Game NPCs
These are the Non Player Characters that the game or GM's create (though GM created NPC's is very rare, and usually in the form of a lightning weilding god). These more commomly are more the different nameless influances that you tend to hear about during the progress of game play. There are a few different types of NPCs that you will run into, they are as follows:
Combatant NPCs
These are NPCs that participate in battles.
Soldiers
That is right. The men the men that the player character recruits, pays, and sends into battle are actually game NPCs. If are not paid they will desert, just as they will if their morale goes too low. A player character can tell them what to do and how to do it, but at the end of the day they have a mind of their own as it were.
If a player character wants to have a bit of fun with them, they can be named or interacted with in a more general fashion. The various actions you can have them do are sources of entertainment (civil work, looting, entertainment, training, ect). For example troop leaders in Outer Tilog have the option to torture their troops. These brings a morale boost, a sources of roleplay, and usually a few injuries or fatalies. Roleplaying losing men in combat, troop elation after victory, or losing morale after defeat are other ways of having fun with these NPCs.
These NPCs are drafted by recruiting centers built by regional Lords. Cost vary depending on training, equipment, and morale when recruiting them. Pay depends on the number employed as well as training and equipment factors.
Monsters
These are the roving bands of monsters that tend to appear and attack from time to time. These could range from Brigands to Dragons. A good way to fill in the blanks and come up with your own angle at what they are is look at the Combat Strength of the unit and then divide that by how many are in the rogue unit. If the individal in the unit is on the low end (say under 20 CS) then these are low end monsters, like maybe brigands. If they are in the higher ends than is the time for players to start really using their imaginations.
Informative NPCs
These NPCs tell what is going on and where. Some are part of daily reports while others players have to go out and find or even pay for information. These are as follows:
Scouts
These are the most common of the informative NPCs. Like soldiers they have to be payed for when recruiting them, and then be paid while employed as well. They can be found in regions that have scouting guilds. Scouting Guilds are built by regional Lords.
Some entertaining ways to roleplay these NPCs usually involve when they do not return. For example blaming the enmey for doing something unseemly to the missing scout, or evben more fun when they are lost in realm and detizens of ones own realm can be blamed. Like, Ok which one of you guys ate my scout?!?
