On NPC's (or NPC's are people too
Ok, I’ve finally figured out what’s wrong with all RPG’s.
It’s taken me a while but I’ve finally got there. The one thing that has the biggest potential to utterly derail any campaign, the one thing that causes me to rip up plot and throw it out the window. Perfectly laid plans just needing to be tossed out of the window. Games of beauty, stories that I want, no need to tell have just been destroyed by this one particualr thing.
You think I’m talking about players don’t you? Well it’s not. Players can be problematic and many’s the time that I’ve been heard to utter the infamous phrase “You know, I could run a perfectly good game if it wasn’t for the damned players,” Now, not to say that that statement isn’t true, but there is a bigger problem.
Is it system? Not really, most systems describe the feel of a game, whether it’s quick and brutal, slow and heroic, involved and ingrossing and so on. Some games couldn’t be played with any other system and some games need to have a system tailored to the kinf of feel that you want. (I’m thinking of Cthulhu and Star Wars respectively for those)
Is it setting? Definitely not. No such thing as a bad setting, just bad refs, I’ve even been known to enjoy games of werewolf, so there.
No, the problem with games is this.
NPC’s
You see the problem seems to come from players steadfast determination to believe everything that NPC’s say.
Before I go any further, this is not a new problem, now that I think about it I can remember doing it myself as a monster in various lives, and believing NPC’s myself since about when I started roleplaying. Oh they must be right, He’s an NPC.
Nothing can de-rail a session like it. Players walk up to NPC, NPC says hello, players ask what’s going on and then the NPC (and this is important) tells them what that particular NPC THINKS is going on. Players think, “oh that was an info encounter/NPC” and then believe what was said. Then they meet another NPC who tells them the exact opposite, then players wonder “why did that first guy say something different ref?”
Ref says “because the first guy was wrong.”
For some reason, most players are programmed to believe what NPC’s say.
Some time ago I was monstering for a linear as run by Jozeph where, as best I can remember, the plot was that the druids forest was being taken over by the dark druids. The party were chewing through the plot and the Dark druids (go with me here, it’s a fantasy game) were not ready (the monsters needed to set up something which needed in depth briefing) so Jozeph turned to me and said, “Spike, go play a dark druid and delay them/talk them out of it,”
So being the obedient little mosnter that everyone knows me to be I put on a robe and went off to talk to the party. Then Jozeph comes back and like any good ref says, OK players, what are you going to do now? They said
“Oh that nice druid chap told us that the problem was to the north, so we’re going of in that direction.”
Jozeph, to his credit, only paused for a moment before saying “Ok, you go north,” before giving me a look that would kill a rhino.
This is not the first time.
For a long time I took great delight in playing what would be called “reasonable evil”
“Well of course I’m a necromancer/vampire lord but that doesn’t necessarily make me a bad person.”
Other people have done it too, and the number of times I’ve overheard conversations after games, both live and table top along the following lines
“Why did you do that, why didn’t you just kill him?”
“He seemed really hard,”
Or
“Why did you let that evil person know everything that you’re up too?”
“Well he seemed like a reasonable chap,”
And this last one that literally happened.
“So, Mr Paladin, why did you give some of your blood to the Necromantic mage who is performing experiments with undead?”
“He said he was a guild mage,”
“Did you see his licence?
“Well, no,”
“So why did you believe him?
“ummmm, he asked nicely and didn’t attack us on sight,”
The first time I ran up against this phenomena I was the player in question, the NPC’s told me one thing and I went chasing after it, only to have my bum handed back to me on a plate and being accused of murder. I was really annoyed and actually took it to the ref (which I maintain is the best thing to do if you’re unsatisfied with a game) and the ref in question told me.
“He told you what was going on and you acted on it.”
“Yes,” said I
“He. Was. Wrong.”
A great deal of my time when coming up with NPC’s. is making a believable character, someone with three dimensions who is more than just some Exposition point with character and motivations and opinions and there own informations. I am not always successful as I’m not an actor, but I hope that the NPC’s that I create are at least fun to interact with, with sometimes dubious morals.
I make it a regular practice to try and solicit feedback from my players and I’ve regularly been told off for giving wrong information which always comes down to.
“The person who wrote the book you’re reading/told you that information, was wrong,” or “they were expressing an opinion,” or “they were lieing to you.”
So where does this come from? Well unfortunately I have no idea. I still do it whenever I’m playing, or I have to really concentrate to remind myself of several rules.
1) They are an NPC
2) They may be lieing to me
3) They may be wrong
4) They may be expressing an opinion
5) They definitely have their own agenda.
My suggestion for the next t-shirt, is almost certainly going to be
“NPC’s are people too.”
Thoughts welcome
Spike
It’s so damn hot in here that I literally feel like puking