Image by adubost from Pixabay, edited by Mike (cropping and brightness balance) – I had a lot of trouble getting the face being sketched to be visible at the reduced scale. Got there in the end, though!

I have said before that you can never have too many approaches to determining the characterization of an NPC up your sleeve. Today’s article offers a new one, and a systematic way of looking at simpler approaches that can also be useful.

Let’s start by setting a baseline for comparison…

0. Going Nowhere: The Null State (for Comparison)

I once knew a GM with several bad habits to go with his undoubted ability to create interesting puzzles (his Sphinxes were deadly dangerous). But creating and naming NPCs was not his strong suit.

Unless he had lots of prep time to focus on a specific character of importance, they were pretty much cookie-cutter derivatives of the AD&D character class to which they belonged. His Paladins were all Noble, his Clerics were all Pious, and so on.

And he was even worse at naming them. Regardless of race and language, the first NPC encountered was always named “Dave”, the second one was “Sam”, and the third one was “Phil”.

Frankly, I always thought that he should team up with another GM, someone who was good in a literary sense; as combination, they would have been killer!

The problem with only being good at one aspect of the GM’s craft is that players sit at your table (assuming they have a choice) for that one aspect. A single dry spell (and we all have them from time to time) and your one hold over the audience goes up in smoke. End of campaign.

And, if you should happen to believe in the quality of that campaign, and if it is in fact clearly full of potential, that can be so disheartening that you give up the GMs screen, and shortly thereafter, the entire hobby. Which is an overreaction. but it’s hard to be objective when you’re hurting.

So that is the default worst-case example of technique. If, no matter how poor you consider your skills in this area, you are better than this, then you have plenty of reason to hold your head (reasonably) high. And to pay close attention to articles like this one that offer the chance to improve.

1. The Monotrait Road

Technique one is to make the character all about a single personality trait. Everything is assessed in this context – his or her relationships, profession, attitudes, reactions, everything.

This is an especially useful technique when combined with the principle of the partial NPC for throwaway characters who are not going to make repeat appearances.

It does take some practice to use well, so it’s not quite as simple a solution as it initially seems.

It’s also important to note that some traits will lead the NPC to be helpful to the PCs, while others will turn the character into roadblocks. You do not want your players to be able to accuse you of always fielding NPCs that do nothing but say “No” to them, so it’s important to balance these pro- and anti- traits.

That can make plotting an adventure more challenging, too. Again, it’s not quite as simple as it seems.

2. The Linear Road

A linear approach is also based around a single character trait, but uses other character traits to carve out exceptions and circumstances within which, no compromise can be countenanced by the NPC – either weakening or reinforcing that primary trait, in other words.

It should be obvious that the results are inevitably richer and more complex than Monotrait characters, but they are not much more complicated to generate.

In fact, for my TORG campaign, I wrote an NPC generator (software) that generated characters by the hundreds (I have mentioned it in the past). Part of that program was a subroutine to generate personalities. I don’t know exactly where that personality generator is, these days; I’ve long intended, the next time I come across it, to present it here at Campaign Mastery.

But the basic process was:

  1. A d% roll to determine the number of personality traits;
  2. A d20 roll for the primary trait that selected one of twenty lists of personality traits;
  3. A d20 roll for the primary trait that selected the trait from that list of twenty;
  4. repeat steps 2 & 3 for any other traits indicated by step 1.

A few of the traits had sub-rolls associated with them, but most did not. For example, for several traits, there was a 4-in-6 chance that it was a trait of the character, but there was a 2-in-6 chance that it was something that the character looked for in others (for some reason).

And, if there was any contradiction, the order of generation was the sequence of strength of trait, first to last being high to low.

Finally, the primary generation program used a single d% value to estimate “competence” (even though that isn’t an official stat in the game system; that was used for various other determinations, like skill level in the primary professional skill of the character. But it was also used, subtracted from 100, to estimate the severity of the primary trait; is it an obsession, a preference, or something in between?

This system still left quite a lot of interpretation up to the GM, which meant that there was scope to smooth over any rough spots. I had seen similar systems in magazines, but they all lacked that scope and the variety of having 400 different traits to select from, and that showed in the results, which often felt forced and wooden. My design intentionally sought to overcome this problem.

Linear characters are an order of magnitude more complex than Monotrait characters.

3. The Rich Road

Seeking a more complicated characterization seems rather pointless, even counter-productive. That’s why the approach I have labeled “The Rich Road” doesn’t try to create more complex characters, it creates more structured and coherent characters.

I rough out a quick backstory for the NPC, then divide it into logical segments. Sometimes, these will be short but having a profound impact on the character, sometimes longer and less intense. However, even a small change can accumulate into a significant total effect if it persists long enough.

The first such period is then used to allocate the primary trait. No, make that “a” primary trait; under this technique, a character can have more than one. The second period adds a second trait; if it contradicts the first, it creates an exception or limitation to the first primary trait, if not then it creates a second primary trait, one that is second only to the first primary trait.

And so on, each phase in the life story of the NPC adding to the richness of the personality. The traits are not chosen blindly or at random; they always have some bearing on the events experienced by the character.

If the selected trait is complimentary to the second primary trait but not the first, it not only carves out an exception to the first, it elevates the second to primacy.

I then throw away that backstory – well, treat it as a first draft – and craft a new one that more strongly emphasizes the enrichment of the personality that occurred. The new trait acquired could be the result of a negative or a positive experience. But at the same time, now that I have some idea of the finished personality, I can reflect other aspects of the character that had not yet emerged from his experiences.

This also helps to refine the personality; you are describing the history of the character as perceived by that character. That’s all of that character, not just the parts that were discovered during a particular phase of the character’s life.

Even if the character’s backstory is never to be revealed to the players (because it’s irrelevant to the encounter with the NPC), this helps to make the character a cohesive and coherent whole. The backstory can then get thrown away; if I know in advance that this is what’s going to happen, I can limit the amount of effort and polish that I put into it.

In a nutshell, this process binds the personality together into an Identity that has been designed explicitly to fulfill the plot needs of the moment, but which has enough depth and coherence that it can support multiple repeat appearances. Especially if the personality is treated as a dynamic phenomenon that will evolve with in-game experiences.

This technique is suitable for PCs and recurring NPCs, and – until a couple of years ago – it was my go-to approach for such characters.

4. The Narrative Road

So, what happened a couple of years ago? Answer: I came up with a new technique, one that I have dubbed the Narrative Technique – or, using the metaphor employed in this article, the Narrative Road.

The central concept of this approach is that every word of description, every word they utter in dialogue, and (almost) everything that is written or said describing the environment around them, all tell you something more about the character. Or they should, anyway.

This concept results in a similar process of step-wise refinement as the “Rich” approach, but this time the source is not a throwaway, it’s everything that you have generated to pass on to the players.

In other words, you start with a broad characterization – Linear, or even Monotrait – and enrich it throughout the character’s planned appearance in the adventure. Then you go back to the start of that appearance and revise the narrative and dialogue to reflect the more detailed personality and to communicate it to those listening, i.e. the players.

With any subsequent appearance, you can further expand on and refine the personality until you deem it sufficiently defined. Where you stop is up to you.

But there is a complication that you should keep in mind; with this first iteration of the character, you (like the players) are absorbing the personality one piece at a time. In subsequent appearances, you won’t have that luxury. This restricts how complex you can make the character, or it should – and everyone reading this will have a different threshold.

The solution is to describe the personality, within your notes, in the same fashion, then condense it as much as possible so that there is less to read and absorb. Bear in mind, too, that when you have to do this in play, it will be extremely unlikely that you will be able to concentrate fully on it; you will be busy and distracted by everything else that a GM has to do.

Of course, there is a solution to this problem, or at least, a test to tell you whether or not you have gone too far. All you need to do is wait a couple of days and then go through your planned adventure; each time you come to a new NPC, try to remember the personality you assigned to it. Take notes, then compare them to the actual character.

The theory is that the fading of memory will simulate the distractions of being the GM. Since you wrote the personality up just a couple of days earlier, though, you should still be able to recall most of it. If you lose too much of it, if there is too much difference between the recalled version and the actual one, it tells you that the personality is too complicated; you should either simplify it or look for a touchstone.

A Touchstone?

Sometimes, there is a central concept or a key that sums up the whole personality, at least as a starting point. It could be a phrase, an image, a statement in accent, or an extremely high-level summary of the personality.

If I describe a character as “Bugs Bunny to his boss’s Elmer Fudd”, I bring to mind everything that I have ‘on tap’ regarding those characters and their relationship. I don’t mean this description literally, of course, but that one phrase is quite enough to make sense of the description that I have attached to the character write-up.

Here’s a hint, too: such a phrase is a great starting point for the personality to be generated.

A Narrative Road example, Repeated

The process has been refined somewhat in the time since, but the basics remain unchanged from when I first thought up this approach to characterization.

But I’ve used the first case of it as an example before, I find. Hence, the ‘repeated’ in the section title. This will, however, be the first time that the actual narrative from the adventure will be excerpted.

And note that the process itself was not fully formed at the time. In fact, you can see the concept forming, if you read between the lines!

From the adventure “Cold Cases”, as written

The New Orleans Historical Society was founded in 1835 as the Louisiana Historical Society. It was officially chartered by the state of Louisiana in 1836, and has been rechartered several times over the decades since. Following the devastation of hurricane Katrina in late August of 2005 the LHS set up a dedicated sub-unit to protect, preserve, and – where necessary – restore the history and historical buildings of the city. In 2015, the original charter for the NOHS expired, and the LHS sought to discontinue funding since the project had consumed all of the state organization’s funding for the last decade. Heroic efforts and last-minute political maneuverings rescued it at the 11th hour, but the next decade saw repeated skirmishes between those advocating state priorities and those focused on the city.

Eventually, in 2023, the LHS did a deal to separate the NOHS from its operations and charter it as an ‘affiliated organization’. In theory,. by separating the funding, the LHS would stop the financial drain into the state capital. What they had not factored into consideration was that New Orleans generated the bulk of the operating capital that they were used to receiving. The LHS bled most of its funding and resources into the newly-constituted New Orleans Society, ending up with even less than they had enjoyed previously. They responded by issuing an invoice to NOHS for the funding provided in the disputed decade plus interest, on the principle that it was an internal loan that had been assumed by the splinter organization on separation from the main body. That was when the divorce turned nasty.

After a couple of years and tens of thousands of dollars spent on lawyers, and with both organizations facing bankruptcy, a compromise was reached under which a percentage of the funding raised by the NOHS was paid to the LHS each year for services in providing ‘Historical Context’ to the city of New Orleans. That arrangement lasted for twelve years before a new generation of leaders in both Societies got together and began amalgamation talks – with the better resourced and much larger NOHS as the leading partner.

These days, they occupy, wholly or in part, 21 city blocks of Central New Orleans (almost one quarter of the old city center), including 6 hotels (who lease space from the NOHS), the Louisiana Supreme Court building, three museums, and 13 restaurants and cafes, and are the largest single employer in New Orleans outside the various levels of government. It has become standard practice for the NOHS to buy any properties that they wish to conserve or restore and then lease the space back to the current tenants/occupants, usually at a discounted rate. Because the NOHS is placed in a protected tax bracket by the City and State, this generally provides a small windfall for the original owners and generates the fees needed for building maintenance and restoration. And it also gives them the financial clout to negotiate bank loans for whatever they need.

Their headquarters are located in the Williams Building at 410 Cartres Street. (Map 012j1 – Williams Building relative to Knightly Building; Map 012j2 from the Hyatt to the Williams Building, small map; Map 012j3 ditto, large map also showing New Orleans City Hall; Pic 012j4, exterior of the Williams Building; Pic 012j5 inside the New Orleans Historical Society.)

Inside, you meet receptionist Gennifer-with-a-G Patriskilopopodos (Patris-kilo-popo-dos). “Mah goodness, ah youh truhlay intuhrested in Histry, Saint Buhbura?” [Reply]

* A *

“I guss it takes uhl kinds, mah dear. I shuld have known yuh would nut be he-uh fuh frivuhlus reasons. How can I help one the most recent legend to base themselves in owuh wunduful City?”
[Pause for reply]

* B *

“Mah gudness! Uv co-ahse ah wull hulp in aneh whay ah can. Yuh have come tuh the raght place, Hon-ahy!

“In 2023, thuh city was menaced by Hurricane Inguh, but thuh levee banks held, though it wuz a close thing fo-ah a while. It wuz then that thuh society realized thut today is the history of tumorrah, und that we needed to conserve whut wuz around us, raht now. We partnered with Ghugle to examine and catalog everuh building, everuh fixtuh. Und we made shoah to preserve ut least wun uv everahthing. Let muh just consult our-uh datuhbase…”

*** Pretend to type on a keyboard for ‘datuhbase’ x2

“Ah, here we are. The lighting in that part uf town wuz supplied bah Cunsoluhdated Uhlectrucal Dustributahs. They are one of the biggest suppliers of ulectrical lighting in the world, with ullmost 6000 offices world wide. For that part of town they built LED lamps that looked like old-fashuned gas lamps, with coluhed effects in thuh bulbs and a built-in flickuhring effect. Those wuh populah fuh a time in Nuh Oleans but fell out of favuh aftuh Hurricane Landauh. They wuh veruh atmospheric but not veruh practical. There is one street left with those lights – Wilkunnson Street, about two blocks from heauh (Pic 12j6). Weuh have a pictuhe heah (Pic 12j7).
[Pause for reply]

* C *

“Ah don’t think weuh quite done yet, Miss Sahnt Baburuh. Ah see heuh that one of the lights whaz damuged in a ve-hic-el accident a few yeahs back, and weuh needed to source a replacemunt as they weuh no longer being made bah Cunsoluhdated Uhlectrucal. So weuh bought full technucal schematucs from them, und sent technishuns aht to measure how thuh actual lights had changed in perfawmence ovuh tha yeahs. Give me yoah email address and ah’ll send the full info raht ovuh to you.”
[Pause for reply]

Notice anything missing? I didn’t, when I was writing the adventure and doing game prep.

There is not one word of description of this NPC. There’s a name, and there’s an occupation and a workplace, and a history of that workplace – but no descriptions.

In game prep, I had located a building (which may or may not really be located in New Orleans, and may or may not really be located at the address stated above, I don’t remember any more).

I had an image of the building, so I needed little description there – show the image and move on. I also had an image of a library with at least two levels, a spiral staircase, and a reception desk with relatively young woman seated behind the counter, again reducing the need for any descriptions. And I had various maps showing where the place was located (at least in my campaign version of New Orleans).

I had, as you can tell from the phonetic writing (which gives my spell-checker fits), equipped the young woman with an extremely thick southern accent – much broader than usual for the location. That gave her a personality head-start, as you can tell from the script, but at the last possible second I recognized my oversight and further realized, in a flash, the possibility that this NPC might recur at some future point in the campaign.

This required a far more substantial character than the very Monotrait “Helpful Southerner” I had written up.

As I described in Interaction Flows – A Planning Tool and Function With Style: 10 thoughts for NPC Creation (Blog Carnival Jan 2021) (I have used this character as an example before!), I decided that she needed to be a social activist and a Star Trek fan. The PC could also be considered a social activist, but not the type to attend protest rallies, so this gave them a point of common ground AND a point of distinction from each other. The “Trekkie” idea I borrowed from The West Wing.

From the West Wing fandom wiki, abridged

In the episode “Arctic Radar“, in Act I, Josh and Donna are walking through the West Wing when Josh tells Donna that he’s spotted a temporary employee wearing a “Star Trek” pin and he needs Donna to tell her to take it off.

In Act II, Josh comments that he [has] noticed [that] the temp employee has removed the pin – but Donna comments that she is upset about having to take it off. Josh attempts to talk to the employee, Janice (played by Audrey Wasilewski), but is rebuffed and he walks away.

The Fandom Wiki doesn’t describe the rest of this plot sequence. So I’ve had to turn to a second source, a different West Wing wiki that gives a transcript of the script.

From The West Wing Wiki:

Link to source: westwingwiki.com

I’ll pick it up in the middle of the scene described above, as Janice tells Josh that she is going to appeal his decision with her supervisor.

    JANICE: “Okay, well, you got the cards but Star Trek and the entire Starfleet series is about honor and loyalty and civic duty and the fact that you don’t think that those are characteristics that should be displayed inside the White House is sad. But I wouldn’t expect you to understand those kinds of things. Anything else?”

    JOSH: No.

    Josh walks away from Janice.

This subplot plays no part in Act III. In Act IV, Josh is passing Janice’s desk when she comments,

    JANICE: “I’m not obsessed. I’m just a fan, and I care.”

    JOSH: “What’s your name again?”

    JANICE: “Janice.”

    JOSH: “I’m a fan. I’m a sports fan, I’m a music fan and I’m a Star Trek fan. All of them. But here’s what I don’t do. Tell me if any of this sounds familiar: “Let’s list our ten favorite episodes. Let’s list our least favorite episodes. Let’s list our favorite galaxies. Let’s make a chart to see how often our favorite galaxies appear in our favorite episodes. What Romulan would you most like to see coupled with a Cardassian and why? Let’s spend a weekend talking about Romulans falling in love with Cardassians and then let’s do it again.” That’s not being a fan. That’s having a fetish. And I don’t have a problem with that, except you can’t bring your hobbies in to work, okay?”

    JANICE: “Got it.”

    JOSH: “Except on Star Trek holidays.” [walks away]

    JANICE: “There’s no such thing as a Star Trek holiday.”

    JOSH: “Well, work hard around here. We’ll make one.”

    Josh walks off, and Janice smiles.

Now, I had a problem with this episode in that the behavior Josh describes is appropriate for those who would generally be described as “Trekkies” but most fans are not obsessed in that fashion, and distance themselves from this behavior by labeling themselves “Trekkers”. This is extremely widely documented and if you have done enough research to name-drop Cardassians, you can’t help but know it.

I would have given Janice another line, something along the lines of “Those are the traits of obsessed Trekkies. I’m a trekker.“, instead of “Got it”.

Josh would then have replied “Maybe so, but this place is about Perceptions as much as reality, and we can’t have our credibility undermined by any suggestion that we are obsessed – with anything.”

Janice: “Got It” – and the rest plays out as above.

Of course, it’s always possible that all this (or something similar) was in the original script and got cut for running time – that’s very common with TV dramas.

So, back to the NPC:

I decided that she was not directly supervised in her role, and as such, could choose to wear a Star Trek pin. Perhaps she had been challenged on it in the past, but the differences between her position and that of a staffer (temporary or otherwise) in the West Wing meant that she would probably have gotten away with it – perhaps with a compromise.

I then rejigged this concept to make it a coffee mug with a Federation logo, something I had seen offered for sale multiple times. I gave her a Save The Whales pin, a rainbow pin, and one that read “It’s the Environment, Stupid” (referencing the famous political aphorism about the economy offered by Bill Clinton advisor, James Carville).

Throw in a khaki t-shirt with women’s lib symbol and blonde dreadlocks tied with a scrunchy sporting a peace symbol, and the description was complete. Oh, and note the very Greek name and the not-Greek-at-all Speech Pattern, which immediately tells a story about the character’s ancestry.

Now that I had something to deliver, I had to figure out how to deliver it. I decided to insert little descriptive blocks in between the passages of dialogue that I had scripted, feeding into the replies by the PC being roleplayed. These have been marked in the excerpt above as “* A *” etc.

If the PC then referenced or responded to one of these cues, I could improvise some additional NPC dialogue that would permit the NPC to show off a further personality facet, be it Idealism, or Activism, or Respect, or Environmental Passion, or whatever.

The player picked up on each cue, and as a result, with each exchange, a little more of the NPC’s personality could be first, created, and second, showcased – all still under the umbrella of the Helpful Southerner (unless the PC was foolish enough to push one of the NPC’s many ‘buttons’).

This is a clear example of the Narrative Road to character in that every piece of description or dialogue expanded and expounded the personality of the NPC.

A Second Example

I thought that I would round this discussion out with a second example from earlier in the same adventure, one delivered in two parts.

The first part takes place in the New Orleans Council Offices. St Barbara is the PC:

    St Barbara encounters a similar lack of assistance at the Council Offices, but this comes as less of a surprise. The Knightly Building was originally supposed to be used to replace the existing council building in a move that had been planned for months, but the Crown Prince turned the entire council on its head at the last second by arbitrarily giving the building to the Champions via IMAGE*. She is met by Road Safety Commissioner Jorg Ingram (Pic 012f7), and told that the records in question were lost during the flooding caused by Hurricane Landau in 2042.
    *** Roleplay ***

    She is in the middle of reacting to that news when Jorg adds that “some of the information may be available through the council’s website, but finding anything in that electronic rabbit warren can be quite challenging because of the archaic systems architecture used. For example, has she seen this?

    He then shows her his hand-held computer’s display which has the message “Meet me in the coffee shop across the road in fifteen minutes. Be inconspicuous.” He then continues with his apologetic total non-cooperation, “You see what I mean? It would be impossible for anyone to find that information unless they knew exactly where to look for it.”
    *** Roleplay ***

After turning the spotlight to the other PCs (see last week’s post, Spotlights In Focus: Plot Structure Impacts for a short period, Part two of this encounter then took place at The Borgne Cafe, Hyatt Regency, New Orleans, after the PC had disguised herself just enough that she might plausibly be someone else, but not so much that she would not be recognized instantly if you were expecting her to be there.:

    Meanwhile, St Barbara is waiting in the Borgne Cafe (Pic 012h1) of the Hyatt Regency of New Orleans for the Road Safety Commissioner to arrive. The Cafe is considered one of the best and most Romantic in the French Quarter of New Orleans, serving Creole-style seafood. It doesn’t seem to surprise the waiter when St Barbara waves away the menu and simply orders a coffee. How do you have it, St B?
    [Await Response]

    The coffee, when it arrives, is absolutely delicious, though slightly stronger-flavored than St Barbara was expecting, and with faint overtones of chicory and cinnamon. [Despite the interruptions] she is almost finished it and wistfully contemplating another when Jorg Ingram arrives. Seeing that the cafe is packed, and most patrons are having a meal, he asks, “Excuse me ma’am, may I share your table? Like you, I have only stopped in for a quick coffee. Then I have to get back to work. Busy, busy, busy.
    *** Roleplay. ***

    “Do you know, the strangest thing happened today. I received a telephone call from a very prominent local Congressman telling me that were certain publicly-available information to be released to an even more prominent local personage of the superheroic persuasion, federal funding of the levee banks that protect New Orleans during hurricane season would be reviewed – unfavorably. That’s a very serious threat, don’t you think?”
    [Pause for reply]

    “Well, it’s their prerogative to decide how they are going to disburse Federal Funds, I have to admit. So, unfortunately, when the same august personage that the caller had referred to actually showed up, requesting that very information, I had to tell her that it had been destroyed in the Hurricane of ’42, even though we can’t be sure of that because no attempt had been made to locate the information in question in the first place.
    [Pause for reply]

    “Now, I’m a good, honest, Democrat, and I don’t take kindly to threats from Republicans that prevent me from doing my job, especially when it involves helping someone who does a lot of good in my city. But there wasn’t much that I could do about it. I couldn’t even tell her that the New Orleans Historical Society will have all the information she needs.”
    [Pause for reply]

    “It’s a good thing the next election’s only a few months away. Maybe that blowhard won’t make it back into office this time. Are you registered to vote? Unlike many states, we permit any permanent residents to register, so if you live around these parts, you should give it some consideration. Anyway, nice talking to you, but I have to go.”
    [Pause for reply]

    *** Roleplay as he collects his takeaway coffee-cup and heads for the door with a jaunty wave.***

This is a Narrative characterization that consists of two opposing Linear characterizations – one, unhelpful but with hidden limits to that uncooperative nature; and the other, helpful, but with hidden limits to that cooperative nature. He is resentful of being told what to do by a member of the opposite political persuasion, but is (effectively) blackmailed into accepting the instructions. So he obeys, but uses his wits to subvert the instructions – which in turn holds implications about the intelligence of the politician who issued those instructions.

Because of this resentment, he has shifted from a neutral stance to one that actively opposes the source of the resentment, which in turn predisposes him to be as helpful as he can be without risking either his job or the city.

All this information unfolds as a subtext to the encounter, one line of dialogue at a time, and that’s what makes this a Narrative characterization.

He clearly suspected or knew that the conversation might be overheard and was at pains to make it sound natural. The player picked up on this and started looking around for people shadowing her informant, spotted a pair of them splitting up – one to continue following him and one to follow her for a while.

This last part is NOT mentioned anywhere in the write-up, but was implied by his paranoia or circumspection; once the player had noticed and played into the possibility, it fell into the general direction to “Roleplay”.

This resulted in her capturing a tablet containing the instructions issued by the politician – circumstantial evidence that he was complicit in the historical crime that the PCs were investigation at the time. It wasn’t enough to get him booted from public office – unfortunate from the perspective of the PC – but it put the politician on their radar, and eventually they nailed him for corruption.

This example is more fully-formed than the first, but is also more limited; there is very little chance of this character recurring so long as he retains his current position. But his quick wit earmarks him as a character who is going places; and if he gets promoted / recruited into some other department or agency, who knows?

It also shows how simple the building blocks of a complex characterization can be. And that’s a very noteworthy point on which to end this discussion.

Sidebar: *** Roleplay *** vs [Pause For Reply]

It could be interpreted that the latter means that the PC(s) with whom I am interacting in this encounter are not expected to be roleplaying. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

[Pause for reply]
means that I expect the player to reply with a statement made in character.

*** Roleplay ***
means that the player can decide how the character reacts – they might go somewhere, or talk to someone else, or use a skill, or whatever. They are, of course, free to do so at any point in the dialogue, but it’s not generally expected by me that they will do so.

If there is any risk of that happening, I will put directions in the square brackets:
[Pause for reply. If {name of PC} does X, refer to paragraph Y below.]

You may also have noted [Await response] – this means that the action / dialogue will not proceed until the character responds or reacts in some way. [Pause for reply] generally (but not quite always) means that after a short pause, if the PC hasn’t said something as part of the conversation, I will move on. It may be necessary to improvise dialogue if what is ‘pre-programmed’ doesn’t match the circumstances.

For example, at one point, an NPC asks a question – “How can I help” or words to that effect, followed by the [Pause for response] cue. If the player chooses not to have the PC respond to that question, then obviously the next dialogue sequence, in which the NPC reacts to what the PC was expected to say, needs to be deferred or revised.

Oh, and note the use of stage directions in
*** Roleplay as he collects his takeaway coffee-cup and heads for the door with a jaunty wave.***
– these are clearly directing what the NPC will do unless the PCs actions make it impossible or incorrect. If the PC had put her arm through the NPC’s and said, “Tell me more,” the action is clearly inappropriate, and some sort of reaction would be called for.

Just thought I should clarify all that.

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