Running the Game
NPC Preparation
NPC Prep
A huge part of building a believable world is populating it with interesting people. NPCs are often what players remember most — the strange merchant they keep returning to, the guard captain they accidentally insulted, the rival treasure hunter who somehow survives everything, or the innkeeper who always seems to know more than they should.
There are generally two approaches to NPC preparation:
- Creating characters entirely on the spot
- Building out a roster of relevant NPCs ahead of time
Both work perfectly well, though maintaining a small bank of prepared NPCs is often easier in the long run and helps the world feel more connected. Not every NPC needs pages of backstory. In most cases, all you really need is:
- A name
- A role or occupation
- A personality trait
- A goal or problem
- One memorable detail
For example:
Marrow Finch
- Caravan medic
- Speaks incredibly softly
- Missing two fingers on his left hand
- Owes money to dangerous people
- Carries dozens of labelled glass bottles at all times
Immediately you know how to roleplay him, what he wants, and how players may interact with him.
Having a small collection of reusable NPCs for towns, roads, factions, taverns, and wilderness encounters is extremely useful. Over time, these recurring faces become social anchors for the players. The world starts feeling familiar and alive because people persist beyond single scenes.
The nervous courier from Session 2 may later become a trusted ally. The drunken mercenary the party mocked in a tavern may return leading a rival adventuring group.
The merchant they saved early in the campaign may suddenly appear with exactly the information they need.
These recurring touchstones make the world feel reactive without requiring enormous preparation. The answer does not always need to come from the GM alone.
Ask questions:
- Who are they?
- How do you know them?
- Why do they owe you a favour?
- Why might they not want to help?
Collaboratively building NPCs gives players deeper investment in the setting and dramatically reduces the amount of work required from the GM. It also creates wonderfully organic storytelling opportunities because players will naturally create people tied to their own interests, goals, and backstories.
Not every NPC needs to matter to the plot. In fact, many should not. The goal is simply to make the world feel inhabited by people with their own motivations, routines, fears, and ambitions — people who continue existing even when the players are elsewhere.
Importantly, players should also be encouraged to help create NPCs. This is especially true when using skills like {Connect}. A player can say something along the lines of: “I think I know someone in this district who can help us.”
Players are heavily encouraged to include potential connections, rivals, mentors, family members, old allies, or enemies within their backstories for the GM to draw upon during play. These NPCs help ground characters in the world and give the GM an immediate pool of meaningful story hooks, social encounters, and emotional stakes to work with. A former captain, an estranged sibling, an old criminal contact, or a travelling companion from years ago can all naturally reappear throughout a campaign, making the world feel more personal and interconnected. Often, the most memorable NPCs are not the ones the GM invented alone, but the ones collaboratively established between the table from the very beginning.