Prequel RotRL and NPC Plot Immunity

[Bumborro]

Greetings.

I am running RotRL as a prequel to Jade Regent (not by design, mind you) and the fact that they share more than a few NPCs (Ameiko, Shalelu, and so forth) might be a problem. The fact that they 'have to survive' and other metagaming hijinks could be tough on me. Seeing how I have only read half of the first AP, I'm not sure if it is possible to write them out of the story, replace them with other NPCs, or not...is this even an option?

[Douglas Muir 406]

There are only 2 NPCs that really overlap between RotRL and Jade Regent -- Ameiko and Shalelu. The other two are close relatives of NPCs from RotRL (daughter and brother, IMS) and play little or no role in RotRL.

Is it hard to keep these two alive? Well,

Spoiler:

who knows where the dice will fall, but it shouldn't be too difficult really. It's not hard at all to keep Ameiko alive -- the module as written only places her in danger once, and Tsuto isn't really trying to kill her. (He's nuts, but he's trying to impress Nualia more than anything.) Shalelu is a bit trickier because she's pretty clearly there to help the PCs if they need a guide and/or a bit of extra muscle going into one of the dungeons. But if she doesn't play that role, then she'll be perfectly safe.

I'd actually swing the other way -- make these NPCs MORE prominent. After all, if you run all the way through RotRL, then your players won't encounter the two ladies very often after the first module -- they don't play major parts in the rest of the AP. Shalelu does pop up in #3, but in a minor and mostly offstage role, and of course you could put any of them onstage in the first part of #4 when the action returns to Sandpoint for a while.

Doug M.

[graywulfe]

IMHO

NPCs should live or die by the whim of the GM not the dice. That is, of course, not the case if the PCs are actively involved in the death of the NPC, either trying to kill them or to save them.

[Kimi]

Yeah, they really don't have a huge impact on the main plotline, but what I would keep in mind if you're using it specifically for a prequel it may be fun to take a look at what information they give for each of the main NPCs in JR and how you can integrate that into RotRL, like acts of heroics and whatnot.

[Bumborro]

Thanks, Doug, just the sort of thing i was looking for. I think i will go with your advice, mostly. Definetly keeping Ameiko as is but think i will change the Shalelu situation and add her cousin or something to the mix. I will use the cousin or whatever(still have to flesh this out) in any sort of appearance that might get shalelu killed. Hopefully i wont have to do this that much and my players wont see through this thinly veiled plot device.

[Bumborro]

@ Graywulfe and Kimi: thanks for your input also!

[Old Drake]

While Shalelu is a NPC in Jade Regent, her background has no relevance whatsoever. Any generic NPC could fill her role, and just leaving her out wouldn't matter (except limit trait/relationship options a bit). So if you kill her off, nobody cares. Unless your players already like her, you might want to kill her off and replace her with an NPC the players care about anyway.

As for Ameiko, her role is more central, but there's an alternative NPC listed that can fill her role just as well. Maybe even better.