An Exercise in Active NPC Design

In the last post, I shared a fresh strategy on crafting engaging and memorable non-player characters (NPCs). I put thought it might be a good idea to make a sample NPC with the technique. Meet Cormac Askisson, a simple Sartarite farmer from Apple Lane, the PCs' home village. Cormac Askisson is not a central figure in our grand narrative but offers meaningful side interactions that help enrich our gaming world.

• NPC Activation - Goals: Cormac's primary concerns lie close to home. His main objective is to protect his livelihood. Recent capricious weather has wreaked havoc on his crops, and he wants to find ways to safeguard his farm against future climatic disruptions. He may specifically approach the PCs for a magical blessing or ritual to tame the weather or to seek their thoughts and discussion on the weather patterns (This could be a good idea for a random encounter at the local inn for a casual conversation). Cormac is also concerned about his daughter's impending marriage. He wants to ensure she marries into a good family and could use the PCs' broader connections to reach out to suitable households.
• Quirks: Cormac is somewhat superstitious, often looking to nature for signs and omens. He also has a hobby of whittling small wooden figurines, a skill passed down through generations in his family.
• Activation Methods - Strategy: To protect his farm, Cormac might seek the PCs' magical aid or their insights on weather patterns. Regarding his daughter's marriage, he may request their help in reaching out to potential suitors' families.
• Resources: Cormac's extensive knowledge about local history and his connections within the community can be of value to the PCs. He also has a hidden stash of premium apple cider that he could share in gratitude for their help.
• Backstory: Cormac, a lifelong resident of Apple Lane, has inherited his farm from his father. He's a widower with a single daughter, who is his world. 

By ensuring that Cormac has specific, concrete goals in his interactions with the PCs, he should have a sense of agency and make these interactions more meaningful and memorable. I hope this allows me to paint Cormac not just as an NPC but as a living, breathing part of the world we're building together.

 Breathing Life into NPCs

It's a common conundrum for many of us Game Masters – how do we make our non-player characters (NPCs) truly memorable and engaging? Recently, I've found myself grappling with this very challenge. In my efforts to bring my NPCs to life, I realized there's a vital gap in the way I portray these characters to my players.

As a GM, I spend a considerable amount of time developing my NPCs. I know their quirks, their ambitions, their fears. To me, they're multidimensional beings with rich narratives. But I came to understand that my players don't necessarily see the NPCs as I do. They haven't been privy to the hours I spent shaping these characters, and thus, they often miss the cues that make these NPCs real and compelling. Consequently, it seems as though my players become passive, uncertain about how to interact with these characters.

Recognizing this gap was the first step in addressing it. I have resolved to refine my approach to NPC creation and portrayal, with the aim to make them more approachable and interactive for my players. This led me to devise a new method for breathing life into NPCs. This method focuses not only on who the NPCs are but also on what they want and how they plan to get it. It also takes into account the NPC's relationship with the player characters.

Below, I've listed the key factors to consider while creating and running NPCs:

• NPC Activation - Goals: This is your foremost consideration. Define what the NPC wants from the PCs or from the world. The strength of their desire can determine their level of initiative and engagement.
• Quirks: These are unique traits or behaviors that make the NPC memorable and distinct.
• Activation Methods - Strategy: Specify the strategies or tactics the NPC will use to achieve their goals. This not only determines their actions but makes them more dynamic.
• Resources: Detail what the NPC possesses that the PCs might want. This can often be linked to the NPC's goals.
• Backstory: Share the NPC's history and how it ties into the main plot or a PC's personal story. Their backstory could be the source of their goals.
• Emotional Connections: Outline the relationships between the NPC and PCs, such as family ties, friendships, rivalries, or mentorships. Emotional connections can further drive the NPC's goals.
• Conflict: Document any internal or external conflicts involving the NPC that can create dynamic interactions and plot developments. These conflicts often arise from challenged goals.
• Recurrence: Plan for the NPC to reappear throughout the campaign, which can foster continuity and deepen engagement. Consistently returning to their goals will maintain the NPC's proactive behavior.

By emphasizing goals and calling this element "activation", we remind ourselves to keep the NPCs active and engaged in pursuing their objectives. I hope this strategy will help me in my quest to create truly engaging NPCs, and if you're struggling with the same issues, as I am, I hope it will do the same for you. Let's keep breathing life into our stories, one character at a time.

Merging Combat and Chase Rules in Rune Quest Glorantha

We just had an electrifying game session with the 'Rainbow Mounds' scenario from the RuneQuest (RQ) Starter Set. After a thought-provoking discussion on Chaosium's Discord server, I decided to test merging the combat and chase rules, which added unexpected twists to the story.

The chase rules I'm referring here are on pg.151-153 of the Rune Quest Glorantha rulebook if you want to check them out. There's also a thorough example of of the chase rules in action on Runeblogger's forum here.

Anyway...

Our party had embarked on a mission to find Ma Rotroot's sons who had ventured into the caves in search of Eurmal Crumbs. The Rotroot boys had been sent on this mission by an outlander, a sorcerer named Urvantan, who was chilling in the Tin Inn and waiting his shroom delivery. 

Inside the caves things quickly escalated as the party encountered some trollkins and inadvertently invoked the wrath of their mother. The party's shaman cast 'demoralize' on the enraged troll mama. Rather than fighting, she fled deeper into the caves with the remaining trollkins, sparking off a thrilling chase sequence.

There are two kinds of players of rpg's. Those who'll eat Eurmal Grumbs and those who won't :D

For the chase, I adjudged the initial distance as 'close' due to the limited visibility and challenging terrain. Because of the trolls’ home advantage, the PCs had a -20% to their opposed DEX rolls. Each chase round equated to two melee rounds which was crucial considering the 'demoralize' spell's duration of ten melee rounds.

The chase sequence was high-stakes, with the PCs slowly closing the gap on the trailing trollkin, managing to eliminate one in the process. Keeping track of everyone's position and setting the scene for mama troll's ambush after shaking off 'demoralize' was straightforward.

The versatility of RuneQuest Glorantha's chase rules was recently discussed on the Chaosium Discord server. Besides chases, these adaptable rules can also be used for different skirmish scenarios. If you're unfamiliar with them, I strongly encourage giving them a try.

The melee rules from the RQG Player’s Guide, though occasionally perplexing, made running the melee smoother once I separated the movement of unengaged combatants from the actual combat round.

The only hiccup, in my opinion, lies with the movement rules in RQG compared to the older RQ3 version. While the measurement in meters/strike rank from RQ3 seemed more logical, the speed measurements in RQG rules seem somewhat off. Specifically, the pace of 'fast' things, like a galloping horse, appears drastically undershot.

I'm still debating whether to address this speed discrepancy; unless future games involve a lot of skirmish situations, it might not be worth the fuss. I guess adapting RQ3 movement to RQG would be easy enough to do, but we'll see.

As for the troll mama? She put up a good fight, but the PCs eventually triumphed. They concluded that the boys they had set out to find had most likely become troll food. After some rather eventful shroom harvesting (and a near-death experience), they returned to the sorcerer. In a twist of irony, the boys had been too scared to venture past the cave’s rock lizards and were hiding all along, waiting for the sorcerer to leave.

Rune Quest <3

Well, it's been half a decade since I last put thoughts into this blog. Quite a strange realization, truth be told.

These past couple of years, my focus has shifted to role-playing games (RPGs), a different yet complementary interest. The game that we’ve mostly played is definitely RuneQuest: Glorantha. My relationship with Glorantha was on pause for almost two decades, following the release of the Hero Quest rules in the early 2000s. It just didn't resonate with me. However, a couple of years ago, the new RQruleset rekindled my interest. It felt like the RQ of olden times - I was hooked again and have been ever since.

The art of the Rune Quest Glorantha line is amazing. This one is by a Finnish artist Ossi Hiekkala. The critter in the image is a Krashtkid, a chaos monster unique to Glorantha.

I mostly GMed using published material from Chaosium and Jonstown Compendium, a program which allows fans to contribute to RuneQuest. Our campaign, like many others, I imagine, unfolds in the Apple Lane area during the RQG official time from 1625 onwards. It’s been a 1-2/month game and we’re currently in the fire season of 1626.

A particular highlight of the campaign was the Battle of Dangerford, for which I crafted a scenario drawing inspiration from The Eleven Lights, Pendragon Battle Rules, and a great post by Jeff Richards on the BRP forums. Oh and almost forgot the invaluable aid of The wonderful Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass book, by Martin Helsdon, which I heartily recommend. It was invaluable in creating the 'character' of the various formations the PCs had to fight against.

The Armies and Enemies of Dragon Pass cover by Mark Smylie is one of my favourites in the Jonstown Compendium catalogue. I think that's Jar Eel and if you think about it she has quite a lot of common with Artesia!

I framed the scene with my AD43 Roman and Ancient Britons armies, but the scenario itself was from the point of view of the rank and file and PCs did not make choices on troop movements, for instance.

The scenario revolved around the Wilmskirk militia holding the Isle Dangerous against sequential charges by The Antelope Lancers, The Bell Temple, and The Char Un and it ended in a dramatic rout. My planning and notes for this scenario have joined a growing pile of files in my campaign folders.

That's the setup for the Battle of Dangerford. The few skirmisher units in the river already are the Duckpoint elite Company of the Quacken.

I imagine all GMs have these ‘note files’ and I imagine many more have toyed with the idea of getting them out to the world. This spring I finally pushed one of the stories up to a finished manuscript and with the help of the amazing Ludovic Chabant, who did most of the art for the book, we published ’Veins of Discord’ in Jonstown Compendium.

The cover for Veins of Discord by Ludovic Chabant. It captures a pivotal moment with a dwarf unearthing a discovery that will invariably set the stage for a cascade of tumultuous events. I felt like a lottery winner when he first showed it to me.

‘Veins of Discord’ deals with Elves and Dwarves and drags the PCs into their conflict. The hardest part for me was trying to make the manuscript comprehensive and ready to run but in a non-constrictive way. I aimed at an adventure with genuine player choice and consequence. If you get it and play through it, I’d love to hear how it went for your party!

Until next time!

P.S. Chaosium has a very nice 'choose your own path' version for the battle of dangerford on their website, which is a pretty ok substitute of having experienced the real deal at my table ;)