The People You Meet: Five Questions for Every NPC in Solo Play

The people you meet make a solo story feel alive. Five quick questions turn a stranger into a character with a want, an opinion and a world behind them.

Every stranger is a story you have not heard yet

In solo play, the people you meet do most of the work of making a world feel alive. A shopkeeper with a goal, a guard with a grudge or a stranger who already knows your name can turn a quiet scene into a plot. The trick is to stop thinking of them as scenery and give each important person five quick answers. It takes a minute, and you can use the oracle and a d6 to do it.

The five questions

1. Who are they?

Start with a name, a job and one detail you could spot across a room, such as a limp, a bright scarf or a habit of tapping the table. Roll a generated character if you want to be surprised, and write down only what you need. Anything you leave out can be discovered later.

2. What motivates them?

Give them one want. Money, safety, a debt repaid, a rival beaten, a lost person found, a secret kept. A want makes a person act, and acting gives you scenes. If you cannot decide, ask the oracle: Does this person want something from me? Then pick the most interesting reason you can think of for the answer.

3. What do they think of you?

This is the question solo players skip, and it is the one that changes a conversation most. Roll a d6 for their first impression of your character:

• 1: Hostile. They want you gone.
• 2: Wary. They are watching your hands.
• 3: Indifferent. You are not their problem.
• 4: Curious. They want to know more.
• 5: Friendly. They are willing to help a little.
• 6: Eager. They need something from you.

Adjust the roll up or down if your character has a reputation, a uniform or a recent scandal behind them.

4. What do you think of them?

Now answer from your own seat. Do you trust this person? Do they remind your character of someone? Write one honest sentence in your hero's voice, even if the hero is wrong. A character who misjudges people is far more interesting than one who always knows.

5. What faction are they with?

People rarely stand alone. They belong to a guild, a family, a temple, a gang, a regiment, a company of travellers or a loose circle of friends. Name the group and write what it wants in one line. Now this stranger is a doorway into something bigger, and harming or helping them has consequences. A short list to borrow from:

• A trade guild protecting its prices
• A watch captain's informal network
• A quiet order guarding old knowledge
• A family business hiding a debt
• A crew of smugglers who are friendly as long as you stay out of the cellar
• No faction at all, which can itself be a story

A worked example

You walk into a harbour tavern and meet Oda Brightwater, a ferrywoman with a cracked lantern. Her want: to pay off a loan before the winter freeze. The d6 says 2, so she is wary of you. Your hero finds her stubborn but honest. Her faction is a small ferry cooperative that quietly smuggles medicine. In under a minute you have a person, a problem, a tension and a hook: she will not help you until she knows you are not a customs informer.

On the road

Strangers turn up most often while travelling. Pair these questions with the travel questions, so the weather, the terrain and your hero's mood shape the meeting.

Making it a habit

• Do this for the three or four people who matter in a scene, not for everyone. Background people can stay blank.
• Write the answers in your journal. When the same person returns, the first thing you read is how they felt about you.
• Let the answers change. A wary person can become a friend, and a friend can become a villain.
• If a person gets important enough, turn them into a companion or a rival.

When the oracle says no

If you ask whether a person wants something and the oracle says no, take it as information, not a dead end. They want to be left alone, and that is still a want. Ask the oracle what happens if you do not leave them alone, and you have your next scene. If you are not sure how to read an answer, see how to interpret random results, and if the scene goes wrong, remember that running away is a valid move.