Non Player Characters

What are the rules for NPCs on Potters Army?

Because I have yet to see one used. And that is odd. It seems that every conceivable hob needs to be covered by a player character, and it's become rather ridiculous, especially in the character request thread. Are we even allowed to use NPCs? If not, why? And if we are, how come nobody ever uses one?

I HAVE used NPCs before... like Chase's house elf is an NPC, and every now and then they do pop up in posts. Basically you just play them with your character, but some characters who are needed more often then just an NPC, need to be created, and requesting a character is a great way for people who otherwise wouldn't be involved in a plot that may be going on, to get involved with that plot if they so choose. NPCs aren't as common as other people, but they are used. Just post them as you were playing them in your post

Reid was a NPC for a mega long time, but he ended up developing so well, he needed to be created, really. I also have Chip and Riley, who are NPCs for Jack. Khaat also uses quite a lot. I do agree, though, a lot of the characters in the character request forum seem to not have much reason. It seems like they only need to be used once, particularly the evil ones who have killed family, yada yada. If you need your family killed, that's only a one-shot type of deal, and I suggest they find a willing Death Eater. I don't think some people really know what NPCs are, so that might be part of the problem.

I use them all the time. I use them just to add flavour, sometimes.

It's like, I put Cassie's sister Danae up as a character request because I always wanted to create a character with a big family and I want her siblings to played by different people. I think it gives the RP flavour. And although I have an idea of what Danae's like, I wouldn't be upset if someone came along and gave her a completely different personality.

Whereas Selwyn's family will always be NPCs. The way his family treats him, and especially the way his second cousins Arlette and Aubin treat him, is critical to the way he sees himself. Also, Arlette and Aubin have a whole other dimension to them that I think is great fun, but some people would find creepy and other people would go too far with until it became tacky and nonsensical. Basically, I wouldn't trust anyone else to play them.

For me, the crunch between using an NPC and creating an actual character is how close I want the characters to be to one another. Since I created Tifanie, I've had one thread with Caelani, because I try to keep my characters at a distance from one-another. When it comes to asking for them to be made it's more along the lines of how much I need to interact with that character. Like, Selwyn's cousins are great fun, but they don't go to Hogwarts, and Selwyn doesn't need to interact with them all the time to feel bad about himself because of them.

Hmmm, I think that the "Official" stance is that they're discouraged.
See, as you may know, we had issues a while back with people trying to be the most powerful person blah blah blah, and as such we had a problem with these power players having legions of servants and warriors at their disposal.

I think that my personal view is that NPCs with a purpose should definitely be around. I am against, however a random NPC thing, unless it's fitting, not just trying to be excellent.

Basically, what I'm saying is that your charrie should have a back-story filled with NPCs, if Jess has a brother, i don't want to RP with myself, nor do i want to have a charrie for him, he should just be an NPC.

However rushing into battle fighting millions of NPC DEs with hundreds of OoTP NPCs is just stupid in my eyes.
Mind you, so is having 4308908 charries all related to your plot.

So basically, what I'm saying is to just use them wisely, don't be an idiot, or we'll have to step in, but don't senselessly make 353543 charries either, 'cause that creates worse issues.

That sort it out for you?

I do have a whole network on NPC's, and I'm using them. *huggles toybox of NPC's* LOL. They won't ever be warriors,,and I agree with Jess that it is pointless to make armies of them. However they are useful and necessary as part of the backstory for my personal plots. Eli has a lot of them too, and since some of them have become mutual, i predict they will be staying.

I also find that they are useful as common contacts for certain locations where PC players have not gotten jobs. For example, the chef in Sparks. I have offered it as a PC, but it really isn't very interesting, so therefore becomes handier as a repeated common contact that those that I rp w/ frequently at Sparks all feel free to use at will. I'm good with that, and it seems to add to everyone's fun. I'm also quite sure that other people have appropriate ideas for uses of NPC's as well. But those are my brief thoughts.

End of story. LOL

Ah. Thanks for clearing this up guys. If I may make a suggestion then: Since everyone seems to have their own circles of supporting NPCs, is it at all possible to have a place where people can compile said NPCs into one thread? Just a name, creator, basic looks, and function/personality. Might help to round out the site a bit.

Oddly enough that's what Khaat said last night. It would be good to have somewhere to put the NPC's. Family ones, I assume, would just remain in the apps. I'd love to list mine though...just so I can see exactly how many I actually have. (:

OK. I'm doing it. So there!! Take that, all you naysayers who oppose NPC's! ROFL!

I will try to have it up by the end of the day. Patience.

K.

Can I suggest something I saw on another site? They had a list of NPCs, a brief description, and who was allowed to control them.

For example, family NPCs might only be used by the player and some close friends, but random student NPCs or characters like Peeves or The Fat Lady might be used by anyone.