How much effort is too much?

[NineThePuma]

I've been bored, which leads to me working on NPCs, both in crunch and mechanics; however, I've come to realize that I'm putting more effort into these characters than is ever likely to come up in game, including interactions that the party isn't ever going to see, plenty of development, and personal enemies that are unlikely to make an appearance against (or allied with) the party.

So, at what point have I spent too much time on an NPC? =\

[Knaight]

That depends on why you are making the NPCs. If you do it only because you view it as work that needs to be done for a game, anything that isn't used is wasted. If you enjoy making NPCs as an act in and of itself, then you are just doing something you enjoy, and the only way too much effort is being put in is if it starts to eat into other important parts of your life (if it cuts into other hobbies, it is fine. If it cuts into sleep, or work, or school, or having a social life, or eating well then there are issues).

Given that it sounds like you do this in lieu of boredom, I suspect it is the second case. So, have fun with it, and spend as much time as you want on it as long as it is only legitimate free time you spend.

[Eldan]

If you enjoy it and you have the time: do it. It probably won't ever hurt your game (unless you become so attached to your characters that you either bore the players by drowning them in exposition or are afraid to let your bad guys lose to the players).

If you see it as something necessary for the game, I think a few good guidelines are:

a) Are my players likely to actually hear or see this in a game?
b) Will they care when they hear it?
c) Is it important to the game? (I count atmosphere as being important).


From time to time, someone hearing a rumour about the Emperor of Rakshasastan in the tavern is a good thing. But if your players won't ever go there (it's 3000 miles away, and they can't teleport), you probably don't need to detail it's taxation system and how they irrigate their fields.

[valadil]

The better I know an NPC the better I can act him out. I like to give my NPCs backgrounds even if they never get told because they bring that character to life for me and make him more believable than a name/race/class combination. If any of that believability shines through into the game, then it was worth it. If it doesn't shine through, then I figure the players haven't seen enough of the NPC and I recycle him at a later game.

[Jay R]

If you see it as something necessary for the game, I think a few good guidelines are:

a) Are my players likely to actually hear or see this in a game?
b) Will they care when they hear it?
c) Is it important to the game? (I count atmosphere as being important).



I think your first two are a little bit restrictive. Try:
a) Are my players likely to interact with this in a game?
b) Will it affect how I interact with the players (whether they care or not)? They may not care about the famine when they hear about it, but when the bandits attack them for their food, it affected them.]


So, at what point have I spent too much time on an NPC? =\

When it stops being useful [I]AND stops being fun. But remember that one of the people you're designing this world for is you. I have one character who has been in every world I've ever designed in over 30 years of role-playing (including fantasy, musketeers, western, super-hero, and TOON). Nobody's met him yet, and only two parties have ever even heard of him, but I find it satisfying. As long as you're enjoying it, feel free to keep developing the life history of the barmaid in a town they'll never visit.

[Eldan]

I think your first two are a little bit restrictive. Try:
a) Are my players likely to interact with this in a game? [If the local tavern closes early due to vampire attacks, and they walk into town late, then the vampire affected them whether they see it or not.]
b) Will it affect how I interact with the players (whether they care or not)? They may not care about the famine when they hear about it, but when the bandits attack them for their food, it affected them.]



Okay, yes. Better phrased. "Interact" is a better term for what I meant. Does it affect the progression of the game at all, is perhaps the best term. If the Chief of a small and totally isolated barbarian tribe issues a decree, the players will likely never find out, nor interact with anything that interacted with that decree.