Calibrating NPCs

[Lisa Padol]

I need a bit of advice on NPCs -- not so much examples of individual NPCs, though those will be appreciated, as the principles to bear in mind while creating them. I want to be able to stat up an NPC on the fly without creating a wuss where I want a challenge or vice versa. I've got 5 PCs, who may or may not all wind up helping each other, and a vaguely Renaissance setting.

PCs have 10 points to split between Stamina, Will, and Lore, and all else is derived from this basic principle. I want to grok the basic principles for NPCs.

NPCs fall, broadly speaking, into the following categories:

1. Just Plain Folks. Maybe I don't bother to stat them out, maybe I do, but either way, I want to be able to stat them out quickly. These are people that the PCs should be able to run roughshod over, if they really want to. They include everyone from kids newborn-14 or so, the baker's wife, the folks at the local brothels, taverns, and other shops, the peddlar who sells corpses to one of the PCs on the side, the kid who sweeps out another PC's apartment, regular students at the University, ordinary nobles, the young woman who's just been kidnapped, and so on.

2. Capable Plain Folks. These include the thugs who did the actual kidnapping, trained duellists, maybe professors, important nobles that the PCs might or might not deal with, and so on. These are probably the "should actually take some effort for a single PC to outmaneuver", whether that means via combat or debate.

3. Important People. These are non-sorcerers who should be able to challenge the PCs. These include a rival professors, genius students, the uncle who wants his niece's inheritance, hired the kidnappers in the first place, the heiress ingenue, the most eligible noble bachelor, the hechman who can actually hold off any single one of the PCs, and so on What's tough, what's a pushover, and what's something in between?

Exempla Gratia: One of the PCs, Ingrid (whose player came up with a lovely price that changed everyone's concept of the setting and gave me another Enlighted Experience as I saw Ron's jazz metaphor in action), has Stamina 2, Will 7, Lore 1, Cover 7: Noble. She's the softspoken heiress with a will of steel. Her uncle, who wants her inheritence, is going to be Important, and should not be a pushover. I've currently got him at Stamina 4, Will 6, Cover 6: Noble. I came to these numbers by figuring I should divide the 10 points a PC gets among the two stats a non-sorcerer NPC gets. Is he too tough? Not tough enough? Ingrid has Cover 7 because (a) she's an heiress to a whole lot of wealth and prestige, (b) she's studying really hard to live up to this, and (c) she's in the loop of most of the juicy gossip amongst the nobles. Should her uncle, who isn't currently heir to such wealth and prestige, but who is a settled, middle aged man with prestige, and presumably some weath of his own, have a cover lower than hers, as currently set? Should cover be equal to the highest of Will and Stamina for NPCs, as I've assumed?

And what of Ingrid's 90-year-old great-grandfather? His Stamina is presumably 1-2, but I doubt his Will is 8. Nevertheless, his Cover: Noble is probably 8. What about his most capable bodyguard?

This seems the trickiest category to nail down.

4. Sorcerers. What constitutes a weakling sorcerer? A really tough one? How hard is one built on the same 10 points as a PC to take down?

5. Demons. These have Stamina, Lore, and Will, like PCs, with Power derived therefrom. What constitutes a weak demon? A moderate one? A strong one?

-Lisa

[Eero Tuovinen]

I'm as clueless as you are, so I want to hear an informed opinion, too. Here's how I figure it from my meager Sorcerer experience:

Unlike many other games, you don't stat your NPCs to meter out a suitable challenge for players. Thus your categories of NPC are flawed to begin with. Instead you consider each of your NPCs "realistically" and assign scores based on that. Here's my formula: 1 points for weak aspects, 3 for mediate, 5 for strong and 7 for "heroic". +1 to everything if I think the character is cool, -1 to everything if I think the character is not important, +1 to what I think is the central aspect of the character. Thus I have scores from 1 to 9, and I can churn out characters pretty quick. Especially important is to not stop to think, just put in whatever your gut tells you. I even created an NPC sheet with multiple-choice questions for myself, just to make sure I get it over quick.

My reasoning behind the above method is that the character scores in Sorcerer are a part of the SIS interface for the players, not a method for providing challenge. Thus a weak or strong character can be equally important for the narrative, and there is no reason to try to mirror character importance in scores. What is left is the necessity of providing a reasonable arena for play, and that is best achieved if you just put in some sensible numbers and stick to them. Like, if somebody controls an empire, then perhaps he has a strong Will. Giving him a strong will because he controls an empire is IMO much better than giving him a low will because I want the player characters to roll over him.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Eero's essentially correct. Check out the scenarios in The Sorcerer's Soul for examples of how I usually do it.

Best,
Ron

[Lisa Padol]

Unlike many other games, you don't stat your NPCs to meter out a suitable challenge for players. Thus your categories of NPC are flawed to begin with. Instead you consider each of your NPCs "realistically" and assign scores based on that. Here's my formula: 1 points for weak aspects, 3 for mediate, 5 for strong and 7 for "heroic". +1 to everything if I think the character is cool, -1 to everything if I think the character is not important, +1 to what I think is the central aspect of the character. Thus I have scores from 1 to 9, and I can churn out characters pretty quick. Especially important is to not stop to think, just put in whatever your gut tells you. I even created an NPC sheet with multiple-choice questions for myself, just to make sure I get it over quick.

This is useful. Thanks. My gut is not yet trained in Sorcerer the way it is in, say, OTE/WARP.

My reasoning behind the above method is that the character scores in Sorcerer are a part of the SIS interface for the players, not a method for providing challenge.

Yes-and-no. That is, I am not planning to write down the stats for every NPC the players might encounter. This does not mean that the grave robber isn't important unless he's statted out. OTOH, I do not want a situation where, let us say, Professor Black debates his opponent, and fails miserably specifically because I miscalibrated, or where the swordswoman Sophia is defeated by a minor thug specifically because I miscalibrated. That is, luck of the dice is fine. Not realizing that the stats I plugged in cock the odds in a way that I did not want to cock them is not fine. I don't want to overthink -- I want a quick formula, and I like the one you gave.

Thus a weak or strong character can be equally important for the narrative, and there is no reason to try to mirror character importance in scores. What is left is the necessity of providing a reasonable arena for play, and that is best achieved if you just put in some sensible numbers and stick to them. Like, if somebody controls an empire, then perhaps he has a strong Will. Giving him a strong will because he controls an empire is IMO much better than giving him a low will because I want the player characters to roll over him.

That makes sense. And there, I'd want to make sure I gave him a Will that was strong enough Okay, looking at your formula, I'd say that meant a Will of 7-9, correct?

-Lisa

[Lisa Padol]

Eero's essentially correct. Check out the scenarios in The Sorcerer's Soul for examples of how I usually do it.

Okay, will do. Thanks.

-Lisa

[Lisa Padol]

I even created an NPC sheet with multiple-choice questions for myself, just to make sure I get it over quick.

I forgot to ask -- any chance I could take a look at that?

-Lisa

[Eero Tuovinen]

Hmm, rather interesting that I was so close to mark. I don't think the books address the issue in any way.

I even created an NPC sheet with multiple-choice questions for myself, just to make sure I get it over quick.

I forgot to ask -- any chance I could take a look at that?

Sure, but it's in Finnish, so I don't think it'd be useful for you. Anyway, the sheet in question just lists the above questions (and any genre-dependent questions you might want to ask, like whether the NPC has a chainmail bikini and should get a score bonus based on that) one below another so I can fill in answers and sum the final scores on the bottom. Then there's the normal NPC stuff in there, which I tend to fail to fill. I think you can make such a sheet yourself if you want, right?

[Lisa Padol]

Hmm, rather interesting that I was so close to mark. I don't think the books address the issue in any way.

They pretty much don't. One reference in Sorcerer's Soul that I found was that a lot of the characters in one scenario had high cover scores, around 6, and that this should make it clear that the PCs can't just push the NPCs around.

Sure, but it's in Finnish, so I don't think it'd be useful for you. Anyway, the sheet in question just lists the above questions (and any genre-dependent questions you might want to ask, like whether the NPC has a chainmail bikini and should get a score bonus based on that) one below another so I can fill in answers and sum the final scores on the bottom. Then there's the normal NPC stuff in there, which I tend to fail to fill. I think you can make such a sheet yourself if you want, right?

Yep. I thought it would probably be in Finnish, but figured I'd check.

-Lisa

[James_Nostack]

Hi Lisa - there's also some stuff in the main Sorcerer rule book about this--I think it's like chapter 1 or 2.  Normal folks have scores around 2-3 for Stamina or Will; a score of 5+ is pretty damn impressive.  (Normal folks also have Lore 0.)  Looking at the sample antagonists provided in that chapter, Heavy Sorcerer Antagonists might have a total point value of 12-15.  Even a "mundane" might have a total around 10 if they're meant to be formidable.

still haven't had a chance to test that in play, though..... :(