NPCing
If you are not ready to build a character, or you just want to see the game from the inside before committing to one, come as an NPC. It costs nothing, needs no advance prep, and no rulebook deep-dive — you show up in simple dark clothes, and the game supplies the costuming, the props, and a rotating cast of roles to fill for the weekend. A lot of this community’s current veterans started exactly this way, and NPCing does not close the door on ever playing a character; you can switch to a PC whenever you are ready.
What NPCs actually play
NPCs play everything the story needs that is not a player character: monsters, townsfolk, spirits, comic-relief animals, and — importantly — the villains. Player characters do not play villains in this game; it is explicitly a player-versus-environment story, where the antagonists are staff’s and NPCs’ to provide and player characters are not each other’s enemies. Every named villain across the campaign’s history has been staff- or NPC-run. If part of you wants to be the monster or the traitor general instead of the hero, NPCing is where that lives.
Beyond villains, NPCs cover a wide range: staff explicitly accommodate what kind of role you actually want, whether that is heavier roleplay or more “crunching” — the community’s own word for playing straightforward monster combat. Costuming and character work from NPCs is a real part of what makes an event feel alive, and it does not go unnoticed. Some NPC roles become genuinely beloved: the Squirrel King, a chaos-curse corvid, an overly-cheerful rain-loving Aluvairi character named Cutter, a snail witch with a skull staff — these become running jokes and community favorites that outlast the mod they started in. Since December 2024, especially memorable NPC roles have even been turned into physical trading cards through a staff side project — if you meet a great NPC character, telling staff about it is a real way to see it recognized.
Casual NPCing vs. going “permanent”
Most of your first few times NPCing will be casual — largely crunch-heavy monster roles or one-off characters that do not recur. Some NPCs eventually choose to go permanent: a real, celebrated milestone in this community, where you take on recurring, plot-sensitive roles and move into a private NPC-only channel, because staff no longer needs to keep the story’s secrets from you. Nobody expects you to make that decision on your first weekend, and plenty of people happily stay casual NPCs indefinitely.
How to actually do it
Getting started is a manual step, and it is the single most common thing new players miss: set your Discord display name to “Real Name/Character Name” (or “Real Name/TBD” if you have not settled on one), then message a staff member directly and ask to be added as an NPC. It is not automatic, and skipping it means missing entire channels without realizing it — including the NPC hangout channel and, eventually, the plot-heavy private one. You can NPC on short notice, even close to an event date, with no advance preparation required.
NPCs earn Character Points the same way players do — yes, even staff and NPCs write Post-Event Letters; it is not just a player-side mechanic.
Life at Monster Camp
Monster Camp is where NPCs stage and gear up between roles, and it has a genuine culture of its own. You will wear plain, nondescript dark clothing as a base layer — staff builds costuming on top of it — so bring good boots, comfortable socks, warm layers and gloves for cold events, earplugs if you want them, and a camp chair to sit in between calls. Do not leave personal gear there overnight. NPC meals are covered by the game as thanks for volunteering, and the community around Monster Camp is warm in a very specific way: people bring homemade treats, check in on each other after a rough scene or an injury, and celebrate milestones — like someone going permanent — with real enthusiasm. When a beloved recurring NPC’s fate turns out to matter — one, tied to a faction called the Hearthguard, was revealed dead almost in passing during a mid-2026 conversation about crediting NPCs on a write-up, and it caught even staff off guard — it lands, because this is a community that gets genuinely attached to the people it plays alongside, NPCs included.
See Day in the Life for what the rest of the weekend around Monster Camp looks like, and ask on Discord about coming to NPC for your first event — staff would rather help you get there than have you wait until you feel ready.