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View Full Version : Your Favorite Reusable, world hopping, NPCs



Frenth Alunril
2012-06-15, 07:21 AM
I would like to hear stories of your Favorite Reusable world hopping NPC!


My story: Clint
I hope we are all guilty of this, and it's not just something that I do.

Players lead story astray, they end up on a road. I put in Clint, my Reuasable, World Hopping NPC. He's been in a few stories now. Different location, what have you.

Clint wears Denim, is a human male, sits on a chair on the side of the road. He eats meat on a stick, and because of rather generous PC's in the past, he how drinks expensive wine from a jeweled decanter.

Clint is Color Blind.

Clint uses simple sarcastic answers.

Sometimes, when the chase is on, Clint just shows up sitting on a corner as the party races past at breakneck speeds.

Most times it goes like this. Some Greedy PC has fixated on an expensive item which belongs to an NPC with a name. The PC wants it, thinks they have to have it, and they go looking for said NPC, a well known person, to get it. (I have had this happen a few times.)

PC ends up on street : "Is there anyone around I can ask questions"
DM : "Sure, there is a man eating chicken on a stick. He's sitting on a chair."
PC : "Goodfellow, I ask, have you seen a man this evening. He would have come from this direction?"
Clint: "Yep."
PC, greedy eyes : "Where did he go?"
Clint: "Which one?"
PC, (oh, you want me to actually describe what I am looking for, RP sucks!) : "The one dressed in a brown shirt with blue pants."
Clint: "Yeah... that doesn't help." Clint eats some more chicken.
PC, frustrated: "Look, just tell me which way he went."
Clint, points randomly with his chicken stick, "Um, I suppose."

PC wanders off looking for NPC but finds nothing and returns to question, "Why did you lie to me, no man in brown and blue went that way, I couldn't find him anywhere."
Clint, takes a drink from his exquisite bottle. Places it behind the leg of the chair he is sitting on and says, "Look pal, I don't from colors. Tell me who you are looking for."

PC realizes he should have known the name of the NPC that I have been using for the last 3 adventures, the one who set the quest. The one who gave the reward. The one whose name I use constantly: "Oh, well, his name is, what's his name? I tell this guy his name, because I would obviously know it."

Clint: "Oh, yeah, well, that's gonna cost you."

Eventually I give up the information at all times. But Clint turns into that bastard who takes advantage of PC's when their player is off on some greed quest. I love having him show up at random because the guys I game with laugh about the times they have been duped by NPCs who literally require RP. I know it's about time I took him out again. Just to see what happens before someone does something stupid. He's my speed bump.

The Bandicoot
2012-06-15, 07:34 AM
Flarg the prank-loving plane-traveling halfling bard who used to be a barbarian. I've used him many times, every time the same guy with the same memories. He'll prank the PC's sometimes, make references to past games(you remind me of this elf I once knew....) he's a high level 3.5 bard so he uses Shadow Step to travel between the worlds.

Craft (Cheese)
2012-06-15, 07:45 AM
I like to use Wally the Wanderer: His sense of direction is so bad he accidentally wanders into the most unlikely, sometimes impossible places. Here's a few places where Wally's turned up:

- Deep within a Drow colony, somehow unnoticed.

- Behind the airtight seal of a Red Dragon's horde.

- 8,000 years in the past. (Yes, same guy.)

- Inside of a freshly-created demiplane, before even the caster himself could arrive.

Yes, I'm a fan of Professor Layton. Why do you ask?

Dienekes
2012-06-15, 08:14 AM
I've had a few. I've made reference to Nolan in a few games. A castle guard that the party happened to run into during a siege who fought with the team and randomly rolled above 18 each round. The character that was initially supposed to be background flavor before inevitable death was then invited into the party and lasted a few months before I evicted him (I dislike DMPCs). However since then in numerous games I've made reference to Nolan, dropping tidbits about his life. Each game the group hears a bit about the young hero Nolan doing some task, or overhears a minstrel singing about the mythic Sir Nolan. I never stay on it long, but it always seems to get a cheer from my players when they hear about his latest adventure.

Harriet, is probably my favorite. I sort of half act out my NPCs, trying to get distinctive voices, tones, and postures while they speak. Harriet is an older, heavyset, toad faced woman who owns a bar. She also is voiced as though she's been smoking 10 packs a day for 50 years, introduces herself with "Hello boys" and always hits on whatever character is being played by a certain player. Without fail. Followed by that player saying "Oh God... it's Harriet," in a way that makes you feel he has lost all hope in life. She's often helpful and friendly, but most of why I use her is just to continue talking in her voice, it's incredibly fun.

DiscipleofBob
2012-06-15, 08:26 AM
One that I've started using as a "something better than the usual loot" type of NPC, is Argos.

Well, actually the name and origin can vary, but the crux of it is this: he (or rather it) is a brain in a jar.

You find it hidden behind some carefully placed books in a bookcase in that room you were just fighting other undead in and some weird force kept dominating your characters the whole fight.

When the fight is over, he'll stop dominating in the hopes that you won't find him and move away. Once found though, he'll start telepathically begging for his life. He might be undead, but the thought of true death still terrifies him. He'll use his telepathic powers to try and keep the party from destroying him long enough to try and convince the party to let it live, and in exchange he'll follow the party's directions. The party now has an NPC which can mind control one target at a time at will. Useful, but not as broken as it sounds. For one thing (since this was 4e) the mind control was an attack roll, not guaranteed. Pretty much an auto-fail on any truly important NPC's. Also, the brain doesn't have any sensory organs beyond telepathically using someone else's, and it knows better than to "piggy back" one of the party members without permission, so it basically sits inert unless someone contacts it (really just thinking in its direction) to give it orders or conversation. All the while the brain will gladly follow the party's orders under the fear that otherwise they might break its jar.

Blepability
2012-06-15, 08:35 AM
I have a couple, actually.

The Secret Organisation and Rick

Every time my players get stuck, they always end up looking for the underground/black market networks. Every time they do, they are lead underground through an insane amount of security to find a small man, always named Rick, and his immense tome. The party asks some questions, Rick names his price, and normally sends them off on their next quest or furthers the quest they are on.

The Blackheart

Starting life as a lower-than-the-party-level NPC who beat a party member's owl bear to death with his bear hands, killed a stone golem and sent another off of a fortress' walls, he soon became the groups idol. A campaign latter and he has already sprung up once, and I intend to bring him in again, as both comedic relief and as a serious part of the story. And as one of those other heroes running around the world with the party hearing songs and tales of his exploits.

The last is more of a homage to a character I once played and an ally's tamed companion.

Ollie's Ale: The World's Finest Ale.

I played a dwarf who owned a brewery and tavern in the town we started from, a dwarf who was both a fine ale connoisseur and an entrepreneur who had a habit of buying every tavern he came across. On our adventure, a companion tamed a dire wolf which ended up saving our asses. My dwarf, after acquiring his third brewery, created a new form of ale that happened to be the best ale ever and named it after the plucky direwolf the party had fallen in love with.

In every campaign since (I'm currently the DM of the same group) the ale has made an appearance. It is an ale so fine it has crossed whole worlds, from Forgotten Realms to Eberron. An ale so sought after a single bottle is worth a mountain of gold.

Unseenmal
2012-06-15, 08:40 AM
I use Med and Shmed...They are farmers. Med farms Beans. Shmed is convinced his destiny lies in the untapped resource of Dirt Farming. Yet season in and season out, he can't figure out why his crop is bountiful but no one wants to buy his dirt. (In reality, his fields are the ones that Med is letting lie fallow)

They are twin brothers, masters of exposition and plot device. Sadly, they are both incredibly stupid. Shmed a little more than Med. So getting info from them is usually an exercise in futility. Shmed has an INT/WIS scores of 4-5 and Med has INT/WIS scores of 6, so slighty better. They speak with an accent that can be best described as redneck european. (Hullo)

The PC's will ask questions of them and either get a blank stare, a semi-toothless grin or some bit of info. Every so often, inspiration strikes the pair (nat 20 on a knowledge or int check for said info) and they will have some amazing bit of info that NO ONE should have. Like suddenly producing a well-drawn out and labelled map detailing all traps and tricks for whatever dungeon the PC's are heading to....like the Tomb of Horrors

To date, Med and Shmed are more well traveled than even the most seasoned of parties. They have traversed Eberron, Greyhawk and Faerun. The planes are their playground. They can come and go with the wind.

Driderman
2012-06-15, 08:47 AM
All my old World of Darkness stories have involved a rastafarian vampire taxi driver NPC named Fast Eddie.
In some stories, he was pretty much just a discrete cabbie for kindred, in others he was one of the mayor political players in the story. Sometimes, he was involved with all sorts of supernatural entities, in others he an anarch recruiter.
In some stories, he didn't even appear in any scenes with the PCs at all, but other NPCs had made use of him or been involved with him somehow but he's been in every single world of darkness story I've ever run so I suppose it counts as "world-hopping NPC".

Kymme
2012-06-15, 12:34 PM
My two favorites were Spyre, and Lloyd.
Spyre is one of my old characters, a binder who went all the way to 20th level and beyond, and now lives in a picturesque home in Sigil, the City of Doors. Also, he rides an undead whale blimp.
Lloyd is actually a favorite of my players. He is basically an idotic hobo wizard. Lloyd uses his powers of enchanting to get basically everything he needs. He also has around a negative 100 bluff modifier. The best part is that I'm running an Age of Worms campaign next school year, and he will be playing the part of Manzorian the Archmage. It's gonna be sweet. :smallbiggrin:

Griffith!
2012-06-15, 12:36 PM
I've got a couple -

Barking Mad, or That Guy Who Always Gets There First. He's a postman, who always delivers his message no matter who, what, or where the recipient is. He's delivered to New York, Menzoberranzan, the Abyss, Sigil, Krynn, a dead god, Death, Naboo, the Creator, and once even a small child on the outskirts of a major city. He arrives, hands over whatever the characters were meant to have, and leaves. Occasionally he says something to people who pester him, but by and large he just ignores everybody. My players have come to believe he's a minor god, and I have no intention of disabusing them of that notion, because the fact of the matter is, he's a lazy handwave. But they like him - Barking has become a sort of running gag in my group.

((his name isn't actually Barking Mad, either - or it's not meant to be anyway. He's never introduced himself, but he picked up the name in his first encounter - he dropped some fourth wall nonsense and the Paladin proclaimed "He's Barking Mad!". It stuck.))

Wise Old Man also known as 'That monk'. He's a little old man in a plain orange robe who sweeps the ground everywhere he goes. He's been known to pop up randomly and dispense wisdom when players get stuck. To be fair he's not in every campaign, but like Barking, my players have developed complex theories about his true identity.

Griffith!
2012-06-15, 12:40 PM
I've got a couple -

Barking Mad, or That Guy Who Always Gets There First. He's a postman, who always delivers his message no matter who, what, or where the recipient is. He's delivered to New York, Menzoberranzan, the Abyss, Sigil, Krynn, a dead god, Death, Naboo, the Creator, and once even a small child on the outskirts of a major city. He arrives, hands over whatever the characters were meant to have, and leaves. Occasionally he says something to people who pester him, but by and large he just ignores everybody. My players have come to believe he's a minor god, and I have no intention of disabusing them of that notion, because the fact of the matter is, he's a lazy handwave. But they like him - Barking has become a sort of running gag in my group.

((his name isn't actually Barking Mad, either - or it's not meant to be anyway. He's never introduced himself, but he picked up the name in his first encounter - he dropped some fourth wall nonsense and the Paladin proclaimed "He's Barking Mad!". It stuck.))

Wise Old Man also known as 'That monk'. He's a little old man in a plain orange robe who sweeps the ground everywhere he goes. He's been known to pop up randomly and dispense wisdom when players get stuck. To be fair he's not in every campaign, but like Barking, my players have developed complex theories about his true identity.

Bearpunch
2012-06-15, 02:03 PM
In my Shadowrun campaign, one of my players keeps running into a 'friend' of his named Mask. Mask wears a chameleon suit at all times, and if he isnt wearing that, he is wearing a latex face mask. None of the players have any idea what he actually looks like. So far he has shown up at a crime scene, the same one he perpetrated, a hotel party (where they met him), and in Los Angeles. He followed the players to Los Angeles for "fun" according to him. None of the players know his motivations as of yet, but he kind of creeps them out.

TechnoScrabble
2012-06-15, 02:39 PM
Silas Grinn:
Terminally ill, lawful (as in he has a code, he doesn't follow laws often) friendly 'super soldier' with a bald head and massive grey sideburns. Always wears black and white clothing with some sort of skeletal motif and something orange with a shark grin (like on some airplanes) on it on his head, and always has a black matte kukri.
In medieval settings, was captured and experimented on by a wizard and escaped and wears an orange bandanna with a grin on it and skeleton themed black leather armor while fighting bandits with his kukri and a huge freakin' hammer.

In modern settings, he wears the bandanna, blue jeans and black sneakers, and a black fur lined jacket with a rib cage design on it, and is retired from the Australian SAS on disability pay owing to a damaged nervous system. Runs a flower shop by day, kills local perpetrators of gang violence by night.

In sci-fi settings, serves as a volunteer in a regiment of augmented terminally ill soldiers. Has light powered armour and an orange helmet shaped like the top half of a skull with four bright yellow eyes and a grin painted on. Uses a large machine gun with explosive rounds.

Sigwhite O' the Gleam, Bearer of the Iron Staff

Wizard-dragon (or is that Dragon-wizard?) who helps out heroes and runs a tavern in the lower floors of his tower. Also doesn't know he's the god of storytelling.

My two favorites.