NPC Rules

From HollowWiki

Overview

This section refers to characters that don’t exist within the game system but are characters that you the player have made up to help develop your own personal storyline or for the purpose of an arc. They include any character that you have tagging along with your own character or the monster in a fun RP. Given that using NPCs has become very popular, it’s important to have clear rules on this.

An NPC is defined as a Non-Player Character.

The Rules

  • NPCs cannot death duel or duel.
    • As they are not real with regards to the system, you can not use one to death duel or duel in an attempt to keep your real character safe.
  • NPCs cannot exist without your main character.
    • The game is played from the perspective of your named character, this means you can not log in as Jim the Elf and play as Bob the Dwarf, claiming that Jim isn't really there and has gone off on some quest.
      • Example: Vuryal || Bob struts into the tavern, his eyes glancing about as he looks for something to eat. Why this doesn't work: This is BOB playing the game, not Vuryal. How it CAN work: Vuryal struts into the tavern, patting his servant Bob on the back to fetch a platter of food. Upon getting the platter, Bob sets it down and the chronomancer begins to chow down on the chili dog.
  • NPCs cannot duel for items.
    • You can not use your NPC to duel someone for their inventory. In addition to this, you cannot make an NPC to follow your character and get him to duel for items, in anticipation of deleting your main character and adding the NPC to the system. Collecting items in this way IS item transfer and carries the same penalties.
  • NPCs ARE governed by the same rules that a real system based character would be. – This means that they can’t have silly names, abuse people, or break any of the character based rules. This also means that if your character gets muted/proomed or banned you can not claim it is not fair because it was something your NPC said or did. You as the player are responsible for the actions of your NPC.
  • Most of your time must be spent playing your primary character and not the NPC. You cannot spend the majority of your post as the NPC, rather than your primary character. NPCs are there as a small support, not as a crutch.
  • There are circumstances in which we can use NPCs instead of our primary characters. These circumstances are limited to either an admin approved situation (i.e. for an arc) or a generic monster hunt, in which one player NPCs entirely as the monster/villain for the RP in order to assist another player with story development. These encounters are generally considered to be one-offs, meaning that the specific NPC will not be seen again.

So how do I use an NPC?

Using an NPC is something we tend to over-complicate and it becomes very easy to overstep the boundary between using an NPC and essentially Alting. An NPC is there to help make a scene work out, not there to carry an RP.

So you can think of it like this: Josleen has come to visit Hildegarde about a letter. Hildegarde hasn’t yet received the letter. If she doesn’t receive the letter or know much about it, the scene will not play out for very long. However, Lisbeth, the NPC Captain of Hildegarde’s Queensguard can be used to pass Hildegarde a letter.

Example: Hildegarde is interrupted by Lisbeth who holds out an envelope for her to take.

Lisbeth was used to make the scene flow and to make more action happen. It leaves room for Hildegarde to take the letter and read it, rather than Lisbeth simply going off and doing everything.

What if it’s a monster or a one-off?

This is where NPCs and NPCing can get a little bit complicated. We’re used to seeing people use NPCs for RPs like a monster hunt or for an adventure, which is fine. We can use NPCs like this for a one-off adventure, assuming it’s a low-key kind of creature. We can’t have someone NPC a dracolich for an adventure without running it by the admin, because a dracolich is really powerful! NPCing is easy if we apply some common sense.

So here’s a scenario: Tristram and Josleen choose to have a spa day in Gualon. Hildegarde will NPC as fungus monster that ruins their day.

Tristram and Josleen will largely be setting the scene and doing all the hard work, whereas Hildegarde as fungus monster will only have a brief role to play. Hildegarde as monster is there only to fulfil a purpose, then exiting the RP or joining as primary character once that role has been completed.

What about NPCs in arcs?

If you’re planning an arc and there’s going to be NPCs, make sure you cover this with the admin team when h-mailing them regarding your arc. Not all arcs require approval, usually things that are small scale. In that instance, apply common sense and follow the rules laid out here.

An arc that requires approval or needs to be ran past the admins, make sure you detail your NPC requirements and intentions so we can give the best advice possible.

How do I know if I’m doing it right?

Not sure? Just ask an admin. We’re here to give you honest and impartial advice, we’re not there to judge you.