What's a word that means "NPC or Monster"

[Eltab]

Frenemy?
In that you wind up fighting the important NPCs / Monsters after you get whatever use you can out of them (or they get their use out of you).

In a few games I've played, anybody who was an NPC and/or Monster was also ...
a Target.

 

[Blacksad]

Souls, inhabitants

 

[MNblockhead]

You'd call Darth Vader fodder?

What?! He said it about himself!

"Luke, I'm your fodder!"

Sorry, I'll see myself out.

 

[Voadam]

Named characters/characters? For talking about a Star Wars movie that might feel right. Heroes, named characters, extras. For an RPG it sounds weird though for the PC/NPC connotation.

 

[Bawylie]

Just the wrong tone for the casual action comedy game I’m writing. It’s just an aesthetics thing.

How about Lead, Clown, Card, or Feature/Featuring... ?

 

[Lidgar]

In general, I prefer the term "Brigands that are neither tarrying nor running". Bit of a mouthful, but effective.

- CS

 

[Lanefan]

If what you're writing is somewhat-comedic anyway, why not just invent a word out of nothing and then define it to mean what you want it to mean.

As in:

PC - your player character, and those of other players in the game.
Graflen - anybody or anything else you meet in the game setting. This could be a vicious monster, a friendly noble, a ghost, someone's pet cat, the third guard on the right, and so on - they're each and all Graflen.

 

[CleverNickName]

Good question. The one that feels right to me is "character," but unfortunately that won't work since it has specific in-game meaning. Actor, maybe?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

If what you're writing is somewhat-comedic anyway, why not just invent a word out of nothing and then define it to mean what you want it to mean.

As in:

PC - your player character, and those of other players in the game.
Graflen - anybody or anything else you meet in the game setting. This could be a vicious monster, a friendly noble, a ghost, someone's pet cat, the third guard on the right, and so on - they're each and all Graflen.

I think you're on to an idea here.

I don't know if it's intended to be silly enough to invent a word, but taking a normal word and converting it to system jargon for NPCs would probably work great (and it's not like it's never been done before). It will need to be something informed by the tone of the game.

I'd start with looking at the primary themes of the game, and then thing of a term that would apply to most named NPCs based off of that. If it were going to be a particularly silly version of an action comedy game you could say "Punching Bags" or something. If people getting played and cheated were a big theme, then it could be "Marks"--ie, everybody is potentially a mark.

 

[FrogReaver]

I'd call them GMC's. Game Master Characters. There's also a pun there that makes it funny