How do you roleplay NPCs?

[Starbeard]

I like to run open sandbox games, which means lots of town adventures, lots of time spent in and around the inn, and a constant flow of random NPCs being rolled up and role played, then stuffed away in a notebook in case they are ever encountered again.

Probably like most, these are the weakest areas of my refereeing, and that's true ten times over for the last part (role playing interactions with NPCs). The thing is I'm just not a very good role player at the table. I can't do voices, I've never been able to make myself comfortable speaking in the first person, and my brain puts sentences and thoughts together at writing speed, not speaking speed. NPC interactions in my games nearly always get reduced to something like this, in town or in the dungeon: "Okay. Well, umm, basically, the way he responds is, y'know—here, let me make a reaction roll—yeah, he seems a little put off, but is willing to hear the rest of your demands." Probably with mild stuttering involved.

I haven't had any complaints from my players, and as usual the more we game the more time they want to devote to town and NPC activities. Still, I feel like it always falls flat on my end, especially now that the players are spending a lot of time making and breaking deals with various NPCs. I want to make that part of my game better.

What tricks do you use to make NPC interactions more compelling?

[hamurai]

First of all, I don't roleplay every encounter with an NPC. Not all interactions demand 1st person speech and doing voices. By now I know my group well enough and I know when they want to roleplay a conversation and when not.
When they do, they tell me which NPC they'd like to talk to - the armorer, the barkeep, the tavern wench etc...
If I believe that's a character I'd like to flesh out, I give them a first description and when my players start talking, I take a deep breath and "sink" into the role of the NPC. My players tend to ask for details about the person during the conversation, those I make up on the fly or just deny them more details as "Nothing of interest".
If I don't think the NPC will be of much importance (or just if I'm lazy or out of ideas), my players tell me they'd like to talk to the NPC and I ask them to describe the person. They have some ideas about how each NPC/role in town will look like, so why not harvest their ideas and expectations? Sometimes I have one player tell us the NPC's race, the next tells us the gender and age, the next tells us something which immediately jumps out when looking at the NPC. Sometimes my players even get/have to come up with the name. I know they write down the names and NPCs they believe important, so I don't even have to do the book-keeping unless it's a "hidden major" NPC.
I've even had players roleplay the NPC! For example, one player wants to meet the local thieves' guild - often enough that's the rogue's job and the rest stays behind and does - what? So my rogue player encounters NPCs played by the other players. That way, the players can interact with each other more, everyone has something to do even though it's the rogue's "private" thing and I get to relax and watch the show. When it comes to important details, I let the players know what I want the NPC to say or know. For example, the stock of shopkeepers when it comes to rare items, or the information which helps move the quest along and so on.
It's a little strange at first, but give it a try! Many of my players have enjoyed roleplaying minor named NPCs and if these are recurrent, the player gets to play to role again often enough. That way, they even have fall-back characters if they retire their character, or if they die.

[Scott Anderson]

All peasants are horrible and grubby. Merchants are fat and disgusting. Nobility are snooty and effeminate.

Then you figure out how they smell and what they want out of the interaction.

Works surprisingly well.

[tkdco2]

I don't usually do accents, but I may give the NPC a distinguishing physical feature or personality quirk. This is only if the NPC is important to the plot, and I want the players to remember him/her. If the characters are ordering drinks or buying supplies, I genrally don't bother roleplaying the scene unless the characters want to haggle with a merchant or flirt with a serving girl.

[Starbeard]

Good suggestions, thanks. I will say that flirting with serving girls is by far the most awkward part of the whole game for me. Fortunately none of my players ever express any interest in roleplaying amorous pursuits! 

The idea of letting players take on NPCs is intriguing. That sort of hopping between sides and jointly running NPCs happens fairly regularly in wargaming, and I've never seen it create any conflict of interests, so there's no reason it shouldn't work here.

[Vile Traveller]

Funny voices, and funny faces, I'm sorry to say! I already have a funny accent. It helps that I don't take myself (or my players) too seriously.

[Stormcrow]

Forget the affected voices. Role-play does not mean acting. You can conduct an entire game in the third person if you want.

[geoffrey]

I don't do voices.

I don't do accents.

99% of the time I say, "The barkeep tells you that a purple worm was spotted yesterday," rather than "Let me tell you, a laddie saw a purple worm hereabouts yesterday." Third person, not first person.

[tetramorph]

I do both. I use third person and I directly “play the part.” Just depends on the situation and my mood and energy.

Some of the funniest situations we’ve ever enjoyed came from acting out direct interactions. So I’m not against it.

I played with a couple of guys that were a comedy duo at one point. Try to tell them to keep it all in the third person! Those are always great sessions.

[owlorbs]

I use third person almost exclusively. My groups have tended to be natural at role-playing but not "acting." On the other hand, when I'm playing games with my kids I have no problem doing first person characters or silly impressions, since to them I'm a "great" actor. This will persist until they are old enough to see Python - and then I'm ruined.

[EdOWar]

For about 90% of my NPCs it's strictly 3rd person. No need to spend the energy developing a personality for every bandit, shopkeep and guardsman.

But for certain key NPCs, sometimes I just get it in my head what they're like, and I ham things up a bit.

[archersix]

After I've had a beer or two all my NPCs turn into pirates

[Deleted]

First of all, anybody who tells you you MUST do voices and accents should be beaten on the nutsack with an iron bar until the bar breaks.

Second... most people are eminently forgettable. The system you have described is perfect. 99 44/100% of your NPC interactions should be like that.

Thirdly, here's an old trick from theater: Every character wants something. Many shopkeepers, etc, just want to serve the customer and get on with it. Sometimes, the king is hung over, his butt hurts from the lumpy cushion, and he just wants to pee.

But every character wants something, and they will attempt to move events in the scene to get them what they want. For important NPCs, just sketch out their general disposition and what things they want.

IN other words, don't worry about it.

[scottenkainen]

At the table, I aim to make 1/4 of my NPCs characters the players can interact with directly through me, and summarize the rest. Doing voices and accents definitely helps, when I can manage it. My main problem is improvising dialog in-character and holding onto the accent.

I often wish I had a co-DM handling the game mechanics for me so I could concentrate on just playing all the NPCs.

[foxroe]

I tend towards the third person, but I'll inject a little "character" when the mood suits me... but it's usually just Python-esque comic relief. Or drunken pirates as above.

[jcstephens]

As simply as possible. I assign each NPC one physical tag and one personalty quirk, and bring both into play in the initial encounter. As long as the players can tell one NPC from another, I've done my job.