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Thursday, August 23, 2018
Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners - Update - We are live!
I've been a gamer since the Fall of '77. Rules sets change, but I keep coming back to D&D. It was my first experience as role play and it made huge impression on me.
In the past 4 decades, I have come to a realization that players don't need much NPC help. I still always include a NPC as a guide, or an extra information resource but when I ask my players who the best NPC was, they always point to the character I thought was a background character. The cook who spotted the enemy approaching, the herald who cracks meta humor, the stableboy who worships them. Never the ranger I put there to absorb arrows and tie up combatants.
Well, in light of that revelation, I started making 3x5 cards of every NPC. Except, they really didn't fit as a classic NPC character. No stats, no spells, no combat abilities. When my players demanded that these folks support them in the field, I started making up stats for NPCs, willy-nilly.
Not uber stats, just average guys and gals who came along for the ride. Tiny details for people who gossip about the characters as they make their way. I decided that maybe some of these people were not NPCs at all but fully blown characters in their own right but with decidedly different points of view from the PCs. I decided that these types of characters were commoners. Not lords, not adventures, but just citizens.
One of my favorite characters was a scullion named Delia. She was taken by a first level fighter who frequented the local inn and slowly made a move on him. While everyone else understood that she had eyes for the fighter, he didn't get "it". However, if there was danger, he was the first to ask about her. If he had a need for something, she was always there. So obviously, she was important. After 3 years, the campaign ended in a wedding.
But there was no "scullion" class of character. How to represent her caused me to sketch out some guidelines for all of my commoners so they could fit the character mold.
I would like to share that guide with you. I am launching "Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners" on DriveThruRPG.
The pamphlet is 24 pages, lists over 50 professions, how to evolve a zero level commoner into a full blown PC, how commoners interact with those above them, etc.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
My Favorite - Greyhawk
Over the years, my campaign has set itself apart from the World of Greyhawk in many ways. However, the Isle of Dread is common to both. Someplace south of the Isle is a magical anomaly that provides transit between these worlds.
I would like to do a Glossography and Guide to my world, but I guess I need a name first. The little things.
Friday, July 8, 2016
New NPC Character Sheets
The Compass Rose Inn will allow the PC's easy access to a large town, a hunting lodge, a haunted mine and of course, the great outdoors.
The Compass Rose Inn is owned by Otto Lanskeep. He is rough and tumble former hunter, but is held on an even keel by his wife and daughters. Player characters will meet Otto's family, Hilda, Edwyna and Elma in addition to Otto's employees named William "Scribs" von Otto, Thomas and Delia.
A weekly patrol comes to the Inn to ensure the safe transport of goods and people to the border. William of Northmost (aka Scrubs), is the most frequently encountered guard and often spends the night at the Inn.
I will explain more about William aka Scribs and William aka Scrubs. William isn't such a strange name for two men to share, but Scribs and Scrubs comes from an adventure these two young men... survived.
I will be sharing their story and introducing the rest of the Lanskeep family and friends, in statistical form, in the very next post.
Monday, December 28, 2015
Feelies
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Going Off the Rails – Part Three
Obvious. Or so I thought.
Friday, August 21, 2015
Going Off the Rails – Part Two
Animal traps,
Generic fortification defenses.
“That was awesome.” said another player.
“What do you think he wants?”
“Don’t know. It could be that chalice.”
“Naw, we are going to give it away and a priest is a much easier target than us.”
“Fame,” added a third.
“Yes! It makes sense that someone would want fame and notoriety. Sort of like the guy in the cabin mailing bombs.”
“Ted something, right?”
“Yeah. We should nail this guy before he gets us.”
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Going off the Rails – Part One
Monday, July 20, 2015
The Evil Reversal Hook
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Reposting Peninsula of Plenty (PoP) Maps
Thursday, June 18, 2015
The Fortress Of Potamus Lake (PoP Campaign)
Typical main floor layout. Click to enlarge. |
Map suitable for second floors and higher. Click to enlarge. |
Seventh floor of Gerent's house. |
Alternate roof (accidentally rotated 180 degrees.) |
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Observing The Can’t of Thieves
- They were loud and swore around kids, like they wanted to be tough.
- The looked the same. Bald and wearing straw hats. Sneakers but no socks. Shorts and T-shirts. Sunglasses, worn on the hat by one and around the neck by the other.
- They were not identically dressed, but very similar.
- They made eye contact while speaking everyone, except children. They ignored children.
- They looked in all the machines.
- They said not so nice things, but smiled the whole time.
- They went into the kids play area, the bathroom and peeked in the office.
- They never stopped moving or talking.
- Work in groups.
- Have a cover story ready.
- Have a backup plan, hopefully one that matches a cover story.
- Be outwardly friendly, but forcefully offended and easily aggrieved.
- Look tough, but back down with grace if necessary.
- Use respect. Use more than the normal amount of respect to elevate the self-esteem of the mark.
- Dress neatly with flash and style, but be similar to your associates so physical descriptions are easily confused.
- Appear to trust other people, so they will extend the same level of trust.
- Case the joint, the whole place not just the obvious areas.
- Look for treasure everywhere. Anything worth anything at all is treasure.
- Never ask for the whole enchilada, ask for less. This way you can haggle with a mark to part them from their money.
Monday, December 22, 2014
Maps – The Stave Church
Half Baked Idea - The Demon Core
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Serpent Bay – Five Minute Vignette
“They brought the demon core, blood hexes, and shells. They pushed us to the sea. In the woods, we moved like eidolons hunting, as the skies sizzled with hot brass and steel rain. The sea frothed blue and white; the gnashing of frustrated and frenzied selkies.
Friday, March 1, 2013
The One McGuffin
Sometimes you just have to let things play out and laugh at the mistake. However, I blame many bad endings on The One McGuffin getting loose.
A McGuffin is a device to further the plot. It has no other function and DM’s are well advised not to create and define an item so that it is both a solution and closure to the campaign storyline.
In AD&D, artifacts were vastly overpowered magic items that really should have been left undescribed. Instead, they were tacked on the end of the magic item list, as if they were a viable option.
There is a temptation for all DM’s to use The One McGuffin as a solution to wrap up the scenario. Never, repeat, never allow characters to use an evil item for good. First, it doesn’t make sense for good to use evil for good ends. Second, as a wise man once said, “Power corrupts and absolute power is really, really neat.”
The second pen hits paper and the McGuffin is clearly defined, somewhere deep down inside, you have decided the magic needs to be used. In all cases, this is very much a Deus ex-Machina story ending. If you build the characters up to the pinnacle of power, yet even from that great height, they can’t make a good ending of their own, what is the point?
Beware of The One McGuffin.