Need ideas for NPCs [Archive] - Wizards Community

Need ideas for NPCs [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
fastspawn
06-28-07, 07:32 AM Heya,

I posted this in what should a DM do section but i believe this section might be more appros

---------------
Basically this NPC is a persistant NPC through one campaign, which hopefully lasts the PCs a couple of years.

I am going to create a world strong on ToB stuff and weak in magic. (actually the empire is strong in ToB, it is in danger of being invaded by a sorcerous and magical empire)

Now this particular NPC, or group of NPCs, let us call them Sammy, Leroy and Tabitha, pop out of the forest (as per teleportation) while the NPCs are escorting a chest full of gold during their first mission (lvl 1). They do not speak common or any known language. They instead use placards and gesticulate wildly. If the PCs pass an Intelligence roll, they discern that these people wish to meet with their king or something like that.

Anyway to cut a long story short, these NPCs come from another plane similar to our own. They have invented what they thought was a time travel device, and believe initially they have gone back into the past. They have blueprints for building another device back to their timeline, but of course the main problem is that they didn't go back into the past but to a differing plane altogether.

Now the way I plan to work this is every so often new inventions pop up as the Emperor starts listening to them. They form a council of wise men and start explaining to them the cumulative knowledge of science.

I do not want this to be a central core theme, and all these will run in the background.

Some people believe that once this occurs there is a danger that immediately gunpowder, railroads, flight, explosives will ruin the balance of the game.
From my understanding drying saltpetre takes a whole year of work, and even then they have to find the sources of resources and get an entire army of peasants to work with them which is not easy. So all these "inventions" take many many years.

What is more Leroy and Tabitha have concocted a plan to take over the empire by giving the Emperor a taste of technology yet keeping the majority of technology to themselves so that they can stage a coup d'etat, The mission at a higher level (14?) will be to stop this coup d'etat and restore order to the Empire. Or even to aid Leroy and Tabitha. Or declare themselves emperor.

Anyway, I would like to find out whether anyone has ever run a campaign based upon technology? I know there are stats for firearms of the wheellock and flintlock based variety, but I will be designing for rifled bores and nitroglycerin and Vitrolic Acid which i find strangely lacking in DnD (Why haven't they designed Firewater, those DnD alchemists are lazy man).

What is the order i should present the inventions and how should i Present them ? In the army first i suppose, or even a mini-industrial revolution. Watermills and windmills start appearing in towns close to the capitals, then the steam engine is revealed, spinning jenny, new methods of agriculture, then firearms?

I do hope to hear a response, whether good or bad. Thanks, love you lots
-------------------------------
GoriceXII
06-28-07, 10:44 AM Have you ever read Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove? Interesting book, I highly recommend it. (basically the front cover shows Robert E. Lee in the classic picture just after Appomatox but holding an AK-47) It gives some interesting perspectives on how such a time travel event might affect things. Another good book series to read is S.M. Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time which has details on the effect that the entire island of Nantucket has when it is moved by mysterious means into the Bronze Age.

There are another couple of books that are more along the lines of what you are talking about, and to my great frustration I can't remember the titles. They are books I've been looking for.

Anyway:

1. What are the main events going on? If there is a major war or something that always more strongly motivates people to overcome any worries about new technologies.

2. There may be suspicions about the motives of the time travellers. They might even be mistaken for the wrong group. What if they were captured by villains for instance and the new technology was identified with evil magic?

3. What are the time travellers like? If they are typical modern people they might actually be reasonably tough but they might not be ready for a world in which people are literally ready to put a knife to your throat for an imagined slight.

4. If you don't want them to have too big a role then consider this possibility:

- the group of time travellers are struck by a shocking event--they are attacked by a powerful monster/group of npcs for whatever reason, possibly simply for trespassing. They are separated, one or two ending up with the PCs but without anything other than a couple of nifty trinkets, and an inability to speak the language. As you say they went to another plane rather than another time and are totally confused! On the other hand the rest of the group are captured.

Now I know this is a total twist but see if you like it: the other group has some people who for whatever reason--perhaps a combination of naivete and unscrupulousness--decide to side entirely with an evil npc faction. Unfortunately they discover that the main aim of this group is NOT to just have the time travellers build them railroads and mass produce weapons--it is to open a gate back to the place the time travellers came from and just steal a bunch of stuff to use. Why wait?

As stuff from the other time/universe appears the npcs with the pcs may be able to identify them. They won't know exactly what it means as yet but will realize that it's bad. In the meantime the ones with the pcs will be founts of knowledge but in some ways useless for practical purposes, though they might be able to help track down the villains and their time traveller prisoners.
Drizztrocks
06-28-07, 12:27 PM No offense....I HATE GUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you now how many kids are killed every 2 days with firearms? 5! AAAAAAAARRGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!! I new this day would come when somebody asks "Why dont we add guns to DND?" I dont like it one bit. It takes out the fantasy, the heroic actions, and all the hitpoints wasted when you take one shot to the head and goodday to you fearless barabarian!
Sorry bout my little mad streak there, i dont like guns. Windmills, and stuff like that sounds fine, but you shoouldn't go all the way to guns and computers!!!!!!!
fastspawn
06-29-07, 12:02 AM You do realize that getting shot in the head with a crossbow bolt will kill you the same way a bullet will right?
Johnny_Angel
06-29-07, 12:18 AM They sound a little like mimes.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
fastspawn 06-28-07, 07:32 AM	Heya, I posted this in what should a DM do section but i believe this section might be more appros --------------- Basically this NPC is a persistant NPC through one campaign, which hopefully lasts the PCs a couple of years. I am going to create a world strong on ToB stuff and weak in magic. (actually the empire is strong in ToB, it is in danger of being invaded by a sorcerous and magical empire) Now this particular NPC, or group of NPCs, let us call them Sammy, Leroy and Tabitha, pop out of the forest (as per teleportation) while the NPCs are escorting a chest full of gold during their first mission (lvl 1). They do not speak common or any known language. They instead use placards and gesticulate wildly. If the PCs pass an Intelligence roll, they discern that these people wish to meet with their king or something like that. Anyway to cut a long story short, these NPCs come from another plane similar to our own. They have invented what they thought was a time travel device, and believe initially they have gone back into the past. They have blueprints for building another device back to their timeline, but of course the main problem is that they didn't go back into the past but to a differing plane altogether. Now the way I plan to work this is every so often new inventions pop up as the Emperor starts listening to them. They form a council of wise men and start explaining to them the cumulative knowledge of science. I do not want this to be a central core theme, and all these will run in the background. Some people believe that once this occurs there is a danger that immediately gunpowder, railroads, flight, explosives will ruin the balance of the game. From my understanding drying saltpetre takes a whole year of work, and even then they have to find the sources of resources and get an entire army of peasants to work with them which is not easy. So all these "inventions" take many many years. What is more Leroy and Tabitha have concocted a plan to take over the empire by giving the Emperor a taste of technology yet keeping the majority of technology to themselves so that they can stage a coup d'etat, The mission at a higher level (14?) will be to stop this coup d'etat and restore order to the Empire. Or even to aid Leroy and Tabitha. Or declare themselves emperor. Anyway, I would like to find out whether anyone has ever run a campaign based upon technology? I know there are stats for firearms of the wheellock and flintlock based variety, but I will be designing for rifled bores and nitroglycerin and Vitrolic Acid which i find strangely lacking in DnD (Why haven't they designed Firewater, those DnD alchemists are lazy man). What is the order i should present the inventions and how should i Present them ? In the army first i suppose, or even a mini-industrial revolution. Watermills and windmills start appearing in towns close to the capitals, then the steam engine is revealed, spinning jenny, new methods of agriculture, then firearms? I do hope to hear a response, whether good or bad. Thanks, love you lots -------------------------------
GoriceXII 06-28-07, 10:44 AM	Have you ever read Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove? Interesting book, I highly recommend it. (basically the front cover shows Robert E. Lee in the classic picture just after Appomatox but holding an AK-47) It gives some interesting perspectives on how such a time travel event might affect things. Another good book series to read is S.M. Stirling's Island in the Sea of Time which has details on the effect that the entire island of Nantucket has when it is moved by mysterious means into the Bronze Age. There are another couple of books that are more along the lines of what you are talking about, and to my great frustration I can't remember the titles. They are books I've been looking for. Anyway: 1. What are the main events going on? If there is a major war or something that always more strongly motivates people to overcome any worries about new technologies. 2. There may be suspicions about the motives of the time travellers. They might even be mistaken for the wrong group. What if they were captured by villains for instance and the new technology was identified with evil magic? 3. What are the time travellers like? If they are typical modern people they might actually be reasonably tough but they might not be ready for a world in which people are literally ready to put a knife to your throat for an imagined slight. 4. If you don't want them to have too big a role then consider this possibility: - the group of time travellers are struck by a shocking event--they are attacked by a powerful monster/group of npcs for whatever reason, possibly simply for trespassing. They are separated, one or two ending up with the PCs but without anything other than a couple of nifty trinkets, and an inability to speak the language. As you say they went to another plane rather than another time and are totally confused! On the other hand the rest of the group are captured. Now I know this is a total twist but see if you like it: the other group has some people who for whatever reason--perhaps a combination of naivete and unscrupulousness--decide to side entirely with an evil npc faction. Unfortunately they discover that the main aim of this group is NOT to just have the time travellers build them railroads and mass produce weapons--it is to open a gate back to the place the time travellers came from and just steal a bunch of stuff to use. Why wait? As stuff from the other time/universe appears the npcs with the pcs may be able to identify them. They won't know exactly what it means as yet but will realize that it's bad. In the meantime the ones with the pcs will be founts of knowledge but in some ways useless for practical purposes, though they might be able to help track down the villains and their time traveller prisoners.
Drizztrocks 06-28-07, 12:27 PM	No offense....I HATE GUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you now how many kids are killed every 2 days with firearms? 5! AAAAAAAARRGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!! I new this day would come when somebody asks "Why dont we add guns to DND?" I dont like it one bit. It takes out the fantasy, the heroic actions, and all the hitpoints wasted when you take one shot to the head and goodday to you fearless barabarian! Sorry bout my little mad streak there, i dont like guns. Windmills, and stuff like that sounds fine, but you shoouldn't go all the way to guns and computers!!!!!!!
fastspawn 06-29-07, 12:02 AM	You do realize that getting shot in the head with a crossbow bolt will kill you the same way a bullet will right?
Johnny_Angel 06-29-07, 12:18 AM	They sound a little like mimes.