I recently was thinking about how players relate to NPCs, specifically:

Players nearly always believe the NPCs. As a corollary, when they decide to distrust an NPC, it’s nearly always the one they should trust.

This leads to some interesting developments, as an NPC can spout off nearly any complete nonsense, and the players will follow it right into a trap or worse. I’m not sure exactly what causes it, but I suspect part of it is something I’ve also observed as a player:

Some GMs never have their NPCs lie.

Once players expect that NPCs will always be truthful, they’re entirely unprepared when they’re not. After being caught off guard once, they’ll often skew the other direction by never trusting an NPC again. I’ve even had it where an unintentional slip-up or inconsistency on my part causes players to distrust that NPC, and future NPCs, even after I copped to the mistake and retconned it.

My experience may be atypical, and most GMs portray believable NPCs who don’t exist only to infodump on the players. One of the most cliched pieces of advice for GMs is to give NPCs personality, right? However, if my experience is one of the more common ones, here are some helpful ways to counter this, which I’ve encountered over the years.

No Infodumping

Players often implicitly trust NPCs because they expect them to act as straightforward information sources, conveying exactly what they’re saying and never anything more. If NPCs stay consistent with that or only lie when it’s obvious, their portrayal will be very flat. Using gossip, half-truths, or flat-out lies can create a dynamic where players must weigh credibility and intent and think critically about the information they’ve been given. Conflicting narratives can also be used to reveal interpersonal tensions, secrets, or hidden motives.

Bringing It To The Table

There are a handful of simple, tried and true ways to start bringing out unreliability in NPC narratives while not signaling that nothing they say can be trusted:

• Body language, tone, and delivery can reveal when an NPC might be nervous, uncertain, or deceptive. Give NPCs signals like saying “Um” and “Ah”, glancing around the room, tapping fingers, fidgeting, or adjusting clothing. The players still need to determine why that’s the case (maybe the NPC has something else unrelated going on), which can add extra layers to their interactions with the NPC.
• Layer information with subtext and implications. Instead of giving the PCs an blatant warning, a reluctant NPC might say, “Something strange happened last night…but I wouldn’t pry if I were you”. They can also give hints without directly stating the truth. For example, you might say that an NPC sarcastically mentions how much the Duke’s kind heart has really helped the town, rather than outright saying, “I hate the Duke.”
• Blend truth with misinformation. This can be intentional or unintentional on the NPC’s part. Simply make sure there are ways for the PCs to discover what is bad information, personal belief, or prejudice on the NPC’s part.

No Need To Go Overboard

You can introduce these NPC dynamics sparingly but consistently. NPCs who lie or mislead too often may frustrate players, particularly if there’s no way for them to be able to discern when it’s happening — and lead right back to the issue you’re trying to avoid, where they don’t trust anything any NPC says. A handful of NPCs with their own spin on the truth, biased perspectives, or a touch of misinformation can go a long way. They don’t need to be elaborate either; brief, seemingly offhand comments can be enough to establish them as multidimensional characters. It can prompt players to assess each NPC on their own merits instead of seeing them as faceless cardboard cutouts with speech bubbles over their heads, and to start looking for corroborating evidence before acting on what NPCs say, without outright distrusting them or not developing connections with them.

Finally, I’m sure there are much better guides out there for portraying NPCs, but hopefully, this post got you thinking about it if you hadn’t already.