NationStates Jolt Archive

Creating Your Own Adventures

Starting a Campaign But Don't Know Where to Begin? Here Are a Few Suggestions To Start the Creative Process.

Many people begin their journeys by running pre-written modules. It's a good way to get their feet wet, learning the skills and secrets of controlling your own RP without having to worry about creating the story as well. Too soon, however, the impulse to create their own adventures and to put their own personal spins on these worlds take over. But where should they start? These are some points to consider as you try to run your own adventure.
It is quite easy and understandable to become overwhelmed with trying to do everything at once. There are so many variables you have to account for. What you need to do is focus. Where is the best place to start? Okay, the easy part: decide what type of adventure you want to run. Usually you already know what type of system or genre you are interested in running, or what the players want. Together with your friends, you decide it would be fun to run a good old fashioned western type adventure. There is nothing like the code of the old west. Next, decide where it will take place and the basic goal of your adventure.

For this beginning adventure you have decided on a simple quest. Your players have entered a neighboring town because there have been rumors of strange things going on. The basic goal is for your fellow RP’ers to find out what is happening. Sounds pretty simple. Now you explore the plot a little further. How did they hear about this problem? Were they hired by someone or is there a personal reason to get involved with the residents of the town. What is happening in the town? Are the residents part of the plot or are they being coerced? If it's a nefarious plot who is the mastermind behind it? Who will the PCs meet on their journey, and will those people be helpful or try to stop them? Is the only possible accomplishment information gathering or can they possibly help solve the problem?

After you start to put those basic plot points together you can work at how intricate you want the adventure to be. First of all, you can work on Non-player characters (NPCs). These are the characters run by the RP-creator, who the players will meet or interact with. If you are like me, you enjoy the roleplaying aspect of gaming more than the actual fighting, so creation of these NPCs is incredibly important. Just fill in the details about this character's life.

• Is he from the town or is he visiting?
• What is this person's family like? Does he have siblings? Are his parents alive? Is he married and does he have children?
• What are his motivations and aspirations? What events brought those wants and desires into being?
• What can this character do (both for fun and for a living)?
• What are this characters goals for the future, is he working on anything specific?
• What oddities or quirks does this person have. We all take some sort of disability or Achilles Heel. What is it for this person? Is he overconfident? Does he habitually lie? Does he trust everyone and everything?
• What is the character's basic personality - Does he react to specific things?
• Appearance – What will your fellow RP’ers see when they first meet him?

I know these seem like unimportant, maybe even boring aspects for building these characters, but the richer the detail you have for the NPCs the richer will be the dialogue within the game itself. You would be surprised how much material flows naturally once you have a basic idea of an individual. And this way, you, as the RP-creator, do not have to prepare specific dialogues for each fellow RP’er, it will all come out with the interaction.

Next you can plan out general obstacles the players will meet along the way. Most important is deciding how intricate you want their experiences to be. You can make them very simple or straightforward or you can have a series of interlinking clues that build on each other. Warning: Players DO NOT always do what you think. Always have a back-up clue or key to the mystery should the players not interpret it correctly, or walk right past it. Therefore, you really need to keep track so you can lead the wandering band of fellow RP’ers back on the correct path, or at least in (mostly) the same direction.

Some RP-creators and players like to have maps and drawings to give a better idea on what is going on. Here is a big controversy. How much detail do you put into your maps. It may be a good idea to make a map that isn’t too detailed, so that if one of the characters gets lost, they’ll be able to improvise their way back to the group.

It's really all about flexibility. You can never ascertain what your players may decide to do, so you need to be ready for anything. The more playable your preparation the more adaptable and ready you will be. Sure you can prepare things like NPC interaction possibilities. But I would not write out specific conversations or speeches. Your fellow RP’ers may just not ask questions where those come out and then you are trying to force it. Believe me, having been on the receiving end, that can be so frustrating as a player. You feel stifled and forced to follow your RP-creators’ path. Better to conceive the TYPE of answer and a general idea of what they would react to. And it's not exactly thrilling to put in HOURS of work writing specific details only to have to throw it out the window.

Being flexible allows both you and your players the freedom to take the adventure on a whole different level, to interact and play off each other. Once you have the basics in place, I can almost guarantee the roleplaying will come more naturally and be more satisfying.

Creating a Scenario
Be Prepared

Do a little research – I always do my homework before I start a game. It makes for a better developed, more intriguing scenario.

Complement your scenario – Add to the mood. If you are playing in a horror campaign, bring some atmospheric music, or lower the lights. Playing by candlelight can add to the exhilaration when your players are discovering the truth about the C'thulu mythos. There are many other touches you can bring. Don't be afraid to experiment.

Be the final arbitrator – When it comes down to it, you are the final judge. Do not let the players intimidate you into changing your mind. You can definitely admit if you've made a mistake, nobody is perfect after all. But do not allow yourself to be swayed because you want everyone to like your decision. That is just not going to happen. Just make sure your decisions are fair. For example if there is a contest between Selena and Boris, both magic users. Let the roleplaying, skills, and the rolls speak for themselves. Do not give the edge to one over the other just because you like the character better. If your players see you are a fair arbiter, they will come to trust your instinct and judgment.

Limit the number of players

When you are first learning how to create your own RP, you have so many different items to keep track of, the NPCs, the flow of the story, adversaries, and many more. If you allow too many player characters into a game, it's hard to make sure that every single one is accounted for. I have found that for a good game you should have between 4 and 6 players. It's a good number and it leaves room for good interplay with rarely anyone getting lost in the shuffle. This of course leads to the next point:

Keeping your Players Interested

Other ways of keeping your players interested:

Creative NPCs – Make sure that your NPCs are not generic. Give each one a distinct possibility and roleplay those differences. Do not hesitate to go for nontraditional gender roles or other "differences." It will keep your players on their toes.

Ask your players for advice – I think this is one of the hardest. You may feel nervous about asking for advice, fearing to lose authority. But, sometimes, you run out of ideas. You have a group that can help you. It has nothing to do with your knowledge of the game. Make it clear that you are still the referee, you just want some input. It will really help your players feel a part of the creative process. And besides, they will see for themselves, its not always that easy to come up with ideas. A new respect will grow from this.

Reward Creativity
Make sure that the only answer to a solution is not being sliced by Bart's dagger. If the players are crafty, they make find a way around the problem you were stumping them with. Even if the idea had never occurred to you, if its intelligent and well thought out, let it work. Show them that roleplaying is not only beating up the bad guy. Maybe the villain is too hard to actually beat in combat so the players need to think of a new way around the problem. See how the players handle some loss and if they regroup and make the best of the situation. As you gain in experience you can give your players new and exciting challenges to deal with.

Keep it Simple
As you can see in the previous paragraph, by no means am I saying you cannot have puzzles, riddles or a couple of subplots or plot twists brewing. There is nothing more satisfying than being in a group that has just figured out the set of clues or exhilarating as a creative plot twist. But be careful. I have seen many Role-Players have so many subplots going on that the main storyline is lost. Unless players are mindreaders they may not see where this is all leading. Both players and the RP-creator can get frustrated at this point and the story get stranded. Too many red herrings makes players wary of trusting the RP-creator. Don't get carried away. And the most important issue:

Have fun with it!

Remember, that is the number one reason for roleplaying. It's a game for you and your friends. Relax, trust your instincts, and don't take things too seriously. I have seen many fights break out over unimportant issues. You need to keep this in mind.

Good Villains
When you are ready to design a campaign, you need to come up with what the characters are going to try to accomplish. One of the many decisions you have to make is who the ultimate foe is. We don’t mean your average villain of the week, a throwaway grunt working for someone else, but rather whom that grunt is working for.

Good villains are very rare. Many times it is assumed that a huge amount of power and bad ‘tude are all that is needed. But power and attitude are only part of what makes a villain great. When it comes to developing that character into a bonafide, believable villain, a lot is frequently overlooked. It is not true that as long as they give the hero a bad time, they are golden.

There have been in various campaigns where, as a team, a group of RP'ers are faced with a supervillain. He has tons of power, but he is basically standing in the middle of the street yelling out a challenge to the heroes. While the fight maybe good and difficult, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Why would he risk his own neck when he can have his henchmen do it for him? Why is this guy, powerful though he may be, not quite believable as a worthy opponent? To begin with, he violates most of the rules a good, solid opponent should be founded upon.

Two good examples of the ultimate enemy would be Lex Luthor and Professor Moriarty. Rather than just copy these characters verbatim, let’s look at what you should do to create a good bad guy and the opposite, what should you avoid using as your chief nemesis.

Layers of Difficulty
As I have already mentioned, the bad guy sends other people out to do the dirty work. He has minions. The true villain knows that plans go wrong. Plans fail. People get caught. But no matter what happens, it will not be him that gets caught.

Secrecy is another big part of the layers of difficulty. Players can beat up that henchman all they want, but if he doesn’t really know who the top boss is then he can’t tell. The true villain gets extra credit if the henchmen think they are working for someone else. Always frame your competition.

Resources
The big bad guy should not be easy to capture. What made Lex Luthor such an excellent foe is that he used his resources. Here was a well-respected citizen who was actually a chief mastermind behind a huge crime syndicate. Yet, because of his position in society, his support for charities, and of course his political connections no one believed it was him or if they did, proof was not forthcoming. Plus, if he was in a tight spot he used his wealth, power and his position within society to get him out of any difficulty that arose. He has teams of lawyers waiting for an opportunity to smear a hero, and he has never been afraid to use them. He also had other bad guys working for him, and many times it seemed as if the heroes themselves did his work for him.

Your villain doesn’t even have to be rich to have these kinds of resources. A villain who is really just big and strong can intimidate people into working for him, or else. If he’s good enough then he’ll have the wealth someday, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t already a growing threat today.

If your villain uses these kinds of indirect tactics then your players will not be able to just attack him head on, or if they do there will be very bad consequences. They will have to work as a team within the system to prove his misdeeds, or attack him indirectly. And sometimes, the bad guy will win. It will be very fulfilling to them when (and if) they finally accomplish the task of putting him/her out of business for good.

It’s not only wealth and popularity that can make a character a good villain. Moriarty for example was a brilliant man. And, part of that brilliance was the way he played his cards behind the scenes. He was never really noticed because no one knew who he was. He was a match for Holmes in everyway and, despite the fact that he rarely confronted Holmes directly his influence was always felt. A good villain sharpens the hero providing him a focus to prove himself, but he doesn’t have to be obvious to do it. Sherlock Holmes would not be an icon without his matching wits with Professor Moriarty.

Believability/Complexity
To be a believable character, even an evil one, has to follow a set of core values. Nobody really thinks of himself or herself as evil. Everyone follows some sort of internal guide as he/she continue through life. Take for instance, Magneto from the X-men ™. No one can deny he is the bad guy. But he truly feels he is doing the right thing. Righting the wrongs done to his people. Survival makes us do things we are not always proud of. Taken to extremes a “good act” does not always mean one that is right.

The Sheriff of Nottingham thought he was preserving order and “the way things are supposed to be” from the chaos and villainy of Robin Hood. He truly believed that some people deserved to live in luxury, and other people deserved to be downtrodden. Some people were meant to work their way to the top, and other people were there purely to be taxed. Your villains should believe just as strongly in what they are doing.

To create a truly successful evil doer, villain, or whatever you want to call him, he should earn people’s respect, and even their sympathy. This does not mean that we must like them or wish them well, but a good villain has to have something likeable and admirable about them. No one wants to be friends with Hannibal Lector, yet here is an absolute genius who can be very charming and disarming (literally I guess) at times. This is what makes him so incredibly dangerous.

To go even further, a good villain doesn’t always have to do evil things, at least not all the time. Take one of the most memorable villains of all time. Don Vito Corleone (the Godfather) was the head of a crime family. He was well capable of ordering someone murdered (or even doing it himself if he had to), having a prized animal mutilated to prove a point, and many other horrendous deeds. Yet, he was a good family man and looked out for his neighbors and friends. If there was someone causing problems in his neighborhood, they would either get an offer they couldn’t refuse or they weren’t around to consider anything anymore.

It doesn’t hurt to add some humor and compassion to your villain’s personality. Having a softer side does wonders and adds to his complexity. It also makes it a little tougher for the good guys to see the bad guys for what they are. Plus, don't forget to check out all sources. For example, catering to the discriminating villain's taste there are resources available online for all things evil.

Basically what we are advocating is the creation of a master villain who is 3-dimensional. Giving the character layers beyond just a powerful punch and mean disposition will add layers to your world and make it worth the chase. There is a whole world out there waiting to be exploited. Let’s get moving and create the ultimate foil for your team of players. They will appreciate the fight even more…

3 Exciting Ways To Create Tension

1. Create Some Competition For The Prize

You can create fantastic tension by introducing a party nemesis. A nemesis should be close to the main character in power and capabilities. And the best nemesis is an entire band of NPCs who are close duplications of the main character (i.e. an evil twin of each character--or a good twin if the characters are evil). Have the band frequently be one step ahead of the main character, getting the main character in trouble through set-ups and false rumours, and outperform the main character in every possible way.

Nemesis examples:
* A bounty hunter after the main character to bring them to justice or into the villain's hands.

* Did the main character "accidentally" commit a bad crime in the last town? Form a posse and chase 'em down!

* Another band of adventurers after the same legendary treasure.

* A rival band of NPCs hired by the main characters' employer either as assurance the quest will be completed by one of the groups, or to "take care of the main characters" so there are no loose ends once the quest is completed.

* The PCs are asked to teach some NPCs, but the NPCs turn out to be more capable than the PCs and embarrass them often by doing things better.

2. Say Something is Going to Happen Then Put It Off

The title says it all. Let the players know that the villain is quickly approaching them, or that they feel the tremors of a giant monster and the tremors are getting worse, or that the bridge they're on is breaking apart...and then make it a false alarm or give the characters a brief respite.

Drawing things out creates a lot of tension.

A great way to perform this technique is to have an NPC do the telling:
* a story
* a warning
* in song or poetry
* through a note or diary entry
* through an overheard conversation

3. Use Omens

An omen is an event or sign that gives a hint about what the future holds. Omens are tricky because if they are too subtle the players won't understand them and the effect is lost.

Another problem is cause and effect. If the players do not associate your omen with potential future happenings, or if they are too skeptical to believe, then the omen will not create tension.

The solution is to introduce an omen, make sure the players recognize it as an omen, and have the omen come true in that same game session. Do this three times and you will make a believer out of the most skeptical player.

Omens that create the most tension are bad omens: nasty things could happen to the characters in the near future. And if your omen also contains a hint about the nature of the upcoming event even more tension can be created.

Character Development
by Sharee Rehema

"As authors, it is our Duty
To create lovable, enticing Characters
And do horrible, evil things to Them."

This guide is designed to help people with writer's block, role-players of all levels, and people who are just interested in psychology and philosophy as it applies to fiction. Here you'll find tips, examples, suggestions, general information to aid in creating rounded fictional characters for your stories and/or RPGs, and perhaps even information useful for everyday life.

There are many aspects of character development, and your character could be nearly as deep and complete as anyone you might know in real life. However, there are basic keys to fleshing out a character that can help break through blocks and get you and your creation on their way to a great story.

♦ Being informed (http://fullcircle.keenspace.com/characterdevelopment.htm#informed) is a vital part of all storytelling. Know your stuff so your character and their world makes sense.

♦ Learn the importance of Point of View and Background (http://fullcircle.keenspace.com/characterdevelopment.htm#pov). Seeing the world through the eyes of others, no matter how different from you they are, makes for a great writer.

♦ Motivation and Alignment (http://fullcircle.keenspace.com/characterdevelopment.htm#alignment): "Good" VS "Evil", what drives your character.

♦ Flaws, Merits and Details (http://fullcircle.keenspace.com/characterdevelopment.htm#flaws): All the little (and major) quirks that make your character more interesting.

♦ Exercises and Inspiration (http://fullcircle.keenspace.com/characterdevelopment.htm#help): The tools, games, and tricks to help you find your voice.

♦ Beyond Powergaming (http://fullcircle.keenspace.com/characterdevelopment.htm#powergaming): A guide and explanation of role-playing for new gamers.

♦ Recommended Reading (http://fullcircle.keenspace.com/characterdevelopment.htm#reading): Useful books and Guides.

The characters come before the story. Once you figure them out and set them loose, the story unfolds on its own.

Guidelines and Rules to Specific RP's
Dependent upon the type of quest you are running, you may find it useful or necessary to establish some ground rules, rules of engagement or possible penalties for rule infractions. Discuss these with the people involved with your quest. Make sure that everyone understands them. Write them out and make them available for future reference. This may prevent disaster down the road.

Types of quests

There is a variety of quest types that even the most novice roleplayer can undertake. Here are some basic examples:

Pursuits: Send players in search of objects or people.

Escorts: Have players escort a damsel in distress, a gate-shy priest or a caravan of goods from Point A to Point B.

Mysteries: Who-dunnits are an excellent roleplaying opportunity and a way to involve large casts and adventuring groups.

One-shot events: Start small and get a feel for how to do things on a larger scale. Typical one-shot events are: scavenger hunts, swap meets, market days and guild recruitment/symposiums. Though these shorter quests, you can build contact groups, gather information about what interest the people on your shard and collect ideas for future long-term quests.

These basic premises for plot ideas by Ozar were taken from the UO Interest Site:

Escort Quests:

* A caravan takes some items from Point A to Point B
* A person becomes sick and a healer is requested from another town. This healer needs an escort from that town to this one as it is not safe for him to travel alone and use of magic/gates will ruin the healing draught needed to cure the sick person.

Find the X:

* The location of someone or something is given in the form of hints or a riddle.
* An item X is needed for some reason. Players are enlisted to help retrieve/find the item.
* A group of X has taken thing Y and person Z wants it back.

Preserve the Peace:

* A person has escaped justice. Players are sought to kill/capture this person.
* A group of X is gathering near point Y. Players are sought to kill/capture the group.

*Standing Ovation!!!*

and As authors, it is our Duty
To create lovable, enticing Characters
And do horrible, evil things to Them."

a hearty "Right on!"

Many thanks Euroslavia for such a great thread!

Big List of RP Plots (http://www.io.com/~sjohn/plots.htm)
The Net Book of Plots (http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/alex/Handbooks/WWWPlots/)
Guide to a Consistent Storyline (http://www.normandcompany.com/LINKS_PAGE/Good_RPG_Games.html)
Character Creation (http://members.lycos.co.uk/officialrpguide/faq1.htm)
GNS and Other Matters of Roleplaying Theory, Chapter 1 (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/2/)
GNS and Other Matters of Roleplaying Theory, Chapter 2 (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/3/)
GNS and Other Matters of Roleplaying Theory, Chapter 3 (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/4/)
What Is a Role-Play Game? (http://www.microtactix.com/whatrpg.htm)
The Name Generator (http://www.angelfire.com/tx/afira/roleplaying/handbook/six.html)
Canonical List of Famous Last Words (http://www.eclipse.net/~srudy/flw/)
Random Planet Creator (http://sunsite.unc.edu/lunar/pck.html)

Another good thread to check out:
AMF's Guide to Story Roles and Angles (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=367824)

Getting a Storyline Idea

Many players are looking to run their own storylines. Rather than store bought, they prefer it from their own fevered imaginations. But, where to get ideas. Some players make it seem natural picking ideas right out of the air while others constantly struggle.

Where can you get ideas? First things first: know what genre you want - a fantasy epic with dragons, elves and mighty warriors, a space-opera set in the future, a horror campaign to send a chill up your spine, or a modern day spy thriller to make your heart race with anticipation?? Once this is established you are ready to start setting up your campaign.

Are you someone who longs for a good mystery, moving from clue to clue and piecing together what happened? Or would you rather there be a definite confrontation between "right and wrong?" Whatever the case may be, plan on running that type of adventure. Essential to your players enjoying the game is that YOU have to like what you are doing, your energy and enthusiasm will affect the players.

Okay, the genre and style of campaign are decided. Where do we get ideas? Well, there are players who can make up scenarios almost as if they are pulling them out of a hat. What about someone new to the role or someone that needs a little help? The best advice I can give you is: use your experiences. Think back to those campaigns you played in. You must have some favorites. Do not take plot point for plot point, but modify and change the circumstances.

A superhero group in the middle east would have a much different agenda than one in NYC. It made for a darker, richer campaign. Even using some of the same type of villains worked differently because again, they would have a different reason for doing the vile things they do.

Another idea, is look at some modules to see what they are doing. Use what you like but put your own twist on it. Although some basic ideas will be lifted from someone elses plot, the key points and storyline will still be yours. This might be a better way to start. Doing so, you realize what type of plots intrigue you and your players and are better able to come up with other ideas on your own.

Also, borrow ideas from favorite books, movies or TV shows. Game systems do this, why can't we? Of course, be warned, the whole idea of roleplaying is not to be pigeon-holed so these ideas need to be modified to allow the players free reign to make it their own. I have seen players wanting to create movie characters. These characters are not at proper levels to participate in most games. Either the players are disappointed or a player has someone way too powerful in his group. It's a fine line that a RP-creator draws. Make sure that all players have something to do. That's an important rule to remember... But, most importantly - remember to have fun. So your players will too.

Very well done Euroslavia! This ought to get stickied. By the way, you might want to check for some better sites than that world map creator...it's a little weird, doesn't show any picture.

I've cut out all the rest, but in gratitude am leaving in this bit:

(... just look away for a minute while I :fluffle: Euroslavia for thinking of this.)

Very nice Euro...

*tips hat*

Wicked awesome! This is going in the Emporium of Helpful Threads fo sho!

Non Playable Characters (NPC's) -What's they're really about and more

As every experienced gamer knows, NPCs are the people that populate the world. They are the people on the street and in the shops, the people who have to be rescued, and the informants. In any well-developed campaign there will be many of these people and the game depends on them. If these people in your world do not seem real and interesting then neither will the world.

Properly portrayed, NPCs will move the story ahead, establish the background, give characters the essential information you need them to have, prod slower moving characters, create necessary obstacles for the more dangerous and destructive characters, and can even provide a well-needed laugh now and again. In other words, good NPCs invigorate your campaign.

Despite this essential role, RP-creators barely scratch the surface when it comes to portraying realistic, fun, and integrated NPCs. Why is that? Some people think that creating an NPC takes too much time. Others simply think it is unnecessary and believe they can create good NPCs “on the fly.” The truth is that creating an NPC can be simple and quick. And NPCs created “on the fly” tend to end up looking and acting more or less the same.

One common solution is to decide what is needed and build a random character. This can give NPCs some beliefs, religious or political affiliations, reputations, or other signs of life and personality. But that is not enough. NPCs should be more than 2-dimensional constructs. They should be recognizable and "real." So, how do we make them such?

Obviously, first item to decide is what type of adventure you are running. You want your NPCs to add to the genre, not detract from it. If you are going for a light and fun campaign you probably don’t want too may NPCs who are dour and serious, except as occasional comedy relief. If you are going for a medieval fantasy campaign then you probably don’t want too many people who are overly educated and knowledgeable, except as the occasional McGuffin (an element of the story that serves a definite purpose to make sure something specific happens).

Then, you need to decide who would normally be in the environment you are creating. In an old west town you are going to need people taking care of horses because everyone has horses and they don’t take care of themselves. There will be people stocking general stores, people working nearby farms and ranches, and, of course, the local sheriff. There are going to be the missionaries working the frontier, and it’s almost mandatory to have a bartender in his (or her) saloon. It takes no significant time to imagine who should be there if you can picture the environment. In a far-in-the-future space terminal you are going to have dock-workers (lots of them) loading and unloading ships, maintenance workers and mechanics, traffic coordinators, and people collecting fees, taxes, tariffs and import/export duties. The basic idea is to think about who needs to be there to make the environment work. They make that environment independent of the players. Simply by having people there doing their jobs you give an impression of a well-developed world.

Modern-day resources can give you a sense of the NPCs you need to develop in other environments. For example, a spaceport is comparable to the major shipping ports or the major airports today. It is fairly simple to find out who works in ports and airports. Real resources are a simple internet search away if you need to know about people in Wild West towns and many other environments. Photographs may even be available to give you a good feel for who they were. A few minutes on your computer can be immensely valuable. If you are doing a modern day adventure in New York City, you can look at the internet for the happenings around town, and for the flavor of various neighborhoods and their residents.

Okay, next step is to figure out what information about the adventure each NPC needs to know. But it is important to be careful here. NPCs do not exist solely to help the characters. They exist because every story requires that they exist. Some may help characters, some may impede characters, and some may be distractions. Most simply create the environment that the players have to negotiate.

If you want particular NPCs to be useful then think about the extent to which you want them to be useful, and the natural limit to how useful those people could be. Individual NPCs should have a range or limit to their knowledge and abilities. For example, a bartender is going to know almost everyone and their personal business. But there are limits on how much he can tell you without offending his customers. A mechanic in a Spaceport can help you with physical stuff (like that lock-down device that has been attached your ship) and will know the local bureaucracy, but probably won’t know much about the people who come and go.

These are just the beginning steps to decide what NPCs are within a given scenario of your adventure. We hope we have already made the point that they do not need to be cardboard cutouts that you just put a new costume on.

Make sure that your NPCs are there for more than just being a warm body or giving the NPCs direction (or misdirection for that matter). In other words give them something to do. If it is a particularly important NPC then go a step further and give him (or her) beliefs, social and political views, areas of interest outside of just work. A bureaucrat NPC who spends all his free time playing baseball with the guys might use baseball analogies to explain things. This kind of background, if expressed, gives players a way to connect with that NPC, get in the NPCs good graces, or get the NPC upset (perhaps by mentioning your support for the wrong team).

Background could also be motive. If your NPC has a grudge against someone, that NPC could steer the main character towards an adventure as a form of pay-back against the team’s opponent, or maybe against someone on the team.

NPC's... continued

Personality
We all have a tendency to make our characters with stereotypical personality traits. We have a "too-chipper" girl scout type, the "boy scout" who can do no wrong, the psychotic, the angry woman, etc. Even worse, often all of the NPCs will have your own personality. We have all been in games where every NPC acts exactly like the main character. How about giving your NPC some real personality of their own. People's personalities change depending on their mood, what has recently happened and how they are treated. Their personalities also depend on what they value and what they despise. Someone who likes to gamble on the weekend, who thinks competitions are interesting and who likes to pick sides is going to act very differently than someone who doesn’t gamble, hates conflicts and tries to keep people calm and reasonable. So it pays to have a general sense of an NPCs current mood and their general personality.

One good way to add personality to an NPC is to base them on people you know. In your notes, next to that NPC write the name of someone you know from work. Next to that other NPC, write the name of one of your aunts. You know how a bit about how these real people act. That gives you a quick reference for how NPCs might act, and they won’t all be clones of you.

Interaction
This can really breathe life or death into your NPC portrayal. If you have your character sitting around not really interacting with anyone or anything, then they might as well be store mannequins for how believable they will seem. We have seen many RP-creators have a number of NPCs and only a few interact while the rest are basically background furniture.

If nothing else you can move to the next step beyond this. You can have the character interact with objects in his environment. The bar patron breaking a glass and flinching before picking it up, a little girl playing with her favorite toy and reacting to what it does, etc. can at least mimic a living being. It doesn't require a lot of work and can add texture and believability to a scene.

Of course, the best is interacting or reaction to the main characters and other NPCs. Not just your main NPCs need do this.

When NPCs do interact with main characters, then how the main characters interact with them can change what information and assistance they give. Roleplaying has a purpose and if they are going to be given the same info and help regardless of what/how they play then roleplaying is pointless. Give your players some control of what their characters learn. Good roleplaying leads to good information and more of it. Bad roleplaying leads to less information, or maybe bad information. Giving your players both good and bad information sees how much ability they have as a team to work out ALL the clues together. Plus, the whole scene comes alive with plot devices and intrigue you just couldn't get with your average two-dimensional NPC.

Combining all these traits makes for a more vibrant, "real" scene. Add in your own plot twists and intrigue and your campaign is exactly what it's supposed to be: fun.

This is awesome! Can you say another sticky perhaps?

NPC's in Free-Form RP's

I do realize, seeing that this is a free-form roleplay game, that NPC's are rarely used; however, given the significance of NPC's, I think its a great idea for others to include them more often. There are a lot of people willing to sign-up for specific roleplays, and that's fine, but they need to recognize that the people who sign-up aren't the only people in the world. Perhaps, if you're travelling in a party, and walk into a town, you could go to a few shops (if this were a fantasy RP) and purchase better equipment from the shop owner. He himself would be a NPC, and perhaps he could have some sort of influence over the main character. Maybe he has a secret sword in the back of the store that is 'cursed', or a secret potion that makes you invincible. There are so many extra things you can do to make the story more interesting.

Questions You Need to Ask to Properly Integrate Religion into your Game

How would you deal with all of this? Let’s look at questions you need to ask yourself:

1. Who are the gods, what are the general religious practices of each, and what do they represent?
2. Why does each god intervene, and in what ways? Are these gods purely selfish and only do what aids them. Or do these gods do what is good for their followers? You need to decide how you are going to treat the deities in your world and how they will respond.
3. How often will the god(s) intervene? Is this something that happens regularly or only on real special occasions?
4. How difficult is it to get them to intervene? Will simple belief be able to call down the hand of god, or will their need to be a quest, something that you need to give up etc.?
5. Who can call upon these deities? Many believe that only religious figures can do so. Can only the village shaman call upon the powers that be or can any religious follower do so?
6. How do these beings manifest themselves? Do they actually show up in solid form (incarnate), does a messenger (avatar) of said god visit you, or do they simply send you omens (they don’t manifest at all)? Maybe just the miracle or intervention takes place, yet you never see anyone. It’s up to you to create the proper atmosphere for your game.
7. What (if any) is the religious hierarchy or the relationships between the gods.
8. What is the effect of religion on lay people.

To integrate religion not only into your characters you need to think about all these issues. It can’t be random. As with other parts of your campaign your religion needs to be believable. It should be something that the characters can “have faith in” so to speak. Feel free to base it on known religions and take your ideas from writings and history. Just make it comfortable from your standpoint so you, in turn, can make it believable to the other players.

This is so amazingly useful, it's untrue. What you have said will be so useful to me. Well done.

While I have to question your social life, grades, diet, and plenty of other things that you have taken time from to put this together...

...I also have to applaud you on your efforts. Never have I seen a more accurate overview of the roleplaying and story-creating process. As a well known and respected veteran roleplayer of this site, I am simply amazed. Well done, good boy.

Now...heh...just for shits and giggles...you care to critique my two current RP's? I don't often get much constructive criticism being that most aren't in a position to give it. Lol...I deem you worthy. (The links are in my sig. You can TG them to me if you want to do them but don't want to clutter up your thread.)

Another amazing piece of work from you, you smartie smartie smart- um... yeah, good job, dear. ;)

Hey I'm EXTREMELY new and I'm thinking about an story, to put it very short, orphaned kid grows up in government controlled society, and learns of it's pro's and cons. Just writing this explanation I've made five different variations and saved them seperately on my computer for future use. I've checked the "helpfull tips" stickies and the like, but if anyone has any more advanced tips and suggestions I would appreciate it greatly.

The NSWiki has a section on roleplaying (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Getting_started_in_roleplay). Check out its external links section.

So wait, does roleplaying have any actual effect on the stats of our nations?

Not as far as the game is concerned. HOWEVER, many people will RP an impact on their stats when RP occurances effect them.

Example: NationA invades NationB. Heavy losses on both sides, and NationB has its capitol and several other cities bombed.

Both sides should RP damaged economies from the war, debt from the war, a loss of population and military troops, and at least some fatigue form fighting. NationB of course will be the hardest hit, because the invasion made it so most of the fighting occured on its soil.

Thanks for the helpful suggestions!

To give our little NationStates world a tiny twist, we should introduce Olympic Game honors. This means that every three months applications are held and everyone who is interested enters their nation into hosting the Olympic Games. We would have four nations per year host three Olympic Games. And of course, if your nation is selected, it will carry a title (similar to the UN title) that reads OLYMPIC GAME HOST OF Month/Year. After that, the title is moved to a history page on NationStates.com!

What would be the basis of being chosen as host? No natural issues, good political rights, and a stable economy. Political freedoms would be ignored.
To make it even more realistic, the application requires a city within your country that would host the Olympic Games. For instance, if your city is New York, and you were to be chosen, it would read Your Country, New York.

Well folks, I only hope that this will one day be a reality. Let us start immediately.

To give our little NationStates world a tiny twist, we should introduce Olympic Game honors. This means that every three months applications are held and everyone who is interested enters their nation into hosting the Olympic Games. We would have four nations per year host three Olympic Games. And of course, if your nation is selected, it will carry a title (similar to the UN title) that reads OLYMPIC GAME HOST OF Month/Year. After that, the title is moved to a history page on NationStates.com!

What would be the basis of being chosen as host? No natural issues, good political rights, and a stable economy. Political freedoms would be ignored.
To make it even more realistic, the application requires a city within your country that would host the Olympic Games. For instance, if your city is New York, and you were to be chosen, it would read Your Country, New York.

Well folks, I only hope that this will one day be a reality. Let us start immediately.

Belongs in the Techical forum.

I have that all saved to my wordpad document. That's very helpful to know. Though it will take me an hour to read it. It's the weekend so I don't have anything to do. I'm surprised at how long that was.

What exactly was that for may I ask. I know how to RP but I never knew there was that much to know. I like when you mentioned Magneto. I love X-Men. ^_^

OOC: This ought to be a fairly good example of what NOT to do in a roleplay situation. Hopefully it will be useful as a teaching tool.

Natural Born Killers: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=466555

Thx ppl for helping me out. I real need you sometimes to improve in life. Thx ppl again.

I apologise if i sound rude, but could someone please explain (briefly) what you're all talking about? Is this "roleplaying" anything to do with nation states? And i thought we couldn't declare war and therefore "bomb" other nations.

Cheers

This is roleplaying: Ardchoille:
"You try bombing us," said Dicey evenly, "and the Coven will just snap up our utterly impenetrable, everything-resistant, all-encompassing, totally godmoding Magical Shield. Now," she continued, passing her visitor a crystal goblet, "would you like to try some Ardchoille Old 'n' Funky?" The Apists might reply like this:
The Apists' Ambassador considered the drink, the threat, the woman and the unusual situation in which he found himself. But mostly the drink.

This is not: See? Roleplaying is a combination of 'let's pretend' and 'tell me a story'. You and another player or players make up a character, put him or her in a story and describe how your character reacts to events or other characters.

Roleplaying (RPing) is IC (In Character) and ordinary posting is OOC (Out Of Character). You'll find roleplaying in the International Incidents and Nation States forums, and some people RP in the United Nations. Here's (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Getting_started_in_roleplay) the NS Wiki link to more info.

Wow, this is insanely helpful! Saved as Role Playing Oracle! :D

Wow. This thread is so good I've referred some other RP sites I'm on to it. Bravo to Euroslavia and everyone else who contributed! *worships*

Thx ppl for helping me out. I real need you sometimes to improve in life. Thx ppl again.

Didn't realize that I helped you out that much. :p

Wow. This thread is so good I've referred some other RP sites I'm on to it. Bravo to Euroslavia and everyone else who contributed! *worships*

Bah, no need to worship.


However, I do like pumpkin pie...;)

Bah, no need to worship.


However, I do like pumpkin pie...;)
/me loads a cannon with pumpkin pie and shoots it Euroslavia

If only more people read this...

thanks alot this is going to help!

Wow, this is insanely helpful! Saved as Role Playing Oracle! :D
Uh yeah that may be its purpose:rolleyes:

Great Guide! It's a little different from a lot of advice here but here's a good article. http://games.spaceanddeath.com/yudhishthirasdice/125

wow very nice this well help a LOT.

I love being able to decide how the country will live. Is's so fun to experiment with different ideas.

Euroslavia , can you help me with the thread The Killer and The Hunter?

if anywone knows any where i can role play please pm me ^_^

if anywone knows any where i can role play please pm me ^_^

Try on International Incidents. After of course reading the sticky threads there to familiarise yourself with the intricacies; the ins and outs.

Thanks for this!