm Sunken Empires http://bit.ly/cZa2Fi may be inspiring. Aquatic rules, gear, race/class variants and a half-sunken city #pathfinder
• RT @Dice_of_Doom Cthulhu, the god your god could smell like… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc90UhV6hJA http://fb.me/EmyWJxpi
• Light from the setting sun filters through darkening clouds, bathing the world in sepia. Wind-chimes tone as an old timey storm threatens.
• RT @GreenRoninPub The open mechanics playtest for Dragon Age Set 2 has begun! Go to http://tinyurl.com/267lm3y to participate.
• RT @paizo The MAGUS Open Playtest has now begun! This new playtest Pathfinder class mixes martial skill and magic in a… http://fb.me/tm9MrhFK

Let’s face it, some players don’t like writing backgrounds for their characters. Parents? Dead. Friends? None. Hobbies? Fighting. What if you could flesh out their backgrounds through play instead of having them write it all down at the start? Well, with mini-flashbacks you can! And they’re not just a good tool for background-phobic players. Players who are into writing pages and pages of background can still benefit from this technique. It can also help link the players into the world and the immediate situation.

Avast maties! It be Talk Like a Pirate Day! To celebrate we be postin’ a piratical article about the colourful characters ye be likely to meet if ye be so bold as to venture into Haulshore: a treasure-hunter’s paradise in the Demonsea campaign settin’. We’ve even got a big campaign seed for ye, and hooks for each o’ the captains. Ye could also use this here article for some other world, but if ye arrren’t privy to the secrets o’ the Demonsea, cast ya eyes yonder to read of a world of demons, pirates and adventure on the high seas!

• Master Plan – Phase 1: post GMing advice, NPCs, mini-plots etc here and at http://www.pyresofvam.com Phase 2: ??? Phase 3: World domination!
• What magic is this? It sends missives worldwide? Excellent… I shall issue tweets of doom to recruit minions. Prepare yourselves.#fromvam