It Slices! It Dices!

It is a common perception that to some extent, the rules differ for the NPCs. A wise 'netter who I otherwise cannot give attribution to (due to somehow losing it in my quotes file) wrote the truism:

The Game is about the PCs. If the Game is NOT about the PCs then the players should be playing the characters the game IS about.

I will start by saying that I do not write out (to the extent I demand from my players) the same information for my NPCs as my PCs, except in very rare cases. The levels of my NPC development run roughly as follows:

4. Extras

Also known as "mooks" (taken from the Feng Shui game), or as "people around you," in many a crowd-scene description. An "extra" is someone who is meant to fill in the blanks, with no name, maybe a couple of distinguishing characteristics (only if the PCs investigate) and no staying power.

3. Cameos

A cameo is someone who is either so well known to the players that I don't need to describe them unless there is a significant difference, or a walk-on part that expresses something important and then goes away. "Oberon" in an Amber campaign is generally a good cameo character. I don't have to develop the NPC besides answering any uncommon questions.

2. Guest Stars

A Guest Star is someone appearing in a game with a purpose. Usually someone who has an important or recurring role with the PCs. I need to know the motive, I need to know the style, and I need to know how they will react.

1. Pivot Points

This is the kind of NPC that I spend my pre-game design on, building them to the level of what I expect for knowing the PCs. I expect these characters to root into the plot, and grow with it.

With player attention anyone in a lower-level category can ascend in importance, of course. The Bard Pel, from The Glitter and the Glamour, for example, has been raised from a Cameo to a Guest Star... and might even have room to be a Pivot Point in my (nefarious) plans.

The level of consideration also implies the amount to which the rules apply to the NPC in my games. For example, if you want to slaughter a bazillion Extras, depending on the power level of the game, I'm just going to let you do it. None of this, "They have four hit points. Your arrows can do from one to six hit points. You fire two per round," business. Extras are just one step away from scenery, so the rules don't apply to them as much...

A Cameo of the Unicorn in Amber is also going to be loose on the rules. You're not usually intended to interact with a Cameo for too long... although the more you interact with one, the more rules apply.

Once you get to being a Pivot Point, the rules are absolutely equivalent to PCs, if not a little bit more strict. (I might let a player get away with something if it amuses or otherwise seems appropriate.)

See, the truth is, I do have favourite NPCs...but the game is more important. If I kill an NPC in one game, it doesn't mean he's "dead forever." My NPCs are fairly endless: I can always "make more." The PCs are finite: they're bound by both the rules and what the players want them to be able to do (sometimes much tougher than any mere statistic.)

The importance of my NPCs thus need to vary with the demands of the PCs. Do I need the Unicorn to be an all-powerful creature, or is it merely an herbivore with a luck blessing?

One can write the game for an NPC. For example, I think there is a temptation to make the "bad guy" powerful, so that there is a certain "level of challenge." Plots revolve around the "bad guy" and what he is doing.

This is not the same as making the bad guy able to see through all of the players' plans. Playing GM versus players is not a challenge: the GM has infinite hit points, and all the abilities of the universe.

Another place this fails is whether or not the PCs want to follow the "bad guy"'s events. They may get caught up in them anyway, but heck, if they want to go to Cuba, and have reason to do so, and Mr. Bad Guy has no Cuban holdings, let Mr. Bad Guy go for a while. When they try to get back to the U.S. and realize he's staged a military coup, well...that's can be even more fun. A Pivot Point is that: he changes the pivotal points, things pivot around him, and then...he's done. Let it be a device, not a conclusion.