Coidzor
2016-02-02, 02:25 AM
Especially ones that are intended to either come to the fore as the players interact with them or fade to a background role if the players really aren't interested in them.
Because it seems like forcing an NPC into a foreground role when the players don't want them there and they weren't occupying a role like BBEG or something, then that leads to some level of needless conflict, like when certain groups chafe against having a DMPC or even an NPC ally that seems more central than the party itself.
What I'm trying to come up with right now is, essentially, a group of ship's crew and some other traveling companions that the PCs will be stuck with to a certain extent, at least until they can swap out/replace crew later on in a voyage, and that I'd ideally have feature in some of the ship-based adventures and possibly involved in a few of the events that see them all set sail (in the hopeful event that the PCs don't decide they want to just say bugger that and scarper before the ship sails on that adventure).
I don't want to come up with super detailed backgrounds, especially if they get discarded, but I don't want to really give the impression that I underprepared and they're not actually important by default, either, when my goal is to hopefully have enough of a mix that they can all easily adapt to being foils to some extent for the PCs, or at least, individuals to roleplay off of and help encourage more roleplay, since that's something we tend to do in fits, partially because in our groups we've only rarely had recurring NPCs that showed up more than once every dozen sessions or so.
Since this adventure is based around a ship and its crew and what they find/do, I get the feeling that I'd have to up the number of combats, skill challenges, and dungeon-delving to make up for it if the NPCs don't hold any interest, but if I do get some decent PC-NPC interaction and potentially even draw out a bit of intraparty interaction in response to those interactions, then I can create something a bit more memorable and have it be a bit more invested when things like morale issues crop up as something to be overcome or that precipitate investigating them and finding out about some meddling creature causing them problems.
If all of that makes any sense?
Like, having them be close enough to fleshed out that they feel real enough to start with over the first couple interactions or when they're introduced, and can be fleshed out in play rather than potentially getting caught up in the backstory I made for them to the detriment of thinking on my toes.
Because it seems like forcing an NPC into a foreground role when the players don't want them there and they weren't occupying a role like BBEG or something, then that leads to some level of needless conflict, like when certain groups chafe against having a DMPC or even an NPC ally that seems more central than the party itself.
What I'm trying to come up with right now is, essentially, a group of ship's crew and some other traveling companions that the PCs will be stuck with to a certain extent, at least until they can swap out/replace crew later on in a voyage, and that I'd ideally have feature in some of the ship-based adventures and possibly involved in a few of the events that see them all set sail (in the hopeful event that the PCs don't decide they want to just say bugger that and scarper before the ship sails on that adventure).
I don't want to come up with super detailed backgrounds, especially if they get discarded, but I don't want to really give the impression that I underprepared and they're not actually important by default, either, when my goal is to hopefully have enough of a mix that they can all easily adapt to being foils to some extent for the PCs, or at least, individuals to roleplay off of and help encourage more roleplay, since that's something we tend to do in fits, partially because in our groups we've only rarely had recurring NPCs that showed up more than once every dozen sessions or so.
Since this adventure is based around a ship and its crew and what they find/do, I get the feeling that I'd have to up the number of combats, skill challenges, and dungeon-delving to make up for it if the NPCs don't hold any interest, but if I do get some decent PC-NPC interaction and potentially even draw out a bit of intraparty interaction in response to those interactions, then I can create something a bit more memorable and have it be a bit more invested when things like morale issues crop up as something to be overcome or that precipitate investigating them and finding out about some meddling creature causing them problems.
If all of that makes any sense?
Like, having them be close enough to fleshed out that they feel real enough to start with over the first couple interactions or when they're introduced, and can be fleshed out in play rather than potentially getting caught up in the backstory I made for them to the detriment of thinking on my toes.