Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Demonwolf 04-21-06, 09:38 AM	I need help with an NPC for a campaign I'm planning set in a film-noir/political modern-day cyberpunk sword-and-sorcery world with slight but distinct anime and gothic influences. You heard me. Anyway, one of the pivotal characters is an ingenue, in the loosest sense of the the term. More of a wise ingenue than a spiritually naive one, though, like Phoebe Caulfied from Catcher In The Rye, or Tifa from FFVII. She's going to be an NPC ally, and the 'Gandalf' of the party to some extent. I have her fleshed out as a character in my mind, but the problem is that she's waaay too darn happy for a film-noir setting, and I'm trying to figure out how to add a darker element to her character. The only two ways I can think of are to a) give her a violent streak, or b) make her the typical ingenue who's doomed to be disillusioned or destroyed. Overlooking for a moment the fact that both of those are cliches, the bigger problem is that both of those options conflict with her character, and I'm going insane trying to figure out how to get around that. On a related note, I also need to figure out what would motivate a character like her to adventure. Here's what I know about her so far- 1. She's a support character- a mediocre fighter, a good buff/debuff caster and an infiltrator/acrobat type skillmonkey. 2. She's a ninja, although not the class. She's just from a ninja clan. 3. Specifically, a ninja mystic. Or a ninja 'witch' as the civilians call her. Her area of expertise is infiltration, espionage and diplomacy. 4. Staff and throwing needles. 5. Decent amount of magical+mundane crafting ability.
WhrenKehrsyn 04-21-06, 04:50 PM	Maybe shes innately a happy and optimistic person like youve implied, but shes done something that was terrible in her past. No one knows about it. Its directly tied to what the PCs are working on though. Shes helping them because she feels she needs to right the wrong she commited, but as the PCs get closer to the end of the game she becomes more and more aware that they, and the rest of the world will learn about her involvement in the initial event, and the opinion of her friends, loved ones, and people she respects means a good deal to her. So as the ultimate goal comes closer she becomes more withdrawn and more brooding, shes a good character and will see the campaign completed, but her fear of losing friends and the respect of others weights heavily on her. This could cause her to become snippy, confrontational, and even violent with less and less provocation, etc. Keep in mind that happy and optimistic doesnt have to equal naive, it can also be a firm belief in hope and the eventual betterment of her world and the people in it. Theres a trend in film, anime in particular, for these types of characters to be completely unaware or ignorant of the bad things in the world, but they dont have to be, you can understand that people do bad things, and that life isnt fair, but still believe that that all can be fixed. Someone has to be the first one to smile and laugh, someone has to be the first one to shake hands, someone has to be the first to compromise. Maybe her happiness and optimism can be a leading by example rather than a naiveness. Bad things happen, but crying and brooding over it cant change it, accepting it, moving on, and continuing to believe in something better can. EDIT: By the way, I absolutely love Home Movies, so I love your sig
The_Shaman 04-21-06, 09:58 PM	As for motivation to go adventuring, nothing beats being a childhood friend of the PCs... although if she is connected to a ninja clan she might have to have a reason to leave the clan's base of operations. Perhaps her superiors are interested in what the party pursues, such as they might think it may involve a relic/organization/person they are interested in. Or it may simply be an initiation test - to go out and defeat a certain enemy or accomplish a particular feat of subterfuge/honor/benefit to the clan (depending on your ideas on what the ninja clan would be like), before she can be considered a full-fledged member of the clan. Her character may simply be generally cheerful, as WhrenKehrsyn mentioned; if you play CRPGs, Imoen from Baldur's Gate may be a good prototype - she is generally a happy-go-lucky girl who doesn't brood much over what happens, but she is intelligent and dependable. Now, if you like the idea and want to rip BG a bit more (but heck, it was a great game) make her related to a source of evil - such as, for example, being directly related to an infamous villain, suffering from a curse that will try to corrupt her personality little by little, or maybe have the only memento she carries from a dear friend/relative be an evil artifact (and make it impossible or at least darn hard for her to get rid of it). Another possibility that might take less toll on her cheeryness is simply to have her followed by an assassin or bounty hunter (well, the group will be followed, but they will be after her). She can still be optimistic, we'll-get-through it, possibly even a little naive, but she will have a reason to sleep uneasily at night ;)
Morka 04-23-06, 07:08 PM	She could be happy and optimistic, but incredibly cold-hearted. Like, her goal is to get the BBEG down, but she's willing to accept collateral damages, a large amount of collateral damages, and she even enjoy it. Hmm. I guess it goes with the "violent streak"...