Wings Over the Pyre - February 9th, 2006

08:03 am - Wheels Within Wheels

Well, since I've been on such a Capes kick lately in the mornings, it would be remiss of me not to do so again while I'm waiting for my 750mg of muscle relaxant to kick in, so today we'll be looking at those mysterious entities called Non-Player Characters in Capes.

What are Non-Player Characters? I'm so glad you asked, Sherman! NPCs in Capes are not GM run characters, which would be complicated if they were, since there are no GMs in the game at all. Instead, they are active story participants which aren't embodied entities. Locations are one kind of NPC, like the Abandoned Amusement Park which has Abilities like Conceal and Attitudes like Lost. Phenomena are another type of NPC; like Martial Law, or Virus. Virus is an interesting Phenomena, in that, like other NPCs, it gives up a column of traits (Abilities, Styles, or Attitudes, in this case, Styles) in exchange for an associated Free Conflict that can be brought into play at the beginning of a Page by the player. Virus' Free Conflict is "Goal: Contain the Infection" which is intriguing, in that the infection, by definition, can't be contained until the Goal is resolved once it hits the table, and the containment, technically, only has to hold until the beginning of the next Scene. Situations are the last kind of NPC, and they tend to be the most nebulous, because they don't have much of an embodiment at all. Social Function is a great example of a Situation, with Abilities like Mingle and Dance, Styles like Alcohol and Three's a Crowd, and Attitudes like Loud and Annoying.

Also of note is that if the NPC has a Free Conflict associated, when the Conflict is resolved, the NPC leaves the table entirely. That doesn't mean it stops being important to the narrative, but it can't be used to influence Conflicts for the rest of the Scene. That is to say, once the Virus has Contain the Infection resolved against it, its player can no longer Lie Dormant in someone to try and gain more Inspirations or Story Tokens. NPCs would seem to make great things to take as your character if you're the scene-setter, and occasionally difficult to work in if you're not.

Technically Things are the first type of NPC, but frankly I don't think they're that non-person. The Millinium Falcon is as much a "character" as Han Solo, and the Enterprise is certainly moreso than any redshirt we see on Trek. As such, I'm departing from book-canon by not lumping my previous ships and such in here, but feel free to if you're a stickler.

So, yes ... all the NPCs mentioned before are in the book. But I don't write this stuff up to not get to write my own, so ... on to the NPCs!

( Places, Situations, and Phenomena, Oh Boy! )

NPCs in Capes are interesting for many reasons, but from a pure game-tactics point of view, they're excellent ways to start collecting Story Tokens from the other players by introducing a story-centric counter-force that they will care about. If someone sets the scene with some space combat and you drop in an asteroid field, they'll start seriously wanting their ships not to be getting rocked by rocks. Further, NPCs make excellent second- or third-characters that you bring in with a Story Token, letting you work up a collection of Inspirations by playing off yourself. This is good tactical sense, letting you gain resources with relatively little danger, especially once you note no NPC has "Powers," or traits they can spend Debt with.

A particularly evil scenario comes to mind wherein the scene-setter opens with a traditional urban street, and drops Zombie Plague, the second in turn plays a Zombie Horde as a multiple "person"-character, and the third goes for Joe Average, representing the poor benighted normals in the city. A brutal, if amusing, scene suitable for opening the play for the evening. Might make a fun Convention setup, too.

This has been your morning Capes ramble.