NPCs & Villains - Small Crimes Wiki

Non-player characters (NPCs) are any characters that influences the story that are not player characters. NPCs can range from a background character in a roleplay scene to a major villain in an overarching plot. There are three categories of NPCs: Background, Allied, and Villain.

Profiles

When established NPCs need their own statistics and abilities, they can be created with a profile. NPC profiles can be created using the rules in the Core Rulebook (page 302) with the following changes:

Skills cannot come from Character classes, and must be picked from the list.
The Use Equipment Skill no longer exists. Humanoids have 4 free initial Skills, just like Monsters.

You can use Fultimator to create NPCs using these rules as well. If you design an NPC or villain in this way, provide a link or the JSON data for others to use.

NPC Template

Name/Alias:  
Pronouns: 
Faction / Scope: [Optional group or threat range]
Traits: [2–3 traits or a short sentence]
Effect: [Optional help effect, if defined]

Background Characters

Any player can make a background NPC. These are established through play – characters who exist to facilitate a set scene, or NPCs from a character's established narrative.

Example

Background NPCs are simple to establish – a bartender in a scene that takes the orders of the players is one example, as well as any number of character-specific family members, friends, or other smaller-scale relationships.

Allies

Allies are reoccurring NPCs in military, government, or established factions that are generally cooperative and helpful towards the player characters and their goals. These NPCs can be created by any GM.

Example

Allied NPCs can be considered passive – they exist to further plot in convenient ways, ex. a political figure giving a group of players a specific request as the basis of a session, or a representative of a faction who exposits on said faction.

Allies do not need to have profiles. There are a few ways to apply allied NPCs to checks when in leu of a profile:

NPCs as Check Bonuses – While present on the scene, an NPC – or group of NPCs – grants a +2 bonus to any Check they could reasonably help out with. During a conflict, this bonus should be available only once per round.
NPCS as Special Abilities – NPC has one or more special abilities. These special abilities can be passive effects with an ongoing duration, or active or reactive effects that can be used a limited number of times per conflict (two or three uses is a good rule of thumb). Allied NPCs handled this way do not have an independent turn during the round, and thus do not count as Player Characters when establishing the number of enemy turns in the conflict.

Villains

Villains are reoccurring NPCs that have specified goals they are working towards. Villains do not need to be explicitly morally compromised, and the general specification is any NPC furthering a hook, plotline, or threat single-handedly. Villains are able to be created by any GM after they've established a hook relevant to the villain's goal.

Villains are to have dimensions to them relevant to the world. It is recommended you attach your villain to a hook, an existing faction, or any existing threats. As you establish them further, your villain's goals may form these hooks, factions, or threats in their own right.

Villains require having an available villain slot that they occupy. Each GM starts with two villain slots they can use to introduce Minor villains. These minor villain can be leveled up into Major & Supreme villains, but you cannot make a Major or Supreme villain without spending the LP to introduce them as such. As well, slots are available for purchase with LP. Slots can also be opened up if the villain is retired or redeemed.

Villain rules are as follows:

You must have a villain slot available for your villain to occupy.
Villains must have an actionable goal. These goals should be specific and actionable in ways player characters are able to subvert. These can (and should) be tied to clocks that are visible to the players in their play.
Villains must have a planned arc. You should have a general idea of where the villain's story goes, even if you have multiple directions it could go in. You need to plan to use a villain in a minimum of 3 sessions for them to count as reoccurring.
Try not to overlap – don't step on others' toes if there is already a villain doing the thing you want your villain to do, at the minimum try to reconceptualize the idea to differentiate it.
Villains must have statistics in the form of a visible profile, logged in the npc-profiles channel.
Villains must be actively maintained and managed in order to be considered active. Create a thread off of their profile post and use it to log any statistics, appearances, plot developments, and clocks.

Villain Profiles

All villains require a profile in the npc-profiles channel. They require available statistics and skills in order to be used in sessions. The following template can be used to create their profile:

Name/Alias:  
Pronouns: 
Goal: [Actionable, interruptible — tie to a visible Clock]  
Faction / Scope: [Optional group or threat range]
Traits: [2–3 traits or a short sentence]

After you create their profile, make a thread in order to manage their development, detailed in the next section.

Villain Management

Villains must be maintained and regularly engaged with to stay active as forces in the world. Villains who go unmaintained or unused may be forcibly retired.

To maintain your villain, you must document their progress towards their goal. This includes any appearances in sessions & roleplay, any advancement in their associated clocks, and any changes towards their tier or status as a villain.

Villains are strongly encouraged to have an ongoing Clock associated with their goal. The general guidelines for villain clocks are as follows:

Minor Villains should have Clocks with 4 to 6 sections. These clocks can relate back to Hooks or Factions. Their scope should be within Twin Star Falls.
Major Villains should have Clocks with 8 to 10 sections. These clocks can relate to Threats or Nations. Their scope can be among the wider international world, but the focus of the villain's goal should still be achievable somewhere accessible by the player characters.
Supreme Villains should have Clocks with 10 to 12 sections. These clocks can relate to Enigmas and Forces, or any wider threads of reality. Their scope is the world at large, but the progress should minimally be able to be halted in sum or part by any player character.

Villains should also have their appearances recorded. If they appear in a session, record it in the session's log and link that log in the villain's profile thread. If they appear in an RP, this should also be linked in their thread.

If a villain achieves their goal, they must have a new goal or be retired. The new goal must be recorded, and the clock associated with it should also be visible in their thread.

Finally, record what tier and/or level the villain is currently correlated to. A villain can progress upwards through tiers when a GM spends Lore Points to progress them.

Villain Retirement

If a villain is foiled, discouraged, befriended, or otherwise no longer pursuing a goal, they are to be retired. Retirement is not necessarily permanent, but it does require the spending of Lore Points to bring a villain out of retirement or into the player character role.

A retired villain cannot progress clocks or otherwise operate as an antagonistic or changing force, but they are still able to make appearances if you wish.

If a villain is to be retired, it should be recorded in their profile thread, as well as with a note edited into their original profile (i.e. the root post of the thread).