most memorable npc?

[blelliot]

I was reflecting on past games I have ran and was thinking of a rogue and a wizard I created for a game as a plot hook, but the players liked the charachters so much that the two npcs stuck around, and I ended up using them several times over in other games I ran. So is there a notable npc(or villain) any of you all have created that became memorable and used a lot in other games?

[Darth Stabber]

I was running a game of l5R and the Mr. Exposition NPC inadvertantly became a DMPC. A nezumi name p'tik'k'tir, was raised by the Hiruma and believes he's a samurai. His interminably foggy memory, and constantly reading the detail of what he was supposed to do from his big bag of scrolls was good for comic relief. Then the infamous christmas special "samurai save santa" came about, and it was revealed that the bag holds far more than scrolls and snacks, including several anachronistic items (Jack Daniels and an AK-47). Even the session was "it was all a dream", that bag's wierdness stayed (and he ended up with a rabbit version of chicken infested). It was eventually revealed that there was a whole world inside the bag. Later during a SWSE campaign it was revealed that everyworld is inside the bag. It's finally revealed during my current d&d campaign that there is a reason why he travels worlds (though that reason hasn't been revealed), and the PCs are innoculated against temporal paradox (long story short, if they had access to time travel they could kill their grandparents and be just fine).

MY PLAYERS KEEP OUT OF THE SPOILER
he's actually the only survivor of the first iteration of the universe, a war between various factions of time mages had nearly shredded the universe. In a last ditch effort one of the factions sent a youth to the beginning of the universe to stenghten the fabric of the universe and prevent/complicate any future time travel. The reinforcing threads formed a bag surrounding the whole of existence, but it also existed in the possession of the youth, who fell into rokugan and his form adapted to that of a nezumi, because nezumi forget things, and it's very important for the stability of the universe that he never understand his purpose or the purpose of the bag

[erok0809]

My DM has a character called Mumbly Mumbles. He's an NPC that hangs out by the fire in taverns, mumbling to himself, either to freak the players out, or just to provide atmosphere to the tavern. If you talk to him, he looks at you for a second, then continues mumbling. If you pay him some attention and buy him a drink, he may do something nice for you though. I bought him a drink and got boots of speed in return. I haven't seen what happens if you attack him, but I know if it were my character he'd end up being an epic level caster, because you don't screw with Mumbly Mumbles.

[PaucaTerrorem]

DM a couple years back had our antagonist as a cleric named Gobec Hadu. Told us it's an anagram and first person to guess it gets a random rolled minor wondrous item(we were lvl 2 at this point, so heck yeah!).

[blelliot]

DM a couple years back had our antagonist as a cleric named Gobec Hadu. Told us it's an anagram and first person to guess it gets a random rolled minor wondrous item(we were lvl 2 at this point, so heck yeah!).

Ever find out what his name is an anagram of?

[Aharon]

Mr. Exposition NPC didn't only give Exposition, but also hired the PCs. He was a shrewd Business man, but always fair to them, and all missions he gave them were for the benefit of Good.
He was also extremely honest with them - when they asked him what deities he prayed to (Faerun), he answered that as a Business man, of course he prayed to Waukeen, but also to Bane because Business sometimes was rough.

When they finally found out that he wasn't all that he seemed to be, they were very surprised - and I was gleeful that the deception had worked :smallbiggrin:

[Galvin]

I was DMing a Pathfinder game, something I don't do a lot, I like to stick with 3.5. I was DMing a bunch of noobie players that were easy to railroad and manage, so I created an NPC named Benedict Parsly. I intended to use him for the first session to get them on track and such but they played with him all the way through to the last session. On the last day he got knocked out by the final boss of the City of Golden Death module, and bled out through their own inaction. Their relationship to Ben was sort of them joking about killing him, though never really doing it, and in the end, since it was the last session of the campaign, they let him die as a joke.

[Crake]

I have a succubus NPC who, over the course of several months (in and out of game) mutually fell in love with a PC, transformed him into an incubus, then they got married by good clerics in another PC's home village (neither the clerics nor PC realised what they were), then during their honey moon began establishing a demonic cult/church/organisation dedicated to hedonism, with the succubus NPC as the idol of the cult.

[Grod_The_Giant]

My favorite came from a Dresden Files RPG. For our contact on the force, our GM took your bog standard gruff, no-nonsense, scruffy, overweight, cigar-chomping, no-crap-taking, Harvey Bullock (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Bullock_%28comics%29)clone... and gender-swapped him. Detective Agatha Helms would greet us at every crime scene in a dirty suit, coffee in one hand and doughnut in the other, growling her dialogue around a cigar... man, she was great.


Then there was the time-traveling villain who, over the course of his first scene, I slowly and unintentionally morphed into David Tennant...

[Nettlekid]

I have two NPCs from the same one-shot pirate campaign that my players remember fondly. The first was the infamous Captain Steele, a blackhearted pirate captain in search of the secret of eternal life. When you spoke his name, his cursed doubloons would glow red hot. He was a short man, like the size of a Gnome, but disfigured and covered with armor. When angry, his eyes would glow red, and he could drink oil and belch forth fire. He was hanged, but it is said he did not die...It turns out he was actually a Warforged Scout in a world of no Warforged, and he wasn't looking for eternal life, he was looking for life, period. But that meant stealing it from others, hence being a villain.

But the more fun NPC was a squid-headed old drunkard named Billy Boneless, though everyone forgot his name immediately when the players started calling him Squidbeard. He was indirectly responsible for many fires in the PC's town because he would spend a cursed doubloon, get drunk, start telling stories about his time under Captain Steele, the doubloon would get hot, burn down the tavern, and he'd find it in the wreckage. He was a Zoidberg kind of character who the players loved to hate, except for the moment when the Kraken attacked and he protected the Druid PC's animal companion in a squid v. squid showdown.

[Irk]

a confused high level wizard who would try to cast magic missile and end up casting meteor swarm. Both an advantage and a deficit, I suppose.

[7thW1ckedness]

Tavern owner, Old, like old OLD ex-adventure who showed up in town a few years ago and bought the place in cash.

Big Nordic-like guy very good at telling stories. in fact after most of the parties deeds and exploits when they're kicking back at the bar weather to lick their wounds or celebrate were capped off (or started off) with a relevant story (sometimes with a moral) from his years of adventures, always tied into a gesture, object, custom or a scar, or something similar and always leading to a yet another gesture, object custom or scar ending with "But that's a story for another time."

The party is so intertwined with this guy I think one player almost actually cried when the NPC suffered a near fatal heart-attack near the end of a major combat. (which up to that point, they were all convinced he was kicking ass in major league style with ease) They actually listens if he scolds them, and are always interested to catch more of his back story and past.

Hell they all almost died laughing when one of his old adventuring buddies came to town for a drink to swap tales of old and good natured insults.

"Hey, did he ever tell ya all why he doesn't like boats? This one time we we're short on crossing fair at this port . . . . . . . "
They love the **** out of this NPC.

Sadly (and unknown to the players) he's fated for eventual death, complications of old age and such. That session is going to be EPIC sadness. I might get beaten down with rulebooks in a pillow case by weeping geeks . . . . who knows?

[Jesterface]

I have three that crop up regularly in an urban game I've been running on and off for a few years. One is Gideon, a portly, balding pub landlord, whose pub also runs a pawn shop, with the odd bit of black market goods. Gideon also has some information and knowledge regarding the city's underworld. He began as a blatant expy of the pawn shop owner from the Crow (one of my favourite films at the time I created this setting). The second NPC is Gideon's doorman, an orc with a mechanical fist (akin to Mr. Wink from Hellboy II), who is one of the nicest and most polite people in the whole city, though tends to mess up the common tongue a little, and frequently wishes people leaving the pub to "Have a day!".

The third and final is something of a personal favourite, created as a contact written into one of the PC's back story. One 'Madame Wipeknuckle', a cross-dressing dwarf in charge of a large business involving liquid goods (not booze), who I wrote to be an obvious transvestite, wearing fine gowns and jewellery, but also wearing big, clomping militaristic boots everywhere. S/he also calls everyone "DAAAAHLIIIIINK!" and insists they come by more often to have chit-chat as she does soooo love their company. The player just gave me 'cross-dressing dwarf merchant' as the character synopsis.

[Onan]

For the first quest in a low-magic Pathfinder campaign, the party was stuck in a cursed valley so I could easily contain them. When they liften the curse by smashing the altar of the god who was keeping it up, he spoke to them, thanked them for the entertainment, and gave them a small reward. He left a lasting impression on the players, and morphed from an Evil god into a more Neutral god of chance and entertainment. He was actively worshipped by (ironically) the most unlucky member of the party and played large part in moving the plot along.

Some actual NPC's in the same setting were a fat, shifty village elder full of great plans he could never fulfill, a Barbarian who was also a professor at an upstanding university, and a very calm, very reasonable Commissar of the main human antogonists, a communistic city state that was in the habit of outlawing money and alcohol in conquered regions.

[Deophaun]

Ever find out what his name is an anagram of?
As it was an antagonist, I would guess it's an anagram of a feminine hygiene product.

[blelliot]

The npcs I was reminiscing about were:
A pirate named Captain Zachery Aaronston "Zig" Zagoroth III(male CN human Swb 3/Ftr4/Rog1/Dread Pirate3) , commander of the Crimson Sin. He was a boozing, loud, boistrous, womanizing, butthead of a man. He was used as a travel helper before the players had access to teleporting. After they gained the ability, they kept him around, just in case they needed an extra fighter(He was quite capable with his sword)
Cuttler Zagoroth(male N human Ftr4/Bbn1/Street Fighter5), Zig's brother, was the first mate of the Crimson sin and was in every way the exact opposite of the captain. When the situation called for brute force, Cuttler shined. One of the players(female drow sorcerer) actually fell in love and married him.
Argyll Ornith(male venerable Wiz3/Clr3 of heironeous/Mystic Thuerge10/Arcane Jailer 5) was the local warden of a prison the players often brought their non mundane prisoners back to( they did that quite a bit, actually). He was almost a pseudo father figure to the players, and they were really fond of him, so much so that the next game I ran for them, which took place several hundred years after the events of the previous one, the players worshipped Argyll as a demigod of prisons.
Ive had so many npc, but these three have made appearances all over games Ive ran. Good times.:smallbiggrin:

[blelliot]

As it was an antagonist, I would guess it's an anagram of a feminine hygiene product.

Cant believe I didnt see that before....:smallredface: