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View Full Version : [Any]Best NPC's encountered and why?



Iceforge
2010-05-18, 04:26 PM
As someone who takes the GM's chair a lot more than I am a player, I am very interested in what various people think was the best (or some of the best) NPC's they had encountered in various games and why.

The system doesn't mean a lot here, while there might be mechanical issues (can't imagine which right now) then that shouldn't affect much about what made the NPC cool and interesting for you as a player.

For me, it was a local drunk in a Call campaign a friend of mine ran who was secretly working for the cultists and had infiltrated the town by pretending to be a local drunk, while actually immune to alchohols effect due to magic; He got a thing for mixing in a bit of live with his standard gaming, so he had taken an empty whisky bottle, filled it with applejuice, and whenever we went to this guy for advice or just talking about something (more like questioning at times), the GM would stand up, walk a bit shakingly, shake our hands and let us into his bedroom/living room which was right next to where we played, sit down, fill a few shot glasses and pass them around and while we talked with the guy, he would empty his glass frequently and refill it (as well as refill ours, if we choose to empty it)
He ended up betraying us, giving us poison in the whisky, and none of us noticed how he didn't drink any of it himself this time before it was too late, the GM played it out nice and well, with lifting up the glass, almost drinking and then stop and start answering the question, like he was just remembering or realizing something.

It made that NPC very memorable; not that I remember his name, as that was not as important as how he acted and that he came very much to live by the GMs actions.

So please people, share stories of the NPCs you liked best and what did that GM do since you thought it was a very nice NPC?

kestrel404
2010-05-19, 09:37 AM
My favorites are somewhat unorthodox, and in no particular order.

Most memorable was the time our GM decided to make a continuation campaign off of a game we had previously 'won'. All of the previous game's PCs were still around in a new world (the end of the old game had been the PCs escaping a dying universe and avenging its death). We all made new characters. And the old PCs were around as NPCs. My old character was one of the Big Bads of the new game. The GM did a great job on him. He was originally a mad-scientist, and he continued to be one after being tossed into a world with completely different physical laws. In spite of the hardships of having to learn/discover a totally new set of rules to play by, he became a truely awful and crazed individual, while still remaining true to my original character.

Another one of my favorites was a repeating bad guy/nemesis/mysterious stranger who seemed to have a very convoluted agenda and kept showing up. He was an illusionist who worshipped the god of lies and trickery, and he seemed to be dead set on wooing one of the party's female PCs. The problem with this NPC was that we had a hard time figuring out WHO he was - because seemingly every time we came to a new town or city, he was there ahead of us, and already impersonating someone important that we would invariably have to meet. Probably. Or perhaps he was a beggar on the side of the road. Maybe. But he was never really all that far from us, and even when he wasn't interacting with us directly we suspected he was throwing obstacles in our path - or worse, leaving clues on how to accomplish our goals. It was maddening and terrifying, and in retrospect it was a lot of fun.

Not technically an NPC, or even a group of NPCs, but having read Simon R. Green's Nightside series, I must recommend it for any GM who wants a resource of interesting characters. Every time the author introduced a new personality to the story, he did it with such color and flare that I found myself thinking "wow, he would make a really great NPC in the next game I run". Literally. Every time. Even with the minor characters that were only shown once and then killed. It happened with random mafia enforcers whose sole purpose was to provide a speedbump for the heroes progress. So yeah, if you want a source of great NPCs, I recommend reading the Nightside series.

Altair_the_Vexed
2010-05-19, 10:13 AM
Ngarthrankorr, a dreadfully evil lich lord.

When we met him on his personal home plane, he sat us all down for tea and scones, and chatted amiably - "It's so nice to have living guests, the undead can be so dreadfully dull, you know."

JeenLeen
2010-05-19, 10:16 AM
One of my favorites was a guy named Jain.

Our team was captured and, because we had this McGuffin the devil who commanded them wanted, teleported to the Nine Hells. Before the devils who were to retrieve us arrived, a paladin-like character named Jain showed up and slew them.

He was a 'DMPC' in the point that he outclassed us (we were around level 12-15, and he was probably 20 or 21), but the DM usually had him tackling a stronger devil while we fought weaker ones, so we didn't feel outshined.

After escaping, he steals the McGuffin in our sleep, leaving a note saying it is too important for us to keep and to meet him in the Eastern Empire. When we arrive, we find out that he is the leader of a resistance movement there, and he becomes the 'quest-giver' for us for a long time.

Near the end of the campaign, we find out that he was actually one of the three generals of the BBEG, a special type of dragon that was trying to use the power of the BBEG to merge the material plane with the Abyss. He was using us through it all to weaken the other two generals and try to weaken the BBEG, in a ploy to seize power for himself in the end. All in all, it was pretty cool.

EDIT: Also someone crazy named Richard shows up in each of our games, named and based off of the webcomic's Richard in Looking for Group.

AtwasAwamps
2010-05-19, 10:39 AM
We just encountered a magical merchant in a 4e game.

It was the merchant from the beginning of Disney's Aladdin. He sang the song. We were in a temperate climate. When this was pointed out, the merchant shrugged and asked if we wanted to buy a lamp.

Chiron0224
2010-05-19, 10:43 AM
This is one that became a staple in everyone's campaign world.

The character actually started as a PC that wasn't even given a name by his player. You see, a buddy of mine was running a 3.5 game at our local game store and the owner decided to play a generic human cleric of Pelor. He got bored pretty quickly with the high roleplaying/low action nature of the campaign and gave control of his character over to the DM. At this point the character was named Father Karn(or was it Carn? I can never remember). Father Karn continued to adventure with the group until a new player joined as a Favored soul. Since the party only needed one healer, Karn left the group to continue his studies and general services at the local temple of Pelor(I may have forgotten to mention that the game was a Cityscape game and took place entirely within the walls of one massive city). After some adventuring and leveling we get to the end of the campaign and all **** hit the fan. The bad guy that we were supposed to locate had gone into the sewers and gone mad. He was trapped in a narrow part by a massive grey lindorm. The lindorm asked us to fetch him out for him and we abliged. The problem came in the fact that the favored soul used fascinate to convince the guy that he was a messenger from Pelor and told him that he would lead him, personally, to the sun god's pressence. And so he led him to the lindorm to be devoured. Not surprisingly, Pelor wasn't too keen on the deception/blasphemy and revoked all of the favored soul's power. After the favored soul snatched some demonic armor that we had found(and wisely avoided) he somehow managed to escape(leaving the rest of the party to be eaten mind you) and ran off to the temple of Pelor while wearing the evil armor. And there was Father Karn(it's a story about Father Karn, see) who had apparently been doing some leveling of his own and had aquired certain ancient relics of Pelor's holy power. The favored soul, needless to say, was no match.

In a future game the DM of that game needed an NPC cleric of Pelor when the party went to the temple for some healing(why didn't we have our own cleric? because we were stupid). He decided that it would be Father Karn and so Father Karn now appears in every one of his and my campaigns. He became sort of a running gag in our group. Every time he showed up he was more powerful than the last. I've even considered adding him to the pantheon next time I run a game.