Quick Thought of the day: The NPCs you encountered were already fully fleshed out.

 

Here’s something I don’t hear discussed very often: Gary Gygax, never actually expected DMs to invent every NPC from scratch. Because sometimes you just need a quick glance at something for an NPC. Not saying that every NPC will turn into something, but heck, it's nice to have something ready on paper. 

The AD&D DMG had a section in it for quick NPCs. Those tables weren’t just a minor convenience to make life easier; they were a complete toolkit. A lot of times I'd just make up a list of NPCs with no name, and just have these basic things written up, so if an NPC made it past the whole as I like to call it, "background player", I'd have a reference to use to build his personality off of.

We’re all familiar with online generators. You roll the dice to get a name, hair color, maybe a quirk or a mood. They’re fine in a pinch, but they usually give you someone with brown hair and blue eyes who "likes beer," leaving you staring at the screen thinking, "Okay... so what? What am I supposed to do with this?"

The Dungeon Master’s Guide took a different approach. Starting at page 100 in the DMG

We start getting random tables to roll on. Now we have some great ideas to work with. What I like to do is just set them up like little stat blocks on a piece of paper. Normally I'll roll up 10 different entries and I'd have something like this ready to go:

Neutral Good | Ancient | Foppish | No possessions | Very stable | Fanatical or obsessive | Pessimistic | Sober | Curious or inquisitive | Average personality, but aloof | Harsh disposition | Average intellect | Forgiving | Greedy | Very honorable | Normal bravery | Energetic | Thrifty | Normal morals | Pious | Interested in foods and their preparation.

 

Doesn't look like much as it stands, but imagine the party walks into a tavern. The innkeeper isn't just "some guy behind the bar." Now you can glance in. your DM Notebook and see an entry like above, and know how this "guy behind the bar" will act. After you use it, you made a note in your book, with his name, and where the party met him. If they never see this guy again, oh well, at least you were prepared. BUT if they do, now you have something to reference again. A lot of modern advice suggests that to make NPCs memorable, you have to give them deep motivations and tragic pasts. AD&D just shrugs and says, "Roll the dice and see who shows up." At first, it seems odd. But then you realize it actually takes a huge weight off your shoulders.

I used to have sessions where my players would suddenly get obsessed with some random merchant selling rope, and I’d be totally thrown off because I never imagined they’d spend twenty minutes haggling with him. Now? That doesn't faze me anymore. I just go with the flow... literally.

They aren't flashy, but they do a lot of the heavy lifting behind the scenes.

So, the next time your players start grilling a stablehand...