Legend / MRQ2 NPCs sourcebook statblocks

[BluSponge]

I'd love to see a supplement of lots and lots of various types of NPCs such as:

SNIP

Sort of like the section at the back of the GameMastery guide of loads of NPCs for Pathfinder.

Well I for one would hope that RQ/L doesn't require that level of granularity. Its one of my least favorite features of d20 – the need for everything to escalate to keep PCs in that comfy 50-50 margin. I don't want to play another RPG that requires me to spend 40 minutes stating up NPCs for a bar fight just so the heroes might get winded.

OTOH, I think having a collection of "generic" townsfolk and NPCs is a great idea. I don't need 20 different sets of stats for the city militia, but having one for the town guard and another for the watch captain doesn't sound unreasonable. As a GM, it shouldn't be hard for you to redress a lot of these for your own purposes. Do you really need stats for a prostitute? It sounds like some of the setting books already make for good resources of these, but having them consolidated and collected in a general sourcebook (like the Bestiary) makes sense to me.

Tom

 

[danskmacabre]

Well I for one would hope that RQ/L doesn't require that level of granularity. Its one of my least favorite features of d20 – the need for everything to escalate to keep PCs in that comfy 50-50 margin. I don't want to play another RPG that requires me to spend 40 minutes stating up NPCs for a bar fight just so the heroes might get winded.

It doesn't REQUIRE that at all, some might like it, others won't. If such a product was published by Mongoose (which I doubt) you're not obliged to buy it or use it, so it doesn't essentially change the product for you.

OTOH, I think having a collection of "generic" townsfolk and NPCs is a great idea. I don't need 20 different sets of stats for the city militia, but having one for the town guard and another for the watch captain doesn't sound unreasonable.

This is what I meant anyway, for some reason people are focusing on one of the suggestions, being a prostitute. How bizarre..
Well, I would like different options for Militia and lots of other stuff too mind, but that comes down to taste I suppose.

As a GM, it shouldn't be hard for you to redress a lot of these for your own purposes. Do you really need stats for a prostitute? It sounds like some of the setting books already make for good resources of these, but having them consolidated and collected in a general sourcebook (like the Bestiary) makes sense to me.

Sure, but I don't look at (or own) all the sourcebooks at the same time. Having a central repository would be more handy.
Anyway, it's kind of academic now as I've been looking through what sourcebooks I DO have for the last couple of days and putting various NPC types all on a personal Wiki for me to reference during gaming sessions.
So for me, problem solved and Legend remains unsullied by an NPC guide

 

[DamonJynx]

This is what I meant anyway, for some reason people are focusing on one of the suggestions, being a prostitute. How bizarre...

Anyway, it's kind of academic now as I've been looking through what sourcebooks I DO have for the last couple of days and putting various NPC types all on a personal Wiki for me to reference during gaming sessions.
So for me, problem solved and Legend remains unsullied by an NPC guide

You wonder why gamers would focus on the prostitute angle? I don't know about your group, but I have some single guys, who to be nice, would find it difficult to hook-up in the traditional sense. Not to mention the fact that we're "mostly" grown men playing games and some of us use little toy soldiers...says a little about our collective maturity don't you think. :lol:

Loz's, Cities of the YK has some great NPC's. I use it all the time. I do think a 'compilation' of NPC's would be a handy reference. I run my campaign pretty much on the fly, letting the PC's drive the story as much as possible, and to have a Ships Captain, or local barkeep or whatever easily findable in an indexed book would be bloody brilliant. Major NPC's are almost always built for the adventure rather than a 'pregen' NPC IMO.

 

[DamonJynx]

Also, any chance of sharing your wiki, now that you've gone to all the trouble of making it!

 

[Simulacrum]

I'm a bit dubious about write ups that are only of hugely powerful characters as these are rarely more pertinent to getting a story going than any other (I'm thinking of 'Strangers in Prax' for RQ3 or even as far back as the original 'Rogues Gallery ', with Bigby, Mordenkainen et al, for D&D).

Interesting point, its relevant to me right now because I'm pulling the draft together for Age of Treason: The Iron Companion. One chapter at present is dedicated to stats and outlines for some of the key players in the setting. They are high(est) level from a social/political standpoint, and some of them are inevitably high level from a stats point of view too. For those who have the Core Book already, examples include Maresh Martek, the high priest of Thesh at Taskay; Haljaf the Inconsolable, founder of the New Korazoon Movement; Baron Solfernoy, scheming governor of the Jekkarenes' trading port at Lyortha.

My thinking here is that fleshing out these characters helps to point to where a PC can aim to get to in the game, and also demonstrates the rules variants in action, especially as at high level these will be more obvious, since their stats include familiars, controlled spirits, enchantments and whatnot. I'd generally expect most GMs to have a reserve of mooks, guards etc or just put those stats in the adventures section as they are needed. There's also the notion that simply having these stats serves as an invitation to use these characters in play, make sure the GM knows what they are capable of, and let PCs interact with them - maybe even find a way to kill them. But you could take the view that these guys will mostly be in the background as the great and good (or bad), and direct interaction unlikely so stats unnecessary.

Opinions anyone?

 

[alex_greene]

LOL Danskmacabre - this is what you saw when you posted:-

I'd love to see a supplement of lots and lots of various types of NPCs such as:
Warriors,
Barbarians,
Wizards
Brigands
Bartenders
guards
rangers
mercenaries
Rogues
Thieves
Assassins
prostitutes
Cultists

And this is inevitably what everybody else sees:-

I'd love to see a supplement of lots and lots of various types of NPCs such as:
Warriors,
Barbarians,
Wizards
Brigands
Bartenders
guards
rangers
mercenaries
Rogues
Thieves
Assassins
prostitutes
Cultists

Just throw one tart into the mix, and suddenly it's Oglaf: the Roleplaying Game.

 

[danskmacabre]

Also, any chance of sharing your wiki, now that you've gone to all the trouble of making it!

Sure why not..
It's part of my Elric wiki here: http://chaos8.com/wiki/index.php?title=Elric/MRQ2
Which I created for new players, it's also not complete yet, but covers most of the information a new player needs to know for Elric.

The actual NPC list is here: http://chaos8.com/wiki/index.php?title=Elric_NPCs
It's very incomplete, but I add a few every day when I have time, so the amount of entries will increase over time.
I intend to sort the list into various categories at some stage so I can just click on a link to a section such as Military, Civilian, Sorcerors, Divine users etc etc...

 

[danskmacabre]

Just throw one tart into the mix, and suddenly it's Oglaf: the Roleplaying Game.

Heh yeah.. I was a bit surprised at the furore my suggestion created!
Oh the Drama!

 

[danskmacabre]

Regarding the Oglaf comment. I've never heard of Oglaf, so did a search on it. clicked on a comic and OMG!

Lol... Interesting read, but absolutely NOT Worksafe.. (Which is where I'm at right now btw!)

 

[Richard]

Simulacrum. Write ups of these NPCs would be interesting. What would be particularly useful though would be lieutenants, agents and sympathisers who could establish connections between characters and the big time movers and shakers. Such people also tend to be good representatives of their faction; which shapes PC attitudes in turn and gets them involved. NPCs like this are also a great tool for scenario lead ins as patrons, informants and rivals.

I don't know how familiar you are with the RQ3 supplements that dealt with these ideas. Some did it better than others. The 'Coders' of Strangers in Prax would have been excellent representatives of the Lunar Empire with the personalities and backgrounds as written, and a fraction of the raw power and magical add ons they were festooned with. Possibly my favourite Gloranthan source NPC is the Broo Emperor Ralzakark who I used in my own game. A Broo mating with a Unicorn to create a somewhat 'enlightened' monarch creates a fascinating character. Making him one of a number of avatars with jaw dropping quasi-divine stats was really unnecessary and an obstacle to developing him as a recurring NPC (In the end I dropped about 90% of his power). In fact the whole Dorastor setting (With a mini starting campaign for teenage farmboy Orlanthi!) rather fell into this trap. The game system itself began to cave in in fact.

Obviously I'd expect the top of the range guys to be seriously tough, but if they are titanic it would be nice to have some kind of intermediary to deal with. Hey Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar and stupor mundi got by with normal human range stats and no (real) magic!

Really enjoying Age of Treason by the way. Main Empire in my own campaign are an Eastern flavoured Emperor cult based people spreading out from desert fringed homelands. Handy indeed. Looking forward to more!

 

[Simulacrum]

I don't know how familiar you are with the RQ3 supplements that dealt with these ideas. Some did it better than others. The 'Coders' of Strangers in Prax would have been excellent representatives of the Lunar Empire with the personalities and backgrounds as written, and a fraction of the raw power and magical add ons they were festooned with. Possibly my favourite Gloranthan source NPC is the Broo Emperor Ralzakark who I used in my own game. A Broo mating with a Unicorn to create a somewhat 'enlightened' monarch creates a fascinating character. Making him one of a number of avatars with jaw dropping quasi-divine stats was really unnecessary and an obstacle to developing him as a recurring NPC (In the end I dropped about 90% of his power). In fact the whole Dorastor setting (With a mini starting campaign for teenage farmboy Orlanthi!) rather fell into this trap. The game system itself began to cave in in fact.

Dorastor was one book I loved to own but never got to use (after a couple of years wondering whether my PCs would ever get tough enough to try it. Water it down and Dorastor just wouldn't be Dorastor). For all the same reason you gave above. Strangers likewise. I'm actually with you on the notion that just because someone is a chief, doesn't mean his/her skills and buffs are massively powered. But there will be some for which it is true. I'll take what you have suggested on board, and make sure there are a few lieutenants and sample minions in the mix.

And I'm glad you are finding the book useful...I'm enjoying compiling the next releases, and all positive feedback is encouragement!

 

[HalfOrc HalfBiscuit]

LOL Danskmacabre - this is what you saw when you posted:-

I'd love to see a supplement of lots and lots of various types of NPCs such as:
Warriors,
Barbarians,
Wizards
Brigands
Bartenders
guards
rangers
mercenaries
Rogues
Thieves
Assassins
prostitutes
Cultists

And this is inevitably what everybody else sees:-

I'd love to see a supplement of lots and lots of various types of NPCs such as:
Warriors,
Barbarians,
Wizards
Brigands
Bartenders
guards
rangers
mercenaries
Rogues
Thieves
Assassins
prostitutes
Cultists

Just throw one tart into the mix, and suddenly it's Oglaf: the Roleplaying Game.

Yeah but the whole point of adventuring is to get loot to spend on ALE AND WHORES. And you need those whores statted up godammit - especially their endurance. :wink:

 

[alex_greene]

Too much of the former can leave you unfit to be entertained by the latter. Might as well stat up wheelbarrow pushers instead, because you'd need those to ferry your comatose bodies back to the dorm ...

 

[Lemnoc]

I’ll throw in my own two coppers on this thread and say one of the (few) advantages of systems that use Levels is that it makes it relatively easy to throw balanced challenges at players. Assuming the system is sensible, you know when you throw a Level 5 NPC against your Level 1 players, you are giving them one tough but not insurmountable hombre.

So I (too) would welcome a guidebook that spells out the relative toughness of an NPC in RQ/Legend terms that can serve as a guide to develop NPCs of similar toughness. I think such an aide would help those coming over from other systems.

The RQ Pirates supplement goes to some effort to distinguish competent challengers from scurvy mooks, and I can appreciate that and build from there. Well done! It doesn’t require much, just indicators.

I don’t really want to trawl through my player’s sheets to craft commensurate challenges for them. It seems much more impartial to have baseline indicators that such-&-such stats represent a seasoned combat veteran and so-&-so represents a fumbling hedge wizard.

So, in short, I’d welcome (buy) a book or supplement that offers these suggestions.

 

[DamonJynx]

I use the following in my games for NPC's:

Combat Skills
Leaders within 10% either way of the most skilled PC and HP by location
Mooks the same, but for the lowest skilled PC to a cap of around 60-70% and general HP

Other skills as required are generally base skill +30 to 50%.

When the PC's reach levels nearing the seasoned, veteran, master and hero tiers I'll add another 10 or 20% to keep the 'villians' up there. Obviously that will be for named, special NPC's not sword fodder mooks.

Characteristics
I generally start NPC's with an array; 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 for STR, CON, DEX, POW & CHA; 14 & 13 for SIZ & INT which I adjust depending on how tough I want them to be.

This is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but is a good place to start, well it works for me at any rate. The thing I struggle with is creatures with special abilities like the Elenoin from Elric, even though their basic stats aren't impressive they get 5 CA (2 of which must be used by their hair to entangle or parry) and they have a Keening Wail that can paralyse on a failed opposed Persistence test. How do you judge how many to use? They're not the type of creature that works well with others. So some guidance on this type of thing would be useful.