Editing NPC (section)

== Types of NPCs ==

=== Inhabitant ===
These NPCs act as normal people would. Going about daily lives, maybe interacting with the characters, maybe not. They aren't spectacular in any way, but they're realistic. Like [[Manga|''King of RPGs'']] says, the GM doesn't just play the monsters, they play the millions of people in the game world that bear you no ill will whatsoever. This is a '''Good NPC''', and, done right, can replace any other NPC on this list.

[[Image:NPC_Cosplay.jpg|thumb|left|150px|OH CRAP HE FOUND US!!!]]

=== Quest Dispenser ===
Idiot cousin to the Inhabitant, this NPC waits around all day with their problem. They always have a problem, big or small, and they always just happen to be waiting for some strapping young lads like your [[party]] to help them out. Done wrong, they have little personality, totally helpless, and entirely necessary to begin or continue the plot as the DM has it laid out. This is a '''Okay NPC'''; though considered "crap" in the sense that they don't add much to the world itself, with a little work and imagination a good DM can turn them into a '''Good NPC''' by giving them, say, good reasons not to be able to help you out, or enough personality to make them enjoyable to watch.

'''PROTIP''': Your questgiver is probably the most important NPC in your game, besides the [[BBEG]], as he's probably the character your players will be spending the most time actually talking with. Entire essays have been written on this subject.

=== Lackey ===
A dumb NPC that's there simply to take directions from the PCs. No free will to speak of, and is often used as a meat shield when danger arises. This is a '''Crap NPC''', though they can be made okay, and they make up your rank-and-file soldiers in the armies of the [[Player Character]]s and the villains when campaigns become ''campaigns'', so their necessity tends to make them more acceptable than some of the other types below. In sci-fi games, robots owned by the players often have this role.

Hirelings are similar to lackeys, but a bit smarter. They get surly and won't interpose themselves between the PCs and danger willingly. This is a '''Good NPC'''.

===Merchant===
A very necessary character, offering either items, services (such as buffs), or both, usually in exchange for either money or sidequests. This is usually an '''Okay''' or '''Crap NPC''', but as with the Lackey above, ''somebody'' has to fill the role. 

Side note, and the reason for inclusion here: "Funny" DMs will sometimes imply that all the Merchants are the same NPC, or at least related, with the same "funny" voice. Only complain if the "funny" voice is ''really'' annoying, or if the DM tries to hang a plot hook on that idea, as while it's obvious and overdone, it's obvious and overdone for a reason (merchants can be some of the most boring NPCs to think up, the most likely to need to be thought up on the fly, and the [[Discworld|Disembowel-Meself-Honourably Dibbler]] solution is at least a functional one).

===Psychopath===
Fucked up for no reason. Brilliant in conversation, stupid in action. Exist solely to add 'flavor' to a DM campaign. Once in a blue moon, this NPC is tolerable. As a regular, he shifts from '''Crap NPC''' to '''Bad NPC'''. The archetype is given a free pass [[Old Man Henderson|if they are sufficiently interesting player characters]], though.

===DMPC===
The DM really wanted to play, and so made a character up. Only now, he's in control, so things tend to go the NPC's way.  He will often be min-maxed, but arbitrarily so, as the abilities seem to change with the encounters as they require. This is a '''Bad NPC''' - unless he knows how to stay out of the way for most of the time, which usually doesn't happen. Gandalf is often accused of being the only Good DMPC; in reality, Tom Bombadil was more likely the DMPC, and Gandalf was just an overleveled Player Character from another campaign that the DM let play anyway.

Then again, if the DM knows humility and the dangers of Mary Sues, these can be a helpful tool in situations like the following:
*Inexperienced players 
*Hendersons
*The players did not discuss what sort of characters they'll be building beforehand, and so the party ends up, for example, without a healer. The key is to not treat them any differently than you would any other player character.
* An inexperienced ''DM'' who doesn't yet know how to not kill the party.
* They can be a subtle means of railroading: If the players are mistaking your plot hints for background details or vice versa, you can have the DMPC suggest a different course of action.
* [[Shadowrun]] - if a player plays the team's Fixer, then they'll be bored as shit during a run. If the DM plays the Fixer, they are in a good spot to come up with background details on the spot when the team asks for research, and when the Fixer is out of play there are 'plenty' of other things taking up their attention.

===Gary-Stu/[[Mary-Sue]] DMPC===
As above, but with features that resemble the DM or his girlfriend. This is what the DM wants to be in his fantasy. There usually is a wall-o'-text dialogue from the NPC explaining his backstory, even if you just asked him for directions to a brothel. This is a '''Horrendously Bad NPC''', and players are advised to be as subtle as possible in the execution of him or her, so the DM will only [[meme|see what you did there]] after it has been done. And trust us, you will ''ALL'' want to kill this NPC.