Why You Do/Don't NPC

Draven

Draven

Pioneer
Hey guys!

I, personally, consider NPCs to be the greatest resource a game can have. When all is said and done, a game with a 3:1 PC/NPC ratio just feels that much more awesome than a game with a 6:1, or worse, especially when a good portion of those NPCs are highly familiar with the rules. But some games seem to struggle with their ratios, so I'm wanting to open that up for discussion.

So, as the title states, why do you, or don't you, NPC?
 
I enjoy both PCing and NPCing.

In SoMI, I tend not to NPC due to the high level of involvement my character has with the world. As a player, I also very much enjoy it when I can completely immerse myself into the story, as opposed to stepping out for a bit to NPC. That being said, I am absolutely fine with a few double hooks every weekend, and of course stepping out to run logistics once 6pm hits. I feel like it's a nice balance between getting my own fun out of it, and helping the betterment of the chapter/game.

In other chapters I visit, where I may not be as invested or involved as a local player, I'm more prone to NPCing a few mods so that the people in the chapter I visit don't have to and can stay immersed, just like I do in SoMI.
 
In Denver, I personally love to NPC to help with the Operations of the Desk. Our plot/staff members have enough on the plate for maintaining the world and developing the story. Our core NPC group is solid we have a consistent 10 bodies + our 4 staff members. Most of us Senior NPCs know the rules fairly well, handle orientation, fighting, and manage the smaller crunchy packs and modules. As of this weekend we had a variety of NPCs helping from doing general support in the kitchen, to managing our equipment and doing crunchy, mod, and plot support in total .. we pulled in about 34 NPCs over the course of this weekend and about 80+ players.

In the end.. just watching the PCs faces light up from figuring out a puzzle, beating a well balanced Module, or just having the RolePlay being focused around their character for that short period and having them develop the word.
 
I find that being an NPC gives me the opportunity to make the game just all around better for everyone. I just want the game to be the best possible, and that means I need to contribute to helping it run beyond just paying my cash and playing.
 
I love NPCing. LOVE IT. Like I'm a golden retriever when on NPC duty.

Why I PC instead of NPCing: I'm an ST in Vampire LARP. I rarely get the opportunity to RP and game with my wife as a PC, so this is my time to do that. When I NPC, I am actually "On Loan" from my wife to do so heh. But I really, really enjoy roleplaying as my PC with the PCs and NPCs.

Why I like NPCing over PCing: Multiple roles. Developing roleplay and so forth with the PCs. Helping create story, being a part of creating story. Harassing my friends in combat :) ZERO downtime save changing costumes and makeup.

In all honesty, I love both sides of the fence. If this wasnt the only game I truly get to RP with my wife as PCs, I'd probably be NPCing full time, or at least NPCing Friday and PCing the rest of the weekend.
 
My initial motivation for NPCing was financial (hi, graduate school), and then I fell into being Plot which I love for a lot of reasons (storytelling medium! participatory collaborative story! larp as art form! worldbuilding!). PCing is my first love but I am getting a lot of fulfilment out of Plot.

Reasons I enjoy NPCing though... It's lower stress/pressure than PCing for me because I don't worry about dying. Dying is my job! Way lower risk. I get to see more of the story and world, and help facilitate story. There's absolutely no downtime. It's cathartic physically, and more physically exerting than PCing. And I enjoy the service aspect of providing and facilitating fun for the players.
 
I NPC in Oregon because my fiance is on NPC Guild (and wasn't leaving anytime soon when we started dating). I saw that there was a need. They were lacking on NPC's and on NPC guild. I saw an opportunity to help out and spend time with the fiance. We don't PC together (our characters were both started separately, years apart) and we do not see any reason to force their story or paths together.
 
So, having just PCd for basically the first time...

I got into Alliance in the first place because a friend of mine badgered me into coming (:P). They're on Plot, as are a couple other good friends of mine, so when it comes to the question of "Which team do you want to play on, given that you want to play with your friends" the answer is weighted toward team NPC. Which is not to say that I don't also like the PCs quite a lot, but there's not quite so much weight of history there. That factor in itself probably means I won't be going full-time PC for the foreseeable future. I get the impression that this is similar for a lot of the PC teams -- similarly along those lines, being a senior NPC with encounter head and trap monkey endorsements, I feel like my team, in this case being team NPC, specifically needs me in a way that can't be replaced by any arbitrary person who shows up. That aspect is both satisfying and makes me feel a bit guilty to go PC and not be available to help out. Though I suspect I'd develop similar sorts of useful roles on the PC side were I there, this has not yet been realized. , because NPCing takes a lot of the daily logistics of living full-time as a character that one wants to keep alive and replaces it with MORE WORK, the intensity factor is higher -- oddly enough, I feel like it's a more all-encompassing experience as a NPC than as a PC because of the way that everything else is subordinate to death throughput. Finally, the fact that I'm playing a lot of different types of things and die fairly regularly while playing them has made it a lot easier to explore the site and various aspects of the rule system. I probably would not have gone with a packet-heavy PC if I hadn't gotten the chance to try it as a NPC, and my ability to function on the site (particularly in the dark) is a lot higher given that I've crunched a lot in the woods.
 
I pretty much just PC'd for my first three years of Alliance, but a bit less than a year ago (I think), I decided to jump in with Oregon's NPC Guild, because I knew they could use the help, and I wasn't particularly invested in any of the story with my character. Plus, I -love- stick jocking, and my scholar can't do that (yet). Plus, I'm never bored, and I rarely have to spend 30 minutes doing my freaking makeup.

There are some PC players that I miss playing alongside, but on the flip side, I'm helping provide them with a great game.

I think one of the things that might have kept me from NPC'ing earlier was just wanting to be in control of when I do things, rather than being a volunteer, but after going for it, I was surprised at how fun NPC'ing can be.
 
Though I started as a PC I do greatly enjoy NPCing. Though I'd love to say if generally comes down to what I'm in the mood for there are other factors. In Chicago I almost exclusively NPC largely due to the fact that it is both free there and It's a pain for me to drag my PC all the way from southern Minnesota. In SoMn I generally PC but I have been known to NPC when either nothing that's happening at an event interests me or I'm just on the outs with money.

That being said I wholeheartedly agree that an experienced NPC is one of the best things a game can have and we'd all defiantly love more of them.
 
I NPC to help make the game better. When the others around me enjoy the game and are engaging in the background it is allot of fun. Sometimes that is not the case and it becomes a pain. Mind you on the other extreme I will NPC to be the guy in the back to take pressure of other good people so they can do what they need to do without being henpecked to death. That said sometimes I just want to rear back and go hard with everything I have got. I also enjoy shaping the story and trying to impact events. I enjoy the relationships and hanging out with people which leads me towards the PC end.

Joe Siegel
 
I think there are a few us that that enjoy helping the plot teams do what they are trying to do with the world building. We can handle the 'Ash and Tray' of the LARP stuff.. while the make the bigger picture come to light which I am a firm believer in them having a full focus on that makes the game entirely much better then handling the little quirks of stating stuff.
 
I've done half and half in my five year Alliance career. The reason for NPCing is 90% financial, 10% to keep my knowledge up in skills my PC does not use, which is important as a Rules Marshal.

If I can't make an entire event due to work or other obligations, I will show up to NPC for the evening because I cannot justify the full cost (travel + event fee) of PCing for only a few hours of entertainment. If I am available for the entire weekend, or at least both nights, I will choose to PC. I should also note that I live only an hour away from the main site used in SoMN, so it makes part-time LARP possible for me.

A few years back, I committed to a season of NPCing only and learned that I highly prefer to PC. I prefer the freedom of choice of what to do and when to do it. "The show must go on" mentality of NPC camp is difficult at times when you're tired, but there are more mods to be run to keep the plotlines on schedule. If I'm one of only three or four available NPCs in camp, which has happened frequently (others on a mod already, etc), it would slow the game down significantly if I took a break for a couple hours like I could as a PC.

As a PC, you can choose which mods to go on with a lot more discretion. I prefer to wheel and deal in the tavern, role-playing my merchant, so I rarely go on "go fight stuff" mods these days (with the exception of all town or personal plot-related battles). Granted, I'm terribly out of shape and have some other health issues, so this is also a factor in choosing to PC.
 
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When I first started playing, I hated PCing. I felt like it was impossible to join in on whatever it was happening that week, like I had no idea what I was doing, and that I had no one to roleplay with farther than "We inherently distrust you, because you aren't social and you chose the wrong race". For my first few years, I just wanted to NPC. When you NPC, you always at least kind of know what's going on with the plot, and you feel like your contribution towards the game matters. You can be so many different things, and if something isn't working out for you, you have the power to try something else. There's an "off-time" between sessions, which makes it much easier to get acquainted with people and make friends. It seemed, in my mind, always a more fun time than PCing. It's why I spent all of my time through college NPCing, why I decided to get involved with the plot team at Crossroads, and why I have the strengths and weaknesses I have as a plot member (of Caldaria) now. As an aside, when my wife started playing, she felt the exact opposite, which I still don't actually understand.

I resolved to eventually try PCing again when I left college, and the Deadlands plot team really stepped it up and brought me around to this PCing thing. I see now what people mean when they says that "you get out of PCing what you put in", but I wasn't at a point in my life where I could put in enough to get anything back. NPCing gives you a support group; to PC, you have to find that group. So now I PC at chapters where I think I can really have fun with the setting, the players, and the plot team with my character, and NPC otherwise. As a result, it means that I habitually PC a few chapters with specific characters, and habitually NPC others, but for now it's a system that I'm happy with.
 
I have been a NPC pretty much since the beginning the the Calgary Alliance. I played my PC here and there. Here is how I see it.

Reasons to NPC:

- I love doing it
- Being part of the group creating the world
- It keeps me busy quite a bit during a weekend.

Reasons to PC:

- I love to PC as well
- I miss playing the PC
- Unfortunately, not playing a character makes it a whole lot less known in the world and makes it difficult to build relationship between the character and NPCs or PCs.
-Having a character involve in the game, solving puzzles , going on an adventure.
- Being a PC is a whole lot simpler than being NPC, plot , logistics or any other organizational roles the Chapter has.
 
I haven't, over my career, NPC'd very often. Having always been at least six hours' drive (8 when I started) from my chapter, and having put a lot of my non-game time into building donations, by the time I get to site I just want to play the character I've invested time and money into putting together. If I had a local chapter, I'd probably NPC much more often, but when I've already got at least one day of PTO and two tanks of gas invested in just getting to and from game either way, I'd rather get to play.
 
I like NPCing. But I drive 3+ hours to play a game and have fun.
When I NPC I want it to be as, if not more fun than PCing. I don't need to play a special snowflake NPC or have a cool role in the story, but I do like to do something interesting. A giant hunting spider that jumps unsuspecting PCs and webs them up somewhere to eat later? That's fun. A mummy with a paralyzing touch that some terrible necromancer commanded to give free hugs? I can get behind that. NPCs are there to keep players engaged but I also think its important to keep the NPC engaged. There's nothing interesting about being sent out as random goblin #6, or as a faceless member of the enemy army during a field battle where the enemy army doesn't have a grasp of tactics or forethought.

I love NPCing, but it's a lot more hit/miss than PCing. There is plenty of room for making the best of it, but every once in awhile that isn't an option. You are going to get stuck playing a boring faceless NPC with unimaginative instructions on occasion.

The short of it is: When my PC isn't involved, or I'm tired of playing them, or NPCs are lacking I enjoy jumping in and giving a hand. In previous larps I've gone entire events as an NPC and had a blast. But it's usually my second choice.
I invest a ton of time into my characters and the travel to/from games, so I want to get everything I can out of the experience and NPCing doesn't always promise that.
 
I NPC for variety, and the rewarding nature of entertaining other players, which is much easier to do as an NPC. I don't PC a celestial caster, blatant full-time jerk, necromancer, or slaver, and can't PC an elemental or Fae, but might NPC one. My PCs aren't going to walk around kicking people in the feelings so the players have fun, but an NPC might.
I like PCing to get to invest in ongoing plot and relationships. In a chapter where I prefer to PC to keep up with plot, I might NPC to help with an NPC shortage or because I want an AA item a whole lot.
 
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