Campaign {Finding Someone} Help

[IDontKnow]

I posted something about a week ago and this is supposed to be a successor to that.

Iḿ making a campaign where the first arc is supposed to be where they are looking for some one.

This is what I know

- The campaign will have the world change overtime and have the character go through certain emotions.

- The setting will be a basic fantasy world with foggy vales, mountains, fields of flowers, dwarf mines, elf forests, towns, villages, cities, etc.

The PC´s are...

A firbolg druid named Purgus who set fire to his village when he was a child. He now runs away from his fears and past.

A tiefling ranger named Lucia or Twig and was born from a Human Male (Noble) and a Tiefling Woman (Peasant) who was killed at birth and her father raised her alone as a Hunter. One day while her Father and her were hunting a boar her Father died and she now has a tusk from that boar. She now travels alone.

A character who is still undecided.

I need help finding who they are looking for and how to bring the characters together. If you have ideas I would like to hear them but please go into detail. Thanks.

[Azgeroth]

need the 3rd character.

having a Druid and a Ranger makes a wilderness meet up believable for those 2 characters... however, have a talk with the ranger, why is the 'i survive in the wilds, on my own, on purpose' character, ever going to approach or engage with any other person? you need to know that.

you say they are looking for some one. that is so incredibly vague..

are they hunting this person?? why are they looking for this person?? who is this person?? how did the players come to be in pursuit of this person??

if your asking us to write the campaign, you can just ask. i'm unsure if you are looking for a complete narrative, or just some narrative advice.

but again, i could give you 'a' start to a campaign, but its very difficult without knowing more about what the general story arc is, they are looking for some one, is FAR too vague.

do you want me to fill in those details?????

[IDontKnow]

need the 3rd character.

having a Druid and a Ranger makes a wilderness meet up believable for those 2 characters... however, have a talk with the ranger, why is the 'i survive in the wilds, on my own, on purpose' character, ever going to approach or engage with any other person? you need to know that.

you say they are looking for some one. that is so incredibly vague..

are they hunting this person?? why are they looking for this person?? who is this person?? how did the players come to be in pursuit of this person??

if your asking us to write the campaign, you can just ask. i'm unsure if you are looking for a complete narrative, or just some narrative advice.

but again, i could give you 'a' start to a campaign, but its very difficult without knowing more about what the general story arc is, they are looking for some one, is FAR too vague.

do you want me to fill in those details?????

Sorry without giving you vague information,

I don´t want you to build the narrative I´m looking for ideas on who the person there looking for is.

The third person is playing a Paladin I believe.

[Azgeroth]

Sorry without giving you vague information,

I don´t want you to build the narrative I´m looking for ideas on who the person there looking for is.

The third person is playing a Paladin I believe.

oh ok, http://www.npcgenerator.com

there you go.

[IDontKnow]

oh ok, http://www.npcgenerator.com

there you go.

If you don´t mind I need something a bit more in depth if that helps.

I want the character to have a backstory and a personality as the first arc is going to revolve around this character.

[Ventruenox]

You really haven't given us a lot to work with. If you want to have a backstory for your MacGuffin NPC being pursued, it would help if we had some sort of motivations for the PCs. Are they going to hunt him down and kill him? Are they trying to rescue him? Are they just hired to do this, or is it important to their character arcs?

You don't need a whole lot to start with, but you do need a clear motivation.

For example:

Sephiroth (FF7) - they start hunting him down for answers for his actions in the Shinra building, plus he ties in with Cloud's backstory at a cliffhanger conflict.

Green Gemstone Man (Dragonlance) - Has been on the run since he let *spoiler deleted*, and they need to find him to restore balance.

Inigo Montoya (Princess Bride) is searching for the six fingered man who killed his father.

Azgeroth gave you the perfect tool to get you started. If you have personality traits and a plot hook, everything else ought to just fall into place. You tie an event to your campaign world, and reverse engineer your NPC's motivations for being involved with said event from their personality traits. Tie the PCs to additional encounters from their own backstories, or have another NPC tied to your MacGuffin with personal reasons to hire the PCs.

I'm sorry, but your request comes across as, "I wanna DM, and I don't know where to start, so will you write my campaign for me?" That itself can be ok, that's why WoTC publishes campaign books.

[Keravath]

There are literally an infinite number of options.

- NPC is a bad guy and they have been tasked with hunting him because
a) he killed someone
b) he stole something
c) it is a frame and the NPC is innocent but the PCs don't know that
d) The NPC interacted with the PCs and now they want to recover something/get revenge

-NPC is a good guy and they want to find him because
a) He is needed to perform some specific task that only he is capable of ... magically locked container keyed to them ... special prayer ... open a magical door ... find something ... has special medical knowledge to cure a disease
b) he has an inheritance and a relative needs to find him
c) he has amnesia, is lost and doesn't know who to trust .. maybe the bad guys send the PCs looking for him
d) he has some powerful but difficult to control magic and is trying to get away from civilization so he doesn't hurt anyone accidentally

The NPC could be a dragon/spy/demon/devil/celestial/yuan-ti ... anything is possible depending on what the NPC is supposed to be doing and WHY the PCs are looking for them.

There are tons of ideas. However, the NPC stats, capabilities, gender and everything else depend on what plot role you want them to fulfill. Are they strong/weak/smart/perceptive/willful/charismatic/agile/deft/clumsy ... can they cast spells or wield a weapon? All the NPC stats depend on what YOU want them to do in the context of your adventure.

[Rixitichil]

I quite like the idea of an old building/stone circle/whatever that performs a minor magical effect of benefit to a community has suddenly started generating odd effects. Possibly Dire warnings. But no-one quite knows what they mean. The party is tasked with finding the creator so they can provide answers.

Your other option is try a Saving Private Ryan plan to find a wayward adventuring noble to let them know that their father has died and they are now the rightful heir to the estate.

[Prophet_of_Io]

Basically just what other people are saying.

It doesn’t matter “who” this person is, it can be literally anyone or anything. As the GM you’ll need to fill in most of the details, all we can do is give you pitches.

Instead I’ll recommend you go one of two routes.

A) Think about “Why” instead. Why do your friends players need this person? Were they hired to find them? Do they have personal reasons? Or do they seek this individual out for answers? Others above me have also brought up this but the why is almost always more relevant than the who (Some examples: A thief has stolen a local lords priceless heirloom and the party is hired to recover it. One of the players discovers that the accidental death of a family member wasn’t so accidental, and now they’re looking to hire help to track the killer down. The players first meet on a harmless quest to look into some old ruins and accidentally release a long since sealed demon, now they must seek out the only living relative to the long dead holy man that once sealed away the demon to fix their mistake).

B) Let your players do the work. Ask them to invent three people from their backstory that had a profound impact on them. I usually request for my players that parents can’t count as two of three, and I also like it when one of the characters in the backstory had a negative influence on them. Find a character that interests you and roll with it. They players are usually thrilled when this person ends up being story relevant because it makes them feel like they helped to build this world.

Hope this helps.