I’d love to have a table of random memorable characteristics for on-the-fly NPCs.
1. Waxed moustache, twirls compulsively
2. Carries pet hamster (named Boo)
3. Not nearly as talented as they think they are
4. Hawks and spits before speaking
5. Fanatically superstitious
6. Very concerned about appearance
7. Won’t talk louder than a whisper
8. Is drunk at every opportunity
9. Won’t stand for the slightest disrespect
10. Wrings hands constantly
11. Crudely prejudiced against [orcs]
12. Staggeringly lazy
13. Terrifyingly enthusiastic
14. Too honest for their own good
15. One hand always on half-cocked hip
16. Big believer in the value of naps
17. Haunted by recent tragedy
18. Tilts head and nods when listening
19. Sucks his/her teeth when thinking
20. Starts nearly every sentence, “Well, the way I figger it…”
21. Sweet but half-senile
22. Enthusiast for foul and violent language
23. Flirtatious
24. Manipulative
25. Left eye is permanently squinty
26. Stammers
27. Hands in pockets, hunched shoulders
28. Smiles excessively
29. Raspy breath
30. Perpetual sniffle
31. ….?
I’m trying to stick to behaviours and things that can be acted out. Something like “unusually big nose” might be memorable in person, but it’s not interesting to keep saying, “oh yeah Jack has a big nose in case you forgot.”
What else you got? I’d be glad to get to 100.
Here’s a few ideas, might be useful
31. Always attempts to hide face
32. Constantly fiddling with a small dagger
33. Interrupts others
34. taps feet at every opportunity
35. Argumentative
36. Enjoys touching face
37. Won’t shut up about _____
38. Pathological Liar
39. Kleptomaniac
40. Will go to any length to lock eyes with someone
Here’s one I use that I found.
http://acodispo.github.io/Dungeon-World-HTML-SRD/appendices/npcs/
Search in http://random-generator.com/, and you’ll likely be pleased.
This is good, too: http://benjaminrosenbaum.com/images/AW/npcs.html
Laughs at strange/inappropriate moments
Talks with hands
Incredibly earnest
Excellent posture at all times
Slouches terribly
Cowardly
Comically naive
Lisp
Nasal voice
Self-conscious about bad breath
Hard of hearing
Hooks thumbs in belt and bounces
Asks rhetorical questions and answers
Greatly exaggerates
Intense; cannot stand still
Ostentatiously cynical
Wants to be a druid very badly; isn’t working out so well yet
Is smitten with one of the PCs
Rigid prude
Inveterate gambler
Can hook you up; likes to show off
Depressed and fatalistic
Blunt, insensitive, “just being honest”
Is always looking for a hookup
Takes every shortcut possible
Terribly curious. About everything
Won’t speak more than a word or two at a time
Irrepressibly cheerful
Calls everyone “Boyo”
Crafty and ambitious
Hates children
Obsequious
Chill dude
Freeloader
Hopeless romantic
Fastidious, neatnik
Nogoodnik
Rebel without a clue
Sarcastic bastard
Pretends to know what’s going on; never does
Harrison s ha, yeah, those are the ones from the Dungeon World book. They’re excellent, I agree. I’m pretty much looking for a similar list of Quirks to go along with the Instinct and Knack tables.
Mischa Krilov I haven’t been able to find a random quirk/trait generator on Abulafia that I really like. Most of them seem to skew a lot more toward physical descriptions or else things that I’m not sure how I’d act out at the table. But if you know of specifically a generator with traits like the kind of thing we’re collecting here I’d be glad to hear of it.
http://dngnsndrgns.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/66-weird-folk-for-your-game.html?m=1. – might be of use to you
I love this idea. However, some of yours are a bit specific, and it’d be weird to come across more than one person with it in a campaign. Like carrying a pet hamster. More general stuff would be better I feel. Like fashion things. Like the moustache. It’s a trend that many people might follow.
Jon Landers well, my goal is to have quirks that make my NPCs distinguishable and memorable as individuals, so I wouldn’t want to come across more than one of any of them in a campaign. (That’s why I want 100 of them!) YMMV.
This is pretty cool. Be sure to post a finished list ;-}
41 (?) Starts each statement with “Yeah-yeah” or “Good-good” and licks left thumb.
42 Gesticulates wildly, but only with left arm
43 Entirely avoids eye contact with anyone
44 Places chin on fist when thinking, while making the ‘money’ sign with the same hand
colin roald ah, I see. I assumed you wanted 100 for a d100 list, so I thought there would always be the chance that specific traits would show up again. Like the hamster, which felt really specific.
Eld Nathr here you go: http://orteil.dashnet.org/randomgen/?gen=NHnkDkTY
The raw list is: http://pastebin.com/NHnkDkTY
Jon Landers I might roll d100 if I feel like it. It’s an appealing thing about having 100 of them. But fundamentally it’s an idea prompt – I’m not going to let myself be arbitrarily bound by a result that doesn’t work for the current character, and if it’s one I’ve used before I’ll just roll again. Or else the hamster becomes a parrot named Reginald, whatever. Or maybe I won’t roll, and I’ll just pick an idea that sounds good at the moment. I just want page of things I can use quickly when I need an NPC and I’m drawing a blank.