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GameMastery Guide / Nonplayer Characters

Life of an NPC

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 86
Once a GM knows what roles he needs NPCs to fill in a game and has a few notes about their specifics, its time to let the NPCs loose in the venue of an actual game. Transforming an NPC from an idea into an actual personality interacting with or facing off against the PCs proves one of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of any roleplaying game, often being one of the surest differences between a mediocre game and an extraordinary one. However, it requires not just a measure of acting talent but also fine judgment on the part of the GM to make an NPC feel like an active individual while avoiding common traps that such characters can present.

Building Connections

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 86
In order to help the players see NPCs as actual characters and not just conveniences or cardboard opponents, the GM must work to build relationships. In the real world, people get to know other people through mutual connections or repeated contact. The more contact, the more a connection grows—for better or worse. In the game world, PCs might get to know NPCs the same way.

NPC Friends and Family: Giving player characters NPC dependents and family members is often an unpopular move, as players can readily see them as nothing but a liability. They are sometimes overused to drive adventure plots: the kidnapped sweetheart, the accident-prone brother or cousin, the gambler buddy who is forever needing to be rescued from his creditors, and so on. For players (and therefore PCs) to regard an NPC with any kind of affection, she has to be useful at least as often, and to the same degree, as she is a liability. Otherwise, as in real life, patience becomes exhausted and friends and relatives are disowned.

Many adventurers are rootless wanderers, either far away from home and family or separated from them by war, tragedy, or death. If a PC has relatives in the game, they should be established right at character generation, as part of the character’s backstory and with the involvement of the PC. A barbarian has fellow tribesfolk, a cleric has brothers or sisters in faith from a seminary or novitiate temple, and so on. It’s a weak and potentially frustrating move to merely have an NPC appear in a session and claim connection to or entitlement with a PC without the player’s consent. When built into a character’s story and gradually developed (usually over the course of an entire campaign) to be a useful and interesting addition to a story, such NPCs can swiftly become favorites, worth both running to and protecting when need be.

NPC Contacts and Traders: Often shopkeepers and simple townsfolk get overlooked in a campaign, but even in such seemingly mundane interactions clever GMs can find opportunities to forge connections and have the fates of PCs and NPC intertwine. Such supplementary characters have every bit as much potential to be interesting and useful NPCs as those integral to an adventure. Giving these characters even basic personalities encourages PCs to cultivate contacts with them, potentially building a foundation for a growing business relationship or friendship. Once a sense of value is established, the GM can begin to use such NPCs as means of passing along information, routes into future adventures, or even simple boons (see pages 88–89).

NPC Allies, Followers, and Hirelings: It has been said that the primary duty of a leader is to be a fit person for others to follow, and it is the duty of every PC to nurture good relations with NPCs in their employ or under their command. The attitude of any NPC toward the PCs (both individually and as a group) is something the GM should note and track, and that should be reflected back in the NPC’s attitudes and actions. Several options exist for PCs to interact with helpful NPCs and hangers-on. While many such NPCs follow the PCs for payment or their own reasons, when there is a clear chain of command linking the PCs to an NPC, the Leadership feat likely comes into play. These rules should make it easier for PCs to get what they need out of specialized NPCs in terms of service and obedience, but it does not entail carte blanche to mistreat an NPC or routinely put him into unreasonable danger. Eventually a mistreated follower will desert the PCs, or harbor a grudge that leads to sloppy work, vulnerability to overtures by an enemy, or even an attempt on the life of one or more PCs.

Dead Ends

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 86
Sometimes the death of an NPC leaves the player characters at a dead end, especially if the NPC dies before passing along some information that is vital to the progress of the adventure. The PCs might kill an NPC they were supposed to interrogate, or an unlucky die roll might claim the NPC’s life too soon. This situation is not so much of a nightmare as many GMs might think, and there are many ways to deal with it.

Dying Words: If an NPC has information to give the PCs—and if she regards them as friends and allies—the information can be passed on with the NPC’s dying breath. A message like this will be short—probably no more than a half-dozen words—and there will be no opportunity for the PCs to ask questions. “Look behind the altar” or “Beware the third pillar” work well as dying words, but “The leader of the Merchants’ Guild is secretly the high priest of an evil cult” does not.

Searching the Body: Searching a dead NPC’s body can provide the PCs with a handwritten note or some vital object that might allow them to piece together the information they might otherwise have gained from the living NPC. Again, there is no opportunity to ask questions, and the PCs will have to make sense of the information for themselves. In the event of death by particularly destructive means, a page or two might be blown clear. The PCs will have to act quickly but might be able to recover some information.

Speak with Dead: If the PCs are able to recover a dead NPC’s body, the spell speak with dead allows them to ask a number of questions, depending on the caster’s level. Ghostly Visitations: If all else fails, the PCs might receive a visit from the dead character’s ghost, or have a vision in a dream, which conveys about the same amount of information as dying words. Such supernatural messages should be brief and rarely used, lest they lose the feeling of supernatural portentousness.

Who's in Control?

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 87
The term “nonplayer character” suggests that NPCs are characters played by the GM, but according to circumstances and GM preference, they might also be played by one or more assistant GMs, or by players whose characters have died in situations where it is not feasible for the party to meet a replacement PC. PCs who gain devotees might also take on the role of playing one of their followers. Who plays which NPCs is ultimately up to the GM, but often making a secondary character a player’s responsibility allows the GM to remain focused on the story and keeps him from giving a single character and her retinue an unfair amount of attention. Regardless of who plays an NPC, the important distinction is that PCs play the “starring roles” in a roleplaying adventure, while NPCs are secondary characters and extras. Yet remember that just because NPCs are usually played by the GM, they don’t always have to be and can afford new or guest players a unique opportunity to participate in the game.

Beyond Expectations

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 87
Occasionally a throwaway NPC, one relegated to a limited role and with few expectations from the GM, comes to life, captures the attention and interest of the PCs, and grows into a campaign regular. If an NPC starts to assume an importance beyond that planned for in her creation, the GM should not be concerned. Continue to use the stats created for the character (or generic NPC stats if necessary) until the gaming session ends, then make it a priority to create the required level of detail for the character before the next session. NPCs that grow organically out of a challenging adventure, an entertaining interaction, or merely player enthusiasm are part of what keeps a campaign vital and interesting for even the most farsighted GM.

NPC Traps

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 87
As NPCs make up one of the most pervasive and important parts of any campaign, they also present an opportunity for some of the greatest problems. Where faulty rules can make challenges unbalanced, a misused NPC risks ruining a game’s believability or causing player frustration. Therefore, GMs should bear a few common NPC traps in mind.

Competitiveness: Although NPCs are usually played by the GM and some have goals conflicting with the PCs, the GM should not make the mistake of competing with the players. Roleplaying is a collaborative experience, not a competitive one, with an adventure’s story being told by the very act of the PCs overcoming challenges. If an NPC impedes this fundamental arrangement, the story doesn’t progress and the players might grow frustrated and disinterested. While this doesn’t mean the PCs have to win all the time, any failure should be temporary and feel as though it adds to the story or is rooted in the rules of the game, not in the favoritism of the GM for his pet creations. After all, the game ends if the NPCs ever “win.”

Over-Protectiveness: While players can (and should) become very attached to their characters, a GM can sometimes become too attached to a particular NPC. The GM might become so invested in such characters that rules are bent or broken and the players’ suspension of disbelief is threatened. Nothing is more harmful to a game than accusations—or even suspicions—of GM bias, and groups have even been known to disband over them. The rules apply to PCs and NPCs with equal force, and NPCs will die—sometimes even NPCs that the GM spent a great deal of effort creating or for whom he had greater plans. If an NPC’s death leaves the PCs at an impasse, the GM still has a number of options as detailed earlier. If the NPC is simply a favorite, then the GM should strive to make the character’s death memorable rather than trying desperately to keep her alive. A dramatic death is preferable to any number of improbable survivals and can avoid players nursing grudges over GM bias.

Show Stealers: While a major villain certainly merits some time in the spotlight, a lesser NPC who regularly upstages the PCs swiftly garners the players’ dislike and resentment. The PCs are the stars of the show, so to speak, and NPCs are supporting characters, not competitors for screen time. As with over-protectiveness, this is an easy trap to fall into, and erring on the side of caution is always best.