How do you perform your NPCs?

1. How do you perform your NPCs?

   #1

   During my years as a game master I have used different techniques when performing different characters. I'll describe one of my techniques here and perhaps you will describe one of yours?
   
   minor npcs: (The duke's chef, the village smith, etc...)
   
   Simplifications: (minor npcs primarily)
   
   Clothing: I use the same tones of colour on the character's clothes -I began doing so after I discovered many players have a hard time remembering a person, especially if the npc is too complicated.
   In addition I try to convey a certain feeling; "poor", "obnoxious, "foppish", "flirty", etc. through the clothing (and of course through their personality).
   
   Face and body: I use the same technique here. i.e. Beggars got long, crooked noses and rotten teeth, while wealthy merchants are fat, with make-up and oiled hair. For minor characters, stereotypes are good.
   
   Personality: It is important to have just one, or at least very few, flavours to the personality. If minor characters are portrayed in a complex way, most players won't remember. The personality should be exaggerated slightly to make an impression with the players.
   
   Area of effect: This is the influence the personality has. A sadistic innkeepers area of effect would be the barmaids and the unpaying customers. Most minor npcs won't have a large area of effect. A beat up barmaid, crying in the gutters will be a good hint at the innkeepers true self.
   
   Voice acting: As I am a 6'8 tall man with some 260 lbs of weight, I have a deep voice. I realize that frail, elderly ladies are beyond me, but still I try to voice act as much as possible. Voice acting is a great way to further emphasize the personality of the npc!

2. How do you perform your NPCs?

   #2

   Gradual Exposure: (Major NPCs only. Often deceiving NPCs)
   
   Clothing: I try to stick to a general theme. I add more detail than I would using simplification, but I still try to remember that players often do not remember everything. The clothing will often reflect some of the personality of the wearer.
   
   Face and body: I actually try to evade stereotypes when creating major npcs. Cliches might be useful for their ease of use and remembrance, but no important character should come off the assembly line.
   
   What I do is that I study everyday people. Sooner or later someone interesting is bound to appear, someone fitting for the role. Then I use their appearance. Often I have already met the candidates.
   
   I always repeat how the character looks, because otherwise the players will forget and just remember a name (if I am lucky). The trick is to repeat it in an interesting way. No player will want to listen to the same description twice, so I weave his looks and personality into the telling.
   
   Example: "The thin, young man leans back against the wall. He regards you with a mischievous gleam to his brown eyes. He waits just a second longer than is appropriate, before he replies in his usual reedy voice [...]"
   
   Personality: Personalities are important. Important characters often have strong personalities. I always try to imagine what upbringing and training the individual has. A royal princess will most likely be spoiled, with little or no empathy for others. If she has had a stepmother or an abusive and foul tempered father, she might be more humble.
   
   As with everything I try to picture people I have met. If I want to describe a cleric, I think of the priests I have met and then adjust them to their particular religion. I always think of real people and spice them up with my own imagination.
   
   Desired outwards appearance: This is important and takes precedence over the real personality. There are several ways the desired outwards appearance could be discovered to be untrue, like through the area of effect.
   
   The desired outwards appearance will be what the NPC wants to appear as. There has to be a motive for his deception. A spy has a very natural reason to be deceiving and might be very talented, while a "charming wife" might want to be the sole beneficiary of a PC.
   
   Area of Effect: With major NPCs this is very important. The powerful will have a large, huge even, area of effect. This will often hint at their true personality and might be the only clue the PCs will get if they are being deceived.
   
   
   Some simple examples:
   An assassins area of effect will be mysteriously dead friends and acquaintances. It will be rumours among the populace and it will be the fear in the vicinity of his activities.
   
   A blackmailing noble's area of effect will be hateful, nervous other nobles and persons of importance. It might also show through the obvious economical decline of some merchant and in the prosperous economy of the blackmailer. Blackmailing might be anonymous or it might not. It might end in murder, divorce, bankruptcy or something else.
   
   Gradual Exposure:
   Most people you meet won't lay their entire life's story at your feet. You will get a first impression (possibly the desired outwards appearance) and with time you might get to know the real person within.
   
   I use this in my game mastering. I serve little bits to my players who will then get a first impression. Then I gradually serve them this and that, while at all times contradicting this new evidence with the desired outwards appearance. If there is no desired outwards appearance to speak of, the players will soon enough discover the real person.
   
   Voice Acting: Voice acting is more important than ever. It shows much of the personality of the NPC, possibly more than they wish to convey. The "charming wife" might explode in sudden, hateful, bursts of anger (with out of character gutter snipe swearing mixed in) and then suddenly become honey sweet again.
   
   A duke, accustomed to command, will have a strong, imperious tone of voice. If he is a fake he might easily stumble where a real duke would not.

3. How do you perform your NPCs?

   #3

   Hidden Influence: (Primarily Major NPCs)
   
   Clothing: While these NPCs are played as hidden influences, not much visual contact should be made. Perhaps a glimpse of a purple cloak, possibly a gleam from a golden circlet. Most often they will just see a figure hidden within the shadows, a person peeking through the curtains or nothing at all.
   
   Face and Body: Not much before they are actually met, in which case they would mostly be played in a more straightforward manner. Excessive fat, abnormal height, immense muscles, etc. would probably be noticable (if the PCs were to see the hidden influence from afar).
   
   Desired outwards appereance: Obviously the PCs will probably not realize who the hidden influence is. Their beloved aunt Magda might be the mysterious head of the alchemist guild, but to them she is just "Aunt Magda with the greatest pancakes in the world". The strange man they spoke to at the market might be their arch nemesis, and they would not even know it. Hidden influences might be known by name, but only the darkest rumours would hint at their true agenda.
   
   Most often the PCs won't even meet the hidden influence, not until they reveal his identity and come to end his wicked ways.
   
   Area of Effect: Hidden influences are detected through their area of effect. When the benevolent King suddenly pass restrictive and authoritarian laws, it might be the work of a hidden influence. When the PCs discover a murdered noble in the library, the receding shadow in the doorway might be the hidden influence. While the real murderer might go to jail, the hidden influence was the manipulator who arranged the death. (Through guile, money, blackmail or something else) The PCs might (for instance) discover that there is a hidden influence when they discover a "mysterious letter" in a book belonging to the murderer.
   
   Sixth Sense: I use the sixth sense alot when I want to give the players a clue that something is amiss. A note to a player telling him "he has a bad feeling about this" or that "he feels someone watching them", are easy ways to do this. Combined with the glimpse of a person "emerging from the shadows to whisper in the kings ear", would work perfectly as they exit the throneroom.

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