Justified started its season up again this week. (If you are not watching it, you should be). As I was delving down into the strange waters of the Elmore-verse, I realized something. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THE SUPPORTING CHARACTERS WOULD STAY WITH ME. Elmore Leonard and the writers know how to make their NPC's stand out.
They seem way over the top, but you remember them. Bob the "Draw on Me" Constable, Jody the "its not my fault" murderer, and all the rest. They jump off the screen and make you pay attention to them.
This leads me to understand something for my next campaign. The NPC's are going to be big and loud. No sitting back and seeing what the players want. They are going to jump out and act. And hopefully be remembered as more than "the guy in the office". They are going to be quirky and strange, and not forgotten. I hope.
Another thing from Justified is language. Set in the wilds of Kentucky, the characters can be darn near unintelligible to the first time viewer. Elmore Leonard loves his speech quirks. And I am going to copy that too. I am thinking of putting together about 10-12 words, terms, phrases for each region and have the NPC's use them when they are getting in the players faces. When an NPC shows up for the second time, I want the player's to know who they were. And feel for them, even if its hate or disgust. Because my NPC's deserve to be more than background description. And I think the player's (in the long run) will enjoy it more.
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