Free resource
NPC card template
A run-from-the-table NPC card: everything you need to play a character in one glance, and nothing you do not. Print a stack before the session and fill them as the party invents reasons to meet people.
How to use it
- Four lines is enough. Voice, want, secret, ties. Long backstory reads well and runs badly.
- Write it forward. The first thing the players notice, the first thing the NPC says, what they do if the scene turns.
- Add "since last time" when they recur. One line on what changed makes a returning NPC feel alive.
# NPC — [Name]
- **Voice:** [one performable handle — how they talk, a tic]
- **Want:** [what they are after right now]
- **Secret:** [something true they will not volunteer]
- **Ties:** [faction / place / character they are connected to]
- **First impression:** [what the players notice first]
- **If the scene turns:** [what they do under pressure]
- **Since last time:** [what changed — fill in on their return]A worked example
Verrin, harbor clerk. Voice: whispers, glances at the door mid-sentence. Want: a transfer inland, away from the water. Secret: he has been forging the departure logs for coin. Ties: reports to the harbormaster, owes money to the buyer the party hunts, grew up with the fighter’s late brother. First impression: a man too nervous for an honest job. If the scene turns: he bolts for the door or offers up a name to save himself.