NPCs - Motivations and getting help from AI

There are a lot of posts out there for how to play NPCs. I know I've read a lot of them and have yet to really play an NPC well. 

Some of the ideas that I've read, and probably posted previously, include things like:

• base the character on an actor in a specific role. Helps to envision the character and how they may respond to various prompts
• have a catchphrase or characteristic that the character uses. One of our favorite NPCs was from a game that eventually was rail-roaded, but the main NPC kept going "hr-mmph" a lot, and it was fun as it was actually a tell for us to interpret often
• generate a hex flower for possible responses. Though this is generally more for a combat resolution, it could also work for character responses
• I always like the classic Traveller 2d6 roll, with low being antagonistic and high being very friendly. This is used in a lot of games - The Fantasy Trip only uses 1d6 so is entirely random and not weighted, though skills have a bigger effect there than in Traveller
• have the character have a backstory, relationships, and above all, motivation, Why are they doing these things? The Batman Animated Series version of Dr. Frost portrayed that character, to me at least, a fairly haunting manner. The Sam Raime Spider-Man movies did similar things with its villians: not all were simply bad for the sake of being a foe to the hero, but brought a pathos to the characters that helped with some empathy with their plights

With the broad availability of ChatGPT, I asked it to give me three good villain backstories for an RPG, and got the following:

I found some information from web search results that might help you create three good villain backstories for an RPG. Here are some examples based on the sources I found:

• A former paladin who became corrupted by a dark artifact**. He was once a noble and faithful servant of Beldaroon, the god of law and justice, but he stumbled upon a cursed relic that twisted his mind and soul. He now believes that he is the true champion of Beldaroon and that anyone who opposes him is an enemy of the god. He leads a fanatical cult that seeks to impose his twisted version of law on the world¹.
• A ruthless warlord who seeks to conquer the galaxy**. He was born on a harsh and desolate planet, where he had to fight for survival since he was a child. He rose through the ranks of a brutal mercenary company, eventually becoming its leader. He then used his wealth and influence to build a vast army of loyal followers, equipped with advanced weapons and ships. He has no regard for life or morality, only for power and glory².
• A cunning sorceress who wants to unlock the secrets of the ancient gods**. She was a prodigy of magic, who studied at the most prestigious academy in the land. She became obsessed with the legends of the old gods, who were said to have created the world and then vanished. She delved into forbidden lore and dark rituals, hoping to find clues to their whereabouts. She believes that if she can find them, she can learn from them and become a god herself⁴.

I hope these examples give you some ideas for your own villain backstories. You can use them as they are or modify them to suit your RPG setting and genre. Have fun! 😊

Source: Conversation with Bing, 4/29/2023(1) Backstory Generator - Fantasy RPG Character Creator (DND 5e+). https://backstorygenerator.com/ Accessed 4/29/2023.

(2) 5 Steps to Writing a Killer RPG Character Backstory - Nerdist. https://nerdist.com/article/5-steps-to-writing-a-killer-rpg-character-backstory/ Accessed 4/29/2023.

(3) Backstory description generator - Fantasy name generators. https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/backstory-descriptions.php Accessed 4/29/2023.

(4) 5 Tips For Creating RPG Villains With Bite - Nerdist. https://nerdist.com/article/5-tips-for-creating-rpg-villains-with-bite/ Accessed 4/29/2023.

(5) Creating Good Character Backstories with AI - LitRPG Reads. https://litrpgreads.com/blog/rpg/gpt-3-good-character-backstory-examples Accessed 4/29/2023.

What is interesting to me is that it is using existing sources to generate the backstories, and it at least also attributes those. It also means that you don't have to go to each and every site. The LLM (Large Language Model) systems are going to have as major an impact on society as the internet did I firmly believe. And just like the internet, there will be a lot of good things, and a lot of bad things, as unintended consequences from these technologies. Case in point: auto-fill for things really helps, as does built-in grammar and spell checks! Even though I proof-read my posts in preview-mode, these language models really help. And in some cases, apparently, do some peoples jobs almost completely for them. I've been reading up on Copilot, an AI assitant for coding that actually generates code. 

Sorry - got off-track about motivations and NPCs, though I did expand the post title to include AI. Though a good backstory does give the motivation with any help. I know in a previous post, based on yet another blog post, I started layering the bad guys. In the beginning, you meet the various thugs and low-level NPCs that, if I lay out the breadcrumbs well enough, eventually lead to the big bad. This is very common in the world of RPGs, and I think it really is a good for anything that is more than a 1-shot game.

Corsairs NPC Villains

And why am I bringing this up yet again? The current game I am in, there are a plethora of NPCs and I've honestly lost track. I started to try & track them visually, as seen here:

But that rapidly got out of hand and was not as constructive as I would have liked. I was also color-coding various aspects of it as well. And this sort of works as a player, but as a GM, you need more.

I've tried Trello and I think that could prove useful if I stuck with it. It is also shareable and linkable so has some advantages. I'd have to be able to hide some things though, so there could always be a GM board and a player board.

I've also tried OneNote and a few other things. And yes, I know I've done a post far to similar to this...

Anyway, after reading a lot in both long and short form from books to blog posts, there is a lot more to NPC characterization than simply a silly voice (which sadly I am very inept at!). The NPC, if a recurring one or even a one-shot chance meeting, needs to be life-like in some ways to help convey the game world as a living, real place. Sort of reminds me of the web series NPC Man, and in particular, this NPC which goes on a long adventure outside his normal routine. And that I really need to add a fishing pole to any character.

And the other reason I bring this up again: my own motivation as my job hunting continues, almost a month later. I've been rejected a fair number of times and ignored a lot more times. I've had 2 phone interviews so far, but I was not a good fit for those. Sadly, I am more a generalist developer: I can do pretty much anything, learn any framework. However, the current job market for software people really wants very specific skills. That sadly, in a year, will be out of date as the next new big thing comes along. At any rate, I've entered the depressed stage for a bit, and I'm expanding out my job search parameters a bit. My spreadsheet has almost 80 applications listed so far. While I know something will eventually come up, it really bothers me on two fronts: first, everyone has to learn how a specific company does things but that no longer seems to be allowed, and second, a generalist is not a good fit for any company I fear. The jack-of-all trades master of none comes to mind. Which, BTW, I tend to be more of what they call a T-shaped developer: A broad background, but whatever I am working on currently I get more skilled at. Sadly, my current T-part is Filemaker and not the .Net I really want to get back to. Sigh. Guess I really need to work on various .Net projects and share my Github account more!