Post by Boatmonger on Jan 23, 2014 1:32:20 GMT -8
Between my work schedule and the language barrier, being monolingual sucks, I don't have many opportunities to play. I thought it would be fun if GMs put out requests for NPCs to introduce the party to certain plot hooks or provide a valuable clue then people could write in their ideas. It would be a sort of contest and it would be an extra special treat if one of these NOCs ended up on an Actual Play Podcast and the NPC author could show off that their character. I'm not sure the best way to go about this. Any ideas?
Here's one example that I thought up (details marked with * can be changed to match the setting, DMs preference, or because they're in need of improvement):
Jared* is a man who is in the twilight years of middle age lives in a village* on the outskirts of civilization where he works as a leather worker*. He makes shoes and saddles and whatever else the village needs. He is capable of making masterwork leather items such as armor or saddles for unusual mounts but they follow function over form and will be well made but plain.
When approached by the party he will be polite but stoic and slightly weary. This isn't an attitude reserved for strangers, he is always like that. He does business briskly and gives a fair price for his work.
He discretely keeps something in his hand, like a rag, or keeps his hand in his pocket to hide his missing index finger. If the GM requires him to be involved with the players then they notice his missing finger immediately, otherwise a perception roll of some sort is required. If asked about how the finger was lost then he looks at his missing digit wistfully, sighs and tells a heroic tale about how he lost it in battle against goblins* when he was a young man. The story is obviously rehearsed but he seems tired of telling it and he continues to keep his finger hidden despite feigning enthusiasm.
If the players ask around about him then they learn that he's a local hero and they all have a version of the famous goblin battle but none of the stories seem to match. As the characters dig, they learn that the only person who knows the true details are an old woman in the village who happens to also be Jared's cousin.
She was a grown woman at the time of the incident and is now very old but still in good health, although her halting and slightly distracted manner of speaking leaves the question of her mental faculties a mystery. When the players visit her home, she will be very formal, polite, and eager to entertain guests. She will offer tea and cakes but if the players refuse then she accepts graciously and after a while she will be surprised to notice the players don't have any tea and offer again until either the players leave or they accept (this is due to being old, not some ulterior motive). The tea will be a little too bitter but the cakes will be good because it's an old family recipe. The woman is a treasure trove of local history and can help the players with information about their current quests but when asked about Jared she tells one of the following stories.
From here there are at least 2 directions that the old woman's story can go:
1) The old woman confides in the party about the truth because they're outsiders and it wouldn't hurt to tell them. As a young teen Jared had a crush on a girl who had recently snubbed him in favor of a handsome guard visiting town with a traveling trader. She tells them that Jared stole an unruly horse from the village with the intention of traveling to the closest town, selling the horse, and buying a gift to impress the girl. During his trip he mistreats or mishandles the horse and the horse bites off his finger (or stomps it off with a sharp hoof) and runs off. In shock over losing his finger he begins stumbling back to the village. On his way back he surprises a lone goblin who was in the middle of defecating. The goblin attempts to rush Jared with it's pants around its ankles and topples into a heap, fatally smashing its head against a stone. Taking proof of defeating the goblin he returns home as a hero but too late, the girl had run away with the traveling trader.
2) (This version is similar so I omitted some of the story) in this version the old woman mistakes one of the players to be Jared himself and answers all their questions candidly. This time Jared takes the girl who rejected him out of town instead of the horse. They argue over her rejection and in the heat of the moment he attacks and kills her but during the struggle she bites his finger off. In a panic, he hides the body and heads back to town, confusedly thinking up story after story to explain her disappearance when he stumbles upon the goblin. Seeing a way out he decides that the goblins kidnapped her and he tried to rescue her. The plan fails when he returns to town and finds the town in confusion looking for the girl, her parents believing that she ran off with the traveling trader which would take the search party in the opposite direction of where the body was hidden so instead he took the role of town defender and only ever confided the truth to his protective older cousin.
When confronted with the truth Jared will work hard to buy the players secrecy with life long discounts, free equipment, some help with their current quests, or an item that the party needs but he originally refused to part with (maybe loot from the goblin that explains why it was alone and far from home?) Depending on the GM's preference Jared can be repentant and want to hide the truth for the sake of others or cold and convinced that they can't prove anything.
Here's one example that I thought up (details marked with * can be changed to match the setting, DMs preference, or because they're in need of improvement):
Jared* is a man who is in the twilight years of middle age lives in a village* on the outskirts of civilization where he works as a leather worker*. He makes shoes and saddles and whatever else the village needs. He is capable of making masterwork leather items such as armor or saddles for unusual mounts but they follow function over form and will be well made but plain.
When approached by the party he will be polite but stoic and slightly weary. This isn't an attitude reserved for strangers, he is always like that. He does business briskly and gives a fair price for his work.
He discretely keeps something in his hand, like a rag, or keeps his hand in his pocket to hide his missing index finger. If the GM requires him to be involved with the players then they notice his missing finger immediately, otherwise a perception roll of some sort is required. If asked about how the finger was lost then he looks at his missing digit wistfully, sighs and tells a heroic tale about how he lost it in battle against goblins* when he was a young man. The story is obviously rehearsed but he seems tired of telling it and he continues to keep his finger hidden despite feigning enthusiasm.
If the players ask around about him then they learn that he's a local hero and they all have a version of the famous goblin battle but none of the stories seem to match. As the characters dig, they learn that the only person who knows the true details are an old woman in the village who happens to also be Jared's cousin.
She was a grown woman at the time of the incident and is now very old but still in good health, although her halting and slightly distracted manner of speaking leaves the question of her mental faculties a mystery. When the players visit her home, she will be very formal, polite, and eager to entertain guests. She will offer tea and cakes but if the players refuse then she accepts graciously and after a while she will be surprised to notice the players don't have any tea and offer again until either the players leave or they accept (this is due to being old, not some ulterior motive). The tea will be a little too bitter but the cakes will be good because it's an old family recipe. The woman is a treasure trove of local history and can help the players with information about their current quests but when asked about Jared she tells one of the following stories.
From here there are at least 2 directions that the old woman's story can go:
1) The old woman confides in the party about the truth because they're outsiders and it wouldn't hurt to tell them. As a young teen Jared had a crush on a girl who had recently snubbed him in favor of a handsome guard visiting town with a traveling trader. She tells them that Jared stole an unruly horse from the village with the intention of traveling to the closest town, selling the horse, and buying a gift to impress the girl. During his trip he mistreats or mishandles the horse and the horse bites off his finger (or stomps it off with a sharp hoof) and runs off. In shock over losing his finger he begins stumbling back to the village. On his way back he surprises a lone goblin who was in the middle of defecating. The goblin attempts to rush Jared with it's pants around its ankles and topples into a heap, fatally smashing its head against a stone. Taking proof of defeating the goblin he returns home as a hero but too late, the girl had run away with the traveling trader.
2) (This version is similar so I omitted some of the story) in this version the old woman mistakes one of the players to be Jared himself and answers all their questions candidly. This time Jared takes the girl who rejected him out of town instead of the horse. They argue over her rejection and in the heat of the moment he attacks and kills her but during the struggle she bites his finger off. In a panic, he hides the body and heads back to town, confusedly thinking up story after story to explain her disappearance when he stumbles upon the goblin. Seeing a way out he decides that the goblins kidnapped her and he tried to rescue her. The plan fails when he returns to town and finds the town in confusion looking for the girl, her parents believing that she ran off with the traveling trader which would take the search party in the opposite direction of where the body was hidden so instead he took the role of town defender and only ever confided the truth to his protective older cousin.
When confronted with the truth Jared will work hard to buy the players secrecy with life long discounts, free equipment, some help with their current quests, or an item that the party needs but he originally refused to part with (maybe loot from the goblin that explains why it was alone and far from home?) Depending on the GM's preference Jared can be repentant and want to hide the truth for the sake of others or cold and convinced that they can't prove anything.