Ever created an NPC solely to use a bit of dialogue heard elsewhere?

[Mikaze]

I found myself doing this recently after seeing the "Meet The..." series of videos showcasing the characters of Team Fortress 2 from Valve. Specifically the Demoman.

It's working nicely with the current events of my campaign, which has the players going to the big city to track down those responsible for firebombing their fishing town in an attempt to kill the local priests. I only had generic tinkerers responsible for the creation of the devices used in the attack before, now replaced with a half-crazed one-eyed dwarf the players currently think is just another of the local eccentric mechanics they've been talking to during their investigation.

I think that in addition to other details is going to work out organically in the end, but I can't deny that the primary reason he's there is to finally be found out by the PCs and have a confrontation with them so he can deliver the "I'M A GRIM BLOODY FABLE" speech.

Anyone else find themselves doing this? I'm wondering how many times I've done this before without thinking about it.

[SouthEast Jones]

Mikaze wrote:

I found myself doing this recently after seeing the "Meet The..." series of videos showcasing the characters of Team Fortress 2 from Valve. Specifically the Demoman.

It's working nicely with the current events of my campaign, which has the players going to the big city to track down those responsible for firebombing their fishing town in an attempt to kill the local priests. I only had generic tinkerers responsible for the creation of the devices used in the attack before, now replaced with a half-crazed one-eyed dwarf the players currently think is just another of the local eccentric mechanics they've been talking to during their investigation.

I think that in addition to other details is going to work out organically in the end, but I can't deny that the primary reason he's there is to finally be found out by the PCs and have a confrontation with them so he can deliver the "I'M A GRIM BLOODY FABLE" speech.

Anyone else find themselves doing this? I'm wondering how many times I've done this before without thinking about it.

Not as such, but in our first 3.0 campaign one of the characters had a sister kidnapped (pre-campaign) by a background baddie and one of the things he did was use amulets that helped to control people. My wizard resisted one of these and kept it (she had to be careful not to take it into good temples) with the intention of working with clerics to develop a version of the "resistance" spell that would grant high will save bonuses but only against him (to try to keep the level of the spell low). The campaign petered out before she got to do that but I was really hoping to have a chance for her to have a confrontation with him and use something like the "Through dangers untold and hardships un-numbered... You have no power over me." speech from "Labyrinth". I even put in a request to the DM for a goblin city!

[Andrew Turner]

I used to do that all the time with my old group.

I had a recurring Patron, Lord Black, who belonged to a shadowy organization known only as the Owls... anyone get it?

[Patrick Curtin]

Had a recent experience with this in my PbP. I had made a trio of baddies who were (very loosely) based on Princess Buttercup's kidnappers from The Princess Bride (at least that is the image I used to visualize them). One of my crafty PCs recognized the hommage, and started quoting the famous dueling lines when Wesley and Inigo duel first. I couldn't resist getting in the fun, even though I had not really considered them as true representations of the three. At the end after the other two had been disposed of, the last character (modeled loosely on Vizzini) sputters ...IT'S INCONCEIVABLE!

Priceless

[yellowdingo]

Goblin Steamdruid with steam scattergun..."Say hello to my little Friend!"

[TriOmegaZero]

Haven't had that happen as of yet, but I did have a spontaneous moment that gave us all a laugh. The party answered the riddle that was the code to meet up with a group of NPCs, and I couldn't but grin as I asked the cleric 'Who are you, so wise in the ways of science?'

[Kata. the .....]

Patrick Curtin wrote:

INCONCEIVABLE!

You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means.

[Timespike]

I've delivered speeches to the tune of Wyatt Earp's "Hell's coming with me" (link) speech from Tombstone a few times. Then again, I tend to play avengers and protectors...

[Jodah]

In a campaign I'm co-DMing (She handles plot, I handle presentation), I put together a perfect five-man band of badass mafiosos/criminals/mercenaries to act as allies to the PCs. And they have color code names. I put them together so I could use some really great lines and interactions

Mr. Pink: weasely rat-like cleric of an evil-ish god, who constantly says thing like "I have a bad feeling about this, this place is cursed, we're all gonna die" and so on. He also b*#$*es about having to be mr. pink.
Mr. Orange: good-natured and intelligent sorceror/rogue. Previous PC of mine
Mr. White: a straight-up mobster rogue, with coat, hat, and hasted repeating crossbow. "Say Hello to my little friend!" Nice guy at heart.
Mr. Blue: grapple-fighter, psychotic, says "f*ck" alot.
Mr Black: A Monk Valet. Good at everything. "Very good, sir. I've already taken the liberty of disposing of them, sir." Uses improvised weapons.

[Lilith]

Jodah wrote:

I put together a perfect five-man band of badass mafiosos/criminals/mercenaries to act as allies to the PCs. And they have color code names.

:lol:

Fan of Reservoir Dogs are we? :P

[Robert Little]

I wrote a Living Greyhawk scenario for the Bandit Kingdoms where the heroes had to help a celestial dog against some bandits, pretty much for sole sake of having a villain say "We would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for that dog and you meddling adventurers."

[RashidAli]

One of my very first 3.0 games I ran (the old Fast Play adventures about the Vale), the older, rotund Patriarch would say "Hrm... interesting!" when PCs told him something he didn't know... It's became a running gag, so now in every game I run there has to be an NPC that says "Hrm... interesting!" in the same exact voice.

[Jodah]

Lilith wrote:

Jodah wrote:

I put together a perfect five-man band of badass mafiosos/criminals/mercenaries to act as allies to the PCs. And they have color code names.

:lol:

Fan of Reservoir Dogs are we? :P

I enjoyed the movie, yes. but they were appropriate for the setting: a small city based off of sicily, run by three families. If I'm going to be running a few sessions based around organized crime, Im damn well going to make Reservoir Dogs jokes. And the Godfather. And Boondock Saints.

The Armanis, who have a monopoly on fruit trade, and do real protection. They're cutthroat buisnessmen, and they call their hitmen "Juicers." The don talked like the Don from Boondock Saints.

The Brandos: Neckless thungs that do gambling, prostitution, and protection rackets.

The Tangs; foreigners from the world's "Asialand." They do smuggling, mostly weapons, some art. Explaining the way that Katanas are available to the local demon-hunting longcoated pretty-boys. It's important to have those available to the local longcoated, white-haired prettyboys.

A cabal of teiflings, tainted, and half-feinds was attempting to insinuate itself into the local underworld, so they say Antony (Mr White), contact Mr. Pink Via magic

"Mr Pink? It's Mr. White. A situation has come up; I need you to-...Yes, you're Mr. Pink! We drew the names out of a hat! Do you think I'm happy with Mr. White?...No, I dont want to trade; it would be confusing to everyone!...Because I thought that brown was stupid, and we were running out of primary colors! Besides, there's already that guy Yellow Barry, What Hangs out with Medium Dave. So yellow was out...Look, I dont have time for this s~@$...No, I dont care that you think pink is unlucky, now just get Shan, Jeeves, and Brock together, Enzio, right now! Importaint s@~# is going down!"

[Pneumonica]

After a massive fight with my foreign barbarian European character who was training as a Monk, we had an Inkyo (despite it not being Rokugan), a Ninja (vis the Complete books), a Dex-based Fighter, a Psychic Warrior, a Sohei, and a Cleric all in a massive pitched battle with these Yama servants and their horrible demonic minions. We were party level 17.

After the most Wuxia-enriched battle in which we probably took down more than a two dozen baddies, including summoned minions and the like, my character looks up and goes, "...and we're all out of bubblegum."