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The Game Master's Book of Non-Player Characters: 500+ unique bartenders, brawlers, mages, merchants, royals, rogues, sages, sailors, warriors, weirdos ... RPG adventures
From the #1 Best-Selling author, Jeff Ashworth, comes the latest addition to The Game Master series, with more than 500 NPCs ready to populate your campaign whenever you need them!
As is often the case in tabletop roleplaying games, players often venture into locales or look for answers in places and among people busy Game Masters simply didn’t anticipate. Or, just as often, an adventure won't have fully fleshed out characters in place for the locations and encounters outlined for gameplay.
The Game Master's Book of Non-Player Characters solves these issues and more by providing Game Masters with the information they need to “fill in the holes” in their campaign play. It will enable GMs to instantly add depth, color, motivation and unique physical characteristics at a moment's notice to unexpected or underwritten characters as they pop up during gameplay, ensuring every session is a memorable one for players and GMs alike.
This edition also includes more than 50 hand-drawn illustrations of select NPCs detailed in the book, 3 bonus one-shot adventures, and a foreword by online influencer Jasmine Bhullar.
As is often the case in tabletop roleplaying games, players often venture into locales or look for answers in places and among people busy Game Masters simply didn’t anticipate. Or, just as often, an adventure won't have fully fleshed out characters in place for the locations and encounters outlined for gameplay.
The Game Master's Book of Non-Player Characters solves these issues and more by providing Game Masters with the information they need to “fill in the holes” in their campaign play. It will enable GMs to instantly add depth, color, motivation and unique physical characteristics at a moment's notice to unexpected or underwritten characters as they pop up during gameplay, ensuring every session is a memorable one for players and GMs alike.
This edition also includes more than 50 hand-drawn illustrations of select NPCs detailed in the book, 3 bonus one-shot adventures, and a foreword by online influencer Jasmine Bhullar.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published October 5, 2021
15 people are currently reading
264 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 21, 2023
This is a book I spotted at Barnes and Nobles while browsing. It sounded useful, and it was a hardcover book at a decent price, so I decided to give it a shot. I have mixed feelings about it.
First,
There are three one-shot adventures. I can't say I'm a fan of them. All three are basically guided tours by an NPC, and not a friendly one either. All three are based on one NPC leading the characters through specific events on the way to a climax; the first two are deceivers responsible for the trouble in the adventure, and the third is not because they are a prison warden overseeing an earn-your-freedom ritual. It is totally rail-roading. The sidebars even try to pre-empt any attempt at deducing these first two NPCs are liars to keep the adventure on track. If a single high Insight check can derail the whole module, then, in my opinion, that is a shoddy module.
I get that these are one-shots, meant to be completed within a single session, and so there is little room for deviation, but this is not a video game. This is a tabletop roleplaying game. Players have agency. If you're going to set up something like this, then you should have alternative routes or just remove the single point of failure all together.
Now, the first adventure is a lot more vulnerable to this than the second. The second DOES acknowledge that the player party can call the NPC on their lies and accommodates this in a way that allows the adventure to continue basically as written.
Second,
The majority of the book is filled with full character pages. They are divided between location and then further by categories such as Rulers, Commoners, Lawbreakers and Criminals, and finally, Outcasts. There really are a lot of characters here, so the author is not exaggerating when they say the book contains hundreds of unique characters. However, I wouldn't say they are all "fully realized", as the back of the book claims.
Some of them are, to be sure. A solid backstory, clear motives, interesting twist in their "secret" or "obstacle" section and further details in what they are carrying. Those are fun to read. Others are frustrating.
You see, some of these "fully realized" characters have too much baggage to be easily used in a campaign. Their backstory might have certain requirements of the setting. Their goals might be vague; clear enough in concept but requiring building out in details to actually be used in practice. Who wants to roleplay the results of an accounting error?
Many of them leave dangling questions. This one is particularly frustrating because the author states at the start of the book that the book doesn't have "all the answers", and then provides characters that are more questions than answers.
So, this character is pregnant with a "child of prophecy". What prophecy?
So, this character is attempting to keep a terrible creature sealed. What terrible creature?
So, this character wants to prevent their hometown from changing in some undescribed manner and decides to do that by flooding it, killing everyone and destroying the town itself. How does that accomplish anything?
Then there are characters that are written in a way that implies certain things rather than stating them. I think this is to make the character more flexible, open to interpretation, but it can also make the character less coherent overall.
Some of these homebrew abilities are ridiculous, such as a lawful evil humanoid lion that enslaves humanoids. They can use this ability thrice per long rest, humanoids have disadvantage on the save, it lasts for 24 hours (no secondary save) and the reasoning is simple overwhelming charisma. A DM would have to put a lot of context around such a character to make fighting this guy fun instead of frustrating.
I also find issue with how, if family members are mentioned in the backstories, they are either dead or antagonistic. The former is too close to the trope "Stuffed Into a Fridge" for my taste, and the latter mandates using the family as villains if this NPC is used; to not use them as villains removes a significant chunk of characterization, thus making the decision pointless.
Overall, a lot of these "fully realized" characters have to be modified, trimmed, adapted etc. to be used in a given campaign. It's not a plug-and-play thing, like I was expecting. There is a section for much simpler character outlines, more easily selected and used on the spot. I think those are meant to be selected during the session and the rest are meant for planning stages between sessions.
Some characters have full page artwork, which is nice. It is good art.
This is definitely a useful book for a gamemaster. The important thing is to set your expectations. This is useful for character inspiration, side quest fundamentals, campaign reference, and that is mostly it. During a session, it will, at best, slow things down. Use a generator app instead.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "The Gamemaster's Book of Non-Player characters" a C+
First,
There are three one-shot adventures. I can't say I'm a fan of them. All three are basically guided tours by an NPC, and not a friendly one either. All three are based on one NPC leading the characters through specific events on the way to a climax; the first two are deceivers responsible for the trouble in the adventure, and the third is not because they are a prison warden overseeing an earn-your-freedom ritual. It is totally rail-roading. The sidebars even try to pre-empt any attempt at deducing these first two NPCs are liars to keep the adventure on track. If a single high Insight check can derail the whole module, then, in my opinion, that is a shoddy module.
I get that these are one-shots, meant to be completed within a single session, and so there is little room for deviation, but this is not a video game. This is a tabletop roleplaying game. Players have agency. If you're going to set up something like this, then you should have alternative routes or just remove the single point of failure all together.
Now, the first adventure is a lot more vulnerable to this than the second. The second DOES acknowledge that the player party can call the NPC on their lies and accommodates this in a way that allows the adventure to continue basically as written.
Second,
The majority of the book is filled with full character pages. They are divided between location and then further by categories such as Rulers, Commoners, Lawbreakers and Criminals, and finally, Outcasts. There really are a lot of characters here, so the author is not exaggerating when they say the book contains hundreds of unique characters. However, I wouldn't say they are all "fully realized", as the back of the book claims.
Some of them are, to be sure. A solid backstory, clear motives, interesting twist in their "secret" or "obstacle" section and further details in what they are carrying. Those are fun to read. Others are frustrating.
You see, some of these "fully realized" characters have too much baggage to be easily used in a campaign. Their backstory might have certain requirements of the setting. Their goals might be vague; clear enough in concept but requiring building out in details to actually be used in practice. Who wants to roleplay the results of an accounting error?
Many of them leave dangling questions. This one is particularly frustrating because the author states at the start of the book that the book doesn't have "all the answers", and then provides characters that are more questions than answers.
So, this character is pregnant with a "child of prophecy". What prophecy?
So, this character is attempting to keep a terrible creature sealed. What terrible creature?
So, this character wants to prevent their hometown from changing in some undescribed manner and decides to do that by flooding it, killing everyone and destroying the town itself. How does that accomplish anything?
Then there are characters that are written in a way that implies certain things rather than stating them. I think this is to make the character more flexible, open to interpretation, but it can also make the character less coherent overall.
Some of these homebrew abilities are ridiculous, such as a lawful evil humanoid lion that enslaves humanoids. They can use this ability thrice per long rest, humanoids have disadvantage on the save, it lasts for 24 hours (no secondary save) and the reasoning is simple overwhelming charisma. A DM would have to put a lot of context around such a character to make fighting this guy fun instead of frustrating.
I also find issue with how, if family members are mentioned in the backstories, they are either dead or antagonistic. The former is too close to the trope "Stuffed Into a Fridge" for my taste, and the latter mandates using the family as villains if this NPC is used; to not use them as villains removes a significant chunk of characterization, thus making the decision pointless.
Overall, a lot of these "fully realized" characters have to be modified, trimmed, adapted etc. to be used in a given campaign. It's not a plug-and-play thing, like I was expecting. There is a section for much simpler character outlines, more easily selected and used on the spot. I think those are meant to be selected during the session and the rest are meant for planning stages between sessions.
Some characters have full page artwork, which is nice. It is good art.
This is definitely a useful book for a gamemaster. The important thing is to set your expectations. This is useful for character inspiration, side quest fundamentals, campaign reference, and that is mostly it. During a session, it will, at best, slow things down. Use a generator app instead.
Trickster Eric Novels gives "The Gamemaster's Book of Non-Player characters" a C+
October 21, 2021
4.5 stars, rounded up.
Wide range of NPCs, from grim to silly.
3 short adventures also included, in case Ashworth's entire book of encounters wasn't sufficient.
The 5 random NPC generation tables are useful for the DM who wants more flexibility than a fully fleshed-out character.
Worth the price for M'Palu and his Hotpants of Distraction, alone.
Half a star deducted for the lack of an index. Finding a specific NPC on the fly is a nightmare.
Wide range of NPCs, from grim to silly.
3 short adventures also included, in case Ashworth's entire book of encounters wasn't sufficient.
The 5 random NPC generation tables are useful for the DM who wants more flexibility than a fully fleshed-out character.
Worth the price for M'Palu and his Hotpants of Distraction, alone.
Half a star deducted for the lack of an index. Finding a specific NPC on the fly is a nightmare.
February 22, 2022
I think it was a really good book. It is about characters you can use as npcs in dnd games. There are full descriptions of characters like their inventory, what they look like, and background info in general! I do recommend this book to nerds and everyone else.
January 16, 2023
Un buen libro que sirve como inspiración para crear personajes en ámbitos fantásticos, especialmente lúdicos. Aunque es de Dungeons and Dragons, creo que podría aplicarse fácilmente en otros sistemas de juego, y hasta estructuras narrativas. Es un libro placentero en ese aspecto.
May 9, 2022
This is an excellent book for any DM or fan of Dungeons & Dragons. It is jam-packed with tons of interesting characters as well as three one-shots! Highly recommend picking this one up!
August 8, 2023
Great resource for all dms looking to spice up some dungeon runs.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews