Season 2 Episode 5: T.I.P.S. for Making NPCs; or Creating the Illusion of Depth

19 Hits the Dragon

The world is full of interesting and unique people, but filling the world up yourself can seem like a daunting task for a GM. You're players keep asking every guard their name, wanting to know the back story of every person in the tavern, or possibly the true motives of the quest giver. So how do you handle that?

Well never fear dear listeners. David Easley, the GM of Trials of the Apocalypse joins me today with his advice on whipping up unique NPCs with ease. He created a great acronym (that I'm definitely stealing) T.I.P.S. to give a framework for NPC creation.

Additionally we discuss ways to use some of tools on the fly when you suddenly need a new NPC you hadn't planned for. The true secret, as we discuss, is to give the illusion of depth to these characters and we offer some great advice on how to create that facsimile.

A big thank you to David for joining me for today's discussion. You can hear him GM Trials of the Apocalypse wherever you get your podcasts or check follow this link to find them on your podcatcher of choice: https://linktr.ee/TotaPodcast.

If you enjoy what you hear or make use of any of our advice it would be really great if you left us comments, ratings, or reviews wherever you get your podcasts. And of course be sure to tell 19 of your closest friends!

Huge shout out to Paul Mackie for our rocking intro an outro theme and as always to the incredible Hannah Miller for editing our nonsense together.