GuildWiki:Style and formatting/NPCs

Definition
A non-player character (NPC) is defined as a character or creature within the game who is not hostile to players. NPCs are shown in the compass as lime green triangles.

General Guidelines
These guidelines should be adhered to where possible, to maintain an overal consistency for all NPC articles. Guidelines here take precedence should there be a conflict with Style and formatting/Bestiary. See also the Bestiary guidelines for details not mentioned here.

Type-Specific Guidelines

 * For pages on Collectors, see Style and formatting/Collectors for more specific details.
 * For pages on Heroes, see Style and formatting/Heroes for more specific details.

Template
<-- leave blank if unknown, do not omit

General
<-- avoid a blank line before this, heade Put any description, origin, history, lore, or important information here. Do note the section heading level. This is a level 2. The following are all level 3 until the footers.

Please use to indicate if there are spoilers. Place them either at the top of the page or at the start of a section, depending on where the spoiler is.

Quests given
<-- omit if none
 * Quests this NPC offers

Quests involved in
<-- omit if none
 * Quests that NPC takes part or appears in

Location
<-- specify continents only if NPC appears in multiple campaigns
 * Region 1    <-- don't omit the region
 * Newbie Area
 * Special Area (any special condition?)
 * Region 2
 * Newbie Location
 * Special Location (any special condition?)

Skills used
<-- omit if none known

Evaluation
<-- omit if inapplicable Got any behavioral evaluation or comments? Tips? Pros and cons? Put them here.

Dialogues

 * "Something NPC says when clicked on or when prompted. Please indicate if there are spoilers. Group by location if necessary"


 * "It is not necessary to include mission- or quest-only dialogue; those are covered in the associated mission or quest."

Quotes
<-- omit if inapplicable
 * "Something NPC say for apparently no reason and no pattern at all, but please indicate if there are spoilers."
 * "Group these by location or situation if necessary"

Trivia
<-- omit if none
 * Trivia information goes here.

Section Explanations
NPC articles have three segments: header, body, and footer. Only the footer is optional.

Article Header
The header portion is mainly the BeastInfo template info box. Fill in only known details. Avoid using "Unknown" or question marks.

See the Beastiary guide for more info on the template. The prof parameter has an additional guideline: if an NPC has an acknowledged NPC type (such as Collector or Merchant), use the type in place of an actual profession.

Please mark new NPC articles with  . The stub mark is removed if the article contains enough relevant information or when there isn't much more to be added.

If it is necessary to hide the automatic table of contents, place the   tag in front of the BeastInfo template, on the same line. This prevents an unnecessary blank space at the top when the article is saved.

Article Body
The body of an NPC article contains the bulk of the information. As per the general style and formatting guidelines, please omit any section that does not have content.

Common Sections
Please use only the listed section names and the following order. As per the template above, all the following sections except the first one should be level 3 section headings. The first one is level 2.


 * 1) General An explanation of the purpose and/or history of the NPC. Character description or in-game relationships with other characters are also appropriate. Location or purpose can be mentioned here, but try to phrase it such that the more detailed version appears in their relevant sections.
 * 2) Quests Given Quests that can be obtained from this NPC, preferably in the order of availability. No need to mention requirements, but do note if it is no longer available (such as special event quests).
 * 3) Quests Involved In Quests that involve this NPC in any manner (unless already listed in Quests Given), in the order of availability.
 * 4) Location All locations where an NPC can be found, grouped by regions in the order of the storyline. A map is helpful, but optional. Please indicate any conditions for an NPC's appearance, such as during a mission or quest.
 * 5) Skills Used Skills that this NPC is known to use. See the henchmen for examples. Avoid adding unconfirmed skills. Use the   and    templates and list skills alphabetically (those with double quotes are sorted first). If there are variations to the skill set, either add a comment or provide a variant list.
 * 6) Evaluation Meant for recording behavioral notes, usefulness evaluation, and handling issues.
 * 7) Dialogue Text response when NPC is clicked on or prompted. Mission briefings may go here.
 * 8) Quotes Encompasses random text bubbles or random messages, most notably from the henchmen or NPCs like Meerak. Group by region or occasion if there are obvious subsets. Quotes are those that randomly appear. Dialogue appears reliably, quote appearance are unreliable.

Special Sections
There are two types of NPCs that warrant additional sections: NPCs with more than one function, and NPCs of certain types. See the template on where to insert these additional sections (these are all level 2 sections):


 * NPCs with multiple versions : An NPC may be presented differently from area to area. For each version, use a separate level 2 section header for each version and repeat the above sections (all with level 3 section headers), as necessary. See all the henchmen or Meerak for examples. In the case where an NPC is actually present in multiple campaigns, please use level 1 headers to indicate the campaign (which also elevates the Notes and Trivia sections to level 1 as well). See Devona and Mhenlo for examples.


 * NPCs that are also enemies : If an NPC is also a hostile foe, it is usually sufficient to simply treat it as a normal NPC and fill in the relevant sections. Screenshots of the NPC as a friendly and as a foe is recommended. If there are significant differences, treat it as for multiple versions (above) but apply the Bestiary guidelines for the hostile version. See Markis for an example, but be wary of spoilers.


 * Armor crafters : Add a section called Armor Sets to list the offered armor sets in a table grouped by profession. See any armor crafter for examples.


 * Artisans : Artisans produce Rare Crafting Materials. List the materials under a Rare Crafting Materials Offered section. See any artisan for examples.


 * Collectors : See Style and formatting/Collectors.


 * Merchants : The section Goods Offered is used to list items offered in a table. See existing merchant articles for examples.


 * Skill trainers and hero skill trainers: List available skills in a Skills Offered section. See any skill trainer for examples.


 * Weaponsmiths : List the possible weapons in a table under a Weapons Offered section. For examples, see existing weaponsmiths.

Article Footer
The footer section includes the Notes and Trivia sections as well as the categories. Remember to omit them if they are not needed. As a matter of consistency, always place Notes above Trivia.

Categories are always placed them at the very bottom. See the following section for guidelines.

NPC Categories
All NPC articles must be categorized. As a general rule, use as specific a category as possible. Please do not categorize as Category:NPCs; that is meant to be the topmost category for all NPC categories. Also, try to keep the Category:NPCs category tree totally separate from the Category:Bestiary category tree. This will prevent categories with a mixture of hostile and non-hostile creatures.

The following category types must be present for each NPC article:
 * 1) Type
 * 2) Location
 * 3) Organization (optional)

Keep to the ordering above. Also, sort each category grouping alphabetically.

If the article details both the NPC version and the hostile version, add categories according to the Bestiary categorization guidelines first, then add any remaining applicable NPC categories specified here.

Type
An NPC must have one or more Type categories. Refer to Category:NPCs by type to see the available type subcategories. Apply as appropriate. Use subcategories where applicable. For example, a collector NPC should not belong to both Category:Collectors and Category:Collectors (Factions), only the latter.

Each Type category is split into subcategories organized by campaign. Each of these subcategories are also a part of Category:NPCs by campaign as well. So Category:Collectors (Prophecies) would be a subcategory of both Category:Collectors and Category:Prophecies NPCs.

Special event NPCs go into an encompassing subcategory, such as Category:Collectors (special event). There is no need to group by event since their numbers are small and are readily accessible via Category:Special events. See Rore Aleswigger and Acolyte Norge for examples.

Location
Where an NPC makes a regular or permanent appearance, use the name of the location or area for the Location category. For example, if an NPC appears in an outpost, in a mission explorable area, and in another explorable area, that NPC has a total of three Location categories. Please do not categorize by region.

NPCs like henchmen and Xunlai Agents appear in large number of locations. The Location category may be omitted in such cases.

Some NPCs appear due to a quest or condition being active. It is not necessary to add a Location category for such special appearances; the Location and quest sections will suffice. This includes special event NPCs. Note that this does not apply to missions. If an NPC appears in a mission, he or she will always appear, hence it is considered a regular appearance.

Organization
This category type is optional. The term Organization is used here to include all organizations, groups, factions, affiliations, and clans. Each NPC usually has only one Organization category, although there are exceptions (such as Dinas and Markis). See Category:NPCs by organization for a list of such categories.

A special case occurs when a particular organization has both friendly and hostile members. Rather than mixing them, use a new category name with a " NPCs" suffix appended to the name of the organization. Examples include Category:Kurzick NPCs, Category:Luxon NPCs, and Category:White Mantle NPCs.