d20 Cheap Tricks

 

geov chouteau

Phlox put out a call. I've crawled out of my thesis cave to answer.

30 tricks? Sorry, my religion says I can't read anything that isn't a random table.

1. Describe the world with your 5 senses before resorting to symbols. My last big bad was heralded by the smell of detergent and raw meat
2. Talk with your hands. “The spider crawls creepily” is eh; “The spider crawls around like this *fingersome gesture*” is better.
3. Talk with your body. When I really need to get in character, I get out of my chair. Sounds silly, but it helps.
4. Talk with your players. Ask them if you can’t remember an NPC’s voice. Let them know if the session has taken an unexpected or uncomfortable turn. Remember, you are also a player.
5. Steal from other media. Paradoxically, the more things you steal from, the more original it will be. You could (un)charitably call my current campaign Castle in the Sky + Chrono Trigger + Hollow Knight + Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2
6. Steal from your players. Ask them about their theories. Take notes when they speculate about what’s behind that locked door, or over the ridge, or for sale at the bazaar. ~~Even~~ Especially if they’re joking. (This is how we ended up with Mysterio the Mind Goblin)
7. Steal from yourself. I keep a shortlist of joke NPCs that got good reactions the first go around and sprinkle them in as filler where appropriate.
8. Every session, introduce one piece of information that you don’t fully understand yet. Fly by the seat of your pants; discover the world alongside the rest of the table.
9. Put a dragon in every dungeon. A dragon is anything powerful and secretful and recognizably lethal. just put more dragons in your game, period.
10. If you’re not sure whether to roll, favor the players. Roll to avoid consequences
11. Animals are cool. Use them to reskin stock fantasy shit. Crocodilian dragons w/ deathroll attacks and swordswallows picking their teeth. Hippo+tiger+crocodile chimera. Burrowing owl goblins. Mindflayers but they’re axolotl who can grow limb buds on anyone they look at and control them.
12. Unconventional steeds are always a hit. This includes bears, giant snails, and horses who are kidnapped princesses of the horse kingdom. Also horses who are just absolute bastards. Name all of them.
13. “What are you looking for?” ← best question to ask any PC about anything
14. “What’s their name?” ← second best question to ask any PC about anything
15. Be like shakespeare: use real-sounding fake words to flesh out the world, both in NPCspeak and in descriptions.
16. NPCs that hit 0 HP aren’t dead, they’re just helpless (disarmed, KOed, socially cowed, etc.) Make it clear that nonlethal options are always on the table.
17. Resolve games of chess, blackjack, etc. with a single die roll. All you need is “how good are you at this game” and “are you playing safe or risky” to adjudicate.
18. Replace typical casino betting fare with snail races. All the snails should have names.
19. Sometimes, you don’t need to try that hard on small details. Sheriff Beriff and Mr. Placeholder are equally as memorable as Symarin Esre, or moreso. Lint Jehovah is a name that a real person could have and its just two words put together. You can always go back and flesh them out later.
20. It has already been said; young, female, or outcast NPCs are easy to love. The inverse is true; old, male, socially advantaged NPCs are easier to hate.