LogFAQs > #896666656

(cont)

The NPCs in question were each deliberately created to serve as rivals to specific PCs. I remember two of the ones I had (one was a cruel local landowner because one player was playing a very Zorro-esque sort of mysterious crusader of the people who was secretly another noble by day, and one was an evil Scottish lord because one of the players was playing a William Wallace-y Scottish Highlander character), but there were four total (I forget the other two, because I'm not sure if they ever even showed up in-game prior to that campaign sort of drifting apart). And I deliberately handed them out so there was no overlap (in other words, Player B would play the rival to Player A's PC, Player C would be the rival for Player B, Player D was the rival to Player C, and Player A was the rival of Player D - that way the relationships didn't reduce down to two players directly opposed to each other all the time, but made the interactions more complex). I basically cribbed the idea of rivals run by other players from Wraith, which had the players play the Shadows (internalized sentient dark side) of other players at the table, and would occasionally try to tempt them into evil or would just berate them.

But basically, I'd give each player a sheet that would say something like "The Baron", under which it would say "French nobleman who is constantly trying to discover the true identity of El Dalberon, the mysterious crusader for truth, justice, and the rights of the oppressed masses." Then there'd be a short summary of RP notes like "You're a slimy manipulator, more willing to send minions to do the dirty work, and apt to collapse and grovel if you're forced into direct combat. You suffer from mood swings, and may have moments of explosive anger or verbal abuse when things are going wrong, but can become almost magnanimous and pleased with yourself when things are going right. You can't stand cats." And so on. Then in sessions before once of the NPCs was going to show up, I might give the player more specific instructions beforehand, like "In this instance, you're trying to acquire an important explorer's journal before the players do. Do whatever it takes to succeed, but you can't afford to skip your meeting with the King later tonight."

Then I left it up to the players to fill in the details of the NPC, how they would do things, and most importantly, how they would speak in that character's voice. The aforementioned "Baron" basically did a voice straight out of Holy Grail, and the scene with the Frenchmen (His intro line was basically like "Ello, I am de Barone"), and it kind of spiraled off from there. One of the other players was "MacBeth" (not that one, just a Scottish assassin possibly from the same family), and basically played the character as Sean Connery's voice with the personality of the character he played in The Rock.

Being able to play super over-the-top worked better because it wasn't their "real" characters they were making look silly. And once they got over the initial self-consciousness, most of them really put their hearts into making the most iconic and memorable performance they could - so much so that the players started looking forward to the times when one of their rivals would show up.

That sort of idea might not work in a more serious game, but it worked for us because that was supposed to be a bit of a silly sort of game anyway. And because they could still be badasses with their main PCs, or explore more serious plots, with the rivals basically becoming more comic relief that could act as tension breaks or "comedy episodes" between more serious play.

The most iconic "war story" sort of memory any of us still have from that game though is the time we all went out for food after a session, and "The Baron" ordered his food in-character, for which he later got extra XP.


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"Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76
"POwned again." --- blight family