FORCES: NPCs as LOOT in ICRPG

NPCs. Companions. The dreaded "GM-PC." We've all seen them. Most of us have been them. But no more! Rid thyself, O Game Master, of the shackles binding thee to eternal NPC bookkeeping! Fret not, O Player, of a new burden of which thou wilt never remember to do nor use!

BEHOLD! Grizzly Encounter FORCES! 

An ICRPG Supplement on Character Creation, NPCs, Companions, Villains, Kingly LOOT, and more! Estimated 2019.

NOTE: TL;DR in CONCLUSION

FORCES: Companions as LOOT

"Companions" here mean NPCs (Non-Player Characters) that specifically follow the party for some reason. A Companion LOOT "Item" is more a conceptual thing than anything, for truly it stands for the NPC's Friendship. And Friendship is Earned, through hard work, Attempts at communication and interaction, and Effort. 

In short, Companions are LOOT Chests, opened with CHA (or other STATs, depending on how they Attempt to win over the NPC). Once a PC has opened the proverbial Friendship Chest, they get access to the Companion's bonuses and ability, should they have one.

Here is the crucial part about Companions: Anyone has the opportunity to add, work on, and open the Friendship of a Companion. In fact, it is strongly recommended. The reason is simple: The NPC is considered to always be helping, always fighting, always working toward survival. However, the Companion will also aide his/her friends in whatever way they can. This results in a slight passive LOOT bonus to all friends of the NPC.

In short: Companions are Carried LOOT Chests shared among the party and provide small LOOT bonuses to all who open and keep the Companions in their Gear.

For example, let's say the Party finds a goat and decide to keep the cantankerous little bugger. Someone, in order to keep it in the party, must have and keep the goat "chest" in their carried gear. The GM decides to make it a 2-Heart Chest, because it is a wild, stubborn animal. Two Hearts of CHA Attempts and Basic Effort later, this is now in their inventory:

Billy, the Ire Goat. NPC. +1 Climb, +5 CARRY. ACTION: Headbut, NEAR. 1 H Damage to Target. (Tags: Scar, Valiant, Obstinate, Territorial, Sherpa, Abandoned)

You'll notice a few things about this. First, it has a name. Second, it is a new type of LOOT not in the game (FOOD, ITEM, SPELL, POWER, etc). It only has two very small LOOT Bonuses, but they are interesting and related to what the NPC is. It has Tags. And it has this funny little thing called an ACTION.

But most importantly, it can be written easily on a Character Sheet in the Gear section.

Companion ACTIONS: The CHA Stat at its Best

What are NPC ACTIONS? They are simple. Think of them as re-chargeable Hero Coins requiring Attempts and restricted to Friends of the Coin. Companion ACTIONs are used at any time by any Friend of the NPC. Actions are always a CHA Attempt. Always. Why? See above. And below. 

The NPC is considered to be doing something constructive at all times. Not incredibly so, hence the small bonus, but on average they are successful enough to not die unless specifically targeted or ordered to become a shield for the PC. No, the reason CHA is used for an NPC ACTION is because the PC needs to rouse and inspire the NPC to new heights, to dig deeper than they thought possible and succeed wildly. This is also why the ACTION does not roll Effort. If the Attempt succeeds, one Heart of Effort is immediately applied to that ACTION. This has the added bonus of streamlined gameplay.

Cooldown: ACTIONS are always immediately followed by a 1D4 Round Cooldown for all Companion ACTIONS in the Party. Why? Who knows? Maybe it took more than one Companion to pull that stunt off. They're reloading, catching their breath, cooling off, standing in awe of their colleague at what they just did. The point is, it is a nightmare to track individual cooldowns on multiple NPCs, so just lump them in a group. 

FORCES: Companions as People

Another core concept in FORCES, aside from the mechanics of Companions as LOOT, is to give them life as actual characters in your world simply and easily as per the true Heart of ICRPG. Without characterization, this version of an NPC would be discarded within a session as a worthless piece of Shabby LOOT. I say, "Nay!" Let's give 'em flavor, so much flavor a GM can role-play them in seconds and Players will fall in love (or despise) them in hours. But how to do that in 6 words or less?

Tags.

Six tags, to be precise. One to paint a broad stroke of a key feature in each fundamental category of personality and Character:

1. Physical. If someone were to describe you physically, what would be the first thing they would say? Is it some sort of deformity, a particular odor, marking, physical build, appearance, attractiveness, etc? Is there a theme, a single word that describes it? Or is there one thing so prevalent that it would make you stick out in a crowd? This is your one word that most stands out to describe your physical appearance.
2. Virtue. What is your greatest strength? Everyone has one, even the greatest of villains. In fact, the greatest villains are villains because of a disordered and twisted virtue turned vice! This is the one word that best describes your greatest character strength.
3. Vice. The opposite of Virtue. Even the most pious of saints have them, they just learn to control them. This is what separates Heroes from Villains. Normal folk indulge, Villains are ruled by them. What one word describes your greatest weakness, the depths of your shame, your flaw?
4. Quirk. What makes you stand out? Twitch? OCD? Ritual? Hobby? Singing? Something else or perhaps more... sinister? If someone where to spend enough time with you, what would they remember most about your personality and behavior?
5. Job. They say the clothes make the man (or woman). Sometimes a person is defined by their career, other times their career is a response to their life. This can explain a character a great deal, especially their general daily life. How do you live?
6. Life. What is the single, most important event to ever happen in your life? Orphaned? Widowed? Married? Parent? Accomplishment? Trauma? Abuse? Amnesia? More than any other Tag, this final one will tie it all together, provide context to everything, give rise to a unique Character and Personality, and provide a PC or NPC with a simple and specific Motivation.

There are many other ways to give NPCs characterization in games, and I am not saying this is anything new. Far from it. This is basic storytelling and hundreds (I honestly hope) of tabletop games use either this or a version of this in their characterization systems. What FORCES does is boil it all down into Tags, single words for each category that capture specific, visceral, and evocative emotions, distilling it to the very essence of what is most important; what is memorable. There will be Roll Tables for all six of these Tags, plus roll tables for names and a Companion LOOT Table.

This is a fraction of what I have in store for the Grizzly Encounter FORCES Supplement. I've got all sorts of stuff planned like new classes, PC character creation stuff, a custom Path, new Bio-Forms, Villain and NPC generators, custom character sheet, a Loot table, and of course, the Companion system after it goes through a few more tweaks and further streamlining. Then again, I'm an insane man so it might be more, might be less. Who knows with these things? It's probably going to get weird in the year it's likely to take me to finish.

I just wish I could finish it sooner.

CONCLUSION

TL:DR; The current Grizzly Companion is pretty simple:

1. All NPC Companions are Player run, have one Heart, and have no roll bonuses of their own (special circumstances only);
2. Companions are Carried LOOT Chests "shared" among the party and provide small LOOT bonuses to all who open and keep the Companions in their Gear;
3. NPC ACTIONS can be used out of turn by any "friend" of the Companion, are always CHA Attempts, and usually apply one Heart of Effort to the Action;
4. There is a 1D4 Round Cooldown that applies to all NPC ACTIONS after one is used;
5. They use a series of 6 Tags to combine and create a complete unique character from appearance, character, personality, backstory and motivation.

Of course, Companions can be removed from a player's Gear. This is the same as saying "Hey, your friendship isn't as important to me as this other bauble." Friendships can be broken, forgotten, lost or destroyed. And broken friendships must be mended before things can go back to normal. A dead Companion no longer provides bonuses (obviously), but it might be interesting to see how long it takes for players to remove them from their inventory.

That is when you know you did it right.

Happy Gaming.