Laguna Hallik
Specialist
Since a lot of people are avoiding the One Post to Rule Them All series, here's something Gary posted that makes a lot of sense. Everybody could gain something from a few good reads of this.
I think the best ways to encourage more NPCs entails the following:
1) Be nice: As it has been said, don't be a **** to your NPCs. Write off the bat, get them together, get them excited, let them know what the hell the weekend is about, encourage them to come to you with ideas (when things aren't crazy hectic), and help the NPCs feel like a team with the mission of making a great story. Oh, also introduce yourself and say “thank you.”
2) Give NPCs cool reoccurring parts: I can't emphasize this one enough. If someone comes to a game for a couple events, take the time to notice their skills. Everybody is good, and sometimes great, at something. Give them reoccurring NPCs role that they can enjoy playing. This does not mean give them "Roger the wagon boy," unless they would enjoy that. Obviously you have to grant people roles that match well to them, their capacity to act, fight, lay down traps, play poker, whatever, but if you give people a few roles they can get into they'll WANT to NPC to play those roles again.
3) Care for the NPCs: Make sure they don't feel run into the ground, demoralized, ***-kicked and made fun of. Give them water, complement them, and thank them for their help. If you notice they've been playing a lot of crunchies, and they've been good sports about it, maybe give them something that is a little harder to kill, something they can run around and play tricks with, something that can do something unique and entertaining. Try not to just send them out again and again with the exact same mission of getting beat on and falling over. Dice it up.
4) Humble yourself: This doesn't happen enough. If you have some down time, YOU can go play the crunchy for a little bit, and maybe they can play the “cool” role. Show the NPC's crunching isn't being the kid in the corner with a dunce cap on. Take a new guy along with you as a couple of ninja cobalts and go sneak around for 45 minutes. Don't ask people to do things you're not willing to do yourself. Side note: This is actually fun. It's nice to be a little thing that has to run from a group level 2 adventures. It's fun to see the excitement they get when they realize they just hunted down and slaughtered "the rules guy" or the general manager or whatever. They might not even realize why THAT fight was so much more fun, but it might just be because they got to beat up the guy who usually only takes the time to fight the dudes swing 10's and up. Ask for their opinion about things, how an outfit looks, did they think that last fight went well.
5) Advertize: I don't do this at all, and we all really need to. Hit up colleges, game shops, strip clubs, exotic pet shops, all the places gamers hang out. Leave flyers, talk to people. I really really hope I (we) can do more of this in the next few seasons.
I think the best ways to encourage more NPCs entails the following:
1) Be nice: As it has been said, don't be a **** to your NPCs. Write off the bat, get them together, get them excited, let them know what the hell the weekend is about, encourage them to come to you with ideas (when things aren't crazy hectic), and help the NPCs feel like a team with the mission of making a great story. Oh, also introduce yourself and say “thank you.”
2) Give NPCs cool reoccurring parts: I can't emphasize this one enough. If someone comes to a game for a couple events, take the time to notice their skills. Everybody is good, and sometimes great, at something. Give them reoccurring NPCs role that they can enjoy playing. This does not mean give them "Roger the wagon boy," unless they would enjoy that. Obviously you have to grant people roles that match well to them, their capacity to act, fight, lay down traps, play poker, whatever, but if you give people a few roles they can get into they'll WANT to NPC to play those roles again.
3) Care for the NPCs: Make sure they don't feel run into the ground, demoralized, ***-kicked and made fun of. Give them water, complement them, and thank them for their help. If you notice they've been playing a lot of crunchies, and they've been good sports about it, maybe give them something that is a little harder to kill, something they can run around and play tricks with, something that can do something unique and entertaining. Try not to just send them out again and again with the exact same mission of getting beat on and falling over. Dice it up.
4) Humble yourself: This doesn't happen enough. If you have some down time, YOU can go play the crunchy for a little bit, and maybe they can play the “cool” role. Show the NPC's crunching isn't being the kid in the corner with a dunce cap on. Take a new guy along with you as a couple of ninja cobalts and go sneak around for 45 minutes. Don't ask people to do things you're not willing to do yourself. Side note: This is actually fun. It's nice to be a little thing that has to run from a group level 2 adventures. It's fun to see the excitement they get when they realize they just hunted down and slaughtered "the rules guy" or the general manager or whatever. They might not even realize why THAT fight was so much more fun, but it might just be because they got to beat up the guy who usually only takes the time to fight the dudes swing 10's and up. Ask for their opinion about things, how an outfit looks, did they think that last fight went well.
5) Advertize: I don't do this at all, and we all really need to. Hit up colleges, game shops, strip clubs, exotic pet shops, all the places gamers hang out. Leave flyers, talk to people. I really really hope I (we) can do more of this in the next few seasons.
