Instincts vs. Drives: 3 Random Tables for Monsters & NPCs

Back in June 2021, Jeremy Strandberg pivoted Stonetop from drives for PCs (a common mechanical hack to Dungeon World 1) to instincts, which he’d already been using for monsters and NPCs. Prior to making the change, he wrote on his Discord:

So, I’m thinking about changing Drives into Instincts. They’re similar in that:

– Each PC picks one at character creation

– Each one is a combination of a grabby (?) name and short explanation

– They tie into the End of Session move, with a potential reward of 1 XP per session

They’re different in that:

  1) They’re phrased in a “to <do something>” format (the same way that instincts for NPCs, Followers, and Monsters are)

  2) They’re a bit more general than many of the Drive requirements

  3) The End of Session move becomes “When a session ends, point out how you acted according to or struggled with your instinct. If you can, mark XP.”

Since I like using instincts for NPCs, I wanted some random tables with instincts.

I went through Book II of Stonetop, which is licensed under the Creative Commons, and compiled and curated a list of the instincts (some were two or three items, which I’ve usually split up; e.g., “to test people, set events in motion” is now two items).

Most entries in Book II were unique, but here were those that were reused:

to belong
to bully, threaten
to destroy intruders
to explore
to follow orders
to follow the herd
to play and frolic
to survive at the expense of others
to veer between their masters’ teachings and their base needs.

I then classified the instincts as whether I thought they were better for a monster or NPC (which might not correspond to how they were used in Book II, as I didn’t track that).

In practice, I find that rolling a d100 for an instinct often prompts me to come up with a different, unique instinct for the NPC at hand. But the random, creative prompt pushes me in the right direction. For instance, the first time I used these tables, I rolled “to make the pain stop,” which was perfect for that NPC, and then “to set events in motion” for the next NPC, which somehow inspired “to berate unbelievers.” The power of the tables, I suspect, is that you don’t have to start with a blank page.

Instincts for NPCs

to advance their own agenda
to amuse/impress their friends
to arrange, normalize, preserve
to avoid death
to avoid disruption and distraction
to avoid real danger
to be genuinely, awkwardly caring and giving
to be lazy
to belong
to bicker and argue
to bring down easy prey
to bring home captives for sacrifice
to care for the forest, especially the trees
to cause paranoia
to cling to what they’ve got
to comply maliciously
to consume
to distrust outsiders
to do what they must
to drag others into their search
to drive their students towards perfection
to earn their master’s respect
to eat pretty much anything
to encourage growth
to explore their condition
to feast
to feed
to feel important
to feel no remorse
to find succor and purpose
to finish the job
to follow orders
to foster worship
to get distracted
to get in the way
to get theirs and get gone
to get this over with
to give nothing
to give, but to be easily offended
to glorify their tribe
to gossip amongst themselves
to guard against old evil
to heap abuse on its worshippers
to hide evidence of their failure, even from themselves
to hide their affliction
to hide their condition
to ignore harsh truths
to impose order
to indulge their curiosity
to keep their master’s house in order
to lift their curse
to live their best life beyond the reach of the law
to maintain or increase their power
to maintain their family’s dignity
to maintain their status
to make people into monsters
to make the best out of what they’ve got
to make the pain stop
to misunderstand
to mollify evil
to not mind, really
to pine for their family
to preserve the sanctity of the dead
to preserve their version of what they were taught
to preserve/restore its home
to prey on the unwary
to protect the town, no matter what
to protect their beliefs
to protect their charges
to protect their family’s honor
to protect their homes, their kin, their honor
to protect their people
to protect their status and holdings
to punish and torment
to punish perfectionism
to punish the perpetrator and those who protect them
to put off decisions
to put their family’s fortunes above all else
to put their people and their property first
to recklessly explore the world
to remain uninvolved
to remain unperturbed
to reward diligence
to second-guess your decisions
to secure the next big score
to see their wards thrive, prosper
to see threats everywhere
to seek glory
to seek perfection
to set events in motion
to seize any opportunity
to spread its master’s influence
to suit
to suppress their grief
to take whatever it can
to tame chaos
to test any who stand before it
to try to make everyone happy
to unravel reality
to warn of some danger

Instincts for Monsters

to “not hear” your commands
to “protect” beauty and innocence
to absorb individual identity
to amuse themselves at the expense of others
to bring down a good, solid meal
to bring down the weakest prey
to burn the living
to capture prey and slowly consume it
to catch prey unawares
to chase
to claim undead souls
to collect drowned souls
to compulsively shape its environment
to constantly search for food
to consume and spread
to consume life-force
to consume reality
to consume the dying breaths of the condemned
to crank up tension and dread
to create more mouths, more of its kind
to delight in pain, savor fear, and indulge in every cruelty
to deplete resources
to destroy intruders
to destroy, especially the most stable people/things
to devour
to devour minerals and metal
to do their master’s will
to dominate its territory
to eat and grow
to eat and spawn
to eat anything
to feast on bloody, bloody meat
to feed on easy prey
to feed on fear and despair
to feed on the unwary, then flee
to feed the younglings
to fill its belly and jealously guard its hoard
to fill its belly and retreat
to fill its belly, to protect its young
to follow the herd
to gather mass, to bury all in its path
to get confused and lash out
to give chase
to gorge itself
to horrify and overwhelm
to hurt, terrorize, kill
to keep enemies docile
to keep their secrets
to keep their wards
to lash out
to lash out and avenge itself for even the slightest offence
to lash out at “food” in range
to latch on and drag down
to lure predators into traps
to lure prey
to make monstrous
to not let go
to offer surprises
to overwhelm
to pin down a good meal, then swarm it
to plod forward
to preserve
to preserve its glorious afterlife
to protect itself and its hoard, from threats real or imagined
to protect the colony
to protect the herd
to protect their nests
to protect their young
to punish anything that reminds it of its past
to rage at all the noise and chaos
to revel in slaughter, pain, and terror
to revel in the hunt
to revel in their prey’s fear and suffering
to run rampant
to run unchecked across the land
to rush inexorably forward
to sate its never-ending hunger
to see people as either threat or prey
to seek what it needs to grow
to seep, to consume, to grow
to sing the eternal lullaby
to slake its thirst for violence and suffering
to slow things down
to smother life, hope, and light
to spread cruelty, pain, fire
to spread pain and misery
to spring on unwary prey
to stampede
to strip away its victim’s humanity
to take from the surface, to never let go
to take its sweet time
to taste sweet, delicious fears
to terrorize its prey
to test the might of supplicants
to torment its prey
to torment the living
to toy with its food
to unravel any sense of safety/self
to wait patiently for food
to wash away

Instincts for Either

to adjust, flow, and adapt
to aggrandize themselves
to amass more followers, more power
to amuse themselves at the expense of others
to assume the worst
to attack where the foe is weak
to avenge
to avoid a fair fight
to avoid danger or punishment
to bask in the fear/adoration of others
to be adored
to be coy
to be fiercely independent
to be greedy, selfish
to be overzealous in guarding you
to brawl, the nastier the better
to bully, threaten
to capture others
to cleanse the world
to complete its given task
to conceal things
to confuse, frustrate, delay
to conquer
to covet
to defend its current spot
to defend its honor
to defend themselves
to dislike outsiders
to dominate the region
to ease its loneliness
to easily take offense
to enforce the old ways, the old rules
to escape
to explore
to fill the emptiness inside
to follow its last orders
to force others into servitude
to fulfill its increasingly specific longings
to further its plans
to get annoyed
to get confused/annoyed
to get curious
to get intimate, blur boundaries
to get riled up easily
to grant unasked-for wishes
to hoard knowledge
to hoard secrets
to hold a grudge
to hold its secrets tightly
to ignore rules, boundaries, and taboos
to ignore the suffering or needs of others
to indulge its ego
to jealously hoard secrets
to keep secrets
to learn to flaunt
to lord over others
to make a mess of things
to make mischief
to overreact
to panic
to play
to play and frolic
to play-fight
to prepare for lean times
to protect its turf
to protect its ward
to protect their hoard
to protect their territory
to prove themselves, one way or the other
to punish
to punish trespassers
to pursue its obsession
to push and test themselves
to push towards the inevitable
to repel intruders
to reveal
to reveal all manner of ugliness
to see things as black and white
to seek tribute, to lord over others
to serve their master’s whims
to spook easily and overreact
to spook or to get angry, in equal measure
to steal finery, companionship, and precious things
to stir up trouble
to stretch and grow and experience life
to subdue or drive off threats
to subjugate
to suffer no fools
to suffer no insult or disrespect
to survive at the expense of others
to take its time
to take the long, long view
to take things too far
to test its limits
to tolerate no disrespect
to topple and undermine
to undermine, to surprise
to veer between their masters’ teachings and their base needs
to viciously defend its own
to wait for the right moment

Photo credit: Unsplash+.

Instincts vs. Drives: 3 Random Tables for Monsters & NPCs

Instincts for NPCs

Instincts for Monsters

Instincts for Either

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Instincts vs. Drives: 3 Random Tables for Monsters & NPCs

Instincts for NPCs

Instincts for Monsters

Instincts for Either

Share this:

Like this:

Related

Featured Posts

Visualization Tools in BASIC

Hugo-Award Winning Novels

BLUELITE: A Holmes Basic Hack

Planet of the Week

Colossal Cave Adventure Module Template

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