Episode 3

RfP #003 - Breathing Life into Town NPCs

Published on: 16th July, 2024

In this episode of Role for Percepticast, Terry and Evelyn delve into the art of creating memorable non-player characters (NPCs) for your tabletop roleplaying game. They explore various aspects that make NPCs stand out and share practical tips for game masters. Here’s what you can expect:

  • Understanding the Role of NPCs: Learn about the different types of NPCs needed in a town setting and their importance in driving the story and enhancing player immersion.
  • Elements of a Well-Rounded NPC: Discover how to develop NPC personalities, backgrounds, and goals, along with naming tips to fit the setting and tone of your campaign.
  • Adding Depth to NPCs: Get insights on incorporating traits and quirks, creating relationships with players, and ensuring NPCs have their own agendas and motivations.
  • Voices and Mannerisms: Understand how to use voice, speed of speech, mannerisms, and body language to bring characters to life without straining your vocal cords.
  • Improvisation and Adaptability: Learn strategies for improvising dialogue, responding to unexpected player actions, and letting NPC relationships develop naturally.

Join Terry and Evelyn for a lively discussion filled with practical advice to enhance your TTRPG experience. Don't forget to visit www.roleforperception.com for more on Role for Percepticast!

Transcript
Speaker:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: You're listening to Roll for Percepticast, episode three.

Speaker:

Breathing life into town NPCs.

Speaker:

It's time once again to Roll for Percepticast.

Speaker:

I am Terry, your forever GM and lover of all things role play.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And I'm Evelyn, role player GM and unrepentant dice goblin.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Join us as we roll our dice

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and talk in strange voices

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: and bring to you our excitement and joy forever.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

All things tabletop role playing.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

For more on Role for Percepticast, head over to www.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

roleforperception.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

com.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Today, we'll be looking at how to make those town NPCs

Evelyn Jachimiak:

you create memorable for your players.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And I forgot to write Evelyn's line, so I'm just going to

Evelyn Jachimiak:

make it up for this podcast.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

What?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Let's talk about NPCs!

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah!

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Let's do it!

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: A note to self, in future ones, I need to record that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I

Evelyn Jachimiak:

mean, we did prepare this before we went on,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

on our camping trip, so like.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Yeah, that's true.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's been a week.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: It's been a week.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That's where we've been, folks.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, when you're getting this, uh, you'll be getting this a week

Evelyn Jachimiak:

later, but, uh, we were on vacation.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so, we're coming back to recording, and of course.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I have forgotten to add things into the notes and that is totally my fault.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I

Evelyn Jachimiak:

mean,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: yeah,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

it happens

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: a week off, a week off, but it's good to be back.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, all right.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So, uh, you know, as we said, we're going to be talking about NPCs today.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Now, for those that don't know, maybe you're new to tabletop role playing games.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I mean, welcome to this very tabletop.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Role playing game specific podcast in that case.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I'm I'm glad you dove in with us

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: and you found this is your first

Evelyn Jachimiak:

episode That's pretty impressive.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I mean Choices choices were made

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: What's NPC stand for

Evelyn Jachimiak:

non player character

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Which means that

Evelyn Jachimiak:

characters that are typically, um, created possibly,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

but, um, uh, performed by the Game Master, uh, Dungeon Master, uh,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Dungeon Guide Storyteller, whatever you want to call the person in the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

big chair behind the fancy screen.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: What do they call it in Call of Cthulhu?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

They have another name for it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh, it's the There's a word for

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah, I don't know.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

We'll come back to it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Somebody will message us.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And

Evelyn Jachimiak:

uh, Monster of the Week, it's like Story

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Keeper or something like that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

There's a lot of cool names for it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's just, it's the person who helps, um, facilitate the storytelling

Evelyn Jachimiak:

of the world with the players.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Exactly.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And we have to understand why NPCs are so important.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

They help to create the world that your characters inhabit.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Uh, your, your, your players.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Create characters create wonderful characters, hopefully

Evelyn Jachimiak:

but without NPCs Who are they gonna talk to you other than

Evelyn Jachimiak:

themselves and I mean like talking to the same However, many people at the table

Evelyn Jachimiak:

could get kind of boring after a while

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: now when you're starting to populate a town

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And we're talking specifically this week about town NPCs.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

We'll talk about villains later We'll talk about traveling

Evelyn Jachimiak:

companions things like that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Those are those are other podcasts But today we're talking

Evelyn Jachimiak:

specifically about the NPCs.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I can't jot that down,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

so don't forget to talk about those later.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Hold on, I can hit the mark button.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Done.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And now I will remember.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Okay.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: This is how ideas come to us at Roll for Percepticast.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

But yeah, so we're talking specifically about shops and

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Taverns.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Taverns, guardsmen, mayors.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Taverns.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

We're talking about

Evelyn Jachimiak:

in the world of modern day, perhaps, you know, your, your

Evelyn Jachimiak:

postal worker, your Your bar, keep your

Evelyn Jachimiak:

. Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Where did you get postal one?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I

Evelyn Jachimiak:

don't know.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I had , you know.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Okay.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Kids on bikes, you know, I mean, guess there's all sorts

Evelyn Jachimiak:

of, uh, your, your detective.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh, you're, you know, um, your various people.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Mafia members.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yes.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

City of Mist, right?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

City of Mist.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, and then, you know, things like Hall of Kaulu, the, you know,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the library and with the dark secrets and things like that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Very mysterious.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And so as you're very mysterious, as you're, um, trying

Evelyn Jachimiak:

to decide this, you've got to figure out what NPCs are going to be important and

Evelyn Jachimiak:

what NPCs are not going to be important.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, I currently doing that with our break, our Monday night streamed game right now,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

uh, figuring NPCs were needed in the town.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Very specifically for interactions with the.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Characters, uh, you guys ran into VEG.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You ran into Tansy.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I mean, you all have already run into several NPCs on that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Sticking them all in our back pocket so that we

Evelyn Jachimiak:

can revisit them as much as we want.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And don't worry, we're going to talk about

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Tansy later because we all love Tansy.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I

Evelyn Jachimiak:

mean, how could you not?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Exactly.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Not only that, if you're doing something like an adventure path or

Evelyn Jachimiak:

a prewritten module, you may actually have NPCs that are given to you

Evelyn Jachimiak:

that are important by the creator of the adventure path or the module.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

absolutely.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Uh, we've seen that we've done a lot of the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Pathfinder 2e adventure paths.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so we've seen a lot of those NPCs and you know, those NPCs aren't necessarily

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the only ones in your town, but

Evelyn Jachimiak:

sometimes you have to flush things out a little

Evelyn Jachimiak:

bit more, especially if you're.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, players are very big into role play and they want to

Evelyn Jachimiak:

talk to everybody in town.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And then they get attached to a random throwaway non player

Evelyn Jachimiak:

character that you weren't planning on giving any backstory to.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And suddenly you have to, uh, quickly, uh, give them a whole whole story.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Because of course that's the character they're always going to want to

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: revisit.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Of course.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And then that character becomes a player character in a future game.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That's a whole nother story, which we'll talk about here soon enough.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Now, NPCs are important in driving the story and enhancing the player immersion.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

We've kind of hinted towards that already.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

How the.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

NPCs act and react to your player characters is going

Evelyn Jachimiak:

to create an atmosphere.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, long ago, uh, there was a character in a game that we played in together.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, uh, what was his name?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, he was always, uh, smelly and oily.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And this was in

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh!

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yash Talks!

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Yash Talks, yes.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

The one

Evelyn Jachimiak:

that was doused in Axe body spray.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Not actually, but he was described as wearing lots of, um, very strongly

Evelyn Jachimiak:

fragrant oils, and so there was a running joke that he Chose not to bathe, but

Evelyn Jachimiak:

just doused himself in Axe Body Spray.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: But that character did enhance what was going on.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Like when he showed up, there were visceral reactions.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yes,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

of varying levels.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Exactly.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so, you know, This is why NPCs can be so important.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Talk about Victor.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yes.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Victor was an NPC that, um, was a random tavern owner.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Well, and he was actually, so a little backstory to this.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So we were doing auditions for blood Lords.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, we were trying to fill out a cast, um, and we had done one group with

Evelyn Jachimiak:

another in another tavern and then the second group in this other tavern,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

which was owned by Victor and, um, the characters sort of latched onto him.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, and so he, he became a recurring.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Current character because the player characters were

Evelyn Jachimiak:

like, Oh, he's interesting.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Let's keep him.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And he wasn't even part of the actual AP.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

He was just completely created for this audition

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: and to the amount that had that game been able to proceed.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, he would have taken part in one way or another of the changing of a,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

one of the player characters who had discussed with me, and we'll talk a

Evelyn Jachimiak:

little more about that as we get in.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

But these NBCs are extremely important to this world, this immersion, this.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, you know, I talk about it in theater.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

A lot of times when we're designing scenery, lights,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and costumes, we're creating a world for the actors to play in.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That's what we're doing as, as GMs.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

When we create these NPCs, we're creating a world that the players can be a part of.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So let's, uh, we're going to talk about a lot of different

Evelyn Jachimiak:

topics that relate to that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, the first one we want to talk a little bit about is character creation basics.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And there's some things that go the, and we're talking right now, more

Evelyn Jachimiak:

specifically when you're creating your own NPCs, not necessarily.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Modifying, modifying other NPCs, right?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

This

Evelyn Jachimiak:

is the from scratch edition of non player characters.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

For

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: all you world builders out there or

Evelyn Jachimiak:

looking to become world builders.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

This is one place to start.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yes.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, so let's begin.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

First off, and this is huge for me, coming from a theater background,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

same with Evelyn, is that NPCs should be well rounded and complex.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Not

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: every NPC, I mean, you can have

Evelyn Jachimiak:

your throwaway shopkeeps.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I've had.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Because

Evelyn Jachimiak:

sometimes you just have to throw them in in a moment

Evelyn Jachimiak:

where like, you know, something's going on and you just need to have

Evelyn Jachimiak:

something for them to interact with that can be a throwaway moment.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: But if you're creating an NPC that

Evelyn Jachimiak:

you know is going to have, uh, significant or multiple interactions.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Then having them well-rounded with a true personality, a true

Evelyn Jachimiak:

background, true goals, or what?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Back in the day when I taught acting, which luckily I don't

Evelyn Jachimiak:

do anymore, the needs and wants and desires of the character.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Mm-Hmm.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

will allow that character to feel real.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Right.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And that then creates a realness in this fantasy world for your players.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So first thing we're going to do is name them.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Right.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And your best bet is to try and name them a name that suits their

Evelyn Jachimiak:

ancestry, suits their, you know, where they are from in the world.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Well, and suits the game too, because

Evelyn Jachimiak:

you have to keep that in mind.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You can't name someone like.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You know, Joe Schmoe and then them be in that was like the worst name

Evelyn Jachimiak:

possible, but I really like Joe Then be in like, you know a high

Evelyn Jachimiak:

fantasy world and then be an elf.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Hi.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

My name is Joe the elf That doesn't really work

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Joe

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So, you know that might work for You know, um, a, a

Evelyn Jachimiak:

modern setting game, like something like Delta Green or even Monster of

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the Week or, um, those sorts of things, but you might want to look into things

Evelyn Jachimiak:

that are a little more appropriate for the, the setting of the game itself,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

not just the places in the world of the game, but the overarching setting.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Theme of this, this RPG that you're jumping into.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And the other thing is there are

Evelyn Jachimiak:

websites that can help with that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And, uh, fantasy name generator is the big one.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I have that one

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: bookmarked.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And we'll leave a link in the show notes that you guys can find

Evelyn Jachimiak:

it if you've not used it before.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It, it actually has different areas for different games, Pathfinder being one of

Evelyn Jachimiak:

them, which they have heavily updated.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and then there's one for Dungeons Dragons, there's, I

Evelyn Jachimiak:

mean, there's for lots of different games, and like, some general ones.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I know, um, I actually discovered yesterday night, uh, when we were

Evelyn Jachimiak:

building our Avicen characters, that, Avicen, there's a name generator for, I

Evelyn Jachimiak:

said not in the fantasy name generators website, but there's a separate website.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh nice, which is very helpful

Evelyn Jachimiak:

because you know, I wanted to make sure that I was naming correctly within

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the right of the setting of that game

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: and now some of the issues with the name generator

Evelyn Jachimiak:

is that they can fall into kind of a

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Amy Amy or

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: cliche feel I guess would be the A way of putting it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, now the Pathfinder one is a little better.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

But, for example, dwarves with the last names like Earthflare and Highguard, those

Evelyn Jachimiak:

are very kind of what you would expect a dwarf to be, but doesn't necessarily

Evelyn Jachimiak:

fit into every world that you're doing.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Well,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and one of the things about the, the fantasy name generator

Evelyn Jachimiak:

for Pathfinder characters in particular is a lot of it's based off of Pathfinder

Evelyn Jachimiak:

1e and some of the, Naming conventions have actually changed a little bit with

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the updated edition on that, right?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So, you know, that's another thing to look at when you're doing this

Evelyn Jachimiak:

sort of thing is you know If you're pulling from something like fantasy

Evelyn Jachimiak:

name generators, is it the most?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

What you would feel works best with the especially if you're working within a

Evelyn Jachimiak:

pre written adventure path or whatever story Um, you know If you're pulling

Evelyn Jachimiak:

something from Pathfinder 1E, that would be for a 2E game, it might not fit.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, and that's just an example.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I mean, you could take that, you know, across any of the game systems.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

But, um, you know, so, these things are more meant as, like,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

brainstorming tools more than anything.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, but sometimes, you know, you, you just click through until you

Evelyn Jachimiak:

find something that's, you know, you say it out loud enough times

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and you're like, Oh, I like this.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I like the sounds really nice in my ear.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So make sure to always say it out loud because somehow every

Evelyn Jachimiak:

single time your players will find the worst way to pronounce the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

character's name every single time.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And it'll become a joke.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yep.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: I mean, I've, I've had that happen.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I

Evelyn Jachimiak:

mean, okay.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So his Sunday group.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Literally, Lady Jumanji Aldori.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Oh my gosh.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, she is the person who is the benefactress

Evelyn Jachimiak:

for the, the party in Kingmaker.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Right.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And literally they always call her Lady Jumanji.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Without fail.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And that's, that's a character that was written for the Adventure Path.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That's not even one he came up with.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So like, keep that in mind.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

When, when creating your MPCs, just, just as a

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: thought.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, some of the other, um, names for, for example, we've got Chibs in our

Evelyn Jachimiak:

echoes of Archonix and I've created names that feel very Chib like.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Like Tansy tumble twirl and whatnot, though, that give what, what I'm

Evelyn Jachimiak:

trying to do with those names is to give a feeling to the character.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Well, and what helps with a lot of the games when you're doing

Evelyn Jachimiak:

your character creation is if you're looking in the, where the player character

Evelyn Jachimiak:

suggestions, a lot of times they'll give you examples of character names that are

Evelyn Jachimiak:

appropriate for the archetype or for the.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Ancestry or background or, you know, whatever you want to call it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so you can kind of get a feel of what is being recommended to the players.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You, it helps you, um, kind of understand what the other

Evelyn Jachimiak:

characters in the world would kind of be along those lines as well.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And, and part of this is you've got to kind of figure out

Evelyn Jachimiak:

what the flow of your table is as well.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You know, there are tables out there that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, tend to go for more jokey names.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So having characters with more jokey, non traditional feeling

Evelyn Jachimiak:

names to them is, is not an issue.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Right?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Most of the tables that I run, I tend to prefer to have names that kind of flow

Evelyn Jachimiak:

with whatever the style of the game is.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So my break character and PC names sound very different than my pathfinder.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

NPC names because I'm playing very different feelings in those.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah, because the break tends to be a little lighter.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: A little lighter, a little more about cake.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I

Evelyn Jachimiak:

mean, very fluffy.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That was last week's podcast.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: That's true.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You can also, uh, one of the things that's nice for a lot of systems out

Evelyn Jachimiak:

there is that there are NPC templates that you can build off of, uh,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Pathfinder 2e has a very good system for building NPCs, both the kind that

Evelyn Jachimiak:

fight and the kind that don't fight.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so, you know, if you create an NPC that you know is not meant for

Evelyn Jachimiak:

combat, They have a template for that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

If you have an NPC that is created for combat, you can, you can build up

Evelyn Jachimiak:

something for that, um, break has a great guide and how to create, uh, NPCs slash.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Enemies, which is really nice.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's concise.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's easy to understand.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yes.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I'm going to be talking about break a lot because I'm running a campaign in it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Don't judge me.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Quest, uh, RPG has a pretty good system, not a true template per

Evelyn Jachimiak:

se, but gives you a good idea.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So a lot of systems.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Can help you create your, your templates.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, the one cool thing with break, I will say, jumping back to that is they

Evelyn Jachimiak:

even have a part in it where it talks about taking a character or an NPC

Evelyn Jachimiak:

or an enemy that's already created.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Changing a couple of things and you can have a brand new NPC or

Evelyn Jachimiak:

enemy, which is really kind of cool,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

like reflavoring, reflavoring,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: and it gives you a guide on how to do that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I wish more of the systems did that because I think that is a great way of.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Kind of dipping your toes into creating the basis for

Evelyn Jachimiak:

it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I know a lot of the Evil Hat games for the NPCs, it has, um, like, like little

Evelyn Jachimiak:

idea seeds basically for creating those.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So I don't know about specific templates, but it gives you a little

Evelyn Jachimiak:

suggestions and things that kind of.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Would fit with, you know, what the, the feeling of the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

general, um, adventure might be

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: right.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And then kind of talking about that further, I've then developed templates

Evelyn Jachimiak:

for myself because I am an overachiever.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Now I do my work in obsidian, which is a note taking app.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I love it a lot.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, I use it in a lot of different ways.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

But it's given me a good way of kind of creating those characters and having

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the information that I need to be able to have them involved in the story.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Some of the things in these templates that I use include

Evelyn Jachimiak:

things like first impression.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So what is the first thing that your players notice, see, understand?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And just to give you a short read.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

This is for.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, let's do, let's do Sint.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Do I have his?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Nope, I don't have his.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So we'll do, we'll do Anselton, Barry Hawk, and so I wrote a first impression

Evelyn Jachimiak:

so that I can read this to my players.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so, kind of the first impression, In the bustling city of Absalon, within

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the world of Galarian, stands a middle aged dwarven first guard, Sargent.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Who defies the traditional gender norms of their society.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Standing at a solid four foot four inches and weighing 220 pounds, this

Evelyn Jachimiak:

dwarf embodies strength and resilience.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Their tanned skin is a testament to the countless hours spent patrolling

Evelyn Jachimiak:

under the sun and stars, while their short brown hair is often seen under

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the helm of a, under the helm of duty.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Gray eyes, sharp and discerning, carry a knowing glint.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

As if privy to the city's secrets and tales untold.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So that description, and I'd encourage anybody making NPCs for

Evelyn Jachimiak:

any game, have that first description that really gives your players a

Evelyn Jachimiak:

feeling of who the character is.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

A good hook.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

A good hook.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I like that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, and then in my templates, I have my shared information

Evelyn Jachimiak:

section, which is information that is shareable to the players.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I have my DM notes, which are very specific to things that they don't know

Evelyn Jachimiak:

about, and then character personification.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Now, my notes are an amalgamation of a variety of other sheets that I've

Evelyn Jachimiak:

either seen or built in the past.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's one of those things that has allowed me to very quickly create

Evelyn Jachimiak:

those sheets, those characters, without having to stress too much.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Right.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I know the information that I want.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Right, exactly.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, alright, so let's, let's talk about adding depth to Our NPCs,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the first thing that I'm going to talk about is this is something

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I can't even, honestly, I think.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Maybe this came from quest RPG.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I don't know where this came from, but I found this system that I really like.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I think it was quest.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I think it was quest too, but I've been using it now for all of my systems.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So I add in, uh, some traits and quirks and things like that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And these are my big topics.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

First off, something the NPC wants.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah, everybody wants something.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yep.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Usually it's for you

Evelyn Jachimiak:

to complete a quest, but it could be something else.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: It could be.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I give the NPC a problem.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So a problem the NPC has, what are they dealing with?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

What is something that the group might be able to help if they're

Evelyn Jachimiak:

able to discern that they need help?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I give them something useful that NPC knows.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Now, since we're not currently running a certain game, for example, I'm going to

Evelyn Jachimiak:

grab one of my goblins that I created for Lost Vale of Chalice Storm, because I'm

Evelyn Jachimiak:

not sure we're going to go back to that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And

Evelyn Jachimiak:

what about nub?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You killed nub even so, you know, when we go back to it,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

that nub will never return to us.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: I never filled up.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh, you killed nub off and you never give nub.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Yeah, I want to apologize for that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So, so for example,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Flurk

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Stonepuncher, something useful Flurk Stonepuncher

Evelyn Jachimiak:

knows, Flurk Stonepuncher as the grand advisor of security for the Goblin King

Evelyn Jachimiak:

possesses a crucial piece of information known to very few individuals, the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Goblin King's vulnerability to a particular type of magical artifact.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

This knowledge was acquired through discreet investigation

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and intelligence gathering.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

A testament to Flurk's dedication to the security This

Evelyn Jachimiak:

guy is just Batman.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: and protection of the government.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

He's

Evelyn Jachimiak:

collecting everybody's weaknesses so we can use

Evelyn Jachimiak:

them against them in case they, uh, become too powerful or turn evil.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: So, so Flurk had this information and had we gotten

Evelyn Jachimiak:

farther down the line, more than likely my players would have discovered this

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and it would have kept a storyline going.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, I always gives the NPCs something valuable to own.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So for example, Flurk.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

He has the golden heart stone.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's an object of undeniable beauty crafted by dwarves from High Helm

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Okay,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: I like to connect my game.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah, and then I always have the NPCs Biggest secret and this almost never comes

Evelyn Jachimiak:

out unless the players can really find it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So clerks Resolves around an unknown child born out of a

Evelyn Jachimiak:

clandestine relationship with Rickon.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

GASP!

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Scandal!

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: The secret child is a vulnerable link that ties Flurk to

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Rickon and complicates his loyalties.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It represents a fragile balance.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Between his duty to the Goblin King and his love of Rick and Fistwad.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I just learned so much.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: know,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

right?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Now that, that's, that's the, the campaign we need as the world turns Goblin edition.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Like the soap opera of, of goblins in, uh, Absalom.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Let's do that one.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: That see, that would be awesome.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's like

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

splash of the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: puddles.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

The splash of the puddles.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Now, so this is, but this is right.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

This is the, you build these into your NPCs.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh yeah,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

absolutely.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And they come to life suddenly.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

They're not just a goblin, right?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

They're a goblin who has ownership of the world as well.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh, absolutely.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Well, and, and, and, and expanding on, because we've mentioned like existing

Evelyn Jachimiak:

adventure paths and stories that you can play with your players at the table.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, you can do that with the written NPCs as well.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You don't, cause a lot of times they'll give you a few notes in the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

story, but they won't necessarily give you everything that's.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

The most useful.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So sometimes you kind of have to.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

flush them out a bit yourself, um, and, you know, fill, fill them in.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So, uh, for example, um, and, cause I know you want me to game this, um,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

but for the, um, I'm running Russ Hinge with a group on Thursday nights.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, and, uh, Elsie, who's kind of the innkeeper slash, she, she, she has

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the, the, the one shop, shop in town.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, she also, it's a, it's a bakery.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

She is a bit of a gossip, but everybody in town sort of is, um.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

But, but, um, I, she, she has a bit of a thing for the, the dry dock guy.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, and no, that was not in there at all, but like, um, because one of my players

Evelyn Jachimiak:

wanted to, to try to get the dry dock, um, worker to, uh, Talk to him a little bit

Evelyn Jachimiak:

more, and because the players hadn't made the best first impression on him, I had

Evelyn Jachimiak:

to create a way to, to make that happen.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So, uh, she knows that his favorite dessert is cherry pie, and made one for

Evelyn Jachimiak:

him to take, for the player to take to him, to talk to him, to warm them up to.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So, you know.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Wow.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

The more you know.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You

Evelyn Jachimiak:

missed that session.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I did miss that session.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

But yes.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: But, but that's what's, you know, and, and

Evelyn Jachimiak:

it's part of the fun of being a, a, a.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You know, a game master is being able to create these

Evelyn Jachimiak:

characters that, you know, and the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

connections within with the other characters

Evelyn Jachimiak:

in the world to not just the player characters, because they have lives

Evelyn Jachimiak:

outside of the player characters.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I know, gasp, shock, all, um, the fact that, like, they don't, um, begin

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and end with the player characters.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Their whole existence is not about the player characters

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and they do things outside of.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Their interactions with the player characters.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That's

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: exactly it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so, so, so all of this is to say that by adding these

Evelyn Jachimiak:

helps to make your NPCs complex.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, if I can figure out a way, I will actually leave, uh, not a link

Evelyn Jachimiak:

because I don't have a link to my notes cause there's no way to do that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

But, uh, I'll see if I can maybe export, uh, as a PDF, a couple of the pages.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So people can kind of see as examples of.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You know, what I have for my characters.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Now you've gone to this work of complexity and the next big step

Evelyn Jachimiak:

in that is creating relationships between the NPCs and the players.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Right.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: So why is that important?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Well, I mean, it, a, it gives the player characters a

Evelyn Jachimiak:

reason to revisit these PCs, um, it gives, it, it creates, um, a way for

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the DM to establish story points.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Through a trusted You know, a character that the players can revisit over and

Evelyn Jachimiak:

over again, who might maybe give them information that they're seeking, and

Evelyn Jachimiak:

it's a really great way to facilitate those things, because, you know, when

Evelyn Jachimiak:

you live in town, you hear stuff.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: You do.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, and so, um, or, you know, there's a bookshop owner who,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

who loves to read and might know the exact book that that character is looking

Evelyn Jachimiak:

for to solve a question that they have, or, Um, you know, things like that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so, but it also, you know, can create some really interesting role play moments

Evelyn Jachimiak:

too, not just, um, things that are pertinent to the specific A to B point in

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the quest that they're trying to do, but also just in their character development,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

things that can help drive their purpose.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That can, um, give them something to bounce the thing that the player is

Evelyn Jachimiak:

seeking in their exploration of who they are as a person, not just, you

Evelyn Jachimiak:

know, Who they are as a hero, but who they are as a person in this world.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, and, and, and have that sort of human interaction between characters

Evelyn Jachimiak:

that aren't just the other people at the table, because, you know, those, you

Evelyn Jachimiak:

have those moments with your party so often, but there's, you know, Sometimes

Evelyn Jachimiak:

you need an outside perspective.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, because we actually had that, um, for example, with, uh, in

Evelyn Jachimiak:

our, uh, Lost Vale game when Yuri was talking to the barkeeper when

Evelyn Jachimiak:

everybody else had gone to bed, right?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Because like there was things that had been talked about, but it was

Evelyn Jachimiak:

just that moment where she could kind of let some stuff off her chest.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so like, so your, your player characters have different relate,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

can have different relationships and because as people we have different

Evelyn Jachimiak:

relationships with different people and so that kind of makes it more dynamic.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That was a Yelmo in Las Valle and, and we've had a lot of NPCs

Evelyn Jachimiak:

kind of build those relationships.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, I, I mentioned Tansy earlier, Tansy tumble twirl.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Who is a chib, was part of a gang, polylop gang, and was kicked out

Evelyn Jachimiak:

because she was focused on petting a cat when she was supposed to be A watch

Evelyn Jachimiak:

out for a crime that was occurring.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And she was very sad about it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And now we let her have all the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: kitty pets that she wants.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Indeed.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so she's become a part of the sugar crash gang, the sugar crash gang

Evelyn Jachimiak:

currently, and does the lookouts for them.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Sort

Evelyn Jachimiak:

of mostly she just pets Rika.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Yeah, that's, that's, that's pretty close.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And then you've got a character like Flubb.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Flub was a,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

he was supposed to die.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

She, she, I'm sorry.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

She was supposed to die.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yes.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

She was a kobold in Menace Under Atari.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That's

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the beginner, beginner, beginner's box or Pathfinder

Evelyn Jachimiak:

2E for anybody who has not heard it referred to by the title of it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And she managed to survive and a character within that,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

it was my character kind of said, all right, you, you just, you come with us.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so she came with us out of the, the caverns to then study with Sarenrae and

Evelyn Jachimiak:

is now a character that you play on Friday nights in a persistent campaign that I

Evelyn Jachimiak:

run on the Roll for Perception Discord.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Cause she was just sort of a, a nameless kobold.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Yep.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Enemy.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Enemy.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Enemy.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That was in, um, the, like, one of the final rooms leading up to the, like,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

big fight in Minnesota Atari, and the players, instead of killing her, decided

Evelyn Jachimiak:

to tie her up and ask her questions, and she was like, okay, I'll comply.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so, because it had been so much fun, I decided, okay, well, now that I'm playing

Evelyn Jachimiak:

in another game, I can just, uh, make this character, you know, even more fun.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, three dimensional than she started off as.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And so these NPCs, they're, they're beloved by the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

players and the player characters.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, Federim, from a game that you and I played in, uh, was a, uh,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

shopkeeper,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: shopkeeper in Hamlet.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, and, uh, Federim, uh, was And there was a strong bond with the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

party, but especially Lillith.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And he actually

Evelyn Jachimiak:

kept a flower for her.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That was.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Very meaningful that she had received from one of the arch

Evelyn Jachimiak:

druids that she had met with

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: and the group had been back to Hamlet multiple times

Evelyn Jachimiak:

it was a place that you know, you always have that Well, you don't always but but

Evelyn Jachimiak:

many times you have that Location that is your home location that you tend to

Evelyn Jachimiak:

yeah, the sweet rolls

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: the yeah The sweet rolls

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and have you noticed how many of our

Evelyn Jachimiak:

character interactions about food?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: This is where we need Vivi on the podcast right now

Evelyn Jachimiak:

cuz Uh, a lot of that comes from Phoebe.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

But yeah, um, he had been a character that, that, you

Evelyn Jachimiak:

know, a lot of the party members had really bonded with because he was

Evelyn Jachimiak:

this sort of fatherly type character.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, and so, you know, we always had to, to visit him anytime we had a chance.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And near the, um, end of our time playing

Evelyn Jachimiak:

in that Tuesday night group, um, that character was killed.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Killed off.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

He was, uh, killed in the destruction of the town.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And so, and, and he's not the only

Evelyn Jachimiak:

one that we've had to deal with.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Flub's death.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Nub's death.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I was gonna say Flub's not dead.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Flub is fine.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

She's great.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Uh, Nub's death.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah, that one was rough.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: That one was rough.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, you know, so, you know, creating those relationships creates

Evelyn Jachimiak:

tensions when bad things happen.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Right, absolutely, yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Which can be rough, but also very cathartic

Evelyn Jachimiak:

as you move through a campaign.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Because it, and it can alter the story, right?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

absolutely.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I mean, you, you kill off a beloved NPC, either accidentally or intentionally,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

cause sometimes it happens accidentally.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

If it's, if they're helping the party fight, for example, sometimes

Evelyn Jachimiak:

it's just a combination of bad luck.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, and you know, that can completely change things for players because suddenly

Evelyn Jachimiak:

they have a new motivation, you know.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Perhaps they want to now dedicate their adventures to this NPC.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Perhaps they want to hunt down the person that killed them.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Perhaps, you know, um, this is, has shown them that, you know,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

adventuring is not for them and that's the moment they decide to retire.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I mean, it can take it so many different directions with,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: with, um, those beloved characters.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Now, I'm not saying go out and kill all your NPCs.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

No.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Uh, first make, first make your player characters

Evelyn Jachimiak:

love them, then kill them all off.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

No, don't do that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Don't do that either.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Okay.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's like a 50 50 split.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah, okay.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Kill off half of your NPCs.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Alright, NPCs, time to draw numbers.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Let's see who's going this week.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh, no.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Evelyn Jachimiak: Suddenly, it's a lottery.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's not good.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh my

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: gosh.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So it's also important to make sure that your NPCs have their own agendas and

Evelyn Jachimiak:

motivations and I talked about that a little bit But they need to have motives

Evelyn Jachimiak:

for what they're doing and my Monday night groups gonna find out some information

Evelyn Jachimiak:

here next week I think hopefully depending on what they do on motivations for

Evelyn Jachimiak:

things on some characters And when your NPCs have these motivations, even if

Evelyn Jachimiak:

they're simple towns, keeps, bar keeps, shop keeps, uh, Rin, for example, Rin

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Savinsky in, uh, Menace Under Atari, Up Through Abomination Vaults, if they have

Evelyn Jachimiak:

these motives, It makes the story that you're telling more interesting, right?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Absolutely.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

City of Mists does this really well, especially in their campaign books,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

their, their NPCs have real motivations.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

They're not good.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

They're not bad.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

people just really want to have a successful business, you know?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Yeah, that's exactly it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And we're going to be starting our, uh, Veyasin campaign next

Evelyn Jachimiak:

week and that campaign has some morally gray motivations.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah, well it's

Evelyn Jachimiak:

fascinating because one of the things it actually has

Evelyn Jachimiak:

you do in the player creation is pick a motivation for your character.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's not just like, I want to be an adventurer and save the world.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's like, what are they, and some of those motivations.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Or a lot.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: They're, they're a lot.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

They're, they're more than a lot.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And that's gonna be, that's gonna be an interesting adventure.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: All right.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So let's move on to something that a lot of people, I feel, focus too much on.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Mm

Evelyn Jachimiak:

hmm.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: I feel like what we've already talked

Evelyn Jachimiak:

about is the super important stuff.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Right.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And now we're getting into the toppings.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Other people view this as the super important.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

The sprinkles and the cherries on top.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah, exactly.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so voices and mannerisms.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Okay.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Let's talk voices for a second.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Not every character needs a huge difference in accent or voice type.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Look, there's a combination.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, a character's persona is a combination of voice, speed of speech, mannerisms, et

Evelyn Jachimiak:

cetera, that really make the character.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You don't have to go into a deep Scottish accent for every single NPC.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Well, that would get a little boring after a while.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: It would get a lot of boring after a while.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

A lot of times you can change the feeling of a character

Evelyn Jachimiak:

by focusing on other things.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Does your character talk with long pauses in between what they're saying?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Or do they talk really high and really fast?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh, I almost went into mickey mouse, didn't I?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Let's not do that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Let's not get it's like It

Evelyn Jachimiak:

was like somewhere between tansy and mickey mouse

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: So so just adjusting those sorts of things

Evelyn Jachimiak:

can change the feel of a character

Evelyn Jachimiak:

because not everyone well, not everyone needs a specific

Evelyn Jachimiak:

accent or anything like that, you know,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: and sometimes it's just a This is a great thing.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And a lot of people don't think about this.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Change your face, the shape of your mouth.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

There are other ways, like I'm going to use my Shorewind for an example.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh my gosh.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

The eyebrow, the eyebrow.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Because Shorewind

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: had an eyebrow.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And when he raised his eyebrow, he was ready to be

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Shorewind, the champion of all.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

He, he, it was the, it was the eyebrow of knowing.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: It was the eyebrow of knowing.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

He just knew something was going to happen.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Uh, but at the same point, so you could squeeze

Evelyn Jachimiak:

your lips really close together like this, and it creates a whole

Evelyn Jachimiak:

nother type of character that is very different than my short wind voice.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I'm not doing an accent.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I'm not, you know, I'm just changing the shape of my face.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Tighten your face, loosen your face, wide eyes versus, um, squinted eyes.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Well, in those mannerisms helps like when, at least when

Evelyn Jachimiak:

you're playing in person or through, um, a remote game that you have cameras on the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

DM, it helps, um, the players distinguish characters from each other, even without

Evelyn Jachimiak:

doing other voices, having them, you know, Like one character talks a lot

Evelyn Jachimiak:

with their hands or, you know, you know, sits with us particular posture or has

Evelyn Jachimiak:

a bit of a swagger in the way they move.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And you don't really even need to really add much.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

you know, to the way they speak necessarily.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, the, once again, this is all flavoring on top of things, but like to, it makes

Evelyn Jachimiak:

them distinctive if they have their own way of embodying who they are.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And think about what they've done

Evelyn Jachimiak:

for a living their entire life.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Have they been.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

For example, have they been a farmer

Evelyn Jachimiak:

their

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: entire life under the sun, working the land, their

Evelyn Jachimiak:

body is maybe starting to take a toll.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so maybe you kind of hunch your shoulders over a little bit and talk a

Evelyn Jachimiak:

little slower, but still with a purpose.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And now you've created a Another farmer in the field, ready to work the land, it's

Evelyn Jachimiak:

gonna be a long day under the sun, and I'm gonna probably need to take a nap, or

Evelyn Jachimiak:

head to the tavern afterwards, and drink a pint, it all depends on what's coming up,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and, and just adjusting your body, this is where, this is where a video Uh, podcast

Evelyn Jachimiak:

would be, uh, good, but we don't have one.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

But just changing that body position.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Mm-Hmm.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: changing.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Like I said, the speed, like if you talk really fast like this, it's gonna really

Evelyn Jachimiak:

change how your character's thinking now.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You know what I'm saying?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I could be a very nervous, it could be thinking a lot of different things,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

or I could be really, really focused on something and wanting to do this.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Those of you at home can't see, but I'm moving my fingers too because.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It automatically makes me feel more like that character.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Well, and,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and, and think about the different ways that people speak based

Evelyn Jachimiak:

on their age, for example, like suddenly I'm a little kid and I, and I, and I,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

did I tell you about the thing that, uh, that, that happened with the, with the,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and the stuff and, and I saw a thing, you know, where they will repeat like that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And, and, you know, sometimes I lose my train of thought.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

But I remember a long time ago.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Wait a minute, you have a train

Evelyn Jachimiak:

that carries your thoughts?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It

Evelyn Jachimiak:

is somewhere in there.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That's pretty

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: interesting.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And that's,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I almost did something that I was going to say is, make sure that the words

Evelyn Jachimiak:

that you use make sense too, right?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Like, like an old guy like this isn't going to be like, Cool.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yes.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: You know,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

they're not using, you know, they're not using the Gen Z logo.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

The lingo.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: If my daughter was here, I'd totally go

Evelyn Jachimiak:

into the, that sort of stuff, but I'm not going to do that right now.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Also, make sure to don't do things that are going to harm your vocal cords.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yes.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Uh, don't try and do RASPY if you've not tried

Evelyn Jachimiak:

to do RASPY prior to doing this.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And like, goblin voices can get really hard sometimes.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So like, if you, if it's a comfortable thing, that's totally fine to do.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

But like, you might need an extra glass of water with you when

Evelyn Jachimiak:

you're doing it to just, because it can get tiring after a while.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Like when I do voices that kind of come down into this register, I

Evelyn Jachimiak:

always have to be drinking my water.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Or when I do my, Oh, you guys.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Like I can feel it right now.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You can drop it

Evelyn Jachimiak:

down.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I can't get that low.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: It's okay.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I'm not really getting that low.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Let's be honest.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So we've talked about the mannerisms, how they hold themselves, facial

Evelyn Jachimiak:

expressions, all of that can help to build your character.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh, and sorry

Evelyn Jachimiak:

to come back to the, that won't be difficult to recreate.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Part

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: right

Evelyn Jachimiak:

make sure you make notes about your what sort of

Evelyn Jachimiak:

voice you use it doesn't have to be something super like Detailed but any

Evelyn Jachimiak:

like anything in general that you can

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Like

Evelyn Jachimiak:

inspire right Yourself again to go.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Okay.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Well, and for like, for example, once again, Elsie, I looked at her picture

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and her voice came to me like that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And sometimes that's all I have to do is look at look at the character's picture.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And then it brings that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So if you know, if you have Pictures that you've pulled for the characters

Evelyn Jachimiak:

to as like what you think that they would look like even without a

Evelyn Jachimiak:

existing adventure story or whatever, um, that can sometimes help figure

Evelyn Jachimiak:

out the physicality of it as well.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And in the long run, you know, if you want to toss

Evelyn Jachimiak:

in an accent, go ahead and do that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah, you know, alright, I often times will do my brutes like

Evelyn Jachimiak:

this because they feel stupid.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And I generally all, um, and so, you know, if you want to throw, and then I

Evelyn Jachimiak:

had the Victor, he was my barkeep vampire.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

He was so very good.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And don't be afraid to just do it and have fun with it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

We're not looking.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You know, your players, aren't looking at you to be, you know, an

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Emmy award winning actor, but if it helps to create the mood and the feel,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

go for it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

At the end of it, like, as long as you're having fun, that's what matters.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Because like, if you're, if you're like.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Putting so much pressure and emphasis on making the perfect sounding NPC,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

you're gonna burn yourself out.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, so make sure it's something within your wheelhouse and something that

Evelyn Jachimiak:

you'll enjoy doing over and over again, especially because you're eventually going

Evelyn Jachimiak:

to get like obsessed with that one random character and you're going to have to do

Evelyn Jachimiak:

their voice over and over and over again.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Boots agrees.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I can't do the boots voice.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Boots.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Boots.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Boots will come, he will eat your face.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

He will.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, alright.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Dead silence after the eating of the face.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Alright, so, uh, we're going to finish up with one little section, uh, that talks

Evelyn Jachimiak:

about improvisation and adaptability.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Allow your character to grow based on the interactions that occur.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, I'm using Tanzy as my example, Tanzy talks like this a lot, hmm,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

oh I gotta go back and listen.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's a little more higher and.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I need to drink some more water, but Tansy has this kind of high pitch and

Evelyn Jachimiak:

started out very cry y because she was sad, but she started to get, she's,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

exactly, she started to grow with the group, your NPCs can grow, and they

Evelyn Jachimiak:

can grow in a lot of different ways.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I'm

Evelyn Jachimiak:

not sad at characters.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

They're dynamic.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Please.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Dynamic characters are more fun.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Just.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So, you know, uh, and, and with that, and, and this is, you know, when we talk about

Evelyn Jachimiak:

your character, you're going to have to learn how to improvise dialogue because

Evelyn Jachimiak:

your players are going to come at you.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And

Evelyn Jachimiak:

inevitably they will always find something.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: I know they will.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And the most important thing is to listen.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Listen, listen, listen, ah, listen, and listen.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And I even wrote it in all caps in my notes.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That's the biggest thing.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Make sure you are listening to what your player is saying so that your

Evelyn Jachimiak:

NPCs can react to what you're saying.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And respond in an appropriate way

Evelyn Jachimiak:

because you want to feel want the conversation to feel natural you

Evelyn Jachimiak:

don't want to feel stilted and I think part of one of the frustrations I have

Evelyn Jachimiak:

with a lot of adventure paths is rather than just giving bullet points of what is

Evelyn Jachimiak:

The character's trying to give, they give you a lot of prescriptive lines about what

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the, I would rather have the bullet points because otherwise things don't flow.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so I'm having to like mentally change things.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So, you know, like, yes, that, that is doing extra work and that's part of

Evelyn Jachimiak:

being a DM sometimes, but at the same time, it would just, it would be nice

Evelyn Jachimiak:

to just give me the, give me the key facts that I'm trying to convey here.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Well, and, and kind of to, to

Evelyn Jachimiak:

kind of continue off of that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, and to continue off of the idea of listening, we already have

Evelyn Jachimiak:

so much to do as a game master.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Sometimes it's just nice to ignore everything else and

Evelyn Jachimiak:

just have that conversation.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Absolutely.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Your, your NPC, their player character, a nice, fun

Evelyn Jachimiak:

conversation we had, you know, over the years that we've played together, uh, and.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

The, the number of Berlin, how Dolly?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I mean, the conversations that she's had with the blood Lords group,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

both blood Lords one, and now blood Lords two, um, conversations with,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

uh, what's her name from outlaws?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh, um, why can't I,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: yeah, I know the bar owner.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, from bullet, uh, the barrel and bullet, bullet and barrel, uh, we

Evelyn Jachimiak:

always flipped it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah, she

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: always had great conversations.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So your NPCs can have these pretty phenomenal conversations.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Enjoy it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Enjoy being part of it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You don't have to be focusing on the next step and then respond to what is

Evelyn Jachimiak:

said in your character's own way, right?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Allow your character to come alive with that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

When you do that, we don't fret so much on being perfect with your words.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And this is something that, uh, I've talked with Evelyn about as we, you

Evelyn Jachimiak:

know, as we both GM and we are both player characters in each other's games.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

is don't try to rush what you're saying all the time.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You're allowed to think your character's allowed to think, give

Evelyn Jachimiak:

them the time to digest what they've heard before immediately responding.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Well, and these people,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

they might all be human, but they still are people and they,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

you know, they have moments where they need to take a moment to

Evelyn Jachimiak:

collect their thoughts before trying to convey something, right?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Because.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Just like anybody else, they are thinking and breathing and reacting and responding

Evelyn Jachimiak:

to not only the people that they're talking to, but the environment and the,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

you know, maybe they're distracted for a moment by some, a flash of a hand across

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the bar or, so there are things that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

you can take that time you need to respond to them without the player

Evelyn Jachimiak:

characters being them, without necessarily having to try to spend all of your

Evelyn Jachimiak:

time thinking of the perfect words.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You do not have to be The most, you know, skilled linguistically speaking,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

uh, DM, uh, you know, of all time.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You know, we are not all perfect script writers, we are

Evelyn Jachimiak:

not working on the next novel.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's, you know, we're just talking as people and having, building

Evelyn Jachimiak:

relationships with these, with these player characters in order to make a fun

Evelyn Jachimiak:

game for ourselves and for our players.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And that's what it comes down to, is having fun, right?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That's the most important thing.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And finally, let the relationship develop and the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

longer you're not over one specific period, but the more you do this,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

the more your NPCs talk, uh, the dialogue is going to come easier.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Absolutely.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And it's going to feel more natural, uh, improvisation.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I'm well, that'll be a, another podcast, but improvisation takes some getting used

Evelyn Jachimiak:

to, you know, some people have it easier because they've had to do it before.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Look, it's easier for me because I'm a teacher.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I'm a professor.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so I have to be able to talk at a moment's notice about anything

Evelyn Jachimiak:

and everything when a student comes and talks to me, not everybody has

Evelyn Jachimiak:

that advantage, what I would call an advantage of being in those situations

Evelyn Jachimiak:

where I've already had to develop this, understand that the more you do it, the

Evelyn Jachimiak:

more you speak as your character and interact with your player characters.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

The easier it's easier, it's going to become.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And honestly, the more fun it is, the more relaxed you are doing it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Absolutely.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Oh man.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That was all we we've talked about a lot of stuff.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

This was, it was a lot.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's a lot of information.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, your town NPCs are great.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Have fun with them.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It is.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

They're the, they're the things that make the world move.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You know, villains are great to monologue.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You're, you're If

Evelyn Jachimiak:

your players let you finish monologuing.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Never

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: gonna happen, especially with my Sunday group.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You're, You're, you're kind of heroic NPCs are fantastic, but those town NPCs

Evelyn Jachimiak:

There's just something special about them.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

There is a good tavern owner, a good alchemical shop owner.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You know, all of these types of characters are just really cool.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

That's just personal opinion.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

All right.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

We're going to start bringing this to a close a couple of things that you just

Evelyn Jachimiak:

want to note, uh, you can find links to just about everywhere that we are.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

In the show notes, a big thing.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Definitely check out role for perception.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

com.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

The page has gone over, uh, there's been a major overhaul.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It is much prettier now.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I think it's much prettier and easier to navigate more.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

We'll be coming to that as we finish up the adjustment of that page.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Our newest podcast will be coming out the Friday after this podcast is released.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Episode one of VASIN.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Did that soon?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Wow.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: This releases on the 16th and the first episode

Evelyn Jachimiak:

of VASIN releases on the 16th.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

19th.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Wow.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: so make sure you check that out.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You can find that it's, uh, the lore maker chronicles is the name of the podcast.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's still under the role for perception umbrella.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Indeed it is.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And so, uh, take a listen to that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Super excited about our.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Group of four and what good

Evelyn Jachimiak:

cast I mean, I'm not talking about myself in particular

Evelyn Jachimiak:

But like the other three players we have are really awesome, and

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I'm very excited to play with them.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So Yes, I look forward to it.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Uh, yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So, and, uh, check out our Ko fi, check out our discord,

Evelyn Jachimiak:

check out our Patreon, check

Evelyn Jachimiak:

out.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And our discord link should be

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: working again now.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Twitter, Instagram.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I mean, we're just, we're kind of all over the place.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Always want to hear from you.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

If you have something you want to let us know, I finally created an

Evelyn Jachimiak:

email works now, so you can email us.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It would be awesome if I remembered that email immediately off the top of my head.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

There's a contact

Evelyn Jachimiak:

page eventually going to be on our Contact page is

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: up.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Okay.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

So you can contact us on our, our website.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Roll for perception.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Yeah.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Um, there's a nice contact page.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's got a, it's got a form field and everything.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's really pretty.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: It does.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

You can send us an email through that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: And then of course, uh, as I said, there is an

Evelyn Jachimiak:

email, uh, you can send an email to me and at feedback at role for perception.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

com.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Look at that.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I knew I had made it and send us feedback.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Tell us which more of what you want to hear, less of what you want to hear.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Those sorts of things.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Super interested in hearing what you want to hear.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Am I forgetting anything else?

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Not, not.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

People telling us to shut up and stomach.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: Oh, that would make me sad, but

Evelyn Jachimiak:

I have faith so far so far.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

It's been good.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

All right.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

As always, I want to thank you for joining us for this week's podcast.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

We hope we inspired you to continue your TTRPG journey.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

However, that may look.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

And then as we've said, um, make sure to stop by.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Uh, www.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

rollforperception.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

com and leave a comment on our podcast page.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

We are always looking to answer questions and discuss new TTRPGs.

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Terry Dana Jachimiak II: So make sure to have your D20 ready and

Evelyn Jachimiak:

your goblin voice invested as you head out of the world of TTRPGs

Evelyn Jachimiak:

with Roll for

Evelyn Jachimiak:

Percepticast.

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

Listen for free

Show artwork for Role for Percepticast

About the Podcast

Role for Percepticast
A Podcast for Tabletop Roleplaying Lovers!
Welcome to "Role for Percepticast," your ultimate destination for all things tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). Our episodes delve into various aspects of the TTRPG universe, from in-depth reviews of indie and Kickstarter games to engaging discussions on roleplaying techniques and world-building strategies. We also keep you updated on the latest news and trends in the TTRPG community.

Hosts Evelyn and Terry bring their extensive experience in playing, GMing, and streaming games to the table, offering fresh insights and perspectives to enhance your gaming experience. Unlike other podcasts, we don't focus on D&D or Pathfinder. Instead, we celebrate the diversity and creativity found in other TTRPGs.

Join us for a journey fueled by passion and dedication to the art of roleplaying. Whether you're a seasoned player or just starting your adventure, "Role for Percepticast" has something for you.

About your host

Profile picture for Terry Jachimiak II

Terry Jachimiak II