Kevin C. Wong

RPG Acc - Non-Player Cards (2014) [+]

Non-Player Cards is a boxed set of eight 50-card decks useful for generating table top role-playing game NPC backgrounds, quirks and motivations. The box is solid and glossy. The cards are fully-illustrated, a bit glossy and medium-end thickness (not like pro poker cards or even Bicycle playing cards, kind of like promotional deck of playing cards you'd get from a company).

The decks are:

  • Names - "In this deck you will try and discover, what is your character's name". Each card has a list of 20 entries, either male and female names or three name-constructors (beginning-middle-end).
  • Professions - "...what does your character do for a living?". Each card has a profession name and a paragraph describing what "you" do as part of that profession. E.g. Entertainer: You may be a street performer, a tavern musician or member of a traveling troupe...
  • Relationships - "...who is special in your character's life?" e.g. Childhood Rival: As children you were rivals, always competing, always looking to one-up the other...
  • Personalities - "...how your character interacts with others." E.g. Fanatic: You have a cause to which you are dedicated with absolute faith, a faith that burns inside you until nothing but the truth of your conviction remains...
  • Traits - "...what is the best way to describe your character." E.g. Unusually Clean: You are unusually clean, always well presented, and perfectly groomed...
  • Quirks - "...what isn't normal with your character." E.g. Perfectionist: Everything you do must be perfect, from your house to your achievements to your pets...
  • Secrets - "...what your character is trying to hide." E.g. Patient Zero: You are a carrier for a terrible disease...
  • Goals - "...what your character is trying to accomplish." E.g. Learning: The world has infinite mystery and wonder and if you could, you would unlock every secret."

Quibble: card text is both left and right justified and it looks like automatic justification which fails for some cards and the text is spaced weirdly, but still perfectly readable.

There are no rules and it's very free form. Deal out one of each card for an NPC or only a few cards or even multiples of one card type. If I have time I deal one of each type to an NPC then pick the two to four that makes a sensible back story to me. These cards could also be use for creating a PC if you need ideas.

There are similar products in book or card form. I like this one because the physical production value is good and there are 400 cards for good variety.