Non
Player
Characters
What do you think of them? I used them a lot in my old RPs, for villains, thugs, enemies, and so on.
So what do you think of using them a forum like the RPRepository?
Player
Characters
What do you think of them? I used them a lot in my old RPs, for villains, thugs, enemies, and so on.
So what do you think of using them a forum like the RPRepository?
Unless your RP consists of two PCs interacting with nobody but each other, your RP MUST have NPCs. The shopkeeper, the villian, teachers, parents, strangers on the street, old friends and allies. It's imposible to write a story without them.
I personally don't write RPR profiles for them (or use a 'NPC' profile) and just incorperate their actions and dialogue within my post. I also perfectly happy for other players create action / dialogue for NPCs I've introduced in their own posts. (Perhaps there should be a few asterisks next to that statement. For example if it's a NPC particually close to one of my own characters - such as a sibling - I probably would want to write their actions myself).
I guess communication is the key. It never hurts to ask your partner what their opinions and expectations are
I personally don't write RPR profiles for them (or use a 'NPC' profile) and just incorperate their actions and dialogue within my post. I also perfectly happy for other players create action / dialogue for NPCs I've introduced in their own posts. (Perhaps there should be a few asterisks next to that statement. For example if it's a NPC particually close to one of my own characters - such as a sibling - I probably would want to write their actions myself).
I guess communication is the key. It never hurts to ask your partner what their opinions and expectations are
Claine wrote:
Unless your RP consists of two PCs interacting with nobody but each other, your RP MUST have NPCs. The shopkeeper, the villian, teachers, parents, strangers on the street, old friends and allies. It's imposible to write a story without them.
I personally don't write RPR profiles for them (or use a 'NPC' profile) and just incorperate their actions and dialogue within my post. I also perfectly happy for other players create action / dialogue for NPCs I've introduced in their own posts. (Perhaps there should be a few asterisks next to that statement. For example if it's a NPC particually close to one of my own - such as a sibling - I probably would want to write their actions myself).
I guess communication is the key. It never hurts to ask your partner what their opinions and expectations are
I personally don't write RPR profiles for them (or use a 'NPC' profile) and just incorperate their actions and dialogue within my post. I also perfectly happy for other players create action / dialogue for NPCs I've introduced in their own posts. (Perhaps there should be a few asterisks next to that statement. For example if it's a NPC particually close to one of my own - such as a sibling - I probably would want to write their actions myself).
I guess communication is the key. It never hurts to ask your partner what their opinions and expectations are
Sounds pretty much what I did. I also remember PMing my players about things. "is this ok?" and so on.
I love them! There is no way to write a story or RP without them honestly.
I prefer to call them 'side characters' though because there's always someone playing them. It's not like in a video game where their prewritten and programmed. So they are more so 'side characters' and not 'non player characters' at all when it comes to RP.
I have a personal rule and preference that side characters are played only by those who created them. Even if I create some random guy on the street who harrasses my character, they are my side character to play. If I create a mailroom worker in an office environment, I play them, no one else. Same for the other person. I won't write any dialogue or assume any actions for a side character they created/introduced.
The only time it's acceptable is if we spoke about beforehand, and have one or two side characters that we allow each other to write in a minor fashion, but nothing major.
It urks me when I have a side character I created, be controlled in the next post by the other person! Ahhhh! Like, what if I had a plan for them specifically and then the other person just has them be told to leave the room and they leave. Like no! Hands off unless otherwise stated! LOL.
Tl;dr: I call them side characters, love them; but I play side characters I create, the other person plays side characters they create. Unless decided upon otherwise OOC, but rarely.
I prefer to call them 'side characters' though because there's always someone playing them. It's not like in a video game where their prewritten and programmed. So they are more so 'side characters' and not 'non player characters' at all when it comes to RP.
I have a personal rule and preference that side characters are played only by those who created them. Even if I create some random guy on the street who harrasses my character, they are my side character to play. If I create a mailroom worker in an office environment, I play them, no one else. Same for the other person. I won't write any dialogue or assume any actions for a side character they created/introduced.
The only time it's acceptable is if we spoke about beforehand, and have one or two side characters that we allow each other to write in a minor fashion, but nothing major.
It urks me when I have a side character I created, be controlled in the next post by the other person! Ahhhh! Like, what if I had a plan for them specifically and then the other person just has them be told to leave the room and they leave. Like no! Hands off unless otherwise stated! LOL.
Tl;dr: I call them side characters, love them; but I play side characters I create, the other person plays side characters they create. Unless decided upon otherwise OOC, but rarely.
I am LORD of the NPCS and ascended npcs (those characters who started as npcs but took over ahahah)
I often when building a character will also consider the people around them. Do they have any coworkers of note? family? friends? Sometimes they're just not important to the plot but sometimes they are.
I like to bring npcs and side characters into rps and I expect my partner to do the same to keep interaction and story going. Two people in a room is all very well and good, but if you want story to progress you kinda NEED other people wandering around the scene you know?
I've rped against people who really hate npcs and side characters and refuse to contribute any themselves despite the scene being say, a party, or a school or a place of work, or a busy mall or public square or whatever where realistically there SHOULD be other people and interactions going on and I found it rather heavy work on my part having to play everything to just keep story going forward.
I also really enjoy asides. When two characters split up or whatever and you get to follow one of them doing something else for a bit, but only if it contributes either to the plot in some way or adds some characterisation. I find it interesting to see what another character does in their free time or how their home life is or whatever. I kind of like having that little extra scene, a short extra post that just concludes things.
A teenager arriving home late from a party having an argument with a parent or sneaking into their room and falling asleeping thinking about the evening adds a nice cap off to the chapter imo than just "he went home"
This is another quirk of the way I right that I think is a bit marmite for some people. Some people LOVE this, others HATE it and find it "irrelivant".
I don't really care if your character is like, cooking breakfast or something, what does this add? but if it adds something, go for it! I kinda think of it like a movie or a tv show. Does this scene contribute anything or is it just filler? Would this be cut if it was a show? Does this scene need a little capoff to just conclude it before the "next episode"? (like when you have a huge combat scene and it ends, I actually really enjoy having a bit of downtime showing characters recovering both physically and mentally. It's like that scene at the end of a tv show where you have music and it just shows people across the city/ship/setting hugging, crying, going to bed, showering to get all the blood off them, grieving... and so on. It gives players time to come down but also I feel just adds a narrative cap to the excitement. It feels satisfying?)
I admit I have a tendency to play multiple characters in most long term rps because I find it helps move things along and sometimes I just don't wanna be a particular guy today or have anything to do with them today.
I also do what we call in one group "megaposts" which myself and one other player do periodically. They're a scene that involves only our own characters so aren't really rp but are important scenes/discussions to have shown "on screen".
They either move forward some story, give some insight to the "audience" (that is, the other players) about what's going on or they give some characterisation that's important.
We use character A talking to character B about some big event to sow seeds for the story to come and without them a lot of that satisfying story arc would exist only in one player's head and not be available to everyone else you know?
I love reading them and I enjoy writing them. I find them very very important in a very large long term rp with big overarching plots and lots of smaller side plots. This rp is basically a space opera so there's always small little plot threads to tie up neatly or drop new seeds for.
Some of my more commonly used side characters, contacts etc who WILL come up get a short bio. They're a good 1/3 of the length of my character bios and contain only stuff that's important to their role but because i'm a bit uh.. crazy... lol, often they end up being fleshed out into actual characters anyway, whoops.
https://www.rprepository.com/site.php?char=99687&page=227572 this guy is an example of an npc/side character who's started to ascend. He's still mostly a b or c tier character in things, I haven't ever played him ALONE but he turns up so regularly in my modern fantasy and horror rps that he needed a bit more fleshing out.
https://www.rprepository.com/site.php?char=99687&page=227573 these two are the sires of two of my actual characters who I decided to flesh out a bit but are, ultimately, background.
https://www.rprepository.com/site.php?char=109621&page=270017 and then you have Eddie's "relationship" section which has named npcs who probably won't appear but might. They're names of people who have some importance to him but most likely won't appear in the game, but may be mentioned in passing. They're very much npcs as i've never had a need to flesh them out at all beyond the one paragraph.
Same for Mitchell's "sister" and sire. They turn up, they talk briefly, but ultimately they're there to force story along and aren't the main focus. They're very much background. His Sire in fact exists pretty much entirely to force him to have to do things that aren't neccisarily what he wants to do. Joe exists as a "force the plot" device lol. He is VERY useful.
I like background characters, npcs and side characters because they add flavour not only to a character (I mean come on, everyone has friends and family and people they KNOW, even antisocial types have someone right?) but make a world and story feel alive.
Generally I use the same rule as mercy. If you introduced the npc, they're yours to control unless stated otherwise. I mean with large groups of faceless mooks it very much becomes a free for all lol.
I often when building a character will also consider the people around them. Do they have any coworkers of note? family? friends? Sometimes they're just not important to the plot but sometimes they are.
I like to bring npcs and side characters into rps and I expect my partner to do the same to keep interaction and story going. Two people in a room is all very well and good, but if you want story to progress you kinda NEED other people wandering around the scene you know?
I've rped against people who really hate npcs and side characters and refuse to contribute any themselves despite the scene being say, a party, or a school or a place of work, or a busy mall or public square or whatever where realistically there SHOULD be other people and interactions going on and I found it rather heavy work on my part having to play everything to just keep story going forward.
I also really enjoy asides. When two characters split up or whatever and you get to follow one of them doing something else for a bit, but only if it contributes either to the plot in some way or adds some characterisation. I find it interesting to see what another character does in their free time or how their home life is or whatever. I kind of like having that little extra scene, a short extra post that just concludes things.
A teenager arriving home late from a party having an argument with a parent or sneaking into their room and falling asleeping thinking about the evening adds a nice cap off to the chapter imo than just "he went home"
This is another quirk of the way I right that I think is a bit marmite for some people. Some people LOVE this, others HATE it and find it "irrelivant".
I don't really care if your character is like, cooking breakfast or something, what does this add? but if it adds something, go for it! I kinda think of it like a movie or a tv show. Does this scene contribute anything or is it just filler? Would this be cut if it was a show? Does this scene need a little capoff to just conclude it before the "next episode"? (like when you have a huge combat scene and it ends, I actually really enjoy having a bit of downtime showing characters recovering both physically and mentally. It's like that scene at the end of a tv show where you have music and it just shows people across the city/ship/setting hugging, crying, going to bed, showering to get all the blood off them, grieving... and so on. It gives players time to come down but also I feel just adds a narrative cap to the excitement. It feels satisfying?)
I admit I have a tendency to play multiple characters in most long term rps because I find it helps move things along and sometimes I just don't wanna be a particular guy today or have anything to do with them today.
I also do what we call in one group "megaposts" which myself and one other player do periodically. They're a scene that involves only our own characters so aren't really rp but are important scenes/discussions to have shown "on screen".
They either move forward some story, give some insight to the "audience" (that is, the other players) about what's going on or they give some characterisation that's important.
We use character A talking to character B about some big event to sow seeds for the story to come and without them a lot of that satisfying story arc would exist only in one player's head and not be available to everyone else you know?
I love reading them and I enjoy writing them. I find them very very important in a very large long term rp with big overarching plots and lots of smaller side plots. This rp is basically a space opera so there's always small little plot threads to tie up neatly or drop new seeds for.
Some of my more commonly used side characters, contacts etc who WILL come up get a short bio. They're a good 1/3 of the length of my character bios and contain only stuff that's important to their role but because i'm a bit uh.. crazy... lol, often they end up being fleshed out into actual characters anyway, whoops.
https://www.rprepository.com/site.php?char=99687&page=227572 this guy is an example of an npc/side character who's started to ascend. He's still mostly a b or c tier character in things, I haven't ever played him ALONE but he turns up so regularly in my modern fantasy and horror rps that he needed a bit more fleshing out.
https://www.rprepository.com/site.php?char=99687&page=227573 these two are the sires of two of my actual characters who I decided to flesh out a bit but are, ultimately, background.
https://www.rprepository.com/site.php?char=109621&page=270017 and then you have Eddie's "relationship" section which has named npcs who probably won't appear but might. They're names of people who have some importance to him but most likely won't appear in the game, but may be mentioned in passing. They're very much npcs as i've never had a need to flesh them out at all beyond the one paragraph.
Same for Mitchell's "sister" and sire. They turn up, they talk briefly, but ultimately they're there to force story along and aren't the main focus. They're very much background. His Sire in fact exists pretty much entirely to force him to have to do things that aren't neccisarily what he wants to do. Joe exists as a "force the plot" device lol. He is VERY useful.
I like background characters, npcs and side characters because they add flavour not only to a character (I mean come on, everyone has friends and family and people they KNOW, even antisocial types have someone right?) but make a world and story feel alive.
Generally I use the same rule as mercy. If you introduced the npc, they're yours to control unless stated otherwise. I mean with large groups of faceless mooks it very much becomes a free for all lol.
Mercyinreach wrote:
there is no way to write a story or RP without them honestly.
I'm a serial NPCer. Sometimes it'll just be including a pet to add flavor to a character. Once it was a crew of 3 NPCs + my OC, each representing different dynamics and facets of a certain struggle. Hell, I have an entire family tree of NPCs branched out for my main, I started building backstory and they just kept coming. Stories could absolutely unfold without mention of pets or family or allies. But when they're all faceless Red Shirts in the background, instead of people with pasts and identities, they tend to be a bit more two-dimensional. Readers don't often care about Unnamed Pirate #4 getting blown up in battle, but they might care a little more about losing Garfield McGillan, the silly old man who just needed one more raid before he could open up a shelter for stray kitty-cats.
Ditto on the idea that NPCs are usually necessary to round out the story and setting.
There are incidentals. people who just exist to have people in the world. Sometimes these are super generic, and if it matters who controls them, it's only for consistency. Other times, they are supporting minor characters in their own right, such as Alba's family or Sarí's tribe.
And I've had NPCs develop into full characters. Again, Sarí is an example of this: she originally was created only to be the narrator of Kyra's backstory, but I decided I really liked her. (Side note: part of why she has a tribe attached is just because that's her life, but also because she's a rational problem-solver type, and games with her can otherwise end up pretty dull.) Another example is Gregor, who first existed to be a throw-away bad guy, but I got attached to him and the level of just straight-up badass-normal asshole he is. I also have some characters that are specific to my continuity with a particular partner, some of whom ended up with profiles and some who don't, and a number of which have no business existing outside that continuity since they were literally born in it and neither of us do much continuity carry-over into other RPs.
NPCs can also give you a chance to try out different sorts of characters without committing. The best NPCs still seem like real people, which gives you a chance to explore personalities, quirks, archetypes... and possibly watch how a single aspect can develop into an entire character.
There are incidentals. people who just exist to have people in the world. Sometimes these are super generic, and if it matters who controls them, it's only for consistency. Other times, they are supporting minor characters in their own right, such as Alba's family or Sarí's tribe.
And I've had NPCs develop into full characters. Again, Sarí is an example of this: she originally was created only to be the narrator of Kyra's backstory, but I decided I really liked her. (Side note: part of why she has a tribe attached is just because that's her life, but also because she's a rational problem-solver type, and games with her can otherwise end up pretty dull.) Another example is Gregor, who first existed to be a throw-away bad guy, but I got attached to him and the level of just straight-up badass-normal asshole he is. I also have some characters that are specific to my continuity with a particular partner, some of whom ended up with profiles and some who don't, and a number of which have no business existing outside that continuity since they were literally born in it and neither of us do much continuity carry-over into other RPs.
NPCs can also give you a chance to try out different sorts of characters without committing. The best NPCs still seem like real people, which gives you a chance to explore personalities, quirks, archetypes... and possibly watch how a single aspect can develop into an entire character.
I have found some NPCs to be even more lovable than mains. My Heather was an NPCin an rp I was in many years ago.
I agree that stories can’t really be written without them!
I agree that stories can’t really be written without them!
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