NPCs — Campaign Guide

Why the catalog comes first

Everything else in the campaign editor points at the NPC catalog: encounter templates bundle catalog entries; zone locations reference templates; Play mode rolls attacks from the blocks you build here.

Get the goblins, guards, and surprisingly sympathetic dragon on the roster before you worry about the perfect dungeon graph. You can even run combats from Play with a full catalog and thin zone data — your index cards can hold the room descriptions.

One catalog entry, many appearances. That's the whole point of not typing the same goblin twice.

The NPC list

On Edit campaign, expand the NPCs panel. The table shows:

Name — display name in the catalog, with a short description underneath when one is set (handy for genre stock NPCs).
Unique — Yes if the NPC is flagged one-off (only appears once per campaign).
Actions — Edit, Delete, Export this NPC (per row).

Footer and transport bar:

Add NPC — opens the editor for a new entry.
Import (clipboard) — paste a shared NPC list or single NPC JSON.
Export selected (N) — copies checked rows to the clipboard.
Export all — copies the entire catalog.

Empty state: "No NPCs yet. Use Add NPC below to create one, or paste a shared NPC list with Import."

The NPC editor

Tap Edit or Add NPC. The panel switches to the editor with collapsible sections — fold what you don't need, especially on a phone:

Identity — Name, Size (1–30), Unique (only appears once per campaign), Description.
Stats — the numbers the rules care about.
Capabilities — what this NPC can do in play.
Attacks — strike lines for combat.
Loot — what might be left behind.

Footer: Save NPC (persists the NPC and the campaign) or Discard (drops in-memory edits and returns to the list).

Include default NPCs

On a brand-new, unsaved campaign draft, the General panel shows Include default NPCs — on by default. The next save (footer Save campaign, or any panel Save) seeds a starter cast so you're not facing an empty catalog. Uncheck only if you want to start from zero. Once the campaign is saved, the option is gone; you've already chosen your fate.

Leave it on. The pack may be more than you need; deleting extras is easier than building a cast from scratch. Grab the goblins and guards, then cull what doesn't fit your table.

Import and export

Export writes JSON to your clipboard. Send it to a co-GM, your tablet, or yesterday's self.

Import reads JSON from the clipboard. If keys collide with existing catalog entries, the app shows Overwrite existing NPCs? — Cancel or Overwrite. Same name but different key? The importer may rename with an *Imported* prefix so nothing silently merges.

PC-build, tablet-run workflow: Export all on the desk, message yourself, import on the device at the table. See How it works.

Common mistakes

Building templates before NPCs. Templates reference catalog entries. Empty catalog → empty template picker.
Forgetting Save NPC. Discard throws away the editor session. Save is the commit button.
Importing garbage JSON. If deserialize fails, check you copied the whole export, not a truncated chat message.
Expecting Unique to hide duplicates in Play. It flags design intent (one-off NPC); it doesn't stop you from adding the same name twice with different keys.

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