4.1. How to make NPCs?

An NPC mechanically consists of these main parts:

• clues
• strategy
• tactics
• secrets

Clues

The clues are in the description of the NPC. This isn't mechanized, but if you are making an NPC, you have to choose its role and description to logically meet its mechanical values. You have to check if it is logical that especially this NPC has this kind of strategy, tactics and secrets. If the players get a description of the NPC they have to figure out something about its mechanical part.

Strategy

The strategy of an NPC is tightly tied to the scenario itself, the purpose of the NPC. It means the decisions made like: wich scenes will it enter, wich characters will it attack, wich characters will it speak with, etc. This is mostly done by writing the scenario itself and can be very complex.

Tactics

This is a set of rules wich instruct the players how to play cards for the NPC. These contain the following:

1. how many cards to draw at a time
2. how to choose among the drawn cards
3. how to modify the meaning of the played cards
4. when does the character retreat/try/escape
5. how to calculate the secretly played card

The number of cards drawn at a time makes the NPC the stronger the more cards are drawn. These cards must be drawn from the dect directly in the turn of the NPC, not a second before. This is the hand of the NPC.

There has to be some instruction wich card from the hand to play. For example it can be: highest or highest but no face or highest of clubs, etc. All the other cards are discarded at once.

The value of the played cards can be changed. For example every diamonds can mean clubs.

The retreat/try/escape conditions monitor the last three pair of cards played by the NPC and the PC attacking/attacked.

The secretly played card is calculated based upon the played cards and a real secretly played card. The latter (played at the proper time from the top of the deck) randomizes the calculated value, while the played cards add some strategy to it. For example it can be: if the natural secretly played card is black than the trump becomes clubs or spades depending wich gives the higher result.

Be prepared: the more important NPCs have different tactics (and strategies!) based upon in wich scene they are.

Secrets

There are 9 secrets for every NPC. Each secret is tied to one specific face card. You can have a whole different set of secrets for every character in every different scene. But you should do that only to important NPCs. It can be wise not to change the more important secrets from scene to scene because it makes the PCs very difficult to find it. (Unless it is your goal to make it very difficult.)

If the scenario is about finding some secrets, make sure the ultimate secret is hard to found. You should make a maze of secrets pointing to each other. The discovering of one secret should help the PCs find the next one.

If the game isn't about finding a secret, the secrets should function as opportunities for special attacks. For example you could persuade a husband to do something he would never do if you know a terrible secret about her wife. In this case think about secrets as weapons.