NPC Gallery #1: The Mentor

After reading up on Ravyn’s excellent series on Engaging Secondary Characters over at Exchange of Realities, I figure I could take a parallel approach to things, and start talking about specific archetypes for memorable NPCs.

NPCs occupy an important place in any GM’s arsenal, as they become the vehicle upon which he is able to interact with the characters without necessarily having to break out the battlemats as with the case of villains.  Appropriate use of memorable, well defined and emotionally engaging NPCs is the hallmark of a good game, as players are drawn further into the narrative, further suspending their disbelief.

In this series, we’ll start looking at the basic NPC archetypes, characters that manifest in most games and are valid across multiple genres.  Furthermore, we’ll look into the role they can serve in a game, and how they can be used as a part of a GM’s storytelling arsensal, including hooks and twists common to each.