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:
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!
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.