DM tips #6
Catagorize your NPCs. My preferred set is (npc, monster, dmpc, quest point) but when making an NPC, only make enough relative to it's story presence.
Using my list, an npc is a character who exists for 1 story purpose. So this is Kasc. She's a lizardfolk who owns the town smithy. She has soot covered scales and a ragged apron. Her right arm has large burn scars on it.
That's it, no story, enough description to feel like a person, and a use (shopkeep). Does she have a surname? Only if someone asks. Why the burns? I'll make something up in the moment. Tall or short? Stocky or lithe? Hair? I won't think of these things until someone asks, and it allows an easy access to improv a character design. If you don't sweat the details, you can make quick desicions in the moment without "ruining" your original vision for the character.
If your players fall in love (figuratively) with the character, you'll naturally fill out and flesh out more and more as time goes by. And if your players rob them blind and skip town, then you didn't spend 40 minutes pouring heart and soul into a backstory that just got bypassed.
A monster is an npc with a reason to be where they are, a stat block, an action block, and 1 key interactive expectation (antagonist, sight to be seen, benevolent, exposition point etc).
dmpc are fully fleshed leveled characters, normally fufilling the role of a guest character, or a story arc protagonist (or villain)
Lastly, the quest point. These are deities, campaign villain, campaign benefactors, these are the concrete pillar characters in the world for your players, they do need to be fully ironed out with motives and quirks and flaws.
Find whatever system helps you best, but a good line of thought is "put in half as many minutes to make a character as you expect them to exist in the world". It will save you many hours as the sessions fly by.
One unwritten npc, the instant npc, the "anyone at the bar I can chat to?" The "I catch the arm of a passer by." For these, have a list of names behind your dm screen and have a quick reference list of personalities. Put one and two together and fly by the seat of your pants.











