N is for Notorious NPCs

Crafting NPCs your players love to hate.

Baby, bay-bey.

Phil the Spook

Phil started life as a Polish guy the Americans worked with, a liaison between the Polish folks in the community and the American forces hunkering down there. Phil isn't even his real name, but he got tired of the Americans butchering his Polish name. Two PCs were detained and zip-tied by the Americans, and Phil got to interview them, easy stuff. Where are you from? What are you looking for? Nothing sinister, except I pictured Phil as an in-the-moment kind of person; he was eating a fat, juicy grapefruit while talking to the PCs. The players had a strong, negative reaction to that eating of the grapefruit - their characters were on rations and running short and hadn't had fresh, real food in some time. And here's a dude, devouring fresh fruit, a snack right in front of them, licking his fingers, wiping his hands on his shirt. I leaned into their reaction and their other voiced concerns. Phil took on a kind of agency of his own. The players and characters would talk about him often, especially about how to "whack" Phil the Spook.

I believe unforgettable, strong NPCs happen organically through play. I don't even try to design for the most impactful NPC anymore, nor do I make a hard decision over who the BIG BAD NPC is. The key to creating lasting NPCs folks love to hate is listening and leaning into those players’ concerns, fears, and expressed anxieties —and then giving it to them. That's the One Weird Trick.

When an NPC first appears, name them real names, handles, monikers, and even out-of-game names like 'The World's Most Interesting Man'. Name them. Figure out what their job or role is and where they are coming from. This will help color their interactions with the PCs. Then figure out what they want right now! Those wants range from something the PCs have to ‘I wanna eat this orange.’ Treat the first presentation as a "day in the life" moment of the NPC.

It's helpful sometimes to describe an NPC in terms of a celebrity or someone the group knows. "The World's Most Interesting Man" is the physical description of a Russian NPC fluent in Polish and German the PCs took an interest in because of two children with him who weren't Russian. They "Wanted" that situation to be about a "Bad Uncle" - I heard that but didn't give it to them, that was too easy. The World's Most Interesting Man was a throwaway NPC, another scavenger in WW III that never was. The players were strongly interested in him, so he and his niece and nephew became recurring NPCs that triggered strong player and character reactions.

1. Name them. Even a short first name is a strong trigger or tag. It sets the tone of the whole character, making it easier to "play" them again when they come calling.

2. EZ Description. Steal celebrities, people from your experience, your family, mash it up. For women NPCs, I often pull bits from women in my family or have worked with. Men are easier for me to riff on nearly nothing.

3. Wants. What do they want right now that you can use in play right now? Run with that, develop more in the context of how that moment ends, as you need it. Wants grow into agendas.

When NPCs "show up again," decide what goal, task, or thing they have achieved since we last saw them. Or what they failed at. Update what they want right now. Then, run the interaction with that and the history of the last encounter with them. There's a dance you'll do between being antagonistic with the NPC and humanizing them. PCs can easily solve the former with violence (or magic). Staying in the grey between both is the dance.

Phil, the Polish spook, The World's most interesting man, The Prince, The Client, Red-Eye, 3-Pain, and Asim. Not all evil villains, but for sure, folks the players loved to hate. Notorious!