blu4lyf wrote:
I'm getting ready to launch this as well and was going to do the same thing since it worked quite well when I ran Rise of the Runelords. I was planning in addition the primary NPCs, to have secondary and tertiary NPCs. With the secondary NPCs having full names, personalities, and a generalized description. Then for the tertiary NPCs I was going to rely on a table to pre-generated names, descriptions, and character traits that I was going to put together as needed dependent upon the behavior of the PCs.
My GM asked us to all work up a handful of low level NPCs each, so the 5 players (original party, up to 8 folks now) each made 4 NPCs, generally commoners or experts, between lvl 1 and 3. The GM added names to them when we encountered them. It made it more personal for us as PCs when 'one of ours' was taken down in the AP somehow (random encounter, AP thing, etc). My character has now developed a secret romance with one (who is the father of her as-yet-revealed pregnancy) her besty is another and several more (notably the children. Each PC made one child NPC) are her constant worry. How many 6 yr olds you think are walking around Golarion with potions of healing and such? Cuz all 8 of ours have a CLW and a Hermean Potential (CL5 for both)... Having the PCs take creating a few of those NPCs off your plate as a GM is invaluable as a time saver. And it might make them more inclined to care about them as individuals as opposed to a number (oh, we lost three refugees vs that giant anteater? Oh well, down to 37 refugees now, vs: The anteater trampled Seth, Geary and little Shawna, always by her dad's side. Oh no!)
