NPC
An NPC is a character you drive. They carry Goals, those Goals become the Threats the party faces, and almost everything else in your Campaign hangs off them.
Ultimo aggiornamento 12/09/26
Wyrdli · Aiuto e documentazioneAn NPC is a character you drive. They carry Goals, those Goals become the Threats the party faces, and almost everything else in your Campaign hangs off them.
An NPC (Non-Player Character) is anyone in your Campaign you drive, as opposed to a PC, who belongs to a player. NPCs are the most important pieces in Wyrdli's model: they hold Goals that produce Threats; their wants, projected into a Scene, are the Tension that makes the Scene play instead of describe; they populate Factions; and when a Clue isn't a physical thing, it comes from an NPC. An NPC without a Goal is a name on a list. An NPC with a Goal is an engine.
Open the campaign's NPCs tab and click "+ Add NPC". The editor opens with the NPC template pre-filled, ready for you to write into.
Give the NPC a name and a one-line description you'll recognise in a list (Henry Marsh, harbour master, drinks at the Three Bells).
Write at least one Goal on them before you save. A name alone is dead weight; a Goal makes them an engine. You can add the Goal directly in the editor or create it on the Goals tab and link it back here.
If they belong to a group, link them to a Faction. If they live somewhere specific, link them to a Location. If they know things, attach the Clues they carry.
Save. The NPC joins the Campaign.
NPCs do their real work inside Scenes. When you write a Scene, add the NPC who's present and bring their Goal with them; their want, narrowed to this moment, is the Tension the Scene plays out of. If the Scene has no NPC with a want, the Scene isn't a Scene yet, it's a description waiting for someone to walk into it.
On the Canvas, NPCs sit underneath Scenes as the source of the Tension that makes those Scenes worth playing. In the Play view, you can see the NPCs in the active Scene at a glance, and drop a prepared Threat on the table when one of their Goals demands it.
If a Campaign starts feeling thin, you almost always have NPCs without Goals. Open the NPCs tab, sort by "no Goal", and write a want on each one. The thinness will lift.