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Bren
Vice Admiral
Joined: 19 Aug 2010
Posts: 3868
Location: Maryland, USA
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 Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 7:25 am Post subject: |
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| Hellcat wrote: | | Bren wrote: | | I tend to see the PCs as the stars of a series so conversation tends to focus on them. |
I can agree that the PCs should be the stars. But I think sometimes the stars need to overhear what minor characters or what the major supporting players say either without them being aware the stars are there or aware their giving something away. And sometimes they know the stars are there, paying attention so they try speaking in a way the stars may not understand. Try to give the PCs the bulk of what's being said by the NPCs directed to them, but at times have NPC to NPC so that you can give things away to the players. |
This makes sense. |
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dhawk
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 27 Sep 2009
Posts: 191
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| Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 11:31 pm Post subject: |
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I personally like to build NPCs to give the games I run that feel of interacting in a living universe, such as wingmen for players who play starfighter pilots, complete with stats, fleshed out backgrounds, personalities, and motivations. That's not to say that every stormtrooper or other baddie I throw at them has a name, but ones important to the story and the adventure can make a difference to what players decide to do.
But it is important that my players take center-stage, that their actions matter most and can affect the world around them. While my NPCs interact with the players and with each other, I attempt to make sure that those actions involve my players and can be influenced by them. Sometimes it can slow the game down a bit, but I haven't had any complaints yet. |
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Black 5
Cadet
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
Posts: 18
Location: South California
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| Posted: Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:02 am Post subject: |
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I do it mostly with cut away scenes in Star Wars, but more to make SW RPG feel more like the movies. Otherwise I keep it to a minimum unless the characters are scouting/spying or working on gathering information actively
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TheDoctor
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 27 Dec 2007
Posts: 150
Location: San Francisco
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| Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2011 6:52 pm Post subject: Re: Do your NPC's talk to each other? |
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| Leon The Lion wrote: | Not a purely SW question, rather a general RPG one.
.....
So, do they? Do your NPC's have "in character" dialogues among themselves when "on camera"?...
So, what do you think? |
I seldom have schizophrenic, golem/smeagol moments with myself as the GM playing two different characters, although when I do, it's great for comic relief.
The most common NPC dialogue I have is usually the leader of a group of bad guys giving orders. I often refer to these as "Destroy the beast! Find the baby!" moments.
Otherwise, especially in non-combat situations, I simply say that the PCs see NPC A talking to NPC B, and summarize the dialogue.
Of course there was one time I was playing an NPC evil, bad guy during a D&D session .  I hammed it up quite a bit, started bellowing like a maniac at my playing group, and was told that my face got really red. Embarrassing....
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Fallon Kell
Commodore
Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 1846
Location: Tacoma, WA
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| Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2011 3:27 am Post subject: |
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Mine do. I do most of my narration via E-mail, and I want it to read somewhat like a novel. I use dialogue to give characters color, to adjust the mood of a scene or adventure, and to give my player (yes, that's singular) clues about what's going on. Sometimes I'll condense dialogue into the essentials, but only if there's nothing interesting being said.
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