DMs, Don't Give Your Players a Handout When They Can Talk To An NPC Instead

As a game designer and a dungeon master, I'm well aware of how seductive the siren's song of table handouts can be. They're simple, they're easy on you, they require minimal heavy lifting, and if you print them out in advance they give your players something they can interact with and pass around. And if you really want to put in some pre-game effort, you can make badass handouts that look cool, and which will help add some oomph to the world and setting.

Acclaimed Heroes, you are cordially invited to... ah, another invitation...

However, handouts, letters, journal entries, NPC diaries... they should be used as a spice. If you make them the major way that all plot points get introduced to your players, then pretty soon it's going to start having a negative impact on your game.

The Risks of Overusing These Tools

Like I said above, I've used my share of letters in the games I've run in the past. And I've even used them in a few modules I've written (the secret journal in my one-shot False Valor is a perfect example). However, there are good reasons not to grow reliant on them.

And what, pray tell, are those?

The first reason to not rely on these kinds of handouts is because they'll quickly start to feel a lot less special. Even if you put in the time to make a full parchment paper letter complete with burn holes and blood stains (brief how-to on rigging that up in How To Make Parchment Paper Using Tea for those who are interested), if you're doing it once per chapter in your game, pretty soon your players are just going to view it as old hat. What was once unique and special has now become routine.

The second reason is that when you overuse handouts and letters you end up minimizing the party's interactions with NPCs; it's just them and a piece of paper, not them interacting with the world you've made. In some extreme cases this can actually lead to players assuming that NPCs are just there for background decoration, actively ignoring them in favor of tracking down the next handout.

Use An NPC Whenever You Possibly Can

In contrast to handouts, notes, and letters, your NPCs are an active, breathing part of the game world; they're in the present tense. They are, ideally, characters you want the party to develop relationships with, even if those relationships are small. And when you give your party information via an NPC, it has a completely different flavor to it than if you just handed them a letter and waited patiently while they read it.

All right... I'll tell you about the duke. But you didn't hear this from me, understand?

First of all, most NPCs will act as some kind of challenge to get information out of. The fighter has to take the gate guard out for drinks, and make small talk before he drunkenly talks about the woman in black who comes in and out of the grounds on the new moon. The local head of a syndicate has to be persuaded that giving out the details on a rival outfit is really going to be in her best interests. Or the party needs to ask around before they find just the right snoop who will part with the information they need, for a handful of gold.

This has two effects. First, it makes your players feel like they have to work for their plot information, which makes getting it all the more rewarding. Secondly, it creates relationships you can build on for future plots. If the PCs stab the mob boss in the back, then she might side with their enemies in the next arc. Alternatively, if they play straight with her, she might be an ally they can count on when assassins are coming after them and they need a safe house. You can't get this same arc out of just handing the party a scrap of paper.

A lot of DMs find this approach significantly more labor intensive, but you can save yourself a lot of time and effort by keeping supplements like these on-hand:

- 100 NPCs You Might Meet At The Tavern

- 100 Random Bandits to Encounter

- 100 Nobles to Encounter

- 100 Merchants to Encounter

These supplements are filled with flavorful NPCs you can cherry pick, and put to the side before your session starts. This ensures you have characters ready to show up, you're not scrambling to find a name and description, and characters who end up becoming party favorites can be expanded on as the game continues.

Don't Stop Using Handouts (Just Pair Them With Characters)

I want to be clear, here, that you shouldn't do away with letters, invitations, maps, journal entries, etc. in your campaign. However, you shouldn't use them as a crutch to info dump on your players, because it can take them out of the game, and reinforce that the people around the table are the only ones who really matter.

So even if you feel that a particular note is a valuable addition to a game, ask how you can pair it with an NPC and a scene to drive home the importance.

Yes, there is a message... here, write this down...

For example, say you were running a murder investigation arc, and a key piece of evidence is the love letters one of the victims kept hidden behind a base board in her room. Sure, the party can just shake down the room and find them, but ask what other characters know about that spot. The victim's mother? A friend? A former tenet who told her about the hidden space? By making another character part of the scene, it's now become an actual part of play, rather than just a reading session round the table. And if the PCs then ask that character about the contents of the letter, now it becomes a conversation they're having with someone, rather than just trying to figure out the implications themselves.

Even if it's just something simple, like the party receiving an invitation to the duke's salon that evening, don't just have the note randomly appear in their hands. Have a messenger in livery come, and address the party by name. Ask if they would like to send a reply, and make this herald a unique character. Is it a humanoid, or something odder? A celestial, intelligent creature? A playful pseudodragon? An intelligent raven? Or are the notes delivered by an undead servant who can't speak, but who gives the party a clear idea of what sort of man they're dealing with, and how dangerous it could be to refuse his invitation?

You don't need to get rid of useful handouts... just make sure they're one aspect of the scene; that zing of mustard on the dog, or the hot sauce in the taco. Don't think that just because you pour the condiment on that you can ignore the other elements, and still maintain a tasty game.

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That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed, and if you've used run these kinds of games before, leave us a comment to let us know what worked for you!

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