Non-player Character

A Non-playing character (or NPC) is, in larp terms, a character that - while roleplaying to keep up the illusion for other players - is not participating in the larp for his or her own larp experience but rather to fill some cruical role in the game (either a practical, off-game reason, or as a story element or "flavour"). Typical NPCs are the kitchen personel, The King, quest-givers or even game masters. NPCs can also be used as "resistance" for the players, i.e. an "opposing force" (OPFOR).

Plants
Some larps use NPCs that the players are not aware as being anything other than regular players ("plants"), in order to do specific scenes or actions which would detract from the full player experience. For instance, Vreden had NPCs that the players thought were coplayers that were killed off or rendered incapacitated in order to drive home the serious consequences of violence at the larp. There has also been talk of using NPCs and "expelling" them from the larp early on in order to counter some perceived problem in that larp culture, such as prolific rule abuse or unsafe behaviour.