Crew of NPCs

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Post originally by Craig at 2004-03-27 11:59:07
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Your column is particularly poignant for me.

In my current campaign, the characters are the leaders of a crew of vagabonds (currently 11 in number) who travel in a small ship through a medieval world.
The players enjoy the campaign and being able to lead men into battle and danger.
The problem arises in the form of Torias, the sailing master. Originally introduced as the "old hand of the sea", sort of an almanac of the 1000+ islands of the world, they party has begun relying upon his "wisdom" more and more frequently. Should we get into a fight here, what do YOU think we should do, etc. Since most of his skills are shipbound, and most adventures are land based, he rarely accompanies the party. However, they will actually return to the ship to seek his opinion.
Solutions include his belittling them for not showing leadership or killing the sailing master. However, both of these seem excessive for the situation. The first because he is respectful of authority and would be unlikely to provide acid comments about them (some major backstory here). The second because the character does fill a position in the progression of the campaign (a font of general knowledge about the world).

I'm not sure if anybody else has had this particular situation, but it is quite perplexing.

By the by, I have no issue with "doing away" with characters. However, since the ship is the only home that the characters have, the continuance of these NPCs is critical to that feeling of "home-iness" which their vessel provides. Torias, for example, is the second sailing master they have had, now for 20 or so sessions. The first one, Zabir, betrayed them after 10 sessions, and is now one of their most resolute enemies.

Anyway, I'm rambling.

Craig.

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Post originally by amazingchet at 2004-03-28 02:23:54
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If the player's come to rely on a characters wisdom, make them fallible. Every now and them slip them what appears to be useful advice that leads to extreme danger or some other sort of bas situation.

"My map lead to a ambush/deathtrap? Well when I got the map 10 years ago, there was treasure there. Sorry"

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Post originally by Sergio Mascarenhas at 2004-03-28 03:36:33
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Precisely. But this should be handled properly, so that players don't feel cheated. It's in moments like these that I love dice.

Instead of thinking about a question to the players'/PCs question, think about several: the most likely that that particular NPC would give according th his traits, and some alternatives that may be better or worst. Next, roll. According to his performance in the apropriate trait, that's the answer the PCs get.

You may make the whole process transparent, meaning that the players will know that there are alternative answers and that the exact answer you are providing depends on the roll. The reason is simple: you want to make them aware that the character is an NPC. You also want to make them aware that he is falible and that the answer depends on random chance.

I am sure that next time they will consider twice before questioning him.

Sergio

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Post originally by JongWK at 2004-03-30 13:52:43
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NPCs have personal agendas too, which might not be 100% compatible with the player's goals.

If the players know that, they'll think it twice before asking too many favors from a NPC.

My .02 nuyen

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Post originally by Raging Dragon at 2004-04-30 23:25:39
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Since Torias skill are mostly shipbound (plus knowledge of foreign cultures & places, I presume), he may not know how to help the PC's. Their situation could be just a novel to him as to the PC's.

Raging Dragon

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Post originally by Bipolar Bear at 2004-05-01 17:51:10
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Maybe have Torias begin to exhibit some of the symptoms of senility. That way, he is still a valuable source of information, but one that must be weighed with a grain of salt. "Old people" are often stereotyped as wise and all-knowing, without the real-world problems of aging. It can be a great role-playing experience to note that Torias isn't getting any younger and some day he will die, making the characters value him as a person more but as a plot device less.

Just a thought. I'm not one for quickly killing off characters, especially if they have factored into the game in imporant ways: I'd rather draw the process out to be as emotionally painful for my players as possible.

-Bear

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Post originally by Jethrow at 2004-05-04 01:15:21
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Rambling, yes, but still interesting.
In the two main campaigns I run, Twilight: 2000 converted to Gunmaster, and Harmaster, both PC parties have a total of around 11 characters with a majority being NPCs. In the Twilight campaign one of the NPCs is based on the character of Gunnery Sgt Thomas Highway from the film Heartbreak Ridge. This NPC is almost god-like in his combat abilities but the PCs can not rely on him to do exactly as they order as he is highly moral and opinionated, and sometimes insults and berates his superiors if he thinks they are doing wrong and or stupid things.
In the Harnmaster campaign I used one extremely powerful allied Khuzdul (Dwarf) NPC as an example of what can happen to a flame which burns too brightly (he attracted unwanted attention from powerful Sauronic enemies, was vanquished, and the PCs are still running from his enemies who have turned their attention to them).
Jethrow.

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Post originally by Jethrow at 2004-05-04 01:17:59
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Right on. Emotional pain for players. Mmm.
Jethrow.

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Post originally by Craig at 2004-07-20 09:30:58
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Thanks for all the feedback.