Using 1,001 Characters and 760 Patrons

IanBruntlett

Emperor Mongoose
I've run adventures in which I winged/ad libbed almost anything. And I've also run more, shall we say structured, games.

I'm not sure how to integrate 1,001 Characters and 760 Patrons into my game. We're currently making our way through The Secrets of the Ancients.

Any suggestions welcome.
 
Here are three suggestions off the top of my head.

- Recurring character. Keep the same Naval officer turning up in the characters' subsector. He's not an Ally, a Contact, a Rival or an Enemy: he's just someone who keeps turning up and, occasionally, might be talked into helping out an old ex-Naval guy looking for work or an adventure.

- Suspect: These recurring characters have some sort of seedy reputation. Whether it is deserved or not is up to you, the Referee.

- Friend of the Family: They've been old friends, if not directly of one of the characters, then certainly of the character's family. Perhaps she was married to the character's sister or something. As such, they always have something interesting for the characters when their vessel hoves into view, and the character's ship could become a welcome sight, even if the smiles are often a little wry.
 
I use them as seeds for characters added to the game. The key characters for he adventure are usually already fleshed out (hopefully) based on the role they play. But there are a lot of other characters that may crop up. I use these books to get a starting point for the additional characters. The randomness keeps the adventure from being too linear.

Sometimes, if an adventure or plot isn't deep enough, I'll roll up some more people as background, distractions, red herrings, or folks who just happen to be there working at cross purposes to the main adventure story arc. It gives me a starting point for motivations & purposes. Sometimes I'll see that the character needs flunkies, hirelings, or a retinue. I'll usually roll up or point buy these NPCs, but sometimes I'll roll against these books to give them their own "secret" motivation.
 
I use them for those semi random characters that the players come up with contacting and who appear more than once. For example hiring someone to do their dirty work or as messengers.
 
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