"Rules for handling NPCs?" Topic

Does anyone have any suggestions for ways to handle NPCs in rpg miniatures games or skirmishes?

I improvise as "plumpire", sometimes using dice to see how the NPCs feel.

Most mini games have an Intelligence or Cunning stat that can be tested or dueled with to get the NPC to do something you want. Pulp Alley, for example, has complete (and often hilarious) rules for dealing with bystanders, who can sometimes be coaxed to join your side for the scenario.

For "random movement", roll either 1d8 or 1d10 . . . the number will be how many inches they move in the direction of the "point" just above the number.

-- Jeff

I would handle them the same way I would in a role-playing situation: play them according to their personality, motives, and intelligence; if they are cowardly, then play them as that, running away when they can, for example. I do not differentiate between how I play NPC's in RPG's, or skirmish games, based on an RPG (BattleSystem Skirmish miniatures game, for example). Cheers!

Thanks all for those thoughts.

I was thinking more of how NPCs are activated in a skirmish game. I'm sure I read somewhere a set of rules that had the players after their own turn activating one of the NPCs? And there was something about an NPC getting out of the line of fire and/or taking cover? Does anyone recognise this mechanic and can tell me where to find them?

Two Hour Wargames.
Chain Reaction has the basics.
link

Every set has NPC rules for the scale and period.

Your description sounds similar to the Reaction Tests.

Hi MajorB – Sounds like Ed's rules for sure.

In most of his games your forces enter the board and then you roll for Possible Enemy Forces. These are moved according to dice rolls on a table.

Once you get LOS on them you resolve what they are according to the scenario and/or genre. Once they have been resolved then you use the Non-player movement table.

The rules are great for solo, cooperative and opposed games, and cover a wide range of periods from dinosaurs to far-future.

You can download the basic game for free at twohourwargames.com/free.html – use Chain Reaction 2015 if using guns or Swordplay if not. There's a new version of Swordplay due out in a month or so…

What period & scale are you interested in?

I just downloaded the Chain Reaction rules from Ed the Two Hour Wargames guy's link. They're very nifty…thanks for the link, Ed.
rags

There's also Michael Korn Small Unit Tactical Combat from 1972 based on his The Modern War in Miniature
As Ned Zuparko has written, this is a wholly umpire driven game in which yhe players will participate at points of decision, but the umpire runs the NPCS from activation and psychology charts
The activation chart has four types of NPC, under officer supervision, in a crew, in attack or defense posture or as the individual. The psychology chart addresses the NPC reaction to being in the combat zone, with factors of wounds, friends, enemy, types of fire recieved, etc Not every NPC needs to be administered or run as the game runs on a turn less time free flowing basis broken only at critical points.The umpire dialogues only with the player character and will attempt readjustment of the NPC according to the players wishes, if possible.

Thanks again for further comments.

No, I'm afraid it wasn't any of the Two Hour Wargames rules that I was thinking of. I think it was a set of rules for a Wild West gunfight or something like that. Most annoying. I'll keep looking. Any other suggestions?

There's been a few 'Wierd West' rule sets released in the last few years. Blackwater Gulch and Wild West Exodus are both the result of respective Kickstarters and very much oriented around the companies' miniatures. I haven't played either – reviews seem to mildly hint that they have no 'AI' at all. Dead Man's Hand by Great Escape Games appears to be 'traditional Old West'. Reviews indicate that it uses a purpose printed deck of cards for initiative, so this set may also be very specific to their proprietary miniatures.

Desperado has long been considered the "convention mainstay" and was re-published this summer by Knuckleduster Miniatures. It also uses a card-driven initiative mechanic and I have absolutely no idea if there are any rules for NPCs as it is primarily been used for large numbers of players.

What you might be thinking of is Six Gun Sound – Blaze of Glory, which is currently OOP because it is being revised / updated. Like other THW games, this included 'dice driven AI' in the form of 'reaction tests' for NPCs, both combatant and non-combatant, and had very specific rules for the iconic gun duel in the street at 'high noon'.

What you might be thinking of is Six Gun Sound – Blaze of Glory,

No, it wasn't SGS-BOG either.

As it turns out, and my memory may well have been jogged by this discussion (so thanks everyone!), I did find the rules that I knew I had seen but couldn't remember where. They are in Henry Hyde's "Wargaming Compendium".

Essentially at the end of a player's turn, they roll 1D6 for the number of NPCs that can be activated. The player chooses which NPCs to activate and then the opposing player decides where they move. NPCs will not willingly move into the line of fire and there is also a rule that allows the bad guys to use NPCs as a "human shield".