May 22, 2025

No More Boring NPCS - Design a Better NPC with London Carlisle

36 minutes

Here are today's sponsors:

Worldsmith - Easy D&D Prep - Start a Free 7 Day Trial: https://session0studios.com/worldsmith-podcast

Roll and Play Press - Easier D&D: https://session0studios.com/rollandplay

Studio Fantasms: https://session0studios.com/fantasms

Our Patreon: https://session0studios.com/patreon

Justin and Tanner are joined for this episode by an amazing DM, London Carlisle! While he's known for being an impressive DM at events such as "D&D In A Castle", his acting experience becomes especially useful for our discussion on NPCs. We discuss where to pull inspiration from for creating characters and voices, how to create depth in NPCs without overriding your players, and many more ideas to drill further into NPC creation!

Follow London on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/londoncarlisle

And learn more about his role at "D&D In A Castle" here: https://www.dndinacastle.com/dungeon-masters/london-carlisle

Special thanks to:

Benj Weyland for Graphic Design (https://www.instagram.com/benjweydesign/)

TJ Max, Juka, and TechSenpai for being amazing moderators

Kyle Wilson, Nick Ammann and Professor Nobody for being our patrons.

Mentioned in this episode:

Do You Want to Earn some Money?

🎲 Want to Earn Some Extra Gold?

We’re offering a referral incentive for our professional Dungeon Mastering services! Here’s how it works:

1️⃣ Refer someone to session0studios.com/prodm

2️⃣ They sign up for a free consultation.

3️⃣ They mention they were referred by a podcast listener.

4️⃣ We DM an unforgettable session for them.

5️⃣ They get 10% off their booking.

6️⃣ You get 10% of what they paid—straight into your coin purse.

7️⃣ We celebrate with a virtual high-five. 🙌

We run games for private groups and corporate teams—whether it’s a one-shot or a long-term campaign.

💰 Want to earn some gold and help someone level up their game night?

Send them to session0studios.com/prodm and start earning today!

I Made a CR 100 Monster

I made a Monster with a Challenge Rating of 100

Why?

Because I could—and it only took me 5 minutes using Worldsmith.

And the best part?

You can do this and much more.

Get a free 7-day trial at session0studios.com/worldsmith and unlock their full suite of TTRPG generators from monsters to mythic magic items and everything in between.

Yep, that’s a full 7-day trial—completely free.

That’s a whole week of monsters, magic items, and more—whatever you need, zero burnout.

Try it now at session0studios.com/worldsmith.

Save time and make unlimited creations with Worldsmith.

Give Us a Rating and Review

You obviously have really good taste, you’re listening to How to Be a Better DM after all. We thank you for your support. If you’ve ever gotten anything useful from our show, take a minute to give us a rating and a review. It goes a very long way to making it so How to Be a Better DM can help many more dungeon masters just like you. If you love our content, help others become better dungeon masters too.

Brought to you by Session 0 Studios

Visit session0studios.com for more information.

...more

View all episodes

By Justin Lewis

4.8

3838 ratings