Zenbitz:Really deep thoughts about NPCs and their disturbing personalities

NPCs should have a personality. It should be defined quantitatively, and the game mechanics should take it into account. One thought I had was to use a standard personality scale - like:

Dichotomies Extraversion 	Introversion Sensing 	iNtuition Thinking 	Feeling Judging 	Perceiving

But... that's kind of ridiculous in a RPG. "Feeling". But we could maybe come up with 4 other dichotomies:

Untrustworthy <---> Honest Violent      <---> Pacifistic Foolhardy    <---> Cautious Avaricious   <---> Generous

(I used words that start with different letters to short hand it) These are all cherry picked because they are relevant for "adventures" like in RPGs. A PCs actions can usually be graded on these scales. If you lie - point of "U", forgo a reward, point of "G".

These are kind of like the 8 virtures of Ultima IV (yes, I am old) but since our game is amoral... we have to go both ways. PC starts right in the middle on these, and as he does stuff, his 4 counters swing one way or the other. The people he might will react to him based on these scores - and how they compare to their own scores. (It might be a stretch to say that Greedy people like each other... but hey). This would also be of influence as to whether an NPC "joins up" - and how long they stick around to witness you egregious crimes against humanity!