The NPC Summary

Some ages ago, I did a post on three DMing tricks, in which I repeated three tricks I had adopted: "Five Things You Know About...", the use of bullet points for setting a scene, and the Three-Clue Rule.

I was recently given cause to consider the 'best' way to present an NPC for an adventure. Which, somehow, led me back to the same place.

Now, I should note at the outset that I'm not talking about the mechanical representation of a character here, which will inevitably vary from game to game. Instead, I'm talking about those things that are non-mechanical in nature - the character's appearance, motivations, personality quirks, and so on.

So, what is the best way to present this information?

Well, I think the key consideration lies in how it is going to be used. Normally, the GM will read the adventure once to glean the key information, and then will run the adventure at the table. In an ideal world, he will have taken the time to transcribe all the key information into a more useful format, but this should not be assumed.

When the time comes to use the NPC in play, the GM is quite possibly juggling half a dozen different things at once - he really doesn't want to have to read through 500 words of purple prose just to learn that the NPC is left-handed!

So, really, what is needed is some sort of short and to the point summary of the key details. Something where key points are pulled out, and extraneous information is not included. And, of course, there should be a small and manageable number of such points. Five, perhaps.

Additionally, the more important something is, the sooner it should be listed; and the more obvious something is to the PCs, the sooner it should be introduced.

So, yeah, my suggestion for adventure writers, when presenting an NPC, is to first provide a "Five Things" list for the NPC. The points should probably be:

• The character's expected role in the adventure.
• What the character is doing, how he is trying to do it, and why he is doing it (that way).
• The character's appearance, in broad terms.
• Any quirks or mannerisms the character has, in terms of appearance, personality, verbal tics, or whatever. This may require several points.
• And, finally, an optional list of suitable adjectives.

After presenting the summary, and especially for 'key' NPCs, it may well be appropriate to provide a longer description of the character, split down into the key categories (background, appearance, personality, etc...). However, this should be in addition to the summary, not instead. This may seem redundant, since the information is then repeated, but what is lost in repetition is gained in utility, which is a net win.

(As an added bonus, the use of the summary should mean that NPCs can be transcribed onto index cards, with the character's name and picture, game stats, and the summary notes all right there on the card for easy reference. Which is probably useful.)

For an example of what I mean:

Kup - Grizzled Veteran

• Kup fills the 'mentor' role in the story - he sees it as his job to guide the hero to his ultimate destiny.
• Kup tries to guide the hero to his destiny, by keeping him safe from the worst consequences of his mistakes, by acting as a calming influence, and by trying to be a positive role model. He does this because he has seen one to many would-be hero kill himself in a blaze of stupidity.
• Kup is old, and he shows it. He has a slight stoop and his joints creak when pressed. All his equipment is likewise old, but it remains serviceable due to high quality and regular maintenance.
• Everything reminds Kup of something else. All his stories start, "I remember the time..."
• Suitable adjectives: Old, Crotchety, Curmudgeonly, Stern.

And there it is. The GM almost certainly doesn't need to know the exact details of Kup's adventures with the shrikebats of Dromedon, unless it is directly related to this adventure, so it's as well to leave that a blank. That's one key advantage that an RPG has over a novel - there's a GM on hand to fill in any gaps. And, indeed, it may be better if the GM is deliberately given room to leave his own stamp on the adventures or the characters - not least because he might prefer to replace Kup with Ironhide for the purposes of this story, a process that is made easier if the whole thing isn't impossibly tightly woven...