How do you play your NPCs? Options

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How do you normally play your NPCs?

It's a broad question, I know: but broad patterns can sometimes be identified, along with which variables are relevant to determine how one NPC acts differently from another.

Mine are potentially capable of action, reaction, and preemptive action: depending entirely on their level of knowledge, their ability to act on that knowledge, and their personality/motivation. I don't think I've ever introduced an NPC that had less. Even so-called "cannon fodder" have had these three aspects ... although obviously to much less effect.

However, I have run NPCs where one of these three variables completely dominates the other two: ie. no knowledge of what is going on, no ability to act (or only one or two actions realistically possible), no will to act unless absolutely forced (or, alternately, compulsive meddler; or maybe where their life depends on their acting or reacting).

Huh. Come to think of it, that's the same approach as the SR3 attributes for Enemies. I never noticed that before.

What's been your experience?