Suggestions to help roleplaying 3 NPCs at once

[randomroll]

About to start up this adventure path for a group in a few weeks after a false start a few months ago.

The challenge I ran into was trying to convey the distinctions between the three NPCs that the party was interacting with at the same time. I haven't really had acting lessons, and my accents are sketchy at best. I could use help with some ideas in how to convey which NPC is talking, and how to let subtle hints about their personalities be expressed.

Any ideas?

[magnuskn]

It's kind of odd to do, especially when you got the three NPC's conversing with one another. Basically you are having a conversation with yourself, while the players look on. So it's important to try to express yourself in a different manner for each of the NPC's, be it through different styles of tone, affecting some mannerism and expressing their differing personality.

Horgus: Rude and abrasive, maybe underneath a bit insecure.

Anevia: Helpful and assertive, with a hint of vulnerability.

Aravashnial: Intelligent, arrogant and a bit oblivious to how he sounds, although with a feeling of desperation.

Just wait until Sword of Valor, when you'll have to deal with up to six NPC's at the same time. :p

[DungeonMastering.com]

Hmm.

Maybe use the art to help.

1) Print out the portraits, then paste onto cardboard or something else sturdy.
2) Write out the names for each NPC below their pic.
3) Write out their adjectives + any obvious data on the back
4) Whenever you start speaking as that NPC, hold up their pic.
5) If an NPC has a conversation with another NPC, let a player who is good at roleplaying temporarily be them

[Douglas Muir 406]

You don't really need acting lessons (though of course it's great if you've had them). You can do distinctive NPCs with just a few simple tricks. Try something like this:

Anevia [I] -- at the beginning, use a completely normal voice for her! However, after she has spoken a sentence or two have her suddenly break out into a cry of pain: "Last thing I remember was, the dragon did something... does anyone have a OH GODS MY LEG!" Gasp and wince. (It's okay to overact this part.) After that, and until the leg is splinted, you have the expression of someone trying to speak through intense pain. Gasp at the end of every sentence. Again, don't worry about hamming this up.

Anevia [II] -- once the leg is fixed, go back to speaking normally. Thank the PC. Then ask (in character) for help getting up. Then mime Anevia getting up with the character's help -- raise your hand as if to grab someone's shoulder, then bring it slowly down while lifting yourself out of the chair a little. (Easier to do than to describe.) Then tell the players (as yourself, the DM) that someone will have to help Anevia walk, and ask who. It should be a bunch of good-aligned characters, so helping the injured woman should be a no-brainer, right? Now raise your arm so that your elbow is at shoulder height, clench your fist, and say, "Okay, Anevia is leaning on [name of PC]. You're walking more slowly than normal, but you can proceed."

Now, whenever you speak as Anevia, do that same raise-your-arm gesture so that your elbow is at shoulder height. Boom: you are giving the impression that you're walking with the assistance of a taller person. If you really want to work this, lean just a little (not too much) towards that arm while keeping your head upright. Try it in front of a mirror. If you lean too far, it looks silly, and if you don't keep your head upright it looks like she's either sick or romantically interested in you. But a slight tilt, with the head upright, gives the impression of someone who is impaired but still alert. If this seems too hard, don't worry about it -- just do the elbow thing.

Aravashnial -- try this. Close your eyes. Now raise your eyebrows as high as they can. Now say something -- speak out loud. You'll notice that your voice tends to be slightly higher pitched, right? Boom, you've just created an entire character.

Wait, there's more. Do it again, but this time try to simultaneously "scrunch" your eyes closed as hard as possible while still raising your eyebrows. It's hard, right? Not only will your voice change, but also your face will probably take on a strange, purse-lipped expression. Now do this whenever you're speaking as Aravashnial and I promise your players will have no trouble grasping that they're speaking to a blinded elf. "Scrunch eyes closed, raise eyebrows high". That's all you have to do; the rest just follows.

For bonus points, when you introduce him, do the scrunch thing and say softly, "My face hurts... it hurts so much... I don't see anything... has something happened to my eyes?" Then don't say anything for a few seconds and give a player a chance to ask the obvious question ("Has anything happened to his eyes?") Then you say, of course, "Yes. He has no eyes anymore. There's a huge horrible wound across his face, raw and open, with blisters around it. Both his eye sockets are empty."

Later, when playing him, occasionally lift one hand, stretch it out a bit, and move it back and forth uncertainly once or twice. Don't overdo this or it will become silly, but as an occasional thing it will help hammer home that this is the blind dude talking.

Horgus -- try on a voice that sounds obnoxious /to you/. After all, it's easier to do "this is me being obnoxious" than to get into the made-up character of Horgus. Make sure it's a voice you can do easily and at some length. Then, just use that voice.

IMO Horgus is the trickiest, because he has no distinctive characteristics other than being obnoxious. So it'll be dangerously easy for the PCs to just hate him. You'll have to play him carefully, and occasionally bring out some less annoying trait like his honesty. Or his Knowledge skills -- use Horgus to deliver bits of backstory and Knowledge checks. ("Yes, there have always been tunnels under the city. It's said that some heroes of the First Crusade descended here, after their war was over... well. Stories for children.")

Are these the sorts of things you're looking for?

Doug M.

[randomroll]

These are fantastic suggestions, thank you all so much.

@magnuskn: Emphasizing personality where accents can't cut it seems like a very solid way to go. The subtleties like "a hint of vulnerability" might be a bit tricky for me. Do you have examples of interactions you've had? Especially curious how you tackle six NPCs, that is daunting.

@DungeonMastering.com: I definitely like the idea of adding visuals to my conversation to delineate who is speaking. Great idea. Any idea what the easiest way to get photo-print-outs of the NPCs would be? I figure if I can just paste some print-outs onto cardboard, possibly on Popsicle sticks to hold up, this could really help on characters I'm having trouble with.

@Douglas Muir 406: Brilliant. The physical additions to communication have really clarified the characters when I did some tests with a friend. Horgus voice is based off of hedonismbot from Futurama, but even higher pitched. Works like a charm for annoyance/arrogance. I'd have never thought that focusing on physical posture would change how I conveyed characters so much, thank you for the insight.

[DungeonMastering.com]

randomroll wrote:

@DungeonMastering.com: I definitely like the idea of adding visuals to my conversation to delineate who is speaking. Great idea. Any idea what the easiest way to get photo-print-outs of the NPCs would be? I figure if I can just paste some print-outs onto cardboard, possibly on Popsicle sticks to hold up, this could really help on characters I'm having trouble with.

Glad you like it.

I'm actually not running or even playing in this adventure path- I just saw your question. I'm going to at one point be running a WFRP campaign & there are often parts with multiple NPCs talking to the party.

While it's neat plot-wise to have various people interacting with the party, when it's happening all at once multiple personalities can give a GM multiple personalities.

Soo.. you may want to post in the 'Ask James Jacobs Questions' thread for starters. As for NPC visuals, I'm guessing that there's either galleries of them provided or you can otherwise find art elsewhere.

One other idea I had is to see about getting a friend or someone else to help you roleplay the others. Sort of like an Assistant DM. Much more believable when there's actual people doing the talking.

[magnuskn]

randomroll wrote:

@magnuskn: Emphasizing personality where accents can't cut it seems like a very solid way to go. The subtleties like "a hint of vulnerability" might be a bit tricky for me. Do you have examples of interactions you've had? Especially curious how you tackle six NPCs, that is daunting.

Well, I just went with what the official write-ups gave us and extrapolated from there. So Aravashnial immediately tried to take charge and ordered the player characters around, but on the other hand had to rely on them due to his blindness, so that was reflected in his behaviour.

And as for the six NPC's, badly so far. I myself got blindsided by this, since we had a long break over the holidays and I need to step up my game when we meet again next Tuesday. So far, I've mostly neglected doing much with the "old" four NPC's (egads, it's seven NPC's total, not six. Irabeth, Anevia, Aravashnial, Horgus, Aron, Sosiel and Nurah).

[Douglas Muir 406]

randomroll wrote:

I'd have never thought that focusing on physical posture would change how I conveyed characters so much, thank you for the insight.

You're very welcome! This is actually a really effective tool. Try it for a session and see how it works for you. I find that I can use it to juggle large numbers of NPCs at once -- a simple gesture or facial expression is usually enough to tell the PCs who is talking. If you can connect the gesture to something about the NPC's motivations or personality, so much the better.

Doug M.

[Bellona]

One advantage to running an AP after all the instalments and extras have come out is that the relevant Face Card deck should be available too. That makes for some nice and handy visual aids when RP'ing. (IMHO, the Face Cards are more useful than the relevant Item Deck.)