Who's your star lineup, huh? Who are the NPCs you love the most, the one who inspires you to think devious plots against the players and ways to slip a cameo in later on in the AP?
What NPCs are you unwilling to let lie dead or *GASP!* are willing to fudge, allowing them to escape?
Give us your list of you favorite NPCs and just why you love them, also, how about an example of how they've tested your player's patience and HP limit.
1# Kyuss
The man himself.
Why?
Cause he has a high goal in mind, that's why! Attain Godhood in a believable way! Most other loser would be happy enough to be worshipped like a God, but not Kyuss. He wanted the real thing and he worked hard to get it!
#2 Balabar Smenk
I like to think of him as 'The Man' in Diamond Lake. Keeping you down, the biggest hater around. He's proved to be a thorn in my players side. Not only was he the one who sent the players into Dourstone mine in my game, but when they survived and killed the Ebon Aspect, he used the evidence to paint Dourstone a demon worshiper, buy his copper mine for next to nothing, corner the copper market in the area and come out of it as a town hero, he also has the players under his thumb since he owns the lease to their Observatory lair and has helped cover up illicit deeds to be used against them later.
So how about you guys?
Let's just say that Balabar Smenk IS the man of Diamond's Lake. The guy's concept of mind over body and "I'll do whatever necessary to get as most mines as I want, AND I wante it all" is preety nice, and makes the guy a 'must-have' Npc to piss the party off. In my campaign, so far, the players killed the Ebon Triad's beast, and Dourstone was arrested, but so was Balabar, when the Pcs showed enough evidence to screw him. However, Smenk's ALSO got influence and it won't be long until he gets out of jail(let's just say he got out already and the PCs don't even know). Also, I liked Theldrick(too bad his soul gets sucked into nothingness) and I think im gonna like Raknian.
#2 Balabar Smenk
Not only was he the one who sent the players into Dourstone mine in my game, but when they survived and killed the Ebon Aspect, he used the evidence to paint Dourstone a demon worshiper, buy his copper mine for next to nothing, corner the copper market in the area and come out of it as a town hero
So how about you guys?
WOW!! that's a great idea, I must say..genius....I'd never thought of incriminating ol' Dourstone as a demon worshiper... DAMN sure im gonna add this to my camaign(hehehehe)
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I, too, have discovered the joys of SMENKing the party. He always has just enough dirt on them, or just enough thugs around, to make it worth their while to do what he says - which, of course, only produces more dirt to be used against them.
Old Balabar is about to become an even bigger nuisance, but I'll let that part unfold for my players before I spill the beans here.
As close runners-up for fun NPCs
Ellival Moonmeadow is the uncle of the Elf in our party. She has currently been disowned by him for "borrowing" quite a bit of his property. He has been fun because there have been situations where she really needed his advice, but he refuses to speak with her and he is curt with the rest of the party, at best.
Grallak Kur was a lot of fun because I modified him. Instead of a cleric, I made him a Bard with the Tainted Raver template(from Heroes of Horror) thrown in on top. He wasn't quite as combat-ready as the original, but he had all sorts of ways to mess with the party's heads. Two party members aquired slight mental illnesses (Mild Depravity)before finally killing him.
Filge was likewise a pain for the party because I re-made him as a Dread Necromancer. His damage reduction, negative energy attacks, and rebuking undead made the battle in the observatory a memorable one. Also, his death provided Smenk with a very important piece of leverage against the party.
"Who's your star lineup, huh? Who are the NPCs you love the most, the one who inspires you to think devious plots against the players and ways to slip a cameo in later on in the AP?
What NPCs are you unwilling to let lie dead or *GASP!* are willing to fudge, allowing them to escape?
Give us your list of you favorite NPCs and just why you love them, also, how about an example of how they've tested your player's patience and HP limit."So far we've only gotten to the start of 3 Faces of Evil. Smenk is the man but I like Sheriff Cubbin and his 'boys'. I play him like he's the Boss from Cool Hand Luke 'What we have here is a failure to communicate'.
Kullen really scared the piss out of my players, since they first bribed him and his gang, then he cornered them after leaving Filge's demanding the Necromancer's eyes as he had been promised. Then lastly he kidnapped a PC and was going to start picking off the PCs one by one until. He killed another PC with a critical hit from his Great Axe before he was rudely stopped by an arrow to his chest.
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So far, I think Smenk is the best NPC, I have further plans for him and Diamond Lake. Most you can find int the thread titled "Old Observatory ".
I know it not an NPC, but more a group of them. The Ebon Traid rocks. I am going to have fun with them long after the AoW is done. I hope a couple of them escape alive.
Dread necromancer?? Which source book may i find that please
Kullen was fun because the PCs made friends with him. I had him & his gang enter the Free City Games as the "Destroyomancers", complete with the weasel familiar strapped with spiked barding. They didn't make it past the first round.
Allustan was all nurturing and soft-spoken, and all the PCs liked him. Which made it really tense when he went missing in A Gathering of Winds.
I played Manzorian as a complete jerk, LG alignment notwithstanding. He went on long tirades about how stupid the PCs were and mazed the barbarian more than once just to get him to stop interrupting. He'd use minor creation to make a cookie for the monk, then disintegrate it, yelling "BAD MONK!! NO COOKIE!!"
Dread necromancer?? Which source book may i find that please
Silver Circle,
It's in "Heroes of Horror", page #84. It's a class I find interesting in that it's actually a CLASS, not just a Prestige Class. Still, I think I prefer True Necromancer from "Libris Mortis", but YMMV.
JD oot.
Auric and Khellek. Anytime I get to walk around, flexing, and insulting the sexual and martial prowess of the male PC's while rubbing my belt buckle and winking at the females is a good time for me...Load of fun! For some reason, it's also really fun playing Khellek like the uppity, too-cool-to-talk-to-you snob that he's portrayed as. I like turning up my nose the entire time I roleplay him, asking, "You actually had a master? You should have stayed with him for another ten years...then you might be half as good as me."
I believe our campaign's best NPC so far has been Loris Raknian, though I would put Captain Okoral with him as well. The party swept up at the Champion's Games (as they should), and Raknian would consistently be forced to acknowledge his decline with each victory--like a victory against him personally. In the end, the city police arrived shortly after the ulgurstasta broke free (in the middle of the night, no less). And while Okoral bought enough time for Raknian--by lying to the city police--to retreat to his room to make ready to flee, the former gladiator champion/hero lost his will to fight. The party chased him to his sanctum, paranoid the assassin Okoral was lurking, only to find him staring up at a portrait of Lahaka, Ekaym's sister, whom the PCs discovered as a zombie below. (I even adapted Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess" to have him recite, recalling the lover he murdered). Repentant and aware at how Bozal had used him, he submitted to the authorities.
What made this encounter--and thus, Loris Raknian--so memorable to me was his distance, and his end (he was hanged later, offstage) was described to me by one of the players as "refreshing," especially after such a combat-intensive adventure.
Prince Zeech. I too have a thing for LE rulers.
I never expected him to be so refined or handsome. I thot of him as a self appointed dandy with the cunning, mannerisms, and voice of Mr. Garrak (the tailor Cardassian of Star Trek DS9). He has had extensive use in my campaign previously.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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In my own office campaign, we're only about half-way through the fourth adventure, so I haven't gotten to Prince Zeech, yet. Here's my favorite NPCs from the published adventures:
1. Balabar Smenk
I thought up this name about a year before I even started working on the Age of Worms, so I had lots of time to develop his bastardness. I'm pleased to see how he's come alive in so many other campaigns. My players HATE him. I can't wait for him to return.
2. Shag Solomon
I didn't get a chance to incorporate "The Gentleman Quaggoth" into the campaign as much as I'd wanted, but with one of my players as an escaped "attraction" from the Emporium, this guy is right up there on my list of favorites.
3. Sherrif Cubbin and his Boys, particularly Deputy Jamis
I love corrupt cops. What can I say?
4. Beaky the baby Owlbear
I love how the PCs adore this thing even when it tries to bite off their fingers. Balabar Smenk kidnapped him, but he is ripe for a reappearance.
Looking forward to Loris Raknian, the Ominous Fabler, Prince Zeech, and Dragotha most of all.
--Erik Mona
Melinde leads the charge with our group. She's an ex of one PC and current interest of another PC.
That said, Balabar here too. For getting his buddy Filge thrown in chains, he semi-forced the PCs into the Dourstone Mine (for TFoE). This coming after the fact that our PC Rogue had to buy her freedom at a huge monetary cost (with the help of the PCs) only to die at the claws of Theldrick's Fiendish Ape .
The PCs plan on betraying Balabar though, they are looking for concrete evidence of Balabar's and Ragnolin's cult involvement before they turn both over.
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Like others have found, Balabar Smenk has been a ball to roleplay. For me, I made him the real leader of Diamond Lake with strong connections in Greyhawk. In terms of roleplaying him, Al Swearengen from Deadwood was a particular inspiration.
I've had fun with several others but none more so than Moreto.
Playing such a civilised "bad guy" surrounded by such disgraceful companions in the most unlikely of places was a lot of fun. I'm surprised my party didn't just let loose on them. It took the party Gnome to "offend" Moreto to even look like initiating combat. Too much fun!
Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
(Mild Depravity)
Filge was likewise a pain for the party because I re-made him as a Dread Necromancer. His damage reduction, negative energy attacks, and rebuking undead made the battle in the observatory a memorable one. Also, his death provided Smenk with a very important piece of leverage against the party.
HEHEHE...yeah..good ol' Filge here also has some Dread Necromancer on him. I have to say that he looks wicked with that armor of his, and the DR ....
Like many, I had fun with Balabar Smenk, unfortunately he has been forced to take more careful steps in his dealings now. In momment of role playing brillance on the part of my players he was hung out to dry before his rivals and blackmailed to keep his involment quite. On top of that, the evidence gathered was turned over to his rivals so they could keep him on a leash.
I plan for him to return, but there is little he can do at the momment. Things may change after the Champions Belt.
Well, I haven't gotten to play them yet, but on another thread I nominated Zulshyn the goth lillend and Lashonna as the two best NPCs of the year. Zeech will also be fun--I'm going to model him on the effeminate Duc d'Orleans from Dumas' Man in the Iron Mask.
Of the NPCs played so far, (not counting my DMPCs), I think I've had the most fun with Smenk (a brilliant invention, Erik!). I have to figure out how to extricate him from his current disgrace so he can have a reprise. Filge, Auric, and Kullen have had their moments, too, and Filge is about to have a memorable reappearance, with the addition of a gnarly undead prosthesis in place of the hand our party paladin removed (courtesy of Zyrxog).
There are so many well-characterized NPCs with great roles to play in this AP that it's hard to predict which ones will end up as most memorable in the end.
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I absolutely adore the AoW villains...they're all so delightfully screwed up! Our DM is, by nature, a very kind, sensitive man who doesn't say much, but he really goes to town with these characters.
Smenk was a hit with our group as soon as we saw his portrait, all big hair and gigantic lips and other grotesqueries. The DM gave him a voice that could only be described as an obese Sean Connery, and a personality only an ape could love. The apes, incidentally, are Bubbles, Cucumber, and Roxy, and Smenk refers to them as his "babies," a soft spot in his personality that for some reason makes him even more disturbing. He recently poached our party's half-orc, buttering him up by praising his talents, and offering him pay and benefits those unappreciative "heroes" couldn't hope to provide. We've reached a wealth level where we're all like, "Yay! We're heroes! We can fix the town, with money!" I shudder to think what atrocities lie ahead for our unassuming party at the hands of, let's be honest here, the real ruler of the town...
My favorite NPC, hands-down, though, is Filge. The DM gave him this working-class British accent, which, when combined with his penchant for throwing in his two cents at every opportunity, and hanging around the party in spite of the fact that he's not technically a maember and is also, technically, quite evil, he reminds me quite a bit of Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, especially circa season 4. When we first sneaked into the observatory, he was singing merrily to himself....in Infernal... We then proceeded to thoroughly pwn him, and the half-orc started making good on his promise to Kullen, cutting out one of Filge's eyes. My rogue/cleric literally threw herself on top of the frail necromancer, pissing off the party by using a valuable CLW to save his miserable life. Anyway, after being held in captivity ("Keepin' me here, all tightly bound? I think you lot are gettin' off on this."), interrogated ("All right, Filge, what does this potion do?" "Oh, it's cool and soothing, quite lovely really, I suggest you try it, go on, right into the vein with it."), having his home ransacked (we found badly-written emo poetry amongst his notes), his spell book taken (our wizard can't even use Necromancy, and we suspect he's keeping it out of spite), and suffering numerous other indignities, Filge still hasn't lost his caustic sarcasm, the-world-is-out-to-get-me attitude, and aptitude at making obvious lies sound plausible for his own gain. He ventured into Dourstone Mine with our party, donning those dark shades from the mummified goblin to conceal his one-eyed status (and because he thinks they make him look like quite the badass), and has been trying to explain to the druid that undead are, in fact, a part of nature. ("And a right handy one, at that!")
We're all quite taken with Filge, whether as a convenient punching bag, comic relief, or something else entirely. The DM has gone so far as to draw up a PC version of the necromancer for a one-shot our friend is running this Christmas. Even after our campaign ends, he shall live on...
Like others have found, Balabar Smenk has been a ball to roleplay. For me, I made him the real leader of Diamond Lake with strong connections in Greyhawk. In terms of roleplaying him, Al Swearengen from Deadwood was a particular inspiration.
I've had fun with several others but none more so than Moreto.
Playing such a civilised "bad guy" surrounded by such disgraceful companions in the most unlikely of places was a lot of fun. I'm surprised my party didn't just let loose on them. It took the party Gnome to "offend" Moreto to even look like initiating combat. Too much fun!Best Regards
Herremann the Wise
I used movie characters for many of my own NPCs, too, and found it surprisingly easy. I regreted not using Balabar Smenk more in retrospect, but I did write a sidestory for Diamond Lake detailing his fate. (May share if asked.) I used Charlton Heston's "Ben Hur," from the movie of the same name, for Loris Raknian, and--get this--Christian Bale's "Patrick Bateman" from American Psycho for Okoral. Moreto--if you hadn't guessed--was Bela Lugosi's Dracula. I was told my voice for Zyrxog (the mind flayer) was a dead-ringer for Starscream from Transformers. But this may be the funniest--Ed Asner for Bozal Zahol. Well, just look at his illustration! It's very close.
On a side note, Melinde became an important NPC in our group, moving to the Free City to rebuild the shrine to Heironeous in Midnight's Muddle. Oh, and I made the dwarves in Pitch Blade jocks/cowboys. My players hated them the moment they appeared--but in that DM-satisfying hate kinda way.
Kelvos the Wormtouched by far, In a previous AOW campaign I was one of the PC's My Beguiler/Dread Necro (gestault) was almost as insane as he is and he became one of her few lovers she didn't refer to as "just another harem boy"
Prince Zeech a very fun character I look forward to useing in my campaign. His end in the campaign with my PC was being instantly dominated first round of battle and forevermore becomeing a posession to be shown off by the Emperess of Alhaster
Lashonna. She is one of the most engenious evil masterminds ive ever encountered. Her desire to become the lover of the wormgod was a cause I was very sympathetic with. Ashame my control undead kept failing.