Easter eggs and Cameos!

[G.Cube]

Thinking about having a quick surprise appearance by a certain dual-scimitar wielding Dark Elf, which got me wondering, what recognizable or popular characters has the Playground had appear in their campaigns?

[blelliot]

I had a group of lvl 20+ pcs travel to asgard and met thor and odin. Even gave thor a dinosaur as a gift

[tadkins]

In one game, we participated in a team arena tournament hosted by the Church of Kord. Our first two matches had the DM send teams comprised of League of Legends characters translated to a 3.5 format.

Round 1 was Sion, Warwick, LeBlanc, Katarina and Morgana.

Round 2 was Lux, Garen, Jarvan IV, Xin Zhao and Galio.

It was quite a bit of fun. :)

[Invader]

Mirt and Asper

[ArcturusV]

I tend to avoid it. I learned early on that if you ever have some sort of Cameo, no matter what the players I had would try to **** with them in some way. Usually kill them. Sometimes steal from them (Especially if they were a "Master Thief"), but almost always do SOMETHING to screw with them. Going all the way back to when I first did some cameos in a Robotech RPG (Someone tried to shoot down Rick Hunter with "Friendly Fire" on purpose, just so he could claim he did it), to some Forgotten Realms campaigns (Trying to kill Elminister, which I didn't REALLY mind because I hate having to deal with him anyway). Ran the Icewind Dale Adventure, every NPC that they recognized, from the Halfling who's name I can never remember with the Gem of Beguiling, to Drizzl himself they tried to kill. Even if that NPC was busy keeping them alive or doing something plot important.

So nowadays, the only Cameos or Easter Eggs I use go back to past campaigns I've run in a setting. Either I'm playing with new players who don't know the significance of it so they don't feel the need to screw with it. Or I'm playing wit the original crew and they just give it a nod of respect to their past games.

[Waker]

Kool-Aid Man, KISS, Laharl, Michael Jackson, The Dinobots, HIM, Stephan Hawkings, Richard Dawkins, Friedrich Nietzche, H.P. Lovecraft and probably a few others that I'm forgetting about. A good campaign.

[Averis Vol]

Okaaaay, lets see. Before the champion was released, I made a shadow demon NPC with an obsession with war. If you play league of legends you may see a similarity with the new guy Aatrox. On the same league tangent, I have in my world: Wukong, Twisted Fate, Garen and Talon. I also heavily ripped off master roshi (atleast looks and personality, maybe not fighting potential), I have turned several songs into themes and motivations for characters (Like Vengeance by the sons of a king from seven kingdoms, the unchosen one by Dream Evil and the soulforged by blind guardian).

[blelliot]

So nowadays, the only Cameos or Easter Eggs I use go back to past campaigns I've run in a setting. Either I'm playing with new players who don't know the significance of it so they don't feel the need to screw with it. Or I'm playing wit the original crew and they just give it a nod of respect to their past games.

I've done this also. I've had a wizard named Argyll appear numerous times over the past few years. Also I like to use old pcs as new villains. Used that plot device several times

[Aharon]

We once used Monster Magnet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_Magnet) in a murder mystery in Baldur's Gate. They had a gig organised and payed for by Duke Eltan.

As that game was in Baldur's Gate, it also featured lots and lots of characters from the PC game.

Another DM used Aditu and Jiriki from the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory,_Sorrow,_and_Thorn) trilogy. Very thinly disguised - he didn't even change Aditu's name. They were DMPCs that travelled with the group and saved them whenever the railroad plot demanded it. It was still fun, because the DM was an excellent storyteller and usually hid the above fact well.

[Kelb_Panthera]

I had a group of lvl 20+ pcs travel to asgard and met thor and odin. Even gave thor a dinosaur as a gift

Gotta ask: pet or snack?

On-topic:

I don't really do cameos as much as have important characters in the world my players interact with (see my sig). Whether they cross paths with the players has more to do with intersecting interests than having them pop up for the "hey, it's that guy!" factor.

[Azoth]

In various campaigns I have used incarnations of Guts, Richard B Riddick, The Prince (prince of Persia), Nobunaga Oda, Goliath (gargoyles), The Joker, Wolverine, Merlin, Hellboy, Vash the Stampede, Vicious (cowboy bebop), D, and many others.

Usually they aren't cardboard cut outs for my players, but we have an active side game when I DM. If you recognize and correctly identify a cameo character you gain bonus xp based on the obscuirty of the character.

Most times, unless the character is designed to be an enemy, they don't mess with them. This is largely due to my optimization ability being much higher than their own, and knowing what the character's trademark abilities are.

They learned their lesson in a gestalt game when they tried to defeat an incarnation of Dante (Devil May Cry) who was just there to be seen in the distance.

[BWR]

We fought the Terminator and the Predator in out Hollow World campaign.

[some guy]

The cabbage merchant from avatar has made multiple appearances.

In a Call of Cthulhu campaign which took place in this age and where my group lives, the player characters could see the players now and again in the distance.

[Kesnit]

I used Deekin (from NWN 1 and 2) and Cthulhu in a campaign. (Cthulhu was actually statted as a Balor, but looked like Cthulhu.)

[Darrin]

My favorite cameo was a Celestial Mimic named Davenport, who would frequently be inserted into battles as various pieces of furniture to help out the PCs. I might have overused him, though... it was getting to the point if the PCs saw that I'd put any kind of furniture on the map, then they assumed Davenport was going to make an appearance.

[Selein]

I had the party accidentally travel to Sigil where they became the 3rd part in a love triangle between Evard (a lecherous olde wizard) and Tasha (a lively somewhat mean spirited young halfling bard).

I also had my party find the Lost City of Atlantis on Carceri and what was supposed to hint at what it was is they found a copy of Timaeus (A work by Plato) but none of them ever figured it out.

[Spuddles]

Morrissey.

[undead hero]

I had the party accidentally travel to Sigil where they became the 3rd part in a love triangle between Evard (a lecherous olde wizard) and Tasha (a lively somewhat mean spirited young halfling bard).

I also had my party find the Lost City of Atlantis on Carceri and what was supposed to hint at what it was is they found a copy of Timaeus (A work by Plato) but none of them ever figured it out.

Sounds more like a love pyramid....

[Jett Midknight]

Let's see, probably my most notable character would be an old wizard named Greyflame who acted as a mentor to the party. He was basically Gandalf in every way, and he even died on a bridge to hold off an ancient demon.

I also reworked the Colt from Supernatural into a high level treasure. It is basically an arrow that has a one time use and if it hits a target it instantly kills it. No possibility for saves or resurrection of any sort. The party still has no idea what it does.

For a pirates them campaign that I did I basically reworked a lot of the islands and characters from One Piece.

I have also home-brewed a lot of DotA heroes into a game. By far my favorite was Phantom Lancer. The party had no idea what the hell was going on while fighting him. It was awesome.

I also use the Children of the Light in some form or fashion in every campaign I run.

[Kuulvheysoon]

The cabbage merchant from avatar has made multiple appearances.

In a Call of Cthulhu campaign which took place in this age and where my group lives, the player characters could see the players now and again in the distance.

Win. I've made General Iroh appear as an NPC tea shop owner once or twice - the look on my player's faces when they tried to rob it (long story) and were facing an ECL 21 Firebender (Avatar d20 class) when they were only 8th level. Good times, good times....

[Deathkeeper]

Well...
GM: "You see three hooded people looking at the job board."
*several perception/knowledge rolls later*
GM: "They are all in their late teens/early twenties. A thin red-headed boy, an equally lean girl whose hood can't hide her long hair, and a stocky man who is clearly wearing armor under the disguise. You recognize them as minor nobles of the states surrounding the capital."
Me: "Are their names Hector, Lyn, and Eliwood?"
GM: "...shut up, Tom."

In the same campaign we had a gladiator match against the cast of Team Fortress.

[Seharvepernfan]

I had a DM throw Drizzt and Gwen in an adventure, as a Deus Ex Machina to keep me from dying, out in the middle of a desert, in his own homebrew world that had nothing to do with faerun. As I recall, the only thing that really bothered me about it was that we weren't in faerun, otherwise I wouldn't have mind. I don't hate Drizzt, so it wasn't bad for that reason.

[shortround]

The party had to enter a team tournament against the world's greatest fighters and totally trounced a chain wielding ninja in yellow garb with a penchant for fire, a buff looking fellow in a white gi and red headband who also liked to throw fireballs, and a shining knight who kept raving about a sword that had once ruined his life.

[The Ravensong]

I was once involved in a campaign where everyone had to thematically build themselves on a character the DM would recognize. I played Yomiko Readman from ROD. When DMing I've thrown in Sessoumaru, Kenshin, Wolverine, Alucard (Hellsing), Arturia, Satella (Chrno Crusade), Chandra (Magic the Gathering), Cloud Strife, Makenshi, Kaze, Madoushi... so many... I've started to move away from those, however, I'm trying to develop my own world rather than borrowing heavily from others.
That said, I have a whole separate set of planes connected kingdom hearts style for when I really have the itch.

[Jeff the Green]

One of the pantheons in my homebrew setting is actually a system of hagiolatry, and a number of the saints are references to literary or mythological figures. Cruithne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne), Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llanfairpwllgwyngyll), Pantagruel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gargantua_and_Pantagruel), Pythias and Damon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythias_and_Damon), Sephrenia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elenium), Tolkein, and Zalmoxis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zalmoxis) all make appearances.

[Griffith!]

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch - I've been there. lovely village, nice church. Still can't say the name.

I have some recurring NPCs that I use in most of my campaigns. Tasty, for example; a huge, fat woman named United Buffet that originated as the quartermaster on a pirate ship. Her hat said Tasty, and that's what my players call her now.

Or Kashan Krowes, a would-be Red Wizard who once pulled himself from the Wall of the Faithless to drag Szass Tam to hell - he's been reincarnated twice and gone plane hopping a few times.

But mostly I bring in cameos of characters appropriate to the setting - Elminster in the Dales, or the Lord of Blades in Eberron, Luffy in One Piece or Batman in Gotham City.

Once in a great while I'll sprinkle a bit of a character on an NPC in a different setting, but no - it's my PCs that are usually cameos.

I am a big proponent of the Expy. Because I'm a nerd.

[Jeff the Green]

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysilio gogogoch - I've been there. lovely village, nice church. Still can't say the name.

It's not bad if you mentally split it up and replace the 'w's with 'u's and 'y's with 'i's. Llanfair pullguin gillgogeri chuirndrobull llantisilio gogogoch. And 'll' is aspirated, but it's intelligible even if you don't aspirate it.

Also the Lord of Blades may show up in the Ravenloft game I'm running

[Ignominia]

I had a monastery run by two brothers, one brother killed the other to allow cultists access to a secret temple that the monastery was built on top of to hide. He did this in exchange for for secret techniques that he thought his brother was hiding from him.

Unbeknownst to the murdering brother, the dead brother was secretly training to students. The students got in touch with the PCs to help avenge their fallen master...

Their masters name was Gouken, his brother, Akuma...
The students...Ken and Ryu...