Sometimes your villain needs something a little out of the ordinary to set him apart. Or maybe that hapless NPC has a redeeming quality. If you’re feeling inspired, working out extra details for characters can be interesting, but if you’re on a deadline–or really not feeling inspired–sometimes a blunt tool is what you need. Below are 4 tables to encourage an out of the ordinary encounter even when you’re brain’s not at maximum creativity.
Villainous Secrets (Modern) [d8]
1: Secretly supports a local animal shelter.
2: Gets takeout from the same Chinese place every Friday
3: Knows sign language, often shouts and signs orders simultaneously
4: Has a framed, canceled check from his first job hanging from the wall
5: Has a cold, right now. Listen to him cough!
6: Loves fast cars; when wound up he drives way too fast on local roads at 2 am
7: Loves an unusual color. Weapons, clothing, and business cards are all this unusual color.
8: Subscribes to an online dating service, checks his mail 3x/day.
Minor Character Secrets (Modern) [d8]
1: Was humiliated at the end of their last date, is overcompensating
2: Hair won’t stay in place, always patting it down
3: Knows both Milan and New York fashion
4: Has a bowflex, works out regularly
5: Is a member of a local gun range
6: Casts jewelry using the lost wax technique
7: Quilts, is part of a sewing circle
8: Is missing two toes; lost them to frostbite when got lost hiking
Villainous Secrets (Past) [d8]
1: Death before dishonor; honor drives all considerations
2: Illiterate, but has a great memory
3: Uses mother’s coat of arms
4: Dancing is life. Can dance to almost anything, and make a partner look good.
5: Repays many victims secretly months later; thinks of it as “a loan”
6: Is quite the hunter
7: Has a taste for furs
8: Hasn’t slept in two nights–insomnia is a serious issue
Minor Character Secrets (Past) [d8]
1: Can juggle, up to 5 balls, 5 fruit, or 4 sharp things
2: Has a much deeper voice that you’d think
3: A cracked arm twinges, signaling upcoming weather changes
4: Got a letter from mom just two days ago
5: Has a pair of hoop earrings in the bottom of belt pouch
6: Spent a year at sea, knows nautical terms
7: Brews tea from local herbs and plants; it’s actually good
8: Walks barefoot in any weather
Do you have an oddball table you’d like to share, or a favorite generator that always jump starts your thought process? (I love random-generator.com.) Share some inspiration with us in comments!
I usually plan these ahead of time, as doing it on the fly can be a little awkward, but most of the NPCs that I want my players to remember have some unusual trait. The times when I’ve been of my game and not thought of one are the times that the NPCs have just felt flat and lifeless.
Probably won’t use any of these as a random table, but will be stealing a few to keep my random dudes interesting.
Call me Ishmael. My villain from that chart is the mariner with a cold, a mop of unruly hair who hopes to corner the market in the fur trade by unscrupulous means. What a fun chart. Thanks for sharing.
Actually, I recently made a Dice Drop table that would work well with your quirks/secrets tables.
The details and free PDFs can be found here ( http://www.violentmediarpg.blogspot.com/2013/02/useful-symbols-quick-npc-dice-drop-table.html ). It’s designed to use symbols to spark on the fly traits for NPCs.
If you dropped d8s on it and kept one or two different colors, you could roll both/all-three tables at once! That’s the beauty of Die/Dice drop tables, they add an extra variable to die rolls: physical location.
I’m very fond of little tables and tools like this that sort of jog creativity. Thanks Scott.
I like the drop tables! I saw the referenced Gnome Stew article and tried to find a copy of Vornheim at the time, but was not able to, easily.
I like all sorts of randomness at times, but as shortymoster mentioned, may just mine lists for ideas and assign them myself.
I like your table too. I admit, I’d first imagined Martin’s article about the Vornheim table and imagined reading in several directions. Your version is intuitive in a different, interesting way.
Those are some amusing and interesting traits. I might try these, thanks.