Mordax et al

dare-to-dm:

In my years as a DM, I have repeatedly (and mostly accidentally) made NPCs that my players have gotten obsessed with and tried to adopt.  In the most notable case, they liked one NPC so much, they paid to have him resurrected three separate times, at great expense to themselves.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about what made those NPCs so likable (a couple of them have even been villains!) and I think I’ve isolated some traits that help.  I tested this recently in a game, and the party adopted the NPC less than 5 minutes after her introduction; I think I might be onto something!

• An easy to pronounce name.  If your players can’t easily say the name, they’re not going to remember it.  I’m not saying you should name all your NPCs “Bob”, but try to avoid overtly complex names with lots of apostrophes and no vowels.  
• A couple obvious mannerisms/habits.  Give your NPC an accent, or have them always smoking a pipe.  Maybe there’s a particular rhythm to the way they talk, or they always give people condescending nicknames.  If you’re doing this right, it’ll be really easy for you to get into character, and your players will recognize who you are without you even having to say.
• Just the right level of power.  Likable NPCs will be competent enough to be able to take care of themselves in dangerous situations, but not so powerful that they outshine the players.  Too powerful, and the players will feel like sidekicks, too weak and they’ll feel like they’re playing a crappy video game escort mission.
• Their own personal goals.  These goals can be long term and they don’t have to influence the story or the direction of the campaign.  But they give the players something to relate to.  An NPC who just wants to help the players might be taken for granted, but an NPC who one day hopes to study wizardry or open their own business or reconnect with an estranged child or travel to distant lands is endearing.
• A pet.  If you want to pull out all the stops, nothing is more relatable than someone loving their own pet.  This step is unnecessary if the NPC itself is an animal, though I bet it still wouldn’t hurt.  Even the most grimdark, brooding, loner type party members will be playing with the pet during their downtime and feeding it scraps.  Just you watch.