All I need is a girl and a gun*.

*Much thanks to Jean-Luc Godard

Regards,
David R

Nifty!

This just keeps getting better.

I love this idea of the one sentence concept. Particularly coupled with the 'what does the NPC you want the players to do" question. Between these two aspects you have all you could need to portray these NPCs. In a rules light game this might be all you need ever. But even in a crunchier system I think this makes for an excellent starting point.

I will definitely be incorporating this approach into my GMing.

Part of what lead me to this discussion was coming across old character sheets for major NPCs in previous campaigns and being struck with how little of the character's nature came across through all the stats, skills etc. It seemed like such a waste. I don't even recall using the sheets that much during play. If I came across a page of NPCs noted in this fashion I feel liek they would leap off the page. Make you want to play right away. This is how it SHOULD be.

All we need for that character concept maker is some tables to roll on.    The personality trait one should be easy.  There's a few of those lying around...  Robin's Laws has one, IIRC.

The (profession) and (personal goal) would have to have genre-specific tables, though.

I made one up for Traveller and Serenity.  It's an Excel file and it's around here somewhere.

EDIT:  Lessee if I can cut-and-paste the mofo into a post...

A (trait) (role) with (thing) who wants (goal)

TRAIT (1d20)

• Happy-Go-Lucky
• Starry-Eyed
• Taciturn
• Grizzled
• Mouthy
• Whiny
• Angry
• Stupid
• Smarmy
• Sly
• Manipulative
• Naïve
• Generous
• Greedy
• Wealthy
• Pretentious
• Passionate
• Wimpy
• Intellectual
• Religious

ROLE (1d20)

• Mercenary
• Ex-Marine
• Former Soldier
• Retired Scout
• Former Navy
• Doctor
• Noble
• Explorer
• Dilettante
• Preacher
• Gearhead
• Pilot
• Young punk
• Career Criminal
• Fugitive
• Merchant
• Prospector/Speculator
• Entertainer
• Laborer
• Vagabond

THING (1d20)

• A past
• Lots of enemies
• Delusions of grandeur
• No social skills
• Lots of guns
• A strong fear of (something)
• An eye for the ladies/men
• An axe to grind
• Nothing to lose
• A good heart
• Wanderlust
• A ship
• Strange habits
• Strong Ethnic ties
• Incredible patience
• An obsession with (something)
• A price on his/her head
• No experience
• A chronic illness
• An inferiority complex

GOAL (1d20)

• Wealth
• Power
• Sex
• Knowledge
• To see the universe
• Freedom
• Escapism
• Pleasure
• To coast through life
• Revenge
• A family
• Personal excellence in a skill
• To uphold a tradition
• To go home
• To do something no one's done before
• Enlightenment
• A job
• Fame
• To take a vacation/go somewhere
• A McGuffin

There.  Inelegant, but effective.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!I made one up for Traveller and Serenity.  It's an Excel file and it's around here somewhere.

Share!

The Serenity one might fill-in for Deadlands with some tweaking.

Quote from: RedFoxShare!

The Serenity one might fill-in for Deadlands with some tweaking.

Bossy lil' doodle, aren't you?  Scroll back up and take a d20 with you, sucka.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Bossy lil' doodle, aren't you?

Just eager for cool toys.  

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Scroll back up and take a d20 with you, sucka.

Hurrah!  That's awesome.

For Deadlands:

In ROLE change...

1. Mercenary to 1. Texas Ranger
2. Ex-Marine to 2. Pinkerton or 2. Agent (depending on year)
11. Gearhead to 11. Mad Scientist
12. Pilot to 12. Native

In THING change...

12. a ship to 12. a steamwagon or airship

In GOAL change...

5. To see the universe to 5. Explore the frontier

That's why I love most of White-Wolfs games. For example in WoD:

Competant NPC: Dicepool 5-6 - Defense 3
Incopetent NPC: Dicepool 3-4  Defense 2

Major Badass you just made up: Dicepool 8-10  Defense 4 +1 Armor


Usually, if they stick, you can just flesh them out later.

Quote from: TonyLBA technique I've seen (with variations) is to include the answer to this question:  "What does this NPC want the PCs to do?"

For me, personally, a stat-block that goes like "Father Kronk:  Wants the players to show that Lady Leonide is a degenerate unworthy of her position" does more to provide me the information I need at an instant than a block of skill-stats.

A classic NPC in my games doesn't want the PCs to do anything, rather they have some objective of their own that may affect the PCs or they want to maintain the status quo (PCs and maintaining the status quo rarely seem to go together).

The PCs are the centre of the game, don't get me wrong, but they are not necessarily central to the NPCs until they make themselves so (which usually they do pretty quickly).

Using the above tables and a little elbow grease, I have created The Five People You Meet At The Starport.

1. A wimpy speculator with nothing to lose who wants to become the best computer salesman in the sector

2. A bossy, demanding local pop singer who wants to get away from her duties and take a break in an undisclosed location

3. A pretentious middle-aged woman who is flying around in her personal yacht loking for, umn, "adventure" (read "porking")

4. A very naive and cloistered young man, afraid of commitment, who nevertheless wants to become exorbitantly wealthy

5. A passionate dockworker who feels inferior to his peers, and who wants to get his hands on an exit visa so he can get off-world

They Fight Crime!

Quote from: KrakaJakThat's why I love most of White-Wolfs games. For example in WoD:

Competant NPC: Dicepool 5-6 - Defense 3
Incopetent NPC: Dicepool 3-4  Defense 2

Major Badass you just made up: Dicepool 8-10  Defense 4 +1 Armor


Usually, if they stick, you can just flesh them out later.

That is indeed pretty bare bones, but I think i would want to flesh that out a little more with at least a major strength and/or weakness or one of these one sentence character concepts just to imbue the NPC with some distinguishing features.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!Using the above tables and a little elbow grease, I have created The Five People You Meet At The Starport.

1. A wimpy speculator with nothing to lose who wants to become the best computer salesman in the sector

2. A bossy, demanding local pop singer who wants to get away from her duties and take a break in an undisclosed location

3. A pretentious middle-aged woman who is flying around in her personal yacht loking for, umn, "adventure" (read "porking")

4. A very naive and cloistered young man, afraid of commitment, who nevertheless wants to become exorbitantly wealthy

5. A passionate dockworker who feels inferior to his peers, and who wants to get his hands on an exit visa so he can get off-world

Wicked.

Have you had a chance to use these guys yet? Do you plan to? They've got lots of pizazz.

One thing that I like about this approach is that it seems to inform you where and when stats are necessary for a character. It sets a kind of information progession (an order that information is likely to be gained) on top of what the information actually is.

Upon contact you get a feel for personality. Prolonged contact and you will likely find out a character's profession (if you couldn't tell by their apparel). A little more digging will tell you things that preoccupy them and ultimately what their goals might be. At this point you probably feel you know them pretty well. This process does leave out appearance which would go before contact and is a related but still separate process in character design.

This also puts into perspective the idea that you want to figure out what traits might be communicated to the player and how. If an NPC is smart, when exactly does that become apparent? With their profession? Only once you get a feel for what preoccuopies them? If an excellent hacker, are there any clues to this at all?

Quote from: TonyLBThey Fight Crime!

=)

I played with this for several minutes. You click it a couple times and it seems pretty neat and you get it and are ready to move on, but when you are about to close the window you wonder what the next one might be...