Author: Sam C “Ethereal DeepDiver”
“NPC, thy hight is conveyer belt, ferry me deeper into immersia!” – PCs (Player Characters)
Immersion, Permission, Agency: the raison d’etre of all NPCs (Non-Player Characters).
Exposition Dump R Us, vil-tagonists, kaleidoscopes to the setting or world warped mirrors; reflecting back a perspective of the players’ cabal of colorful characters. The noble NPC (Non-Playa Chump) works to enrich the experience while you grind for experience.
Now, you may be wondering why I’m waxing over these GM-faced XP sacks. Simple, my co-dev and I have been busy paving the future stomping grounds of our own TTRPG. This task has led to Pinky and the Brain levels of pondering about NPCs. This also led to an appreciation for the longsuffering Non-player-created people, places, and parcels. Whether it’s a dude in black fleeing across the desert, or millions of voices crying out just to be silenced. Or a bustling city full of life, all serve the same purpose—putting on a smashing good show.
Character NPCs
Let’s start the glazing with our basic NPCs (Narrator-Provided Cadavers), the juicy undulating fat of a game. Usually a deliverer of that “call to adventure” we all keep hearing about, only matters as much as needed. Dialing up or down the details of the NPC is an easy indicator of the importance of said NPC. This importance, however, can be influenced by the players’ interaction. Repeated player interaction with an NPC (Narrator’s Personal Cat’s-paw), equals increased NPC importance, all-in-all making them a better siren, drawing the players into the next challenge.
EXAMPLE: Say the players frequent Colgate and the weaponsmith is a muscle mommy wanted in four cities for aggravated assault on an anvil with wicked awesome skill. The players, naturally, reserve more Fs for the happenings of Colgate’s life than that of the seldom-seen state governor. So, when the players discover Colgate’s daughter, Dentyne is missing, presumed kidnapped by a band of rollerskating street bard-barians, expect some Double Dragon/Streets of Rage/Rumble in the Bronx reactions from the party. It’s about to go DOWN. It becomes a cycle. The GM adds details to an NPC. The PCs invest time & interest into the NPC (Nobody Puts-Colgate-in-the Corner), causing the GM to add more details to the NPC (Narrator’s Plot Compass).
Parcel NPCs—or would the item make more sense here?
Speaking of inanimate objects, parcels! An item NPC (Neutral Plot Component) can flesh out a setting just as well as a loose-lipped bartender. Items can act as refractions of a period in a world, a snapshot of a fragment of that time’s zeitgeist. Comparing these older NPC items to current ones can reveal the difference in tech, quality, skill, and popular thought between the past and the present within the campaign’s setting. More military goods than consumer goods denoting wartimes. Built-to-fail items frame a break and replace society.
EXAMPLE: Caster Rifles from the Anime Outlaw Star, plays this role. Constructed in the final days of mana-fueled magic; these rifles fired numbered shells, each shell delivering a different predetermined destructive effect. But in the current world of Outlaw Star; magic’s been “dead” for more than a century, caster rifles are antiques, rare collectibles. Outlaw Star is a world rebuilt after magic’s “death” where all artifacts, treasures, and secrets come from the time before that Apocalypse. Even in death, magic is still a main driving force. This point is hammered home every time the main character defeats the obstacle of the week with his Caster Rifle. One item with a world of exposition in the trigger.
Setting NPCs
For this last part, let’s get into the main NPCs, the Master Mold of NPCs (Naturally Procreating Cores). This NPC (Necessary Plot Components), AKA the setting, is the embodiment of the tone and theme of the world. This NPC procreator dictates the basic motivations and emotions of the average NPC (Narrative Piloted Characters). With actions and personalities directly shaped by the setting, these template NPCs move like clockwork., helping the immersion and agency of the players.
EXAMPLE: Take, Batman’s Gotham City. A malignant city of corruption, sin, and concrete. A city where having a heart is not suggested. Here, victimizing your fellow man is a viable and lucrative road. A city so damned that it devours any that try to excise its foul nature as it did to the billionaire philanthropists Thomas and Martha Wayne. In a city like this, the struggling citizens have little choice but to turn to crime, ensuring a healthy stream of mooks and henchmen. In my opinion, that’s when Gotham is in its best NPC (Ne’er-do-well Populated City) form.
In settings like these, player agency can shine bright through the changing environment and actions of the NPCs. For example(example-ception!) in Gotham, instead of the corner grocer beating the homeless guy that comes asking for food, he unexpectedly gives him a bag of food and talks to him about doing some odd jobs in exchange for more food and change. Or maybe the local government decides to not bulldoze the community recreation center, allowing it to continue operating its after-school programs for kids and teens. Gasp! Is the Master Mold being affected by the players’ actions?!?!
Permission, Immersion, and Agency; these are the three pillars that make up a good NPC. They give the player permission to take action through a shout for help, a lawless city calling out for a few heroes, or a quest posting in a bar. Letting the players know that their intervention is needed. They furnish the world, fleshing it out and giving something in which the players’ imagination can sink. Finally, feedback, the effect on the players’ cause, and the response to the players’ answered call.
We may forget their names, and maybe get them killed, but the stories they populate will remain. Thank you, you innumerable masses. And to the GMs that make them… you’re next.
About the Author
Bio: Sam Carter is an indie TTRPG developer, working at Stock & Bull Entertainment on Project: Powerpunk. He’s an amateur software engineer who loves music, movies, comics, and animation. You can check out his other works and web development skills at https://www.stockandbull.com/
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