CREATING NPCS

As a core game piece for the Guide to tell their side of the story, Non-Player Characters (NPCs) may take increased amounts of thought and design.

Like the Adventurers, an NPC may start as a small collection of simple facts which grow over time as Adventurers through repeated encounters in a variety of situations.

A “stat block” or checklist that starts small and can grow as necessary helps create NPCs quickly and help improvise roleplaying them confidently.

Core NPC Design

☐ NPC NAME
What is the NPC called?
Choose or generate a name for this NPC.

☐ NPC APPEARANCE
How old is the NPC?
What species is the NPC?
How is the NPC dressed and what are they carrying or equipped with?
What first impression does this NPC make on the players?
What is this NPC doing when first encountered? (May depend on time of day…):

sleep
morning time
breakfast
morning work
lunch
afternoon work
dinner
relax
bedtime

Daily activities of an NPC change depending on the month or season, such as the medieval Labors of the Months:

Baking
Butchering
Collecting and Gathering
Countryside (Walks)
Courting
Digging
Feasting
Fertilizing
Fires/Hearth
Flowers
Fruit Picking
Harvesting
Hawking
Hay
Hunting
Milling
Mowing
Planting
Plowing
Pouring wine into barrels
Pruning
Repairing
Rope Making
Salting and Smoking
Scaring the Birds
Scything Wheat
Sharpening Sickle
Shearing and Spinning
Skinning
Sowing
Tool Mending/Making
Treading Grapes
Tying
Weaving
Weeding
Winnowing and Threshing

☐ NPC PORTRAYAL
Some example merchant responses to imagine or consider:

Selling an item to an Adventurer
Rejecting a sale: Adventurer has no gold
Rejecting a sale: out of that item
Appraise item value
Buy item from Adventurer
Rejecting a buy: cursed items
Rejecting a buy: does not deal in item
Rejecting a buy: junk item of no value
Rejecting a buy: too many items of that type already
Defending from Adventurer: attacked and hit
Defending from Adventurer: attacked but missed
Attacking Adventurer: hits
Attacking Adventurer: misses

Additional Optional NPC Design

☐ NPC REACTIONS
Create a table of reaction roll results this NPC has to each of the Adventurers.

Writing it out helps keep it persistent across sessions or through additional future encounters
These are only initial opinions and can change over time depending on the outcome of adventurer/NPC encounters
This is particularly effective for patrons and henchmen.

☐ NPC NEEDS / AGENDAS / HOOKS
How does this NPC provide an adventure for the players?

A need to fulfill? The adventure hook … something out of the NPCs ordinary day that they need adventurers help to resolve?
An agenda or task the NPC is set to complete which may aid or conflict with the PCs tasks?

☐ NPC RUMORS / SECRETS / CLUES
What does the NPC know that could help the party?

Interludes - backstory questions and answers which are not conflict based, but further the NPC and the PCs stories
Encounters / Social Conflicts - something the PCs will have to “talk” the NPC into sharing

☐ NPC ATTRIBUTES / RESERVES
Choose or role the base attributes of the NPC (Strength, Intelligence, etc) and set the corresponding RESERVES.

☐ NPC ROLE / PROFESSION
What is this NPC's purpose, function, or plain old job in the world?

Fantasy: poor, peasant, merchant, clergy, knight, wealthy, nobility?
Modern: citizen, emergency services, military, government?
Futuristic: modern, but … IN SPACE?

☐ NPC SKILLS / SFX
List the primary skills or SFX this NPC might use

☐ NPC ALLEGIANCE / FACTION
Who does this NPC serve or owe allegiance to?

Fantasy: oaths of fealty? guilds? schisms?
Modern: secret societies? organizations? companies?
Futuristic: megacorps? stellar factions? empires?

NPC Worksheet

Create a note card for each possible recurring or persistent NPC or Patron:

Core Design
NPC NAME
NPC APPEARANCE
NPC PORTRAYAL
Additional Design
NPC REACTIONS
NPC NEEDS / AGENDAS / HOOKS
NPC RUMORS / SECRETS / CLUES
NPC ATTRIBUTES / RESERVES
NPC ROLE / PROFESSION
NPC SKILLS / SFX
NPC ALLEGIANCE / FACTION

Example NPCs

Name:
Appearance:
Portrayal:
Hooks / Secrets:
Romance / Major Interests:
Romance / Minor Interests:
Romance / Dislikes:
Terror / Phobias:
Reaction To Adventurer	Adventurer Appearance	Adventurer Charisma	First Impression Roll	First Impression Result

Additional Resources

Salvage Space: NPCs

◢ Salvage Space: NPCs

▲ Chronology :: ◢ References: NPCs