Game Of Thrones For NPCs – Part I
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0830
I love Game of Thrones because it’s showing me how to build and run better campaigns.
One of the first things that jumped out at me was character management. Here’s what we can learn from GoT about NPCs.
Have Players Bond With NPCs
For almost every notable character in Game of Thrones, you hate them, hope for them, are repulsed by them, or are fascinated by them.
An NPC that triggers an emotional response in your players has just forged an amazing and rare bond with them.
Imagine a campaign where all your notable NPCs have this magical connection. And not just with the players, but with yourself too!
The more your NPCs emotionally engage everyone at the table, the better the game table experience will be.
Drawing on GoT, we can do this by giving each NPC a unique shtick. An angle. An edge.
And here’s the most important part. Once you’ve designed this emotive hook, you’ve got to play it. Books and TV must show and tell. But we game masters must GAME.
Roleplay that hook. Make that hook a part of a puzzle. Put the hook into play as a constraint. Use game design to bring the hook to bear so you are GMing on multiple dimensions at the same time. Let me walk you through an example of this next Musing. I’ll show you a couple tools and techniques to make this happen. You’ll be the G.R.R.M. of GMs!