Your NPCs all sound the same, and it isn't because you can't do voices
The party talks to someone you didn't prep. You panic, you give them a name, and from that moment on that character is a wall you do improv against.
The problem isn't your acting. It's that you never decided anything about them. Four decisions, about fifteen seconds, and they're a person:
WANT. What they want in the next ten minutes. Not a life goal, because a life goal gives you nothing to play. "Wants to close up early" gives you a whole scene: they're impatient, they cut the party off, they'll trade information for speed.
WOUND. The thing they won't say. You never have to reveal it. It exists so that when a player asks the wrong question, the character deflects, and deflection is the single most human thing an NPC can do.
TELL. One body habit and one speech habit. Not an accent. "Never takes his gloves off." "Says no first, then negotiates." Players imitate these back at you, which is how you know an NPC landed. And unlike an accent, you can't forget how you did it last time.
LEVERAGE. What would flip them. Most GMs skip this one, and it's the one that turns an NPC from scenery into a puzzle. If the party works out the price, they get the help.
You can roll these, write them, or steal them. The point is that four small decisions beat one big improvisation every single time.
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The key to being a good GM in tabletop rpgs is to listen to the same song on repeat and slowly going insane while thinking about a scene you are planning that your players might avoid entirely.
My own campaign unfortunately died soon into its lifespan, as many TTRPG games are wont to do, but there are plenty of things I enjoyed, and some I wished I had done differently.
For instance, Wanderhome is, at its core, a GMless game. In trying to introduce my friends to it (and stick to the standard & accepted idea of GM’d TTRPGs we’d been playing), I took on a Guide role, but I wish I’d entrusted more of the world to my friends. It’s collaborative! Its magic really shines when you come up with the threads of places together, and it invites a lot of investment in the story along with it. Get inspired by the plot hooks in the book, or fictional settings you already know and love. You can come into the session with some ideas already locked and loaded, but having some elements to build together really adds sparkle!
One thing that really worked for us was writing out the mechanics for earning & spending tokens, physically, on a piece of paper to be placed in the center of the table/where anyone could grab it. It was hard to keep track of all the instances for action, but having a reference Right There made it a lot easier! I’m sure there’s a digital equivalent of this too: Quick ref pinned in a discord channel? Tab open on a shared screen? Get creative! Accommodate as needed!
Similarly, I wish I had spent more time watching/listening to playthroughs of Wanderhome to better get the gist of the exchange of tokens, scenarios it applies to, when to bring them into play, etc. Sometimes it’s just easier to see it in action, especially when it’s a game mechanic my friends & I weren’t used to. Possum Creek Games feature similar mechanics in some of their other titles like Yazeba’s B&B—and ooomg, I can’t recommend the Wanderhome and Possum Creek Discord servers ENOUGH. The community is so friendly and creative and heartwarming! The custom content is to die for!!! There are so many charming (and free!!) playbooks and places and small & forgotten gods, I’d totally go check it out. Great for extra tips and recommendations by other players too!
Ultimately, I’m grateful to know a lot of amazing storytellers, and wanting to craft a fun experience for the people at my table was the best part. What kinds of stories do the people at your table like to tell? Are there any themes or characters they tend to gravitate to? Tropes that make them go feral? Season your story with the flavors you and your players love—and don’t be afraid to ask them directly what they’re into! Wanderhome is an experience best shared in tandem.
Thanks so much for asking, feel free to stop by anytime (I love questions of all sorts). I wish you the best of luck in telling a super cool critter story with your friends. You’ve got this! 💖
So, my Cyberpunk game just got very interesting. The netrunner opened the Faraday cage that was stopping a hostile AI from hacking him.
So now he's at -7 Humanity, the rest of the group has EMP'd his ass unconscious, put him in a medically induced coma, and removed all his cyberware in the attempt to stop the AI from taking over his brain. They are committed to tying him to the bed and therapy-ing his ass until he's human again.
Clearly, however, there needs to be some kind of long term effects of an AI trying to download itself into your brain as part of an escape plan to break out of the corporate blacksite where it was held prisoner. So he's gonna have his own Johnny Silverhand, except it's a horrible Digital Elder God instead of Keanu, and asking it for help will deal Humanity damage. Dropping to 0 HP or Humanity will let it start driving the body.
I'll have to pass him notes to have the AI talk to him, so to keep the rest of the group unsure about what is up, I will pass out notes to everyone that say things like:
You notice nothing out of the ordinary
Laugh and refuse to let anyone see the note and I'll give you 10 IP.
You are not the doppelganger.
This note is very long to make everyone paranoid. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum
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(aka what I learned with my campaign which ran for about 4 years, totaling 131 sessions, so I must have been doing something right)
*these tips are NOT exclusive to DnD, more than one of these is bound to help in running a TTRPG, if you have a specific question, feel free to hit up my askbox
Session 0 is important for setting expectations for everyone involved as well as establishing your safety tools if desired (every table is different).
The game's story is not exhaustively penned by the GM but by the players who will tell the story after the session sends. If you want to tell a specific story, you'll be more fulfilled writing a book.
Have a start and an idea of what the end could be, the rest will be sorted in play. (If you're using a module, read ahead and make notes that are useful for yourself.)
The job of the GM is to put the players in Situations or Throw a Grenade.
Hooks are opt-in and more passive, "I heard there's a dragon", Situations/Grenades are direct and require player input immediately, "there is a dragon attacking RIGHT NOW". There are pros/cons to both, use them to create tempo and tension.
The moment you ask the players what they want to do, the proverbial pen is in their hands. NEVER take away a Player's agency. If logic/mechanics would make that action impossible, present it as such, and let the consequences play out where applicable.
Reward curiosity, if a player asks a question, have an answer, even if it's just flavor. You're also only human, if you need time for the answer, give what relevant info you have in the moment and give a more detailed follow up later if it needs ones. (This is a skill, don't feel bad if you start off with more blanks than answers.)
Provide in-game feedback for actions players take. Not everything needs to have far-reaching repercussions but there should be some kind of cause-and-effect to make the world and the beings living in it feel reactive.
NPCs should have an immediate, but simple purpose and an additional aspect to give them a little meat. If the players take interest in that NPC, you can build them out further through conversation. This will become easier as you get a grip on improv.
Have a list of names or a randomizer if you find you're at a loss for NPC creation.
Have an idea toybox. Players don't know NPCs or encounters they never meet, if they 'miss it' you can turn it into an opportunity to meet them later. There is no science to it, but you'll get a feel for what can be repurposed or upcycled, sometimes that change in context makes them more memorable. Sensibility creates believability, exceptions create curiosity. A 'missed' merchant ending up displaced in a weird location can expand into a better hook than simply being found in a bazaar.
Player cleverness and diplomacy should be rewarded, if they say something convincing, roll with it the best you can. However never forget that the more important/powerful an NPC, the stronger their convictions. Certain NPCs should be beyond convincing and it's up to you to convey that.
Don't forget the spirit of the game! RP can get pretty intense, but at the end of the day this is about COLLABORATIVE imagination and expression. Make the best memories you can.
Make your NPCs multidimensional by giving them interests and skills outside of the context the PCs give them. The cute barista who flirts with one of the PCs as they get morning coffee? Beetle expert. And guess what the next plot coupon is and what they need to decipher it!
Give the local blacksmith a keen interest in runic iconography! Not only does it allow you to do a cool sidequest regarding some runic blacksmithing magic but it also explains why he knows so much about ancient Dwarven script despite being human!
Give the gritty cyberpunk bar some flair by giving the bartender in your cyberpunk dystopia a minor PhD in robotics engineering because all of his auto-bartending gizmos are salvaged junk and the fact that they work at all is a testemant to the skill of the engineer who keeps them running and the grace of fucking god. But, hey, if the android PC should ever get shot the fuck up and they need some emergency, black-market repairs? Well... they know a guy.
And the reason for this, of course, as we all well know, came about for one specific reason: So we have to remember fewer voices. Deepening the value of the world the PCs inhabit was a side-effect.
