What’s an easy platform to make a game on?
 

I’d like to make a text based game with some radiant elements, but I’m not sure what I want to use to put it together because I can’t code. I’m looking for a fairly simple engine that will enable me to create wandering (spankable) NPCs without too much of a barrier to entry.

Twine is simple, and doesn't require any coding. Even if you want to do something more complex, there are a lot of resources to help with the coding languages they do have (but again, for basic text adventures, you don't need to code at all). Don't know about the radiant elements part, though.

If its a text game, try chyoa.com

Renpy or RPG Maker MZ. It really depends on how game-like you want to make it as opposed to simply telling a story.