Making Memorable NPCs - Running RPGs

Many Game Masters have difficulty with crafting memorable and unique Non-Player Characters. Here's how I do it.
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Guest starring Mike, Todd, Dweebles, and Jack the NPC.

Пікірлер: 385

  • @1Ring42
    @1Ring426 жыл бұрын

    I kinda feel sorry for Dweebles' existential crisis.

  • @admpandora91

    @admpandora91

    3 жыл бұрын

    it speaks to me..

  • @s0r03

    @s0r03

    3 жыл бұрын

    What’s a name anyways better to make it for yourself than be given one that has nothing to do with you

  • @archonfett

    @archonfett

    10 ай бұрын

    @@s0r03 but it was given to him, by a commenter even not by Seth

  • @chadmunson6538
    @chadmunson65384 жыл бұрын

    In support of #2, motivation, to quote Vonnegut: "Every character should want something. Even if it's a glass of water."

  • @willieearles3151

    @willieearles3151

    4 жыл бұрын

    Insert clip of the guy from The Notebook saying "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

  • @elgatochurro

    @elgatochurro

    4 жыл бұрын

    Im ngl I'm sick of characters being too shallow... their goal, their motivation for adventuring is just "wealth" or "glory" or "adventure" Reason its shallow? They do nothing with it... rich? Well still adventuring... gain fame? Well still adventuring... ad venturing? Well still adventuring... It never evolves because they spend as little time as possible with npcs before looking for tbe next dungeon... sometimes only interesting with npcs to tru and find specific magic items... I give rumours and such specifically for them to interact more with npcs not less

  • @wolfyblackknight8321

    @wolfyblackknight8321

    5 ай бұрын

    @@elgatochurro respectfully I think the old quote "It's Not the Destination, but the Journey That Matters" also I could see a character who keeps adventuring after having money and fame as ether enjoying the friends they go on adventures with or "wanting to see what's next" that or wanting to see the wonders of the world sure they could retire but adventuring is more fun and at times way more profitable tho i could see a few retire if they had some harrowing or just horrible adventures like the start of flatlined from traveler.

  • @elgatochurro

    @elgatochurro

    5 ай бұрын

    @@wolfyblackknight8321 not everyone will adventure for life

  • @wolfyblackknight8321

    @wolfyblackknight8321

    5 ай бұрын

    @@elgatochurro I would imagine not well some might in the sense they died on the adventure but I do think more then a few might have a "well I have money fame now but retiring sounds boring" moment and decide to see how long they last and how far they can go. ether that or if they could find steady work but I imagine its hard to find a safe job when 90% of your skillset is combat focused.

  • @CynTheGM
    @CynTheGM6 жыл бұрын

    In our second adventure, I ran Sunless Citadel for our party. In it, the party comes across a Kobold named Meepo, as I'm sure you know. His whole thing is that he guides them for a few rooms, helps them find a white dragon wyrmling, then dies. But no. The party became so attached to this little guy. They used a healers kit to stabilize him when he was downed by the dragon, lied to him saying the goblins from the lower level killed the dragon, and took him with them down the next two levels of the dungeon, basically using him like a back line archer with his sling. He developed some quirks, a taste for goblin flesh, and became friends with this small group of adventurers. Eventually, they killed the young black dragon and brought Meepo back to the Kobold tribe as a hero rather than the worthless sack of meat the tribe thought he was. He had more self-confidence, felt more assured in both his social and combat skills, and advanced within the tribe. When they see him next, he will be leading the band of kobolds, expanding their influence to control the whole of the sunless citadel, having evicted the goblins. I didn't mean for any of this to happen.

  • @marveltard

    @marveltard

    6 жыл бұрын

    I love this

  • @FuriousJorge

    @FuriousJorge

    6 жыл бұрын

    I ran my kids and a friend of theirs through Sunless Citadel just last month, and my daughter (17) actually cried when Meepo was frozen. They then spent quite a bit of their resources to revive him.

  • @TobiSamaEatinCookies

    @TobiSamaEatinCookies

    6 жыл бұрын

    I'm in a campaign for LMoP and we have taken the goblin that was being held in a cavern and give adopted him. His name is drop and has magical armor and a bag of holding full of apples and cinnamon

  • @mordred2460

    @mordred2460

    6 жыл бұрын

    My 8th level party is still carrying his bones until they can get a true revive

  • @ArtyJerjerrod

    @ArtyJerjerrod

    5 жыл бұрын

    Jorge Soto I support Drop.... tell him I love him

  • @mightythunderfoot
    @mightythunderfoot6 жыл бұрын

    Am I the only one who started saying "those aren't NPCs those are player cha-- oh." It's funny how we attach ourselves to the skit characters.

  • @Dorian_sapiens

    @Dorian_sapiens

    6 жыл бұрын

    Same here.

  • @000Krim

    @000Krim

    5 жыл бұрын

    I take me more time than I would like to admit to realize that the other players were the same person. Truly a master of disguise.

  • @jamesgarlick4573

    @jamesgarlick4573

    5 жыл бұрын

    @@000Krim definitely a level 12

  • @Avankiri

    @Avankiri

    Жыл бұрын

    @@000Krim Seth would be an amazing chameleon voice actor whose presence you have to check the credits to confirm, like Jennifer Hale or Laura Bailey

  • @TheHypno15
    @TheHypno156 жыл бұрын

    I feel like this has transended the 4th wall, and we are now breaking the 5th wall Fantastic video as always

  • @giladpellaeon1691

    @giladpellaeon1691

    6 жыл бұрын

    Maybe that's the ceiling or the floor? Aren't they just walls from a different point of view?

  • @NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself

    @NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself

    6 жыл бұрын

    Buckaroo Banzai and the Fifth Wall

  • @azraelle6232

    @azraelle6232

    3 жыл бұрын

    Extra-dimensional walls? I think I just lost a point of Sanity.

  • @knightofberenike9633

    @knightofberenike9633

    3 жыл бұрын

    Breaking the first, the second, the third Fourth wall, fifth wall, no floor, you fall Earworm humming in a dream “baby baby baby” Yeah, just plastic

  • @FuriousJorge
    @FuriousJorge6 жыл бұрын

    Uhg. That voice brought back memories, terrible memories, and now I'm angry again!

  • @handlebarfox2366

    @handlebarfox2366

    5 жыл бұрын

    hehe.... my closest brush with death involved being in an out of control van skidding across an 8 lane highway and crashing against the curb on the opposite side of the road. The owner of the upper scale car dealership came out to make sure to put up the traffic cones that had been knocked out of the way so nobody would take advantage of getting onto the off ramp road/land he'd just bought... he also came over afterwards to see if he couldn't get the second van (our co-workers who came to see if we were all right) out of his lot so it wouldn't ah... ruin the looks of the place? Mmm.... right. Whatever. (And no, there was no other interaction with us.)

  • @shakethatcake2667
    @shakethatcake26676 жыл бұрын

    Ok so looking back on your older vids the names are. Long hair: todd Mustache: mike Goatee: Dweebles

  • @jamesgarlick4573

    @jamesgarlick4573

    5 жыл бұрын

    I always just referred to them as Stoner Tough guy Lisp goatee

  • @QuikdethDeviantart

    @QuikdethDeviantart

    4 жыл бұрын

    Poor dweebles

  • @DaveButtons

    @DaveButtons

    4 жыл бұрын

    😂😂😂

  • @Avankiri

    @Avankiri

    Жыл бұрын

    Don't forget Kevin.

  • @oz_jones

    @oz_jones

    Жыл бұрын

    @@Avankiri And Seth, the GM. Who is different from actual Seth.

  • @stitchthealchemist1520
    @stitchthealchemist15206 жыл бұрын

    You are so mean to Dweebles. Keep up the good work.

  • @theDMLair

    @theDMLair

    6 жыл бұрын

    Dweebles is awesome! 😃

  • @DustinMWeber

    @DustinMWeber

    5 жыл бұрын

    Hey, if nothing else, perhaps "Dweebles" can rebel against Seth and just come up with his own name. For some reason, the name "Scotty" seems pretty fitting of the guy. Either that or, say, "Rudy."

  • @jamesgarlick4573

    @jamesgarlick4573

    5 жыл бұрын

    I always called him "Jeff"

  • @TheodoreMinick

    @TheodoreMinick

    5 жыл бұрын

    I legit thought Dweebles *was* his name.

  • @The_Gallowglass

    @The_Gallowglass

    4 жыл бұрын

    Dicks!

  • @marekginett6287
    @marekginett62876 жыл бұрын

    Buying an expensive clock to prove oneself to NPC... this is an example of someone really immersed into a character and a game. Brilliant.

  • @jemmerx

    @jemmerx

    4 жыл бұрын

    Not to mention needing to take a 5 minute break because he was so worked up. That is an epic NPC interaction. Bravo Seth!

  • @kevinsullivan3448

    @kevinsullivan3448

    2 жыл бұрын

    During my first Call of Cthulhu game in the 80s, our group had a Werewolf chauffeur and during a campaign we met a Scottish Laird who had a daughter who was also a Werewolf. My character, Claphan Reid, though it would be a good idea to hook them up, since our WW was a nice guy and all. Unfortunately, one of the other PCs said something he should not have and everything went south and while our WW was safely restrained during the full moon, the other one was not and Claphan ended up having to kill her with silver slugs from his shotgun. I was rather upset for the next couple of sessions, since the 'Professor' turned out to be an idiot who couldn't keep his mouth shut. We barely escaped Great Britain due to the actions of the 'more experienced' characters.

  • @skyblazeeterno

    @skyblazeeterno

    11 ай бұрын

    probably they had too much time on their hands :)

  • @davegreenlaw5654
    @davegreenlaw56545 жыл бұрын

    I'll be totally honest, it took me watching a few of your videos before I realized "Hey wait-a-sec, that's the same guy."

  • @omegamark9178

    @omegamark9178

    4 жыл бұрын

    Ikr,he IS a pretty good actor actually!

  • @marcar9marcar972

    @marcar9marcar972

    3 жыл бұрын

    Yeah he’s actually really good

  • @zachmccambridge8748
    @zachmccambridge87486 жыл бұрын

    *Sobs* "He's a Monster!" (I legit lol'd at work)

  • @MarmadukeRupe
    @MarmadukeRupe6 жыл бұрын

    "Quiet Dweebles" says Mike, the at the table NPC who Seth name dropped instead this episode.

  • @Jlk2000x

    @Jlk2000x

    6 жыл бұрын

    MarmadukeRupe I think he said Mike.

  • @B.-T.

    @B.-T.

    6 жыл бұрын

    Yeah mustache NPC is Mike, his name premiered in the Five Awesome Player Traits video.

  • @MarmadukeRupe

    @MarmadukeRupe

    6 жыл бұрын

    B. T. Thanks for the clarification. I must've forgot that happened, I love that video.

  • @timpind.8237

    @timpind.8237

    6 жыл бұрын

    B. T. No, he’s Dweebles. Were you even paying attention?

  • @willgillies5670

    @willgillies5670

    4 жыл бұрын

    Mike's the one with the Tache and the Beany hat, Todd's the metal stoner with the baseball cap Dweebles, which is probably a nickname, Dweebles...he looks like Brian to me....Jacks the woah woah woah guy. Then theres Narrator Seth and his NPC doppleganger , Seth the DM.

  • @magma1lord
    @magma1lord6 жыл бұрын

    During our pathfinder session, our cleric mentioned he wanted to learn the profession Alchemy and ask if he could. I told him that he needed to find a teacher. So next session we had a relaxed session, I gave them the chance to discover Sandpoint a little. On the market, there was a traveling merchant selling the all-curing cure. It turned out to be a master alchemist, willing to take our cleric as his apprentice. (his accent changed to Russian for a reason I cannot explain because it was not intended I'm terrible with accents) He introduced himself as The GREAT Alphonse The GREAT Alchemist. (this is how he calls himself every time. when he talks about himself he says, "I, The GREAT Alphonse The GREAT Alchemist") My players loved him instantly. I really like this NPC, He was made from the top of my head and turned out to be amazing. I think im going to make him a character sheet.

  • @robertnett9793

    @robertnett9793

    6 жыл бұрын

    Reminds me on 'Maleficio el Magnificient'. Traveling merchant of wonders and the extraordinaire. Come in and see with your very eyes, the marvels of forgotten times, magic beyond imagination and unbelieveble tresaures. Maleficio itself was a third-rate quarter-mage (basically a class of mundane people with some little magic power - mostly illusions), with a bright red wagon and the fastest horses in the realm. The items he sold were mostly forgeries, replicas, useless junk and the occasional cursed ring... Hm. Should dust off this NPC sometime and use him again. Fun times :D

  • @randonimity84

    @randonimity84

    6 жыл бұрын

    Does he have a brother named Edward? XD

  • @barlotardy

    @barlotardy

    6 жыл бұрын

    This closest thing my Campaign has to a master alchemist is Al, of Al's Chemicals. He's a hyper, twitchy fella with no eyebrows. I'm not gonna say he's running a meth lab out of the home village, but.....he's running a meth lab out of the home village.

  • @sk8rdman

    @sk8rdman

    5 жыл бұрын

    @@robertnett9793 In Pathfinder the magic item creation rules include rules for attempting to craft something more quickly or cheaply, with a chance that you wind up with a cursed magic item on a bad roll. I always wanted to make a crazed wizard who crafted magic items, but often cut corners which resulted in some of is items being cursed. That's the risk you run buying discount magic items from him!

  • @snate56

    @snate56

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@barlotardy Where does he get Benadryl?

  • @ZombieKissingBooth
    @ZombieKissingBooth6 жыл бұрын

    #justice4dweebles!

  • @dodebro
    @dodebro6 жыл бұрын

    The skits in this video were especially on point.

  • @Dorian_sapiens

    @Dorian_sapiens

    6 жыл бұрын

    I love it when the players at the table get in on the dialogue.

  • @kalosamasan
    @kalosamasan6 жыл бұрын

    Ok, honesty time, I honestly thought that those were real people you played with. Only a couple times did I think maybe, just maybe, they were you.

  • @SSkorkowsky

    @SSkorkowsky

    6 жыл бұрын

    The real test will be if I can get you to forget they're all me, even though I've confessed the truth.

  • @jadenasher6290
    @jadenasher62906 жыл бұрын

    My players just left from a late night game. So this video is well timed for my post-game unwinding time.

  • @PoldaranOfDalaran
    @PoldaranOfDalaran6 жыл бұрын

    You missed an excellent opportunity to make a Candle Jack joke. You really can't let these pass you by when you get the -

  • @markabrian1925

    @markabrian1925

    4 жыл бұрын

    kzread.info/dash/bejne/m4dhyLSHms6boM4.html joke is at 3:36

  • @draxthemsklonst
    @draxthemsklonst6 жыл бұрын

    Waiting for Dweebles to go John Wick mode.

  • @marveltard

    @marveltard

    6 жыл бұрын

    Every table character is just a different Keanu Reevs role?

  • @draxthemsklonst

    @draxthemsklonst

    6 жыл бұрын

    +birbfanchannel tighto Dweebles, specifically, is loosely influenced by Bill & Ted style Keanu. Not Seth's other characters.

  • @draxthemsklonst

    @draxthemsklonst

    6 жыл бұрын

    I was confused, and mistaken between characters, oops.

  • @lordsanityfree
    @lordsanityfree6 жыл бұрын

    In my Shadowrun 3 game... Boris the perpetually drunk Russian arms dealer. He constantly says "No refunds!" He may actually have tourette's. I haven't decided yet. He wrote a cookbook called "Cooking with Flamethrower" and was trying hard to sell it to our street sam, who only wanted some non lethal ammo. In the end, Boris marked up the ammo by 3¥ a box, then casually mentioned to the PC that there's a coupon in the cookbook for 3¥ off boxes of ammo. It ended up saving him a buck or so, so he bought it. Now every time he comes into the gun shop Boris asks him if he tried this recipe or that.

  • @handlebarfox2366

    @handlebarfox2366

    5 жыл бұрын

    Interesting thing about Tourette's... it's actually a disorder where the brain's fear/pain circuits are overloading for no logical reason, and the response is a stream of curses from the mental distress... it's literally a base level distress response.

  • @oz_jones

    @oz_jones

    8 ай бұрын

    @@handlebarfox2366 Not just curses, ticks in general.

  • @nomnomgoblin8901
    @nomnomgoblin89016 жыл бұрын

    Great vid and I've got the same tee shirt :D Edit: For those of you curious- ESSENTIAL NPC ! The success of the main quest depends on my continued survival Do NOT maim, rob, or kill NPC is not worth significant xp and does not carry excess amounts of cash, unique clothing, or named weapons. After that, at least on mine, is just copyright stuff.

  • @middleclassciswhitemale642
    @middleclassciswhitemale6426 жыл бұрын

    I was joking with my dad the other day about making an NPC based on a very scary monster usually found in dungeons in D&D, but actually making them friendly, and a lovable dork and goofball, as well as a powerful ally if the players choose to trust him. I don't want to say any more since one of my tabletop players watches your videos and might read comments, but I know I'm very excited for a certain NPC come my first time DMing D&D.

  • @oz_jones

    @oz_jones

    2 жыл бұрын

    Its a beholder, isnt it?

  • @aranockcooke98
    @aranockcooke986 жыл бұрын

    Great video as per usual

  • @GunnarWahl
    @GunnarWahl6 ай бұрын

    My best npc's came from my own old characters i made for other games. My most notable is Jimmy John, of Jimmy John's used Wands. He was a used wand salesman who had dozens of wands from 3.5 when they had charges, but each of them had fewer than max charges, mostly all half used up. He spoke like danny devito sort of and he was a goblin from the plane of air. He was made of magic and he sold ya wands (which he said like w-ands, no "on" sound but an "And" sound, so Jimmy J-ands used w-ands) he became an instant favorite that a friends mom compliment the voice and was like, who's doing that?

  • @DeathBy_Chair
    @DeathBy_Chair6 жыл бұрын

    I wanted my players to do most of their magical shopping in one place so I made a teleporting wooden shack that on the inside is the size of a major library filled with magic items. Then I made the shopkeep a little old lady named Matilda but after my barbarian tried to intimidate for better prices I put my foot down. Suddenly she snapped her neck to the right and her voice became deep and scraggly, her face shifting slightly to be more square jawed and called himself Stan. Then he snapped his neck to the left started talking like quagmire and called himself Greg. Finally the barbarian pissed him off, he snapped his neck downwards his eyes became red his skin became smoother and purple his jacket opened up to reveal hundreds of red eyes staring back as he cursed out the dumb barbarian in infernal. Thus the shopkeep of the Emporium Comporium Spletorium was born Matilda, Stan, Greg, and Markus. Later on they hired a naive ancient silver dragon to collect magic items for them, an axiomite artificer to make magic items for them, and a psychotic gnome who makes alchemical concoctions in the corner salad bar.

  • @zoromax10
    @zoromax106 жыл бұрын

    strong 4th wall breaking here, I loved it

  • @wm2429
    @wm24296 жыл бұрын

    I had a NPC in an Aquatic campaign named Fenz Thelphant who did the whole hand-rubbing thing as he talked. After the boat captain died, he tried to position himself as the new captain. Eventually the PCs caught him trying to steal gold out of the cargo hold and he got so embarrassed that he gave up trying to become the captain and got off the boat the next time they docked.

  • @chrishutchinson1874
    @chrishutchinson18746 жыл бұрын

    what Seth is Jack?! MIND BLOWN

  • @sk8rdman
    @sk8rdman5 жыл бұрын

    That moment when you realize that you're really just an npc in somebody else's game.

  • @azraelle6232

    @azraelle6232

    3 жыл бұрын

    "All the world's a tabletop, and the people merely NPCs."

  • @peershaunm
    @peershaunm5 жыл бұрын

    more videos, i'm burning through your content.

  • @asaskald
    @asaskald5 жыл бұрын

    "He might as well be a racist too". I lol'd. I love it. I started voicing all of my NPCs in Mouse Guard and it was actually fun. I think my players like the apothecary the most. I gave him a dark, scheming kind of voice. But he can't help how he talks. He's actually a really nice mouse with no evil plots.

  • @Leapyean
    @Leapyean3 ай бұрын

    Always good to go back and see the very start of Dweebles' villan arc!

  • @jwilson1687
    @jwilson16876 жыл бұрын

    Yea, I have a few red shirts that became huge deals and integral parts of the campaign because the player loved them, and it forced me to develope them more. Its always fun.

  • @Kazen169
    @Kazen169 Жыл бұрын

    "an NPC has no name"

  • @Wnderwall
    @Wnderwall6 жыл бұрын

    Right on Seth. I can't tell you how many spur of the moment NPCs my players decided to "keep". This is ok though because if I really need to get them motivated I kill/maim/kidnap one of them

  • @wesh3338
    @wesh33386 жыл бұрын

    Awesome, thanks for making this!

  • @giladpellaeon1691
    @giladpellaeon16916 жыл бұрын

    Another great video, I always get a kick out of the "Jack"s. I always like using NPC's and I often find them useful in campaigns to add some little RP breaks to a combat heavy campaign just to spice things up sometimes even add little mini quests.

  • @TheLoyalOfficer
    @TheLoyalOfficer4 жыл бұрын

    This is a great channel! Thank you!

  • @Geographus666
    @Geographus6664 жыл бұрын

    Our DM once had a NPC in a long-running campaign that was our contact to some elite underground syndicate bosses we were in debt to, so we had no choice but to talk to this guy if we wanted to keep those bosses on good terms with us by doing jobs for them. That guy had a personality ... like whatever we did, that guy was never pleased, even if we followed our orders to the letter and everything worked as planed. He was not snobby or elitist, but the way he talked and phrased certain things always made us feel that we did something wrong. It felt like you could save that guys life and he expected you to apologize for it. We all hated that guy especially since we had to keep talking to him. We stil game with that DM and ocasionally he throws us a curveball by having a random NPC speaking in the tone of that guy because he still get's a reaction from us after all those years and he enjoys that 5 seconds of cringe everyone who was part of that campagin gets when he hears that voice. Awesome NPC but boy do I hope I will never encounter such a guy in the real world.

  • @mikegould6590
    @mikegould65906 жыл бұрын

    You covered every point I could possibly add. Nice job!

  • @cianawadsworth3492
    @cianawadsworth34925 жыл бұрын

    Thank you so much for this video! It helped a lot!

  • @daltonprather6649
    @daltonprather66496 жыл бұрын

    so glad to see more seth!!!!

  • @johneastman5681
    @johneastman56814 жыл бұрын

    You sir, are hilarious. Thank you for your content. Informative and enjoyable!

  • @WylliamJudd
    @WylliamJudd4 жыл бұрын

    So glad I discovered your channel!

  • @scimerio1117
    @scimerio11175 жыл бұрын

    This video was brilliant. One of your best (that I've seen) so far!

  • @Saadis666
    @Saadis6665 ай бұрын

    Very interresting and well presented. Thanks for this and all your great videos!

  • @Tsunkuotaku
    @Tsunkuotaku5 жыл бұрын

    Brilliant video! I think it's your best yet. Just watched this a second time and I think I enjoyed it even more this time. Keep up the great work!

  • @robertbogan225
    @robertbogan2256 жыл бұрын

    Love the shirt and the content!

  • @heatherellis3471
    @heatherellis34714 жыл бұрын

    I just found this channel and I'm really digging it!

  • @darbizzlebacon
    @darbizzlebacon5 жыл бұрын

    I've only just started watching your videos, but I think they're great. One method I use for giving a character voices, is by impersonating different Star Trek characters, and writing the ST character name under the NPCs name.

  • @JoHe_SonicBanana
    @JoHe_SonicBanana2 жыл бұрын

    Just found your videos quite recently and I must say they are so good. The clock story was hilarious! 😄

  • @SquirrelGamez
    @SquirrelGamez6 жыл бұрын

    I love your NPCs and even with my 20-something years of experience, it's always nice and helpful to get input from fellow DMs and how they do things. Keep them coming. :D

  • @schonnj
    @schonnj6 жыл бұрын

    Also good tips for memorable PC's too. Great vid.

  • @robofthewest
    @robofthewest5 жыл бұрын

    Great video and very entertaining NPCs.

  • @danielmiller3596
    @danielmiller35963 жыл бұрын

    Recent story from my last group. I was play testing a Brawler (PF1), and ended up basically getting into a “mirror match” to see if I could use the class mechanics. One of the other PC’s ran “Slippery Pete” and it got into street level grapple fighting and using whatever oil it was that made Slippery Pete... lubricious... I still can’t stop the guy who played him from cheering Pete all the time.

  • @SHDW-nf2ki
    @SHDW-nf2ki2 жыл бұрын

    I'm shocked that a player got that upset with your NPC but good on him for admiting it and sticking to the game

  • @curtiscarver5104
    @curtiscarver51045 жыл бұрын

    Lol didn't notice your eyes moving and reading til you mentioned it. Great videos

  • @ross9195
    @ross91956 жыл бұрын

    My favorite thing about these videos is that there is a load of passion inside of them. These videos are created to help others and not to grab attention or money. They are very helpful, thank you for another excellent video, Seth.

  • @rickeymariu1
    @rickeymariu16 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the vid. I love your NPC'S

  • @chrismuirhead3219
    @chrismuirhead32196 жыл бұрын

    Hi Seth just wanted you to know; YOU ARE A GREAT ACTOR! love your vids

  • @TheDreadedBeauty
    @TheDreadedBeauty4 жыл бұрын

    I'm here to feed the algorithm. But more than that, this is the third time I've watched this video. It's both fun and helpful. Thanks for making these!

  • @rollespil1000
    @rollespil10004 жыл бұрын

    Awesome! I learned a lot from your video :)

  • @url4345
    @url43454 жыл бұрын

    The most beloved npc in my group was a random bouncer who did his job kicking out a rowdy player. The player decided to take revenge and hatched a plan to kidnap this bouncer (an orc named thoric). At this point he was still a generic red shirt npc, but once we got to roleplaying I made him be extremely dull witted which lead to a lot of misunderstanding and hilarity. The players took a liking to him and he became a recurring antagonist / friend who always made situations more chaotic and interesting and always made the players laugh.

  • @mrbroeders
    @mrbroeders3 жыл бұрын

    Great video...thanks Seth

  • @wolf1066
    @wolf1066 Жыл бұрын

    Frankly I think your characterisations are awesome - the skits where you play Mike, Todd and Dweebles and the various versions of Jack make for extremely enjoyable content.

  • @nickmanzo8459
    @nickmanzo84595 жыл бұрын

    During my very first Call of Cthulhu game I ever ran on my birthday earlier this year, my players made me recall the information on this video and I thanked God for every word of it. Let me explain. Were in southern Vermont, and the players are supposed to be going into the woods after a group of thieves who had kidnapped a young girl. The PCs during the town hall meeting when the Sheriff was laying down the facts of the botched ransom handover, and the subsequent gun fight, was asked where the leader of the gang was known to hang out so they could ask for more clues. Being that it wasn’t in the scenario itself, and that it was a rural town, on the fly, I made up that he had a local hangout at a seed barn that doubled as a bootlegging Shop, and basement speakeasy. Assuming that the players wouldn’t care too much about it, I left it at that. Instead, they were told to take an hour to buy supplies and gather clues before being driven to the woods to try to search for the missing girl and her kidnappers. Did they want to do that? Of course not, they wanted to question the bootleggers. I had to make up an NPC on the fly, and came up with this creepy ginger young guy in overalls with long red hair, freckles, and nearly white skin, who’s mouth was slightly open in an eternally half smiling, half surprised expression, with the creepiest “I’m so happy!” voice. My players were immediately creeped out by, and loved this guy even though he had zero relevance to the story, and threatened them with a sawed off shotgun mounted under the shop counter before they finally left. That was so much fun, but I’m still baffled as to why the PCs wanted so much to chat this guy up when it’s like “The game is over here guys! See? It’s over there!”

  • @SSkorkowsky

    @SSkorkowsky

    5 жыл бұрын

    That is awesome. Love the description you gave the bootlegger. Never underestimate the ability of a player to jump down the rabbit hole of falling in love with a random and completely on-the-fly NPC. Very often we end up remembering that NPC with far more clarity and love than we even remember the adventure or campaign.

  • @yipyipyipi
    @yipyipyipi4 жыл бұрын

    What Seth tried to teach us: how to make memorable and great npcs What we (and Seth) learned: Seth would make a villianously good clocksalesman.

  • @fartymcbutterpants7063
    @fartymcbutterpants70632 жыл бұрын

    Awesome! I love coming across inside jokes like this. I finally know where Dweebles got his name!!

  • @pops8975
    @pops89755 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for your work Seth. Getting ready to restart my D&D career since AD&D and I appreciate your advice. It’s nice to know that as long as I keep on trying my voices no matter how self conscious I am, my players will have great NPCs to remember!

  • @tazmokhan7614
    @tazmokhan76146 жыл бұрын

    Am glad I show my players some of vids with Jack and have been able to imitate your voice of Jack almost perfectly...my players do love Jack now.....lol

  • @kayinoue2497
    @kayinoue24979 ай бұрын

    I do this thing with imagining the actor too. I one time had to make a deacon at a church which our Paladin spoke to, and he was 100% my best Tony Amendola (Of Stargate, Annabelle, etc fame) impression. I totally imagined him as playing the NPC. Also I love that essential NPC shirt! Awesome video and advice, Seth!

  • @Gavgoyle
    @Gavgoyle6 жыл бұрын

    Loved it, man! I run a game for teenagers, and I've taken to using Google Slides to keep NPCs pics and names (and other campaign notables) for the kids to refer back to and also keeping a Google Doc to jot down the impromptu names (and personality details) that come up during gameplay. Happiness is an off-the-cuff NPC who turns major!

  • @specterwolf4711
    @specterwolf47116 жыл бұрын

    Great video! I think this is an awesome bit of advice and information for DMs/GMs no matter if they are new or veterans. I think GMs tend to be intimidated creating NPCs and RPGing them. I like how honest you are about how you do things. RPGing NPCs is something you have to learn to do just like you have to learn to GM. When I realized that it is part of the GM's privilege to roleplay NPCs I embraced it. It is so much fun to throw quirky NPCs at my players and see their reactions. It is interesting that most of my NPCs that were really fun are those that I didn't really plan but that just happened during a campaign. Plus, I absolutely love the shirt!!! I need a shirt like that! Keep up the great work with all of your videos!!!!

  • @foolishsamurai9046
    @foolishsamurai90465 жыл бұрын

    this channel is awesome in general, but that video is especially cool

  • @Danmarinja
    @Danmarinja6 жыл бұрын

    Seth has some of the best t-shirts I've ever seen. Also, solid advice. But great tees.

  • @callumbyrne4263
    @callumbyrne42635 жыл бұрын

    Love your stuff Seth, would be so easy to make your videos with less effort than you do and they would still be great but your skits super make it your own.

  • @tabletopgamingwithwolfphototec
    @tabletopgamingwithwolfphototec2 жыл бұрын

    Here for the refresher course on making memorable characters. I usually ace this when being a player. But struggle from time to time as a Game master.

  • @Skullkan6
    @Skullkan64 жыл бұрын

    12:26 Jack, your catch phrase is "Freaking" especially "freaking brilliant"

  • @wisemoon40
    @wisemoon405 жыл бұрын

    I love your "Bill and Ted" NPC. Good job, man.

  • @Seth9809
    @Seth98096 жыл бұрын

    I use the Twilight 2000 system of cards and a random card generator, when I need a quick NPC motivation. It works quite well.

  • @StatsScott
    @StatsScott2 ай бұрын

    For the recurring NPCs I use, I have to say their catchphrase to remember how they sound/talk. Once I do that, it all comes back again but I can’t seem to remember without that.

  • @alanrennox7340
    @alanrennox73406 жыл бұрын

    Great video as always..poor dweebles..

  • @Zozunium
    @Zozunium5 жыл бұрын

    I saw that comment of "Dweebles" xD Great content as always!

  • @revelationmd
    @revelationmd4 жыл бұрын

    With regards to your last point Seth - regarding the very ooc emotional response you received to an in-character npc interaction.... this proves the RP was done really well to my mind. That's a testament to both you and your players btw and in my opinion at least, this is what the game is really about. I do most of my RP both in my own game, and in games I play in, via text (PS if you want memorable npcs, mannerisms and catchphrases become an absolute must when its just text). Probably the most memorable RP moment of the last decade that I can remember was when I made one of my players cry. Should add, this wasn't bullying lol... it was just a very emotional scene. Funny thing is, I ended up in tears myself and I'm a 40+ very blokey bloke! Anyway - great video yet again!

  • @doctorlolchicken7478
    @doctorlolchicken74786 жыл бұрын

    Great video. I never really analyzed it before, but the advice about imagining that an NPC is played by a particular actor is what I end up with most of the time. I also place personalities and mannerisms of people I know (that the players don’t know) on the npcs. In the same way, when describing a NPC on the fly I just think of a character or two from different movies/shows and mix them together. I try and avoid being obvious, but sometimes for major npcs it is kinda fun to be totally obvious about who the NPC is modeled off (Dirty Harry, The Joker, Inigo Montoya, Artemisia, The Master, Siegmeyer, Hans Gruber being some of my player’s favorites. ). One extra thing I would add that really helps is to be consistent but also unpredictable. I once made the mistake of having too many cool and mysterious npcs, to the point where the players became suspicious of everyone. It is best to mix it up a lot. Sometimes a bland shopkeeper is just that, sometimes a macho talking Han Solo type is a big coward, sometimes the mad wizard is useless insane rather than useful. Try not to second guess your first thought because that illogical combination might just be a great NPC.

  • @squeethemog213
    @squeethemog2136 жыл бұрын

    This will really help me make my pcs shine in my campaign. I unfortunately default to three personas when I do npcs but the tips in this I'll definety try out. Thanks is Seth :)

  • @Malachi57
    @Malachi574 жыл бұрын

    Holy hell. That opening 2 minutes is great lol!

  • @ladybuzzkillington2072
    @ladybuzzkillington20723 жыл бұрын

    Ran my first little mini campaign of Call of Cthulhu. I gave my party a handful of NPC's to fill some holes and help them get the hang of the system. I only planned to keep one as a running friend of the party who was basically Bostonian Jack the NPC. However i made each of the 3 other NPC's to kind of fit with one or two members of the party to give them some personality. Well one of them was meant to be a starlet and i built her to be mildly annoying but incresibly useful at a few tasks. (Track, a couple of the interpersonal skills, and something else) I apparently did a good job because my group loved her because of how much they hated her. Bostonian Jack and her were the onlytwo NPC's who stayed in the party.

  • @The_Custos
    @The_Custos4 жыл бұрын

    "Whoa, dude, awesome video." I like your focus on voice. I'm going to run with it.

  • @1217BC
    @1217BC6 жыл бұрын

    Poor Dweebles

  • @tripple-a6031
    @tripple-a60313 жыл бұрын

    Another great way to make a character more memorable is to give them their own theme. Of course that's something you shouldn't do often and only for characters that make an impression with each scene, most likely the main antagonist.

  • @toffotin
    @toffotin4 жыл бұрын

    Oh man, I was convinced the guy in the cap was an impression of Wayne in Wayne's World. Although it's been a long time since I saw the movie, so I'm not even that sure what the character was like C: Dweebles is awesome btw.

  • @stephentaylor6726
    @stephentaylor67264 жыл бұрын

    '...an npc has no name.' Earned a like from me there buddy. Keep up the good work.

  • @edwardkann2827
    @edwardkann28274 жыл бұрын

    Seth - OMG you are hilarious. I love your videos.

  • @anytimeanywhere7859
    @anytimeanywhere78595 жыл бұрын

    Wonderful.

  • @dusty3913
    @dusty39135 жыл бұрын

    Characters and their catch phrases, voices, etc. One great place to see that in action is to watch the various judges on the tv show, Boston Legal. There are 3 or 4 that are really great.

  • @Cyberfender1
    @Cyberfender13 жыл бұрын

    Man! I'm going to steal that hated npc( hand gestures) well done!

  • @dubuyajay9964
    @dubuyajay99645 жыл бұрын

    Awww, Dweebles is an adorable name! X3. Aww, don't be sad Mr. NPC! TTnTT. I think you're a GREAT NPC! D':

  • @uglyweirdo1389
    @uglyweirdo13895 жыл бұрын

    Keep your eye on Paranoia Clone Jack.

  • @XiahouDun1225
    @XiahouDun12255 жыл бұрын

    These are also good tips for roleplaying player characters.