TTRPG Judge advice: Creating memorable NPC's

 Something that will always play a part within your campaign is the humble NPC, they form the backbone of your games. Forming varying roles within societies from humble beginnings to noble ends, shopkeepers to kings, NPC's will always be found within your games.

When I first started creating NPC's I would quickly tire out my excitement and drift towards a sense of tediousness, drudging through one merchant to another quickly copy and pasting the same character to get it out of the way. 

I found myself trying to reinvent the way I created NPC's. I switched from the boring and tedious to the extreme, NPC's with bizarre mutations and unrealistic reactions. While this was fun at first, when every character is a snowflake it becomes boring fast.

I slowly started to cultivate my NPC's, creating a system in which I could quickly produce them but still have them stand out. Carefully pruning off unlikable traits and unneeded features gave me more time to focus on the character itself.

I came up with the PACPSW system or Profession, Age, Characteristic, Personality, Secret and Want, by answering these six quick questions I had a solid shell of an NPC that would be filled as the characters interacted with them. As an example: 

Gurt Bolgan - 

1. Profession - innkeeper.
2. Age - mid 40's.
3. Characteristic - Missing right eye, crooked nose.
4. Personality - Bit rough around the edges, good sense of humour.
5. Secret - Runs an illegal underground fighting ring to bring in money, most of the proceeds go towards his illegitimate son.
   
6. Want - To retire and settle down.
   

Gurt didn't take me long at all to whip up. He's fleshed out enough that the characters will create a visual image of him within their heads, with further interactions we can add onto Gurt slowly changing him as the PC's come in contact with him. Your goal should be to create an empty vessel in which you can fill as time goes by.

Good luck, go create some NPC's!