Creating and Playing the Opposition (NPCs)

One of your most important jobs as a [GM] is creating the [NPC]s who will oppose the [PC]s and try to keep them from their goals during your scenarios. The real story comes from what the [PC]s do when worthy adversaries stand between them and their objectives—how far they’re willing to go, what price they’re willing to pay, and how they change as a result of the experience.

As a [GM], you want to shoot for a balancing act with the opposing [NPC]s—you want the players to experience tension and uncertainty, but you don’t want their defeat to be a foregone conclusion. You want them to work for it, but you don’t want them to lose hope.

Here’s how.

Take Only What You Need to Survive

First of all, keep in mind that you’re never obligated to give any [NPC] a full sheet like the ones the [PC]s have. Most of the time, you’re not going to need to know that much information, because the [NPC]s aren’t going to be the center of attention like the [PC]s are. It’s better to focus on writing down exactly what you need for that [NPC]’s encounter with the [PC]s, and then fill in the blanks on the fly (just like [PC]s can) if that [NPC] ends up becoming more important in the campaign.

The [NPC] Types

[NPC]s come in three different flavors: nameless [NPC]s, supporting [NPC]s, and main [NPC]s.

Nameless [NPC]s

The majority of the [NPC]s in your campaign world are nameless—people who are so insignificant to the story that the [PC]s interactions with them don’t even require them to learn a name. The random shopkeeper they pass on the street, the archivist at the library, the third patron from the left at the bar, the guards at the gate. Their role in the story is temporary and fleeting—the [PC]s will probably encounter them once and never see them again. In fact, most of the time, you’ll create them simply out of reflex when you describe an environment. “The plaza is beautiful at midday, and full of shoppers milling about. There’s a town crier with an extremely shrill, high-pitched voice barking out the local news.”

On their own, nameless [NPC]s usually aren’t meant to provide much of a challenge to the [PC]s. You use them like you use a low-difficulty skill roll, mainly as an opportunity to showcase the [PC]s’ competence. In conflicts, they serve as a distraction or a delay, forcing the [PC]s to work a little harder to get what they want. Action-adventure stories often feature master villains with an army of mooks. These are the mooks.

For a nameless [NPC], all you really need is two or three skills based on their role in the scene. Your average security guard might have Fight and Shoot, while your average clerk might only have Lore. They never get more than one or two aspects, because they just aren’t important enough. They only have one or two stress boxes, if any, to absorb both physical and mental hits. In other words, they’re no match for a typical [PC].

Nameless [NPC]s come in three varieties: Average, Fair, and Good.

Average

• Competence: Rank-and-file order-takers, local conscripts, and the like. When in doubt, a nameless [NPC] is Average.
• Purpose: Mostly there to make the [PC]s look more awesome.
• Aspects: One or two.
• Skills: One or two Average (+1).
• Stress: No stress boxes—a one shift hit is enough to take them out.

Fair

• Competence: Trained professionals, like soldiers and elite guards, or others whose role in the scene speaks to their experience, such as a sharp-tongued courtier or talented thief.
• Purpose: Drain a few of the players’ resources (one or two fate points, stress boxes, possibly a mild consequence).
• Aspects: One or two.
• Skills: One Fair (+2), and one or two Average (+1).
• Stress: One stress box (e.g. 1[ ])—a two shift hit is enough to take them out.

Good

• Competence: Tough opposition, especially in numbers.
• Purpose: Drain the players’ resources—as Fair, but more so. Provide a decent stumbling block (in numbers) on the way to a more significant encounter.
• Aspects: One or two.
• Skills: One Good (+3), one Fair (+2), and one or two Average (+1).
• Stress: Two stress boxes (e.g. 1[ ], 2[ ])—a three shift hit is enough to take them out.

Mobs

Whenever possible, identical nameless [NPC]s like to form groups, or mobs. Not only does this better ensure their survival, it reduces the workload on the [GM]. For all intents and purposes, you can treat a mob as a single unit—instead of rolling dice individually for each of three thugs, just roll once for the whole mob.

See the Teamwork section in the previous chapter to see how mobs can concentrate their efforts to be more effective.

Hits and Overflow

When a mob takes a hit, shifts in excess of what’s needed to take out one [NPC] are applied to the next [NPC]s in the mob, one at a time. In this way, it’s entirely possible for a [PC] to take out a mob of four or five nameless [NPC]s (or more!) in a single exchange.

When a mob takes enough stress to reduce it to a single [NPC], try to have that orphaned [NPC] join up with another mob in the scene, if it makes sense. (If it doesn’t, just have them flee. Nameless [NPC]s are good at that.)

Landon and Cynere are set upon by a half-dozen ill-informed street-gang toughs just for walking down the wrong alleyway.

These thugs are nameless [NPC]s with Notice and Fight skills of Average (+1).

Normally Cynere’s Good (+3) Notice would allow her to act first, but Amanda reasons that the thugs’ ability to surround the [PC]s gives them the drop. In a big group of six, their Average (+1) Notice is increased by +5 to a Fantastic (+6).

As they make their assault, Amanda splits them into two mobs of three: one for Landon and one for Cynere. Both attack with Good (+3) ratings (Average Fight skill with +2 for the helpers), but neither mob hits.

Cynere goes next. Lily says, “In a flash, Cynere’s sword is in hand and slicing through these punks!” She gets a Great (+4) result with her Fight. Amanda’s first thug mob defends with a Good (+3) (+0 on the dice, Average skill, with +2 for the helpers), so Cynere deals one shift to the mob—enough to take one of them out. There are still two in the mob, though, so they only get +1 for the helper when they attack next.

On Lenny’s turn, Landon deals two shifts to the mob he’s facing, enough to take out two thugs and reducing it from a mob of three to a single nameless [NPC].

Nameless [NPC]s as Obstacles:

An even easier way to handle nameless [NPC]s is simply to treat them as obstacles: Give a difficulty for the [PC] to overcome whatever threat the [NPC] presents, and just do it in one roll. You don’t even have to write anything down, just set a difficulty according to the guidelines in this chapter and Actions and Outcomes, and assume that the [PC] gets past on a successful roll.

If the situation is more complicated than that, make it a challenge instead. This trick is useful when you want a group of nameless [NPC]s more as a feature of the scene than as individuals.

Zird wants to convince a group of mages that continuing their research into the Dark Void will doom them all, and possibly the world. Amanda doesn’t want to deal with him needing to convince each mage individually, so she makes a challenge out of them.

The steps of the challenge are: establish your bona fides (Lore), turn them against each other (Deceive), and cow them into submission by preaching doom and gloom (Provoke). She chooses a passive opposition of Great (+4) for the challenge.

[NPC] First, Name Later

Nameless [NPC]s don’t have to remain nameless. If the players decide to get to know that barkeep or town crier or security chief or whatever, go ahead and make a real person out of them—but that doesn’t mean that you need to make them any more mechanically complex. If you want to, of course, go ahead and promote them to a supporting [NPC]. But otherwise, simply giving that courtier a name and a motivation doesn’t mean he can’t go down in one punch.

Tavern-Keeper (Average)
Aspects: I Don’t Want No Trouble in My Place
Skills: Average (+1) Contacts

Trained Thug (Fair)
Aspects: The Ways of the Streets, Violent Criminal
Skills: Fair (+2) Fight, Average (+1) Athletics and Physique

Collegia Arcana Court Mage (Good)
Aspects: Haughty Demeanor, Devoted to the Arcane Arts
Skills: Good (+3) Lore, Fair (+2) Deceive, Average (+1) Will and Empathy

Supporting [NPC]s

Supporting [NPC]s have proper names and are a little more detailed than nameless [NPC]s, playing a supporting role in your scenarios (hence the name). They often display some kind of strong distinguishing trait that sets them apart from the crowd, because of their relationship to a [PC] or [NPC], a particular competence or unique ability, or simply the fact that they tend to appear in the game a great deal. Many action-adventure stories feature a “lieutenant” character who is the right-hand man of the lead villain; that’s a supporting [NPC] in game terms. The faces that you assign to the locations you make during game creation are supporting [NPC]s, as are any characters who are named in one of the [PC]s’ aspects.

Supporting [NPC]s are a great source of interpersonal drama, because they’re usually the people that the [PC]s have a relationship with, such as friends, sidekicks, family, contacts, and noteworthy opponents. While they may never be central to resolving the main dilemma of a scenario, they’re a significant part of the journey, either because they provide aid, present a problem, or figure into a subplot.

Supporting [NPC]s are made much like nameless [NPC]s, except they get to have a few more of the standard character elements. These include a high concept, a trouble, one or more additional aspects, one stunt, and the standard two stress tracks with two boxes each. They should have a handful of skills (say four or five). If they have a skill that entitles them to bonus stress boxes, award those as well. They have one mild consequence and, if you want them to be especially tough, one moderate consequence.

Skills for a supporting [NPC] should follow a column distribution. Because you’re only going to define four or five skills, just treat it as one column. If your [NPC] has a skill at Great, fill in one skill at each positive step below it—so one Good, one Fair, and one Average skill.

• Skill Levels: A supporting [NPC]’s top skill can exceed your best [PC]’s by one or two levels, but only if their role in the game is to provide serious opposition—supporting [NPC]s who are allied with the [PC]s should be their rough peers in skill level. (Another action-adventure trope is to make the “lieutenant” character better than the main villain at combat, contrasting brawn to the villain’s brain.)
• Concessions: Supporting [NPC]s should not fight to the bitter end, given the option. Instead, have them concede conflicts often, especially early in a story, and especially if the concession is something like “They get away.” Conceding like this serves a few purposes. For one, it foreshadows a future, more significant encounter with the [NPC]. Because conceding comes with a reward of one or more fate points, it also makes them more of a threat the next time they show up. What’s more, it’s virtually guaranteed to pay off for the players in a satisfying way the next time the [NPC] makes an appearance. “So, Landon, we meet again! But this time it shall not go so easily for you.”

Finally, it implicitly demonstrates to the players that, when things are desperate, conceding a conflict is a viable course of action. A [PC] concession here and there can raise the stakes and introduce new complications organically, both of which make for a more dramatic, engaging story.

Old Finn, Landon’s mentor
Aspects: Retired Vinfeld Militia Captain, Too Old For This Shit, Landon’s Mentor
Skills: Great (+4) Shoot, Good (+3) Fight, Fair (+2) Will, Average (+1) Athletics
Stunts: Battlefield Expert. Can use Fight to create advantages in large-scale tactical situations.

Teran the Swift, Thief Extraordinaire
Aspects: Cutpurse and Scoundrel, I Just Can’t Help Myself
Skills: Superb (+5) Burglary, Great (+4) Stealth, Good (+3) Lore, Fair (+2) Fight, Average (+1) Physique [Note: 3 physical stress boxes]
Stunts: Inside Man. +2 to Stealth in an indoor, urban environment.

Og the Strong
Aspects: Og Smash!, Og Not Terribly Bright
Skills: Fantastic (+6) Fight, Superb (+5) Physique [Note: 4 physical stress boxes, 1 extra mild consequence for physical conflicts], Great (+4) Athletics
Stunts: none

Main [NPC]s

Main [NPC]s are the closest you’re ever going to get to playing a [PC] yourself. They have full character sheets just like a [PC] does, with five aspects, a full distribution of skills, and a selection of stunts. They are the most significant characters in your [PC]s’ lives, because they represent pivotal forces of opposition or allies of crucial importance. Because they have a full spread of aspects, they also offer the most nuanced options for interaction, and they have the most options to invoke and be compelled. Your primary “bad guys” in a scenario or arc should always be main [NPC]s, as should any [NPC]s who are the most vital pieces of your stories.

Because they have all the same things on their sheet as [PC]s do, main [NPC]s will require a lot more of your time and attention than other characters. How you create one really depends on how much time you have—if you want, you can go through the whole character creation process and work out their whole backstory through phases, leaving only those slots for “guest starring” open.

You could also do things more on the fly if you need to, creating a partial sheet of the aspects you know for sure, those skills you definitely need them to have, and any stunts you want. Then fill in the rest as you go. This is almost like making a supporting [NPC], except you can add to the sheet during play.

Main [NPC]s will fight to the bitter end if need be, making the [PC]s work for every step.

Regarding skill levels, your main [NPC]s will come in one of two flavors—exact peers of the [PC]s who grow withthem as the campaign progresses, or superiors to the [PC]s who remain static while the [PC]s grow to sufficient strength to oppose them. If it’s the former, just give them the exact same skill distribution the [PC]s currently have. If it’s the latter, give them enough skills to go at least two higher than whatever the current skill cap is for the game.

So, if the [PC]s are currently capped at Great (+4), your main [NPC] badass should be able to afford a couple of Fantastic (+6) columns or a pyramid that peaks at Fantastic.

Likewise, a particularly significant [NPC] might have more than five aspects to highlight their importance to the story.

Barathar, Smuggler Queen of the Sindral Reach
Aspects:

• Smuggler Queen of the Sindral Reach
• A Mostly Loyal Crew
• Remorse is For the Weak
• “Zird, Why Won’t You Die?”
• My Ship, The Death Dealer
• A Harem of Thugs
• I’ve Got the Law in My Pocket

Skills:

• Fantastic (+6) Deceive and Fight
• Superb (+5) Shoot and Burglary
• Great (+4) Resources and Will
• Good (+3) Contacts and Notice
• Fair (+2) Crafts and Stealth
• Average (+1) Lore and Physique

Stress: 3 physical boxes, 4 mental boxes
Stunts:

• Takes One to Know One. Use Deceive instead of Empathy to create an advantage in social situations.
• Feint Master. +2 to use Deceive to create an advantage in a physical conflict.
• Riposte. If you succeed with style on a Fight defense, you can choose to inflict a 2-shift hit rather than take a boost.

Playing The Opposition

Here are some tips for using the opposition characters you create in play.

Right-sizing

Remember, you want a balancing act between obliterating the [PC]s and letting them walk all over your opposition (unless it’s a mook horde, in which case that’s pretty much what they’re there for). It’s important to keep in mind not just the skill levels of the [NPC]s in your scenes, but their number and importance.

Right-sizing the opposition is more of an art than a science, but here are some strategies to help.

• Don’t outnumber the [PC]s unless your [NPC]s have comparatively lower skills.
• If they’re going to team up against one big opponent, make sure that opponent has a peak skill two levels higher than whatever the best [PC] can bring in that conflict.
• Limit yourself to one main [NPC] per scene, unless it’s a big climactic conflict at the end of an arc. Remember, supporting [NPC]s can have skills as high as you want.
• Most of the opposition the [PC]s encounter in a session should be nameless [NPC]s, with one or two supporting [NPC]s and main [NPC]s along the way.
• Nameless and supporting [NPC]s means shorter conflicts because they give up or lose sooner; main [NPC]s mean longer conflicts.

Creating Advantages for [NPC]s

It’s easy to fall into the default mode of using the opposition as a direct means to get in the [PC]s’ way, drawing them into a series of conflict scenes until someone is defeated.

However, keep in mind that the [NPC]s can create advantages just like the [PC]s can. Feel free to use opposition characters to create scenes that aren’t necessarily about stopping the [PC]s from achieving a goal, but scouting out information about them and stacking up free invocations. Let your bad guys and the [PC]s have tea together and then bring out the Empathy rolls. Or instead of having that fight scene take place in the dark alley, let your [NPC]s show up, gauge the [PC]s’ abilities, and then flee.

Likewise, keep in mind that your [NPC]s have a home turf advantage in conflicts if the [PC]s go to them in order to resolve something. So, when you’re setting up situation aspects, you can pre-load the [NPC] with some free invocations if it’s reasonable that they’ve had time to place those aspects. Use this trick in good faith, though—two or three such aspects is probably pushing the limit.

Change Venues of Conflict

Your opposition will be way more interesting if they try to get at the [PC]s in multiple venues of conflict, rather than just going for the most direct route. Remember that there are a lot of ways to get at someone, and that mental conflict is just as valid as physical conflict as a means of doing so. If the opposition has a vastly different skill set than one or more of your [PC]s, leverage their strengths and choose a conflict strategy that gives them the best advantage.

For example, someone going after Landon probably doesn’t want to confront him physically, because Fight and Athletics are his highest skills. He’s not as well equipped to see through a clever deception, however, or handle a magical assault on his mind. Zird, on the other hand, is best threatened by the biggest, nastiest bruiser possible, someone who can strike at him before he has a chance to bring his magic to bear.