Non-player character

A Non-player character, or NPC, is a character not controlled by a player. Players can usually talk to NPCs, but they are not attackable. (If they are attackable, they would be considered a monster) They include store owners, quest contacts, bankers and civilians. NPCs can give out quests, sell items, restrict access to certain areas and perform other vital duties. Many have no useful function, but provide atmosphere or interesting conversation. Some can talk in public, but this will not appear in the chat list. NPCs names have a yellow colour.

NPCs form the foundations for quests: beginning them, continuing the story, giving information and handing out rewards.



RuneScape Classic NPCs could only talk to one player at a time. Players took advantage of this and talked to NPCs and did not respond, thereby holding up the shops (in RuneScape Classic, players who stood in the same spot for five minutes would automatically be logged out, but this rule didn't apply when players were talking to NPCs). Players soon did this with new quests. Jagex changed the system such that if a player doesn't respond to an NPC when others were waiting, then the conversation would automatically end.

Trivia

 * If a player blocks the path for an NPC for too long the NPC will reset to its "respawn" location. Similar to penguins in the distractions and diversions activity.
 * Most non-player characters have a small shadow, while player characters have a bigger one. Shown in the above animation.
 * Technically, anything with a yellow name is an NPC. However, usually only those that represent actual characters rather than things like fishing spots are referred to as such.