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NPC dossier / tracker for DMs

Track NPCs by what they want.

This is a working dossier ledger, not a cast list. Each row tracks who an NPC is to the party, what they want, what the players know, and what stays on your side of the screen. Copy it into any notes app, or use it as-is.

Two example dossiers below show what a filled-in entry looks like. The structure is system-agnostic; the names are placeholders you can replace.

Copy the outlineSee the full campaign workflow

Example NPC record

One record, two views.

Every NPC in Multiloop carries a share-safe side the party can see when you include the record in a campaign share view, and a DM-only side with the prep the players never read. The example below is the same NPC shown from both sides at once.

Quill Harrowfen

Archivist of Ewenfast, Rumerton contact

Player view

What the party can read

Included when this NPC is part of a campaign share view. Written as if the players will open it.

At a glance
Independent archivist working out of Rumerton. Hires the party to chase documents the Factors' Guild would rather keep quiet.
Appearance
Middle-aged, ink-stained cuffs, the Ewenfast ring on her left thumb. Gives every job a generous per-diem before she names the risk.
Story hooks
Pays for archive work in gold and favors. Keeps a private list of rival patrons the party may want to meet. Will write a letter of introduction to anyone her Archivists know.

This is the view the party would see if a campaign share view includes this NPC record.

DM only

What stays on your side of the screen

Kept out of the campaign share view. Write the prep here rather than in the share-safe text.

What they want
To recover a stolen ledger page that names Factor Madric before another patron claims it first.
Secrets
The page is chain-of-custody evidence in a case she is quietly building against the Madrics. Her copy of the ledger is the real one; the archive copy is a fake she planted.
DM notes
Treats indebted parties warmer than the contract implies. Expects the party in Saltwright within a tenday of the S12 sailing. If they are slow, she converts the offer into a favor owed instead of coin.

DM-only material is kept out of the campaign share view so the party never reads it by accident.

Two worked dossiers

One useful ally and one quiet suspect.

Same thirteen rows. Very different NPCs. Read either ledger card for a minute and you should be able to run the NPC next session.

Contact / archivist, Ewenfast

Quill Harrowfen

Ally of convenience. Accepts coin; remembers favors longer than debts.

Role at the table
Contact. Hires the party, points them at information.
Faction
Archivists of Ewenfast (independent scholars, not a guild).
First appearance
Session 9, hired them for the Redmarket job.
Last seen
Session 12, Rumerton Commons, before the Fellwake sailed.
Current location
Rumerton. Expected in Saltwright within a tenday.
What they want
A stolen ledger page recovered before a patron claims it.
What the party wants from them
Payment owed for the Redmarket job; a clean read on the sigil pendant.
Disposition toward the party
Indebted. Warmer than the contract requires.
Known relationships
Cass: agreed to share the pendant lead. Factor Madric: tense, treats him as a rival.
Public summary
Archivist. Paid 500g for the Redmarket job. Wears the Ewenfast ring.
Secrets
Building a private case against the Madric family. Her copy of the ledger is the real one.
DM notes (next use)
Pays off in Saltwright if the party arrives before the ledger does.

Last change note

Session 12: moved from "hired us" to "indebted." Expects the party in Saltwright.

Suspect / trade factor, Mireport

Factor Madric

Not an enemy yet. Owes less than he collects; remembers every skipped ledger line.

Role at the table
Suspect. Hires adventurers openly; something is under the hires.
Faction
Mireport Factors' Guild (trade, not crime, on paper).
First appearance
Session 7, the warehouse contract at Mireport.
Last seen
Session 12, Mireport docks. Watched the Fellwake leave without goodbye.
Current location
Mireport. Moves only for the Guild.
What they want
The ledger line the party left unsettled. And the names who saw him skip 2%.
What the party wants from them
An honest read on who paid the smugglers. Later, passage north without a flag raised.
Disposition toward the party
Cool. Not hostile. One more skipped ledger and that changes.
Known relationships
Rival to Quill Harrowfen. Patron of the Fellwake's captain. Unknown tie to the sigil pendant.
Public summary
Trade factor. Hires openly. Keeps receipts. Has never lied to the party.
Secrets
Skims 2% off every Guild cargo through Mireport. The unpaid ledger line would expose the skim.
DM notes (next use)
If the party returns to Mireport owing nothing, he becomes a reluctant witness.

Last change note

Session 12: moved from "warm" to "cool." Not an enemy yet.

The tracker / thirteen rows

What each row is for.

Three groups. Identity is written once. Story state is where most session updates land. The knowledge split is how you keep the table honest without spoiling the long game.

Group

Identity

Who they are and how the party would name them. Fill these once and leave them alone.

  1. Name

    The name the party uses. Put the true name in parens if it differs.

    Example / Quill Harrowfen (recorded as Q. Harrowfen on the Ewenfast rolls).

  2. Role at the table

    Pick one tag. Not alignment. Not class. Why they exist in the story.

    Example / Tags: ally, rival, contact, villain, vendor, witness, patron, suspect, faction member.

  3. Faction or group

    If any. "Independent" is a valid answer. Leave it blank only if the NPC is truly solitary.

    Example / Archivists of Ewenfast. Not a guild, not a cult; a loose ring of scholars.

  4. Known relationships

    One line per connection. Name who, not what class they are.

    Example / Cass: owes a favor. Factor Madric: rival, openly.

Group

Story state

What changes session to session. These rows age fastest; update them when the NPC touches a scene.

  1. First appearance

    Session number and one-line scene. So future-you can find the origin fast.

    Example / Session 9, the archivist hired the party in Rumerton.

  2. Last seen

    Session number and where the NPC was when the party left them.

    Example / Session 12, Rumerton Commons, before the Fellwake sailed.

  3. Current location

    Where they are now, if it differs from last seen. Otherwise leave this blank.

    Example / Rumerton. Expected in Saltwright within a tenday.

  4. What they want

    Their own goal in one sentence. Not your plan for them.

    Example / A stolen ledger page recovered before a patron claims it.

  5. What the party wants from them

    Blank if nothing. This row makes priority obvious at a glance.

    Example / Payment for the Redmarket job; a clean read on the sigil pendant.

  6. Disposition toward the party

    Warm, cool, wary, hostile, indebted, indifferent. Change it when it changes.

    Example / Indebted. Warmer than the contract requires.

Group

Share-safe notes

What players can read and what stays on your side of the screen. The product uses Public summary, Secrets, and DM notes; it does not mask individual worksheet rows for you.

  1. Public summary

    Three or four share-safe things any player could name without a check.

    Example / Archivist. Paid well for the last job. Wears the Ewenfast ring.

  2. Secrets

    What is true but hidden. Add a reveal trigger if one is ready.

    Example / Building a private case against a patron. Her copy of the ledger is the real one.

  3. DM notes (next use)

    The one reason this NPC still needs DM attention. Blank for three sessions means archive.

    Example / Pays off in Saltwright if the party arrives before the ledger does.

One more row

One connective note from session notes.

Below the thirteen fields, keep a one-line delta from the last session that touched this NPC. It is the ledger's tie to your session notes. A row with no delta for three sessions and no next-use note is safe to archive.

Tracker rhythm

Add late, update briefly, archive quiet NPCs.

A tracker fails when it becomes a second campaign to run. These three rules keep it under thirty rows and keep every row alive.

  1. 01

    First time they matter

    Add

    Open a row the first time the NPC does something the party will remember next session. Not sooner. A named innkeeper with no thread stays a name in your session note; they are not a tracker row yet.

  2. 02

    Right after play

    Update

    Touch the row only when the NPC changed. Update disposition, last seen, what they want, and the open thread. Leave identity rows alone unless the party learned something new.

  3. 03

    Three quiet sessions

    Archive

    When an NPC has gone three sessions with no new thread, no unmet promise, and no faction pull, move the row to an archive list. The tracker only holds NPCs who still matter.

A quiet tavern hearth at evening, with open ledgers and mismatched chairs pulled up to a long table.

The tracker exists for the people the party will remember next session. Nothing else.

Margin rule / cut

Leave these out of the tracker.

Every row you write is a row you maintain. Keep the tracker small by keeping these out of it.

  • Mechanics and numbers. Those live in your rules tools, not the tracker.
  • Every innkeeper, every guard, every vendor without a thread.
  • Personality quirks the players never actually saw.
  • Backstory you will rewrite the first time it contradicts play.
  • Secrets that lead nowhere. If the reveal never fires, the secret is prep debt.
  • Copy-pasted descriptions from bestiaries or sourcebooks.

Margin rule / write

How this fits Multiloop

In Multiloop, each NPC is one record with two sides. The share-safe side is what a campaign share view shows the party; the DM-only side is what you keep on your side of the screen. The worksheet rows above belong on one side or the other.

  1. 01NPCs live as campaign records that can link to factions through membership records, to locations by name or link, and to other characters through relationship records.
  2. 02Session notes and shared player notes drive Analysis. It can surface new NPC candidates and character-level updates such as status changes, revealed secrets, story hooks, quotes, important people, writings, and relationships when the notes support them.
  3. 03Nothing is written back without review. Approved suggestions can create records or update supported character and relationship fields; other NPC details stay under your manual control in the native record.

Where each worksheet row lives on the record

  • Who they are, what group they run with, and the relationships they carry sit on the share-safe side by default. The party will see the name and the group; they will not see prep notes hidden on the DM-only side.
  • First appearance and current location sit on the share-safe side when the party already knows them and on the DM-only side when they do not. Move them across when the reveal fires at the table.
  • What they want, the pressure on them, and the secrets the reveal hangs on always sit on the DM-only side until the party earns the reveal. Move them across deliberately, not by accident.
  • Public summary and share-safe notes are the two fields the party actually reads when a campaign share view includes the NPC. Write those with the player audience in mind.
  • Open threads and next-use reminders live in DM notes so they keep you honest without leaking into the campaign share view the party can read.
  • The one-line session delta ("last change from session notes") is a prep convention kept in DM notes, not a separate timestamp stored on the record.

Sharing happens through a campaign share view with selected NPC records. Include the NPCs the party should be able to read, keep sensitive NPCs off the list or flip the record to DM-only. The player-view side of each record is what actually surfaces; everything on the DM-only side (what the NPC wants, the secrets, and the DM notes) stays on your side of the screen.

Next prep opens with the handoff from your last session note, any approved new NPC records already in place, and the records you have chosen to retire as the cast thins.

Copy the outline into your notes app.

Markdown / plain text

This works in a plain document, a markdown file, a notebook page, or a campaign workspace. One file per NPC, or one block per NPC in a single file. Select and copy.

# NPC: [Name]

Identity
   Role at the table:
   Faction or group:
   Known relationships:
     -

Story state
   First appearance:
   Last seen:
   Current location:
   What they want:
   What the party wants from them:
   Disposition toward the party:

Share-safe notes
   Public summary:
     -
   Secrets:
     -
   DM notes (next use):

Last change from session notes:

FAQ

Before you open your first row.

How is this different from a cast list or character sheet?
A cast list names everyone. A character sheet holds mechanics. This holds only NPCs who still matter to the story, and it tracks why. The tag, the disposition, and the open thread are the parts a cast list leaves out.
How many NPCs should I track?
As many as have an open thread. When an NPC has gone three sessions with no new thread, no unmet promise, and no faction pull, archive the row. Most running campaigns settle at fifteen to thirty active entries.
What about shopkeepers, guards, and walk-ons?
Do not open a row the first time someone is named. Open it the first time they do something the party will remember next session. A named innkeeper with no thread stays a line in your session note.
Does this work outside D&D?
Yes. The structure is system-agnostic. It works for Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, Blades in the Dark, and most campaign-based tabletop RPGs.
Do I need a tool, or will a document work?
A document works. Many DMs run the tracker as a spreadsheet or a single markdown file sorted by NPC name. A campaign manager helps once rows start connecting to factions, locations, and session threads and you want those connections to stay current.
Can I share NPCs with my players?
Yes, through a campaign share view. A campaign share view can include selected NPC records for the party; sensitive NPCs stay out by leaving them off the list or by flipping the record to DM-only. The player-view and DM-only sides of the tracker map to the record itself: put share-safe text on the player-view side and keep what the NPC wants, the secrets, and the DM notes on the DM-only side.

Get Early Access

Keep the ledger connected after the game.

Multiloop keeps each NPC as one record with a player-view and DM-only side, links them to factions, locations, and other characters, and turns DM and shared player notes into reviewable NPC and character updates.