Help me populate my Suikoden-themed campaign!

[Toilet Cobra]

A couple friends and I are going to start a Suikoden-themed game of Pathfinder. Golarion is the setting, but it will have all the tropes from the Suikoden games: a castle to fix up, runes to fight over, and above all the 108 stars of destiny. (BTW if you haven't played these fantastic old Rpg's I can't really recommend them highly enough).

This has led me to a daunting challenge: filling out the 108 stars of destiny. Each star corresponds to a unique npc in each game; a small number are your antagonists, but the vast majority are recruitable npcs from all over the game world, each with their own story and their own reason to join up with you. Most are warriors, but you also find cooks, sages, craftsmen, performers, and so on. And while many of the stars are integral to the plot and sort of join you automatically, most are unrelated people that you can easily miss if you're not looking hard enough.

I come to the playground today to source your help in filling up about 70 npc ideas. Though it's not necessary, ideally they should have a connection to someplace in the Pathfinder world (which is why I tagged this thread PF), and include a sentence or two about them and their personal story. I'll get the ball rolling with an example:

1. An apprentice diabolist who was framed for a disastrous arcane mishap caused by a politically-connected rival. Once a minor Chelaxian noble and now a wanted fugitive, she travels to find allies and a safe haven in a world that takes a dim view of her dark practices.
2. Her Bearded Devil companion, who owns exclusive rights to her soul. Himself an outcast from Hell (mostly due to embarrassment over being bound by such a lowly diabolist), this morose outsider aids his mistress in the vain hope of building her into a more formidable spellcaster, so her soul will be more valuable when she dies.

[illyahr]

3. Apprentice Hellknight, Order of the Chain - originally sent as a bounty hunter to collect the PC's, decides that they are restoring order in the areas they control and joins them.

4. Jeanne, the Magic Item Lady - joins after the PC's help her fend off assailants/helps her with her magical research (let's face it, she's in almost all the games :smallbiggrin:)

[Toilet Cobra]

I'm totally with you. Jeane and Yuber will both be making appearances in their usual roles ;D

[Hunter Noventa]

I'm totally with you. Jeane and Yuber will both be making appearances in their usual roles ;D

Don't forget the token cameo from a previous game wielding a True Rune!

[Kelvarius]

I saw Suikoden themed game and had to click.

Don't forget 5. Viki, magical teleporter that sometimes fails. It's not Suikoden without her.

[Toilet Cobra]

I saw Suikoden themed game and had to click.

Don't forget 5. Viki, magical teleporter that sometimes fails. It's not Suikoden without her.

Good call! I'm having trouble remembering all the recurring/time travelling characters.

We were thinking of running this game as E6. If we do, they'd have no choice but to risk Viki's teleportation.

[illyahr]

Ooh, low magic. That means they will have to use runes, no matter what the drawback, if they want powerful magical effects.

And let's not forget:

6. Apprentice Craftsman 1 - Makes weapons

7. Apprentice Craftsman 2 - Makes Armor

8. Apprentice Craftsman 3 - Makes alchemical supplies

9. Master Craftsman - Makes all three, but with more skill ranks so he makes better stuff.

[T.G. Oskar]

I saw Suikoden themed game and had to click.

Don't forget 5. Viki, magical teleporter that sometimes fails. It's not Suikoden without her.

Lawl. Yeah - it's not Suikoden without Viki and Jeane (and Jeane looking superbly younger with each incarnation - by now, she must be Nymph-levels of beauty).

Since you mentioned Yuber...how about Pesmerga? Or, as a nice nod to the first games, the Neclord? And the Star Dragon Rune as the intelligent artifact weapon Star Dragon Sword, which is looking for his master favorite companion, Viktor?

Also - at least one of your players HAS to name its weapon for its sweetheart; you just have to find the equivalent to the Warrior's Village. The NPC might be the sweetheart of the PC, who's most definitely not a damsel in distress despite using improvised weapons like pots and pans (maybe a Brawler?)

And maybe replace Kobolds - Suikoden kobolds are cute and dog-like, not supposedly dragon-descended reptilian trapmakers.

[DrMotives]

Kobolds cute? Sure they're dog people, but that one Doberman pincer headed guy in the 2nd game is a straight up badass commander on the battlefield. I'd be tempted to make him an anthropomorphic dog marshal, but that just sounds too underpowered for the guy.

[Kelvarius]

Kobolds cute? Sure they're dog people, but that one Doberman pincer headed guy in the 2nd game is a straight up badass commander on the battlefield. I'd be tempted to make him an anthropomorphic dog marshal, but that just sounds too underpowered for the guy.

Ridley. You're right, he was amazing.

And with a minor tweak, I think Marshall can be a more competitive class. Just make the bonus from Major Auras be based on class level as opposed to static bonuses over the course of leveling. Either 1 bonus per level or 1 bonus per 2 levels. Nowhere near Tier 1, but much more usable.

But back to on topic:
You've got your mainstays, you've got your crafters/merchants. Have a couple more.

10. Carpenter
11. Mason

Brothers. Out of work due to (Whatever story plot you have). They offer to help the PCs fix up their newly acquired trash castle/town into the glorious place it is destined to become. Perhaps as a form of vengeance (They aren't fighters, so helping those that do is their best contribution), perhaps as a form of redemption for aiding BBEG, or something else entirely.

It always bothered me that the castle always just got better without anyone there with the knowledge to fix it.

[StreamOfTheSky]

I don't know much about Golarion's world, so not sure I could help much. But I love Suikoden...actually trying my hardest to turn my War of the Burning Sky campaign into a Suikoden style campaign, in fact. I have a subsystem for army battles if you want, though I think it still needs some tweaking.

I did always want to run a campaign based on Suikoden 2 and the Suikogaidens where you play on Jowy's side instead and he amasses his own 108 stars of destiny (including Yuber, Sassari, Sarah, Lucia, etc...). Leknaat supports him just as she does Riou in S2, and ends up being portrayed a bit "darker"...as a more grey, impartial influence that's coaxing the bearers of each half of the rune of beginning into conflict with each other for her own reasons.

Also, OP...if you haven't, check out Exit Fate. It's a free game a fan made with RPGMaker that's very much like Suikoden, including a deep plot with political intrigue and betrayals, army battles (and a tactician that can make the impossible happen), a castle headquarters, and a teleporter character. I quite enjoyed it.

[DarkEternal]

It really does work well for DnD. Last campaign I led, level 1-15 was the first Suikoden game. I could do this because nobody from the people playing really plays jrpgs, and they never even heard of Suikoden. So, I fluffed it that the party members were all wards of Teo Mcdohl, orphans of the previous war and some such and then moved the story from there. All the characters appear more or the less. Flik, Viktor, Viki, Jeanne and the like. The party members eventually gain true runes that gave them special abilities and the ability to be ressurected(other characters couldn't get ressed). It ended with the fall of Barbarossa and characters deciding what to do next.


At first, due to the low level of players, I let them take a character or two with them but that became a chore since the game has a whole damn lot of characters to choose from.So, when new people joined the party and they could tackle the challenges, I went the route of making it so that when they recruit a new star of destiny and it becomes attuned to that rock you hold in your place(the tablet fo stars), the party can choose one of the stars to use their abilities. They all had to choose the same one, though. For instance, Viktor gave grapple bonuses, Lepant gave charisma bonuses, that one trader guy ensured you got better deals in cities, that executioner guy increased threat range and so on and so on.

It was a fun campaign all in all. If you need stars from the game that kind of sort of matter, Luc is also a good one to have around, Viktor is a crowd favorite, and of course, you can't have a Suikoden game without a Silverberg.

[Hunter Noventa]

Since you mentioned Yuber...how about Pesmerga? Or, as a nice nod to the first games, the Neclord? And the Star Dragon Rune as the intelligent artifact weapon Star Dragon Sword, which is looking for his master favorite companion, Viktor?

The Star Dragon Sword is the Night Rune incarnate, but yes, it was decidedly missing from 4 and 5, though understandably so.

Oh, don't forget the semi-useless Gossip-Monger who gives hints where to find currently available Stars!

[Toilet Cobra]

Thank you all for a lot of awesome ideas. It's very heartening to see that others have gone this route before, with much success it sounds like!

I have added all the suggested characters to the list of stars for the game (I'm kind of surprised how man integral roles I'd forgotten). Smiths, a gossip monger, Viki, Jeane, Pesmerga, all going in there :)

@Streamofthesky, I would love to see your system for large-scale battles. I have always struggled with running those in any except as scene backdrops. And I will google Exit Fate asap. I wondered if any good fangames existed, and now I finally have one to look into!

Thanks again for all the advice on running this campaign, everybody! It's a bit daunting trying to run a great campaign for such a group of diehard Suikoden fans.

[StreamOfTheSky]

@Streamofthesky, I would love to see your system for large-scale battles. I have always struggled with running those in any except as scene backdrops. And I will google Exit Fate asap. I wondered if any good fangames existed, and now I finally have one to look into!

Well, it's not the characters fighting w/ their class features at all, it's a whole different set of rules, which I tried to keep as simple as possible. The flavor usually comes from the Specials that the PCs and other named characters bring to a unit.
I've run two battles with it now, but it's still a work in progress. I'll probably change it to a d8 system instead of d6 (which I chose "'cause Warhammer", not for any firm reason) since a 1 always fails and a max roll always succeeds, and that leaves not quite enough variance in between. If I did that, Defense values would increase by 1 to compensate for the Attack dice average going up by 1.
Also, we play online w/ maptools and a lot of the attacks and such have been turned into macro buttons, it might be more difficult (or easier?) face to face.

•Each PC leads a unit. Units can also have 1-2 NPC sub-commanders. Unit stats are Type, Number, Move, Range, Attack, and Defense.
•Number is the amount of soldiers still able to fight and is like hp.
•Each round, every unit gets one Move and then one Action. Action includes attack and some Specials. The move must be taken first, and cannot go through enemy units (must go around them). There are no "attacks of opportunity." One entire army's units take their turns, and then the other army's takes theirs.
•Difficult Terrain: Forests reduce Move by -1 and Mountains reduce Move by -2 when units go through these areas. However, Move can never be reduced below 1. Feather Step and Wings allow a unit to ignore these penalties. Cavalry face harsher penalties; they are reduced to Move 1 by any difficult terrain.
•When a unit attacks, it rolls 1d6 + Attack # vs. the Defense # of the target unit. If the roll is equal or less than the defense value, no damage is inflicted* If the attack succeeds, damage is dealt to the target unit. Note that, if the aggressor unit is also within of the target, the target unit counter-attacks, using its Attack stat vs. the aggressor unit's Defense. The counterattack resolves simultaneously to the attack. Each of these unit-to-unit attacks (and the simultaneous counterattack, if any) is a "Skirmish."
*A roll of 1 always means no damage inflicted, regardless of the result, and a roll of 6 always deals damage as if you had beat the Defense by at least 1 even if the result is worse than that.
•Damage = Multiplier x Numbers / 10, with the multiplier being the amount the Attack roll exceeded the Defense by.
•Example: A unit of 200 infantry with Attack 6 and Defense 8 attacks an identical unit, which simultaneously counterattacks. If the aggressor rolls a 4 (total of 10 vs. DC 8) and the defender rolls a 5 (total of 11 vs. DC 8), then the aggressor deals 40 (2*200/10) damage and the counterattacker deals 60 (3*200/10) damage. The damage reduces each of their Numbers accordingly for future skirmishes.

Battles can be won either by eliminating the entire enemy force except the Headquarters (HQ)/Command unit(s), eliminating the HQ unit(s), or meeting other objectives (like entering a town w/ a unit). Battles are likewise lost by the enemy army making these accomplishments.

Types of Units:
•Infantry: Melee units with average speed featuring high defense, large numbers, and good attack power.
Typical "base" values: Move 3, Range 1. Numbers: 200. Attack 6, Defense 8.
•Archer: Ranged units with average speed and fair range, fair attack and defense, and moderate numbers. Always have Barrage at least 1/battle.
Typical "base" values: Move 3, Range 3. Numbers: 150. Attack 5, Defense 7. Barrage 1/battle.
•Mage: Slow, long ranged units with high attack but low defense and moderate (sometimes low) numbers. Cannot counterattack against melee (Range 1 and phalanx) attacks.
Typical "base" values: Move 2, Range 4. Numbers: 150. Attack 8, Defense 4.
•Scout: Infantry with Stealth, Feather Step, and Backstab abilities. Cannot be Cavalry/Fleet. Lower attack and much lower defense compared to Infantry.
Typical "base" values: Move 3, Range 1. Numbers: 200. Attack 5, Defense 6.
•Astral Construct: Infantry with greater attack and defense, but much lower numbers. Gains one of the following menu options: Buff (+50 Numbers), Deflection (+2 Defense), Fleet, Muscle (+2 Attack), Recovery, Stealth, Swim, or Wings.
Typical "base" values (before menu option): Move 3, Range 1. Numbers: 100. Attack 7, Defense 9.

(One player is a Psion/Constructor, so I added the astral construct unit type :smallsmile: )
You can include monsters siege engines / artillery as well, but then "Numbers" becomes more like hp or health rather than literal population. I've had . In one battle I had catapults with the following stats: Move 1, Range 7 (min. range 3). Numbers: 200. Attack 7, Defense 3. Can't counterattack. Attack +3 vs. buildings.

Here's a list of Specials. Many were inspired by ones in Suikoden. Feel free to make up your own, it's fun.
•Analyze: Learn any Specials of a unit within 5 squares as an Action, or for free vs. any unit that attacks you.
•Backstab: Unit counts as having +3 Attack when attacking or counterattacking a unit that is also engaged in melee with another allied unit.
•Barrage: Archer units only. As an Action, make an attack at a -1 penalty with +2 range that cannot be counterattacked.
•Blizzard: Freeze a 2 square radius, making Attacks vs. all units (including allies) in the area. Range 4, cannot be counterattacked. (Magic, Cold)
•Cavalry: Increases Move by +2, decreases Mage Range by -1. Move drops to 1 in difficult terrain.
•Construct: Unit can create a unit of Astral Constructs that serves the entire battle or until destroyed. The Constructs can either be created before the battle, in which case the menu option must be chosen before seeing the enemy army and deploy with the allied force, or during the battle. If during, creating them takes an entire Move + Action, but the unit can appear within 5 squares of the creator and the menu option chosen on the spot. See above for Astral Construct unit details.
•Critical: On a roll of a 6 when attacking or counterattacking, the unit inflicts double damage.
•Crystal Shower: Rain shards of crystal upon a unit. Attack w/ +2 bonus, Range 4, cannot be counterattacked. (Magic, Untyped)
•Evade: 20% chance of avoiding any damage from an attack or counterattack.
•Expedience: Unit can use its Action to Move a second time.
•Fire Blast: Immolate a 2 square radius, making Attacks vs. all units (including allies) in the area. Range 4, cannot be counterattacked. (Magic, Fire)
•First Strike: When the unit attacks, any counterattack by the enemy is resolved afterward, rather than simultaneously.
•Feather Step: Unit's Move is unimpeded by difficult terrain.
•Fleet: As Cavalry, but difficult terrain only drops Move by 1 (forest) or 2 (mountains).
•Galvanize: As an Action, give an additional turn (Move + Action) to all adjacent (N-S-E-W only) units. No effect on units that have not yet acted this turn.
•Heal: As an Action, restores one unit w/in 3 squares by 50% full Numbers, up to full Numbers. Does not work on wiped out units.
•Heavy Armor: Damage taken is halved. Move -1. Cannot be applied to Archer, Mage, or Scout units, nor any unit with Fleet, First Strike, or Stealth. Counterattacks are resolved after the enemy unit's attack, not simultaneously.
•Inspiration: A leader with this ability provides her Attack bonus to all allied units within 3 squares of her unit (including her own).
•Lightning Strike: Call down upon a single unit. Attack w/ a +2 bonus, Range 5, cannot be counterattacked. (Magic, Electric)
•Phalanx: Non-scout Infantry-only. Increases melee Reach by +1 (this means enemy Infantry might not be able to counterattack).
•Recovery: Unit heals 10% of its full Numbers at the end of each of its turns. Ceases functioning if unit is wiped out.
•Repulse: Unit has +2 Attack when Counter-attacking.
•Stealth: Unit starts the battle invisible and remains so until it attacks or takes any other non-Move action. If the unit attacks from Stealth, that attack automatically counts as a Backstab and First Strike (even if the unit lacks those Specials). If the stealthed unit or an enemy unit ends its turn within 2 spaces of each other, the unit in stealth is revealed.
•Swim: Unit can traverse water at its Move speed. Infantry only, cannot combine with Cavalry.
•Teleport: As an Action, unit instantly moves to any open space on the battlefield and its turn immediately ends. Next round, the unit cannot Move or Act at all.
•Wings: Unit can take short flights, increasing Move by +1, and is unimpeded by difficult terrain. Cannot combine with Cavalry.

Here's what my party can do for the units they lead, as an example. Let me know if you don't know how to read it, I kind of short-handed it. It used to be simpler when I mandated what unit type they lead, but I figured I'd let them choose and just make each PC more competent at leading certain unit types than others. Torrent and Three Weeping Ravens are NPCs.
Unit options for party (any not listed are -1 attack and defense):
•Zayed: [Infantry: +100 #'s, +1 Attack, +1 Defense; Archer: +50 #'s, -1 Attack, +1 Defense]; Analyze, Evade, Phalanx
•Tansley: [Archer: +75 #'s, +2 Defense; Scout: +65 #'s, -1 Attack, +1 Defense; Mage +30 #'s, -1 Attack, +1 Defense]; Fire Blast 1/battle, Heal 2/battle, Feather Step
•Angir: [Mage: +50 #'s, +1 Attack; Infantry: +75 #'s, +1 Attack, -1 Defense]; Construct 1/battle, Crystal Shower 1/battle, Teleport 1/battle
•Kalinah: [Infantry: +100 #'s, +1 attack; Archer: +50 #'s, +1 Defense]; Cavalry, Repulse, Expedience
•Torrent: sub-commander; adds Recovery to the unit.
•Three Weeping Ravens: sub-commander; adds Fleet to the unit.

Besides Specials, what makes it more interesting are the victory and defeat conditions, which obviously depend on the situation. One battle might just be straight-on slaughter; another the party's forces might need to get certain units to a key location and don't need to wipe out the enemy; etc...
The first battle I ran, the commander of their forces was an NPC. Knowing the enemy had a lot of cavalry, he hid scouts in a large forest and feigned leading a charge to the enemy commander through them. The enemy gleefully sent in his forces to surround the party's commander, and they wound up mired in his trap. That battle I used almost as a tutorial for them.

The 2nd one, they were defending a town from attack. They set up on the other side of the river to meet the enemy, because the enemy entering the town (causing panic and the largely militia forces of the party to break and flee) was a defeat condition instead of there being a HQ unit at risk. There were three bridges across the river in various spots and I gave the party the option to destroy 1 or 2 (they couldn't completely trap themselves between the enemy and the river) of the bridges before the battle and/or weaken any of them such that they could be destroyed w/ a sufficiently strong attack. Flying foes could simply soar over (making the wyvern rider units a priority for them!) and units could still fjord the river w/o a bridge, but it'd take several turns and they'd be unable to attack, so that'd only be an issue if there were no allied units nearby to harass them. They ended up losing b/c a hidden scout unit took a wide path around to a bridge while the enemy commander successfully made himself a decoy, baiting the PC's to send units after him (and away from the bridge) for the "easy victory" when he decided to go to the front lines.

EDIT: Hope you enjoy Exit Fate!

[BardicLasher]

So I did a... similar thing in a game I ran a bit ago. Not full Suikoden Style, but I was using the Ultimate Campaign rules for kingdom building and let people recruit NPCs and had various NPCs join them. This was not set in the normal Pathfinder campaign, and the organization was evil, but this list should give you some solid ideas.

Hazuko
An Orc from a recently ruined tribe. He likes to go hunting, but he isn't particularly good at it. He mostly hangs around for lack of anywhere better to go.
Hazuko is a Fighter (Archer).

Oloril Tarmikos

Oloril is not a particularly competent warrior- big guy, but out of shape and none to bright. Still, he's jolly, pleasant, and the other soldiers tend to listen to him and feel he gives good advice.

Tarmikos is a Fighter.

Tobias
Tobias was born and raised in the cult of Pazuzu. Trained in demon summoning, he conjures up outsiders to help him spread the gospels of Chaos and Evil.
Tobias is a Summoner (Abyssal Commander)

Toma VI
Descended from a long line of professional explorers, Toma VI makes his living setting out into the unknown and returning with tales of the vicious beasts he avoided interacting with.
Toma VI is a Rogue.

Ms. Zinna
Ms. Zinna has been working at the local orphanage since it was set up a decade ago, and has been the primary person raising many of the non-humans in the town. Part demon herself, she excels at making Tieflings feel welcome.
Ms. Zinna is an Expert.


Thomas, the Shrewd
With a keen eye and years of skill, it's Thomas' job to ensure that the coins and jewels that pass through Tariq lands coincide with Le'Astra's standards.
Thomas is an Expert.

Marchant
Though Stable Master for the Tariqs for many years, the family has never had more than a few horses. Marchant is skilled in the care and training of beasts of burden. His animal companion is a baby elephant named Pixie.
Marchant is a Hunter.

Shorin Zukin
An abandoned Tiefling bastard from the east, Shorin was brought in the Tariqs' original collection of lost tieflings. Having been taken in young, Shorin idealizes the concept of Samurai, but has very little actual knowledge of what it means to be one.
Shorin is a Crusader.



Rika
Rika will someday be the greatest Hokage, but first she must finish ninja school, which mostly involves doing menial tasks when the older ninja tell you to. Rika is well trained in the art of brewing coffee.
Rika is a Ninja.


Sasuke
A Ninja-in-training, Sasuke specializes in the art of running the hell away. Competent on foot, on horseback, and in any vehicle, Sauske is capable of quickly maneuvering through difficult terrain and helping others to get away.
Sasuke is a Ninja.

Dorothy Walker
A singer by trade, Dorothy Walker isn't quite skilled enough to make it in the big leagues, but her looks and voice keep her popular in Tariq. Practically living at a club, Dorothy keeps her ear to the ground and always knows the word on the street, and has no problem passing it along to her friends.
Dorothy is a Bard.


Malice Darkblossom
Orphaned before her own eyes, Malice knows death and pain far better than others care to know. Allowing her path to be guided by the promise of power, all she cares about is being strong enough to never be helpless again.
Malice is a Witch.

Awesome
Found in the wilderness, Awesome serves as both transportation and a very obvious combat method. Though nobody knows what this massive bird is, when asked, he says he's awesome.
Awesome is a Roc.

Karnak
A five hundred year old Lich, Karnak doesn't care nearly as much about doing evil as he does about studying. In exchange for full access to various libraries and huge amounts of magical resources, Karnak teaches classes on necromancy.
Karnak is a Lich Wizard.





...They ALSO got Viki. Because Viki.

[bahamut920]

I've only beaten the first Suikoden (although I've played 2 and 3, as well), and I know next to nothing about Pathfinder, but I can always just pitch a few character concepts around.