I’m going to talk about how to use NPCs! Wait, don’t go!
Okay, so there’s like a thousand articles and videos on making NPCs gel with your players, and you feel like you’re going to have heard it all before! In fact I’ve written some stuff on it myself. But I want to talk about how using the word ‘NPC’ actually means a lot of things. Because each one you introduce to any RP game has an intent, role to play and ways they can expand. And we don’t really talk about their functions and forms, so I want to look at different grades of NPC and how we should approach them, what we can do to make sure that they become part of a living world and how they can change. In the next few articles, I’m going to do a brief overview and then spend some time in future coming back to these concepts.
Basic Things About NPCs
Ok, so first. I’ve talked a lot about villains, so I won’t be talking about them much in this article. They definitely are a category of NPC, but I’m not really trying to unpick adversarial figures in this one. However, these categories and any villainous ones aren’t fixed. An NPC can slide between categories with work from the GM. So, let’s take a look.
Core NPCS
So, let’s talk about Core NPCs. These are NPCs that are central to the campaign. When players think or talk about a game, these people will come up within a couple of minutes. If they are an adventuring party, then these people travel with the group. If they own a spaceship, these people live on it. If they live in a city, these people are the nearest and dearest.
Core NPCs are a special breed; you’re going to end up doing work on them in ways you didn’t expect. Eventually, just by the regularity of how much they recur in a story, you’re going to have to improv some stuff about them. Maybe their reaction to a player’s behaviour, maybe someone asks them a question about how they are feeling, or a piece of backstory they have. You’re going to need to get inside their head because one of the things you are using them for is to set the emotional tone of the game. Their reactions to player character behaviour are the closest you’ll have to being able to challenge player/character ideas and thoughts.
I’m going to come back to that in my next article in more detail, but for now, we need to know that for maximum impact, these characters need to have two things. They need a Flawed Viewpoint and clear Expertise.
Usually, if a discussion about what to do comes up and they are present at a planning scene, to be believable, a core NPC needs to be able to pitch in and not just stand there. Deciding on these two elements allows you to understand where an NPC may be helpful and actually have useful inputs and when they’ll make the wrong suggestion.
For example, you may decide A’tir the eladrin noble may be useful and put in information about the realms he’s from and etiquette in noble cultures, and evaluate moments where emotional honesty is a good tool. But his Flawed Viewpoint means that he thinks with his heart, not necessarily tactically. He’ll often suggest courses of action that put him in danger over others have no clue what to do in a situation that requires him to think of expenses, or the viewpoints of others. In a social situation without established rules, he’s lost.
Now this core NPC is able to be part of discussions and the daily life of players, maybe even providing roleplaying challenges. They aren’t going to provide all the answers all the time but they also won’t sit there like a computer dialogue tree waiting for you to make all the decisions.
Service NPCs
These NPCs often supply a need. Perhaps it’s a famous wild west inventor, or a cyberpunk back alley doctor, or an old occultist in a horror game. Whatever the flavour, the original intent here is to be a service that PCs can visit. Never forget that these NPCs are people too. The service they provide should be useful but can be open to change, either through players offending them, becoming their friends or developments in their lives. Every time they about meet this type of NPC for a service, take a moment to add another Detail or Progression to this NPC. Slowly layering things about them for the PCs to learn or connect with.
For example, Kaylnn ‘Bottles’ Tamrin, is at first an arcane university graduate who provides a lift and helps the group. Then later, they meet her again as an artificer resource, building stuff for the players. In doing that the players learn about her relationship with a pirate king. Then when the players meet her again as part of a pirate ship, she gets along with them and opens up and they are friends. When the pirate king dies, the next time they see her, she is drunk and purposeless. Do they realise she needs help? How does this affect the resource of she provides? Are the players going to treat her like that resource, or a friend? The NPC now feels real, whatever choice they make next. Eventually maybe she will become a tragic detail about the world. Or maybe she’ll eventually become an almost core NPC who the PCs helped through a hard time and supports them as a useful inventor warlord. But the relationship has evolved. Nothing stays static.
Local Colour NPCs
Sometimes, you’ll just provide an NPC in order to give an idea of the culture or situation where the PC’s are. They don’t necessarily have a function beyond demonstrating a concept or idea. Maybe they’re a city guide or alien diplomat but they are here to give you a sense of a new idea. They maybe long-term important but they are more likely a ‘walk on’ part. They sound throw away but actually, they must have at least one trait – they must have a true sense of concept.
While other NPCs can be a bit more ‘make-it-up-on-the-fly-as-I-go-over-sessions’ and paint a slow revealing picture, these one-shot NPCs must clearly communicate the thing they are trying to show and understand it well enough that if a PC starts asking them questions, they know how their society and life functions. So you need to at least have a grasp of that before you run the NPC. Because the players will ask and you don’t want to improvise something that doesn’t make sense later. Believe me, I’ve done it and you end up jumping through hoops just to make things make sense.
I hope that starts to demonstrate that when we talk about NPCs, we are talking about a big old lot of different ideas and approaches. And I haven’t even got to the more dynamic uses of NPCs yet. Join me next time for more on this when we look at Plot, Challenge and Developmental uses of NPCs.
Creative Commons art credit: Vesk NPC by Lemniskate, Dwarf Alchemist by Serg-Natos and The Alchemist by JimmyNijs.
