A Conversation With Myself: NPC Interactions

NPC on NPC dialogue can turn your game into a puppet show if you're not careful.

This is a classic problem I run into when I DM my games... what happens when you have more than one NPC in a scene? Eventually it may become necessary for them to interact. Then you will be placed in the awkward position of carrying on a one-man show, conversing back and forth with yourself in different voices. This can be both confusing and dull for players who will be forced to watch these interactions and try to follow them. 

So what is to be done about this? Well, there are a few options that can minimize the problems that tend to crop up in these situations.

Firstly, you can usually avoid situations where more than one NPC is speaking by simply minimizing the number of relevant NPCs in each scene. This is a good idea for a number of reasons. Players that are presented with a number of important characters simultaneously are more prone to digression and confusion that will delay the game and over-complicate things. If there is a single important NPC in the scene then the players can focus exclusively on their relationship and interaction with that character and get to the core of the scene more easily. This doesn't have to be a blatant decision, it can be pulled off very subtly. Have a character step out of the room to get them out of the way, or make it so that certain characters are only available to converse with at certain times. Create convenient circumstances that avoid having more than one major NPC in the scene and you will be able to keep things simple and clear.

When it is unavoidable and you need to have NPCs interact, there are also ways to make the conversation more comfortable for yourself and your players. One such method is having a script written up ahead of time. If you know there is a chance or certainty that two NPCs can converse, you can prepare a pre-written dialogue that will clearly and concisely convey the content of their interactions, and allow you to improvise off of this outline. Performing the dialogue for a single character while playing into their motivations and goals is hard enough, but playing out two or more personalities and voices can swiftly become an ordeal.  Having this framework to build off of will clear up a lot of issues.

Another option is to allow players to perform certain NPCs during these scenes. This is especially important in situations where the party is split and certain players don't have anything else to do while their character is "off screen." You may lay down the ground rule that players can't control an NPC to directly help or hinder the player characters. Otherwise, you can let them play the character as they see fit, so you can have exchange words with a real, interactive person rather than an imaginary dialogue of one. 

If you absolutely must include more than one NPC in a scene and perform them yourself on the fly, keep dialogue short and sweet. Try to use distinct voices and accents for each character, or simply describe what they are saying to the characters in narrative form(Such as "They argue about the specifics of the sale, but the merchants eventually reach a consensus.") Make sure they address most of their dialogue to the characters and make sure the players have a clear understanding of who is speaking and who they are speaking to. Just like playing combat encounters without a map, social interactions can become very confusing when they are abstract and involve many moving pieces.

Whatever you do, don't have frequent NPC on NPC interactions! Keep them limited and concise to avoid making the players into passive spectators in a non-player melodrama. The players are the key to your game, and they are the ones who are the most important. Keep the spotlight on them and use these methods to keep things as clear and simple as possible, and you will be much more likely to have non player characters with whom your players will welcome interaction. 

Happy ventures!