My recent Design Pattern post on Social Intrigue was one of my most popular recent posts, and people seemed to especially like the Character Formula Design Implementation. So I figured, why not just do a whole Weird & Wonderful Table of pre-generated NPCs. It'll demonstrate the versatility of the Character Formula and give me and others a useful bank.
As a reminder, here's the Character Formula:
NPC: [Adjective] [Occupation] and [Hobby/Other Notable Activity] who [Personality Quirk]
But it's more of a suggestion than a hard rule. I'll have a handful of Roles as I discussed in the Social Intrigue post, in this case, a little broader, more so for different genres than specific roles within a Social Intrigue campaign.
Please comment with your own NPCs as well :)!
Role: Fantasy Tavern Keeper
- Joy von Otter: Suspiciously friendly bartender and taxidermist who will not tolerate whistling in the bar.
- Benjy Beau: Ungainly barback and bare-knuckle boxer who likes to eat gross foods.
- Mr. Diceslingger: Automaton chef and monster hunter who laughs at the wrong parts of jokes.
- Crybaby Boo: Ghostly bouncer and dollmaker who cries after every fight.
Role: Cyberpunk AI
- Chaz Chiptune: Honky-tonk DJ and meteorologist who despises modern videogames.
- Marxxx: Superficially socialist HR specialist and premium personal assistant who was supposed to be so much more.
- The Transmigration of John Smith: Experimental human consciousness upload and avid gameshow fan who is so vanilla it's kind of kinky.
- Penelope Porpoise: Washed-up uplifted porpoise and former corporate mascot with an opioid feedback loop to deal with the pressure of celebrity.
Role: Roaring 20's Gangster
- "Spicy Lou" Santino: Quiet accountant and sports gambler who haunts the other gangsters in their nightmares.
- Saul "Rock-A-Bye Baby" Rosen: Swollen brawler and adoring parent who leaves the thinking to the thinkers.
- Mia "Womandrake" Murdoch: Mysterious merchant and mystic whose antics could put Houdini to shame.
- William "Billy Dreams" Stevens: Suave real estate tycoon and science fiction fan who stares right through you.
Role: Super-spy / Secret Agent
- Acid Mongoose: Austere stealth agent with conspicuously few interests who can "regenerate" from a clone farm.
- Cackling Fox-Hare: Saboteur and erotic comic creator with a shit-eating grin who once destroyed an entire city in a single sentence.
- Six-Shooter Prawn: Gargantuan gunman and photographer who can dual-hipshot with sniper rifles.
- Norman: Nondescript spy and birdwatcher who is eminently forgettable.
Role: Superhero "Alter Ego"
- Riley Reiner: Rambunctious personal trainer and stamp collector who still loves the limelight after all this time.
- Simone Simpson: Nihilistic electrical engineer and soup kitchen volunteer who isn't sure what she believes anymore.
- Neal Nguyen: Charismatic middle manager and vlogger who enjoys the simple life (when he can have it).
- Jivan Jarodia: Perky stay-at-home dad and graphic designer who sublimates his violent temper through acts of kindness.
Role: Cthulhu Cultists
ReplyDelete1. Sharon Buchanan: Thrill-chasing housewife who presses her own pills to sell on the side. Believes in ghosts, believes the ghost of her childhood best friend watches over her.
2. Pete Kravitz: Pushy car salesman, fond of nature documentaries and predator-prey metaphors. Wants to retire early and spend the rest of his life on a yacht.
3. Mary Lu: Narcoleptic self-publishing authour. Plays a mean game of darts, but is a sore loser and a worse winner.
4. Antoinette Jefferson: Experimental artist, and a hoarder who bounces between collections. Good at finding peoples' buttons, compulsively presses them just to get a reaction.
This is a good role! And I like these NPCs; I'm glad you seem to have implicitly caught another pattern I didn't state explicitly but was trying to do.
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