NPC Shift

Everybody shambles!

NPC shifts are required by everyone (barring opt-outs) to make sure that everybody gets a chance to experience the world in its fullest. Without NPCs to play the threats, the locals, or the pests, our world would be quite empty, and our writers wouldn’t be able to provide the stories they want to provide.

Standard tickets for a full weekend require 4 hours of NPC, where we provide costuming, gear, etc. for you to make our stories come to life.

Note: A full weekend of NPC is completely free, but you still get your build/XP for attending the weekend.

Before your NPC shift

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1. Make sure you know when and where to go. You choose your NPC shifts when you check in before game. You can always look at the database or your printed character sheet for your scheduled time slots.
2. Come up with an in-character reason why you’ll be missing for a few hours at a time. These can also be explanations after the fact. Some you might hear at game include but are not limited to:
   • Doing your civic duty
   • A very long bathroom break
   • Getting extremely lost in the woods
3. Take care of your character needs. Turn in any of your crafting or gathering jobs. Make sure your CvC timer isn’t active. Run those last few errands that may have slipped your mind.
4. Take care of your player needs. Have a snack and some water. Change your inner layers that may have gotten gross from normal player activity. This is a good opportunity to do the things you’ve been putting off to stay in the play space: new contacts, new socks, etc.
5. Store your PC gear in your bunk and change into your NPC clothes. NPC Ops includes everything we use to gear up NPCs, from little critters to normal townsfolk to horrible abominations. NPC clothes can be anything neutral colored, unbranded, and non-specific to your PCs.
6. Report to your shift 5-10 minutes early. The overlap between shift changes prevents awkward pauses in the action. We try to minimize “dead air” where we can.

During your NPC shift

1. Guides: Your guides are there to help you navigate the world on an OOG (or Out of Game) level, and often on an IG (or In Game) level as well. They run the post office, where you will see a lot of the logistical parts of game, as well as the NPC shifts. When out of game, your guides will be seen wearing green headbands.
   • Field/Rules Guide: accompanies you on mods to make sure players are being safe, they’re having fun, and the mod accomplishes what it needs to. If there’s funky rules things, they’ll decide how they’ll shake out in the moment. They aren’t necessarily accurate to the books, the priority is to make it make sense to keep things moving along. Anything wrong can be fixed after the fact.
   • Ops Guide: decide what mods go out during their shift. They will relay NPC stats and plot details for each mod. While mods are out in the world, they’ll prepare for the next one.
2. Mods
   • There’s 2 major flavors of mods, social and combat, and they’re not mutually exclusive. You might go out as a group of threat trying to eat the townspeople or some locals to chit chat with them. Or something in between or involving both. You’ll get a lot of information for each mod and it’s okay if you don’t perfectly remember every stat block or character backstory. Focus on the key points and don’t be afraid to ask the Field Guide for reminders.
3. Know your limits. Don’t push yourself too hard. Whether physically or emotionally, your safety comes first and we’d prefer you take regular breaks. Communicate your needs with your guides.
4. There are short breaks between mods. It’s not nonstop action. After you beat up PCs, you’ll return to Ops and disinfect your gear. You’ll want your NPC gear to be clean in case it’s used again soon.