In a previous post I extolled the virtues of well-developed NPCs who have clear motivations. Composing a rich backstory and complex motivations for your campaign’s most important heroes and villains is an no-brainer, but some NPCs aren’t destined for greatness: they buy gems from the player characters and sell them weapons in return. However, a little preparation and creativity can give even these “set piece” NPCs enough depth and motivation to enrich your campaign.

Take, for instance, Aaslund the Innkeeper. When the characters entered his inn you pulled his name off a list and, after glancing at another list, decided he was greedy. It would be simple to say that he’s just a shrewd businessman pinches every penny: that motivation makes sense and you can run with it. In this capacity Aaslund will forever be lost to the history of your campaign.
But what if you took a second to think of another reason why Aaslund is greedy? What if he’s scrambling for gold so he can afford to move to another town? He might be afraid of the newly-appointed Captain of the guard, whom he used to pick on as a child, and who is now shaking him down for protection money. These few simple details will make Aaslund a memorable NPC (as opposed to the guy whom the PCs pay for their night’s rest).

Aaslund’s municipal nemesis might be symptomatic of the widespread corruption that the player characters are already investigating: this would integrate Aaslund the innkeeper into a larger campaign story arc. The Captain’s protection racket might be an isolated incident which gives your players the opportunity to complete a small side quest. Aaslund’s quarrel with the Captain might just be a bit of local color to make the PC’s stay at the inn more interesting.

Understanding the motivations of common “set piece” NPCs (e.g. barmaids, blacksmiths, or palace guards) will help you bring them to life. At the very least these well-developed characters will give your players a stronger sense of setting and spur them on to some in-character role-playing. In other situations you can use “set piece” NPCs to launch side quests, highlight larger campaign themes or even provide another “point of entry” for your adventures.

It would be silly if every stable boy were an exiled prince, and it would be a burden on the Dungeon Master to script a background for every beggar or minstrel that crosses the PC’s path. It helps to think of specific NPC backgrounds during adventure design and to keep a mental “bank” of generic NPC backgrounds to use at your discretion. When fleshing out minor NPCs on the fly the most important thing is to work with your players: if a character suddenly takes a shine to a particular gardener then roll with it and use an appropriate motivational hook from your NPC “bank” to keep the story moving and reward the player for interacting with the game world.