NPCs you've added to the AP.

[the Lorax]

I've always run my games using a style that could be called "sandboxy".
I'm not a fan of describing that as how I run however, as I've always consider that style to be simply "Running an ongoing campaign". I'll leave it at that, because that line of though could divert my intent with this thread.

I've been adding a number of NPCs to the AP as I've been going along.
I'd certainly like to hear about other NPCs that people have added so I can swipe some as I go along the way.

To start this thread off I'll put a few NPCs I've added, I dont know if all of their stories will become part of the campaign, but I can always use more, and if I can, I assume other DMs can as well.

So....

Darkov Glovier:

Darkov "the Lucky" was a sailor that survived a shipwreck that happend a few weeks before Chopper's rampage. He survived an attack by Chopper by falling into the ocean. While recovering from his wounds at the White Deer, he survived the Sandpoint Fire and the burning down of the White Deer.

Darkov now works for Jargie Quinn, and oversees the gambling games at the Hagfish. Locals refuse to place wagers against Darkov.

This former sailor has a curly mop of hair just starting to grey and keeps a ready grin and is always in a good humor.

Build him as a charisma based rogue

Raymond Johns:

Ryamond Johns is a fixer for Titus Scarnetti. As Sandpoint has sort of struck me as a bit of a mobster themed setting Raymond is a Luca Brasi-esque character who will be the one directly responsible for any of Titus' less admirable dealings.

He is a heavy-set clean cut but grim man who most of the time speaks little if at all.

Build him as a Strength Rogue with an Earthbreaker, Bludgeoner->sap Master

Vili Rovanky:

"Cap'n Bill" Rovanky is a cousin to Lars at the Tannery. Quite the polar opposite to his cousin, Cap'n Bill is relaxed and tries NOT to work too hard. Bill is in his 70s, and runs a bait shop, collecting fish waste from the fishmarket. After the local fishermen have taken their boats out for the day, Bill sit down by the beach whittling, smoking a pipe and watching the waves.

Vedia and Alec Scarnetti:

Alec and Vedia are brother and sister. The are nephew and neice to Titus.

Alec is a sport hunter, and oversees the logging camps for his uncle. Alec is cold and efficient reserving his passion for his hunting trips, and any softness for his sister.

Vedia is a tomboy, and Titus disapproves of this. Titus would love to see her married off the Ethram Valdemar, but that's unlikely to happen on either parties side.

[Story Archer]

Oh, this is a fun idea... I'm making great use of a number of the existing NPC's in my current run - an expanded campaign that includes a number of volumes from Shattered Star and one from Crimson Throne - but that didn't keep me from adding in some of my own as well.

Karackus and Ohlmin:

My PC's didn't completely clear out Thisteltop and failed for find the secret doors leading to the Malfeshnekor's prison... I had an idea that I didn't want Thistletop to go unoccupied so I introduced these two via Madame Mvashti who has known connections which druids. They expressed a desire to take over the ancient site as a residence and requested the PC's aid to 'clear the evil they sensed remained'. The PC's went back with them (two 3rd level Druids with different specialities) and they defeated the Tentamort, the Bunyip, the Giant Hermit Crab, the Shadows and the Barghest as well as some Harpies I added in whom had taken up roost on the upper level. I played the two as a sort of 'odd couple' and they remain there as relative recluses, though I plan for them to be of aid in the giant's raid on Sandpoint later on.

As I said, I'm making a lot of use of existing NPC's, including those from the other volumes as well (like Sheila Hiedmarch, Oriana the Grey Maiden and the witch Maroux for instance), expanding some of them a great deal. I know that when they leave Korvosa after Seven Days to the Grave I'm going to have them pursued by a 'nemesis' party and I've got some ideas already about its make-up. I'll definitely revisit this thread when I iron out the details just in case anyone is curious.

[NobodysHome]

The most "visceral" group I added was a Varisian caravan that showed up for the Swallowtail Festival in my prelude to Book 1, then got attacked by goblins between Books 1 and 2. They were:

- Antonio, father of Nick and Nictiana and leader of the caravan. I gave him some skills as a bard, and he guided the party bard on being a better bard, and the paladin on enjoying life.

- Mabel, mother of Nick and Nictiana. Brutally murdered by goblins during their second encounter. (Curse my kids and their bloodthirsty nature!)

- Nick, older brother of Nictania. Perhaps 11. The party's paladin took him under her wing and tried to teach him to fight. It was such a memorable experience in my players' minds that the RotRL bard is playing Nick as a paladin in our Jade Regent campaign.

- Nictiana, younger sister. Perhaps 7. I played her to the hilt, climbing the party's barbarian, treating the gnome as a confidante/confederate in crime, lecturing the paladin on living life rather than having "life live you". Good Lord, the best NPC I've ever run. I didn't dare touch her, or the players would have killed me.

- The rest of the caravan members. I grouped them as "single men", "single women", "married couples", and "kids", and had the goblins slaughter them ruthlessly (well, my kids did) between Books 1 and 2.

The remainder of the campaign was, "We track down Nictiana's caravan and make sure she's OK."

Yeah, they left an impression.

[spectrevk]

When I ran RotRL a couple of years ago, I added a Shoanti barbarian woman as a background character during the initial goblin attack; the players saw her shielding a group of children from the goblins, and looking hurt. It was just a background detail.

Imagine my surprise when the party's Summoner decided to pursue her romantically. In time she became his steady girlfriend, and when he decided to establish a base in Thistletop after the goblins were cleared out, she moved in and established a hunting lodge there. When he died in Magnimar at the hands of cultists, she claimed his body and buried him in Shoanti lands.

[Story Archer]

NobodysHome wrote:

The most "visceral" group I added was a Varisian caravan that showed up for the Swallowtail Festival in my prelude to Book 1, then got attacked by goblins between Books 1 and 2.

That does remind me - I had a Dwarven toymaker (retired low level adventurer - come down from Magnimar with a dozen orphans or so for the Festival. After the goblin attack on th etwn, the Sheriff didn't clear anyone to leave town until they had scouted the roads to make sure it was safe, then he and most of the town guards escorted them back to Magnimar (including Foxglove) while he was on his way to ask for additional troops. They left right after Shalelu's visit and their departure led to the PC's remaining in town to 'keep an eye on things', i.e. Glass and Wrath.

The PC's and some nice interactions with the toymaker and the orphans, holed up in the Rusty Dragon as they were, including Daverin Hosk's 'Goblin Toss' game, saving them from an add-on goblin encounter during the raid and donating a bit of coin to the toymaker to see after their maintenance.

[the Lorax]

Totally the type of thing I was thinking of.

I know I've been data mining the Rise forums for months in preparation, and I keep socking away things that spark my interest.

Scribbleface:

Maug, also known to the Licktoad Goblins as "Scribbleface" is the instigator of the We Be Goblins adventure. I intend to use this as a lead up to Thistletop. Scribbleface learns that the PCs were prominent in the defense of Sandpoint, and approaches them with hopes of using them to get some revenge of the Licktoads, and on Vorka. Scribbleface ran into Vorka a few years back, and she took a shine to him. When the tribe kicked him out he tried to hook up with his girlfriend, who, with his scared face, was no longer interested. He is, rightfully, cautious in his approach to the PCs. He wants to lead them on the adventure in We Be Goblins, at the end, of the boat encounter, the pre-gen goblin characters will attack the place as intended in the adventure. Build Scribbleface as a Wizard 3 with Invisiblity.

[Story Archer]

Ah - just remembered another one.

Torabor Gustavos:

A wealthy merchant in Magnimar who's passion is the collecting of Thassilonian artifacts. He is a colleague of sorts of Brodert Quink and fancies himself a Thassilonian scholar - the two correspond often and and travel to visit one another from time to time. He serves as a contact in Magnimar for the PC's and was introduced as a collector willing to pay them for some of the 'collectables' the group discovers during their adventures.

He has also recently been married to a young wife, both younger and prettier than most would expect of a stogy merchant and collector. Even though she expresses genuine affection towards the older man, most figure she's simply enjoying his money and the great deal of free time she finds herself with, given her husband's business dealings and Thassillonian obsession. In truth, she is actually one of Xanesha's alter egos, allowing her a safe, unassuming base of operations, ready access to funds and city gossip as well as someone who will keep her apprised of any discoveries of important artifacts or anent sites. She does not, at present, have Torabor charmed - she hasn't had any need to as yet - but will not hesitate to do so should the need arise.

[Kennesty]

We have Jeremiah, the squire of our groups chevalier who showed up one day after the retaking of fort rannick and has been showing up randomly ever since at convenient times where everyone now thinks he is an evil spy except the chevalier who won't hear any wrong about the guy.

There's also nakamura bonzai the son of a timewareped Japanese samurai from a side adventure we ran showed up and became the fort rannick sushi chef and prepared the black magga for them to eat.

[Peet]

Bombastico Hirdman

Basically another "expert" on Thassilonian Lore, well-respected in Magnimar, who thinks Brodert Quink is a quack. Actually when Bombastico and Brodert disagree, Brodert is usually the one who is right, but Bombastico is more charismatic and talks a lot louder.

Bombastico believes that Thassilon was an enlightened society modelled on Azlant that honoured the seven virtues of rule, but collapsed because it was overrun by giants. Obviously that is way off.

Bombastico is there to come up with ridiculous theories about Thassilon that will make Brodert's ideas plausible.

[the Lorax]

OK, this one takes a little bit of extra background.

I've been "adding"/naming some of the smaller locations in the region this character comes from one of them and is part of the build up of reputation for the characters.

Thomas Case:

Thomas is from Shoreham, a cluster of houses at the mouth of Cougar Creek - originally founded to facilitate transport of materials from the Cougar Creek mill. Shorham does not have easy access to the nearby Lost Coast Road, a narrow foot path winds back and forth across the cliff above Shorham. When the Cougar Creek mill burned down, the some of the locals turned their energy into the Morning Mist Inn at the top of the cliff along the Lost Coast Road. The Case family runs the Inn.

I ran a short scene with the characters at the Old Pauper's Graves, during which the PCs stopped a grave robbery - the grave in question was a member of the Case family.

Thomas Case is a young man who was sent to visit the PCs and give them a small token of thanks (a few bottles of wine, some smoked hams, ect.) and to express the families gratitude. Thomas is destined to die during Skinsaw, poor Thomas.

[the Lorax]

A couple more...

Gillford Carboy:

Gillford Carboy - Advocate: Male Human Expert 3
Adv. Carboy is the legal advocate of the accused for Sandpoint - a lawyer. One of my PCs, a local, is a troublemaker, always quick to get into a fight, and eager to use his Intimidate skill. Gillford is just one more person for that character to hate, along with the Sherrif and well, about everyone else in town.

Ned Wentz:

Ned Wentz – Trash Collector: Male Human Commoner 2
Ned works for Gorvi as a trash collector, unlike most of vagrants and curs that Gorvi employes, Ned is semi-respectable. Ned is also an oblivious dullard, but is known to work hard for long hours.
(acutally Stats almost say it better than words in this case)
Str 13, Dex 8, Con 18, Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 8.
I want to use Gluttony's expanded raid on town by Mokmurian's giants, where his high HP total (for a level 2 commoner) just might keep him alive. He really cant be trusted with doing much of anything beyond bringing trash to Junker's Edge.

[Wiggz]

I don't know if this technically counts as 'adding NPC's', but I'm going to be running elements of Shattered Star throughout the AP, starting with Curse of the Lady's Light as a follow-up to The Skinsaw Murders... I'll be introducing Sheila Heidmarch in before the Skinsaw Murder's conclusion and then I intend for both Oriana and the witch of the fens (I forget her name) to play significant roles, at least in the short-term as I lead into Seven Days to the Grave.

[Ckorik]

In the 'community created' thread there someone did a 'generated' writeup for Turtleback Ferry - I went ahead and fleshed that out with character cards and a bit more writeup along with a GM guide if anyone is interested there are links on one of the few most recent pages...

[Corsario]

.

[the Lorax]

Ckorik wrote:

In the 'community created' thread there someone did a 'generated' writeup for Turtleback Ferry - I went ahead and fleshed that out with character cards and a bit more writeup along with a GM guide if anyone is interested there are links on one of the few most recent pages...

Yep, have that socked away in my swag bag of extra material for when my group gets there - it looked good.

NPCs having names and one line of character description goes a long way.

We had a situation a year or so ago which included some high level PCs helping out a lower level group with a rescue mission. One of the quotes that stuck with me from that time was:
"Oh man, don't tell me their names..."
They knew these NPCs were in WAY over their heads, but didnt really have the time or resources to really help they out of their jam.
(the NPC party, was all dead within a few weeks)

That's such a great way to get the players to care about Sandpoint, let them know everybody - when they find a dead body, that body has a name.

"Oh crap, ghouls killed Tom Case that guy who brought us those bottles of wine and smoked hams."

Anyway, here's another that I'm adding
Its not much of an NPC, but it could be:

Ol' Bud:

Ol' Bud will be placed at the C8 location on Thistletop closest to the Birdcrucher Refugee area (C4), tied to a stake.
Ol' Bud is an old redbone hound, that Chief Ripnugget caught and put out his eyes. Ripnugget keeps Bud around to scare the other goblins with, and what better way to use it that to scare the Birdcrunchers. Ol' Bud is a mass of old scars, and poorly healed wounds in addition to being blind. But Bud is a tough old dog and he's gotten his teeth into more than one goblin over the years. Advanced Dog - Fighter 1 (with Blind-Fight) and, of course he's blind...

<queue the goblin all-star singers>
"Ol' blind Bud, Ol' blind Bud,
Oh how much fun, oh how much fun
He tried to put an end to the goblin's life,
Who poked out its eyes with a big sharp knife,
And now with the goblins he'll cause no strife,
hehehe... Ol' blind Bud."

[Corsario]

I added Theodosia Scarnetti, younger sister of Titus Scarnetti, to become a romantic interest of the PC's.
You can see her, together with other NPC's, here:
RPT Tools forums

[Lanassa]

As someone else already mentioned, I also used Sheila Heidmarch, Pathfinder venture-captain from Magnimar, as an extra NPC visiting Sandpoint. Though not as part of the Shattered Star AP but

To foreshadow:

the appearance of Lyrie Akenja. We know that she wanted to become a Pathfinder and that she killed a competitor, then fled Magnimar -this happened over a year ago (in my timeline). Yet recent divinations suggest that she is hiding somewhere near Sandpoint. So, Sheila had to do her duty and report this to the Sheriff, where one of the PCs is working as an Investigator.

Hopefully the PCs will grap the opportunity to gain a very helpful contact in the big city!

Also, many thanks to Yossarian, who compiled and posted an amazing guide to Sandpoint with lots of new characters, especially for the Sczarni and the Pixie's Kitten -you rock! It' somewhere in the Community Created Stuff.

[the Lorax]

I've been having Daviren Hosk out of town alot - looking around to find goblins to kill.

So at the stables I'm adding -

Ballin Sterglus:

LG human Expert 1
Ballin is a grandson of Turch Sterglus (Valdemar Fishmarket)he's 16 and a well meaning kid who can always be found eating, especially pastries or pies. His hands are often sticky from honey or jelly or some such. He's a heavy lad and can be overly sensitive about his weight, but he is good with the horses at the stables and has inherited his families strong work ethic. Quote: in a hurt tone of voice, "Is that a fat joke?"

Also, because I need a couple of named guards:

Barto Markovi:

N human Rogue 2
Barto is a one of the town guard in the pay of Jubrayl Vhiski, he's in it for the money and could be a target for being sacrificed.

Jacoby Trume:

LN human Warrior 1
Jacoby grew up in the Turandarok Academy, and has a taste for intellectual pursuits, Belor likes to keep him close at the Garrison recognizing a him as a talented young man.

[Leedwashere]

One of my groups requested some aid when going to Thistletop, and they had 2 town guards come along. For ease of remembering which was which (and also personal amusement) I named them Aerith and Bob. Aerith ended up getting a severe allergic reaction to a goblin dog, didn't hit anything and ended up being sent back early. Bob ended up making every save he had to make and critting about 40% of the time. (I roll all my dice out in the open.) The players took a real shine to Bob, who ended up getting a full name (Robert Didderek III), some levels in Fighter and, thanks to their glowing performance review, a promotion to Hemlock's primary deputy.

[Ian Bell]

Reflecting on all the additional NPCs I added, as our final session is this weekend. Most of them were to tie in with things about the party members:

The most complicated set of NPCs was to handle the Nemesis story feat the half-drow inquisitor took at 3rd level after Tsuto had escaped (knocking him out with a roundhouse kick on the way). I think he expected me to use Tsuto as the nemesis, but I decided to go a different direction since I didn't think I could count on Tsuto escaping twice and it didn't make sense for him to do anything besides join Nualia. As this adventure takes place before Second Darkness, I used a series Winter Council agents who tried to hunt him down over the course of books 2-4, culminating in a big fight on the Storval Stairs, replacing the hill giants that were there. Their leader was an archery-focused inquisitor named Haras. I also got to work in a fun betrayal thing when one of the player's old college friends was visiting and wanted to be a guest player for a session; he was more than happy to act as a plant for the Winter Council in the group, and while he didn't succeed in killing anyone, he did escape and got to make a re-appearance for the end of the side story as well.

The Varisian ranger had her brother turn out to have settled down in Turtleback Ferry, with his new wife and a casino tattoo on his arm, which made that whole plot line a little more personal and fun.

For the Shoanti paladin, I decided that Nualia's Shoanti bodyguard Jagen, mentioned as having died in area E3 of Thistletop, was actually still alive and had been an exile from the same quah. They had a nice little confrontation and it gave me an excuse to put a magic earthbreaker in for him.

I didn't have to add any NPCs for the tiefling witch, but I repurposed Yap from book 3 to be the faerie dragon he got via Improved Familiar instead of a pixie, as written, and I decided to make the ice devil Gamigin his distant ancestor, as he had conveniently made himself sort of blue and frosty anyway.

Others that weren't directly tied into this game:

We're running Jade Regent (just finished last weekend) in the same group as well, so I had cameos and references to what the PCs and NPCs from that adventure were doing 5 years earlier throughout the early part of the adventures. I only let the PCs who were dead actually appear on screen, but I did have Koya and Sandru both play roles in addition to Shalelu and Ameiko who are already part of the adventure. My one regret here is I didn't retcon Nualia's baby daddy to be the womanizing rogue-samurai from the other party, which would have been in character for the way his early personality was, before he toned his act down as things got more serious in JR.

They ended up going all the way to Janderhoff to chase down details on the Vekker's expedition, so I added a calculating, clever dwarf merchant lord from one of the sponsoring families (don't have the name handy, it was Thor-something), who got them to concede that they'd give him the directions and details about how to get to Xin-Shalast after they returned in exchange for the details on their expedition.

Late in the adventure I added a captive mercane in Xin-Shalast, the Magnificent Merchant Venendolio Rendendosti, who was a LOT of fun to roleplay and gave me an opportunity to stick in a bunch of silly references to other games and settings in the stuff he had for sale. The party ended up buying the deed to the original Bazaar of the Bizarre in Lankhmar from him, which is where I think they are planning to retire after the adventure is over.

There were a few other minor ones but those are the main batch.

[the Lorax]

Story Archer wrote:

Torabor Gustavos

Peet wrote:

Bombastico Hirdman

I'm totally nailing these two together into "Gustavos Hirdman", and using their combined stories.

In addition, I think I'll make Lyrie the daughter of Gustavos, Lyrie having inherited her father's interests.

[Stiletto]

Actually, I've given Grayst Sevilla, the sellsword in Sandpoint, more of a role than just being under ghoul fever in the second book. At first, I had him as a bodyguard that Aldern hired after the initial raid on Sanpoint. Then I had him as a bodyguard for Brodert Quink when he decided to go down into the catacombs after the party cleared out Elysium and the runewell. He was also hanging out in the Fatman's Feedbag, sometimes causing trouble.

[the Lorax]

Thanks for reminding me to introduce Grayst before I need him.

The trio is starting to run a scam on the PCs.
They brought in a bruiser to beat one of the PCs senseless, and left him KO'd in the alley near the Feedbag, covered in piss.

Grayst approached another of the PCs (his older brother), and offered to "solve the problem" for them.

If they take him up on it, they'll bring back an ear in a few days with an earring matching the one worn by the bruiser.

Anyway, on to a new NPC.

I decided to let Naulia finish her plot and escape Thistletop. I planted the idea in Naulia's journal that Raven's Watch was being used as a place to gather supplies for the upcoming big attack on Sandpoint.

Peet brought up the thought of the Grauls worshiping Lamashtu, and giving out a Demon Mother's Mask.

Someone else (Story Archer?)brought up the idea of Shelalu being captured during the battle at Thistletop.

Combining those concepts together I've come up with...

Skippy 'Dog Face' Graul:

Sometimes the right name and context says it all, but Skippy is a Graul Ogrekin with a dog-like face and bestial legs.

He'll be the heavy at Raven's Watch, left after Davrien Hosk, Jodar Provalost and Shelalu stumbled upon the goblins there, having captured Shelalu.

Maybe I'm too eager to spring Graulfulness on the PCs, but it seemed like a good way to get Shelalu to have a hook for going to Hook Mountain.

[John Whyte]

I sort of introduced an NPC with Jubrayl (except I had him running the goblin squash stable).

Jubrayl's sole hook was that he was interested in the female PC party members. He stroked their hands when introduced, and always directed his questions at them, and kept inviting them over for diner.

He provoked so much disgust and revolution that I made him a further plot point in book 2, by making him a possible witness to two murders, and then implicated him as a red herring.

(I'd totally run another NPC like him.)

The other really easy trait that I've used for a few NPCs is to be completely speciesiest in a nice way. There was one of the party member's mother, who when the party came to stay, was worried that the dwarf might not sleep on the top floor, and I think it was the halfling she had a spare bed made up for so his imaginary friend could sleep there. (It also meant one party member was sleeping on the couch.)

[Story Archer]

NPC's continuing to pop up in the game. Wiki never stops growing.

Rise of the Runelords wiki

[the Lorax]

Thanks for the link - I'll keep an eye out.

[the Lorax]

Some extra hunters from the area.

Mitchell Deno & Norv Stanz:

While the party dilly-dallied at Thistletop, Davrien Hosk, Jodar Provolost, Shelalu and 2 other hunters tracked some goblins up to the old garrison, Raven's Watch, where unknown to them, Naulia and the goblins had been gathering supplies for the attack on town.

With me having Naulia release Mal and escape, and Ripnugget dead, I want to do a nice finale on book 1, and it has seemed that it falls to this place to do so.

While the NPCs attack on the old garrison was unsuccessful, they did inflict quite a bit of damage.

The 2 extra hunters that went with them are:

Mitchell Deno & Norvold "Norv" Stanz

Both Ranger 2s, hunters from the hinterlands, hunting friends of Jodar/Davrien.

[Latrecis]

The only significant NPC I've added so far is from the Magnimar sourcebook - Hobart Deverin. It didn't make sense to me that Mayor Deverin would send the pc's to Magnimar without any guidance or assistance. Especially when she's on good terms with a well-connected noble in the city. She has two interests - 1) the pc's are successful in their investigation and 2) they don't get into or make any trouble that can be tied back to Sandpoint (of which the pc's are quasi-agents.)

Spoiler:

Hobart became a vehicle for some information about the killings in the city, he knew the foxgloves had a townhouse (but not where) he had even met Traver in the past and to in general communicate the self-centered nature of the city's government. He was in a position to encourage the pc's to take any strange information or signs of criminal activity to the city guard (which the pc's started to mistrust when certain unwitting agents of Ironbriar started following them when they left the townhouse, etc.)

I also added Captain Uriana from the Dawn of the Scarlet Sun (which I otherwise did not use) as a leader in the city guard that Deverin trusts. And when the pc's brought the corpse of the dead Ironbriar back to his estate, it is she he discreetly summons. Both the noble and Captain become fearful a larger conspiracy is afoot and were forced to let the pc's decode Ironbriar's journal - which the party's wizard was ideally suited to crack anyway given his high int and skill with linguistics. When the journals are translated, Deverin is in a position to force an audience with Mayor Graboras (who I had Deverin openly dislike through the pc's interactions with him.)

[the Lorax]

Been a bit since I posted to this thread - so...

Fomper Biggs human male Expert 3:

Fomper is the landlord of a set of low rent tenements across the street from the Turandarok Academy - orphan and former student at the academy, Fomper graduated eight years ago and even before he left the Academy he had picked up an odd job working for Old Man (Samuel) Taab, keeping the tenements fixed up. Old Man Taab had just changed his Will two days before being killed by Chopper, leaving the building to Fomper (as he had grown fond of the lad who had been helping him for years - Sheriff Avertin arrested Fomper and held him for two days in suspicion of being the Chopper. When Chopper killed his next victim, Town Guard Trent Thorn (who's brother now helps run the Scarnetti Lumber Mill), Fomper was released, but was traumatized by the experience, and now has a bit of sympathy for those who may fall astray of the local watch. As a former orphan himself, he will rent out available rooms very cheaply to former Academy graduates who are recommended to him by the Headmaster.

Miss Alicia Bevuk human female Commoner 2:

Alicia is the elderly aunt of Chod Bevuk, the butcher. She is an older busy body who lives in Biggs' tenement, and is always there to get into people's business, keep track of who is coming and leaving from the tenements or to complain about someone doing SOMETHING in the building.

[Misroi]

I also used Hobart in my campaign, but to a lesser degree. One of my players is playing a Deverin, so I was glad to introduce the elder statesman of the family. He was able to inform them of the political landscape of the city, and basically gave them free reign of the manor.

Spoiler:

However, the Magnimar book states that Hobart is ill, and I played that up on their initial visit. Right before the giant attack, Kendra informed my player that Hobart's taken a turn for the worse, and things don't look good. If he does pass, then someone needs to take over for him in Magnimar, and there have been a few requests thus far for her take over. The only thing that's giving her pause are the Scarnettis. She's concerned (rightly so) that they would be unopposed if she left to take care of things in Magnimar, and undo all the good work the Deverins have done for Sandpoint. She asked him what he thought she should do, and he responded that she see to Magnimar.

Which, of course, means she's going to Magnimar. The Scarnettis might actually not be an issue, based upon the actions of another party member, who challenged Jubrayl Vhiski for leadership of the Sczarni and won. In order to save his skin, Jubrayl played his trump card - let me live, and I'll give you the goods on Titus Scarnetti. They may be able to hamstring the Scarnettis and allow Kendra to take over for the Deverins in Magnimar free of conscience. Time will tell, though.

[the Lorax]

Beatrice Taylor human female Expert 2:

Beatrice Taylor is an woman in her early 60's and is obsessed with cats - she bakes pies with cats cut out of the crust, wears cat styled...everything and pretty much only talks about cats. She's also a patient at Haab's Sanitorium. If things go all murder-hobo at the Sanitorium, I'm going to spring her out and a few dozen house cats all over, running around, freaked out by Grayst becoming a Ghoul...I'm imagining like a bag full of marbles spilled all over the floor, except the marbles are cats.

[langen]

Boswick Vernari:

A prominent messenger known to deliver official messages from the nobles and officials of the town to and from Magnimar. He has been trying to actively court Rynshinn Povalli, Ameiko Kaijitsu, Sabyl Sorn, and even Aneka Avertin, without any real luck, but has hope that someday, someone will fall in love with him.

Boswick has been a great foil for any characters fancying themselves ladies men, as he is one too. So far he hasn't been terribly successful with the women in Sandpoint, mostly due to always being an opportunist.

Madrack Stoot:

A tight-lipped, gruff, ranger who is sometimes seen protecting the roads. No one in Sandpoint trusts him though, after the damning evidence mounted against his father.

I haven't used Madrack much, but he came from the idea of Chopper maybe not being Jervis Stoot, and also Jervis perhaps having a son. He may assist the characters if Shallelu is busy for some reason, or might help them out if they get lost in the hinterlands.

Irena Vhiski:

The beautiful sister of Jubrayl travels back and forth from Magnimar and Sandpoint in her multicolored wagon. While most believe she is Sczarni, the rumors have never been proven.

Again, not used often, but one of the party members is involved in the family business, and I wanted to have a possible love interest. No hits yet, but we'll see.

Black Arrow Recruiter Althus:

A recruiter for the Black Arrow Rangers of Fort Rannick. He seems interested in speaking with Sheriff Hemlock and Mayor Deverin.

Used in the sandpoint festival to introduce the ideas about Fort Rannick.

I've also added many of the characters from the Sandpoint GM guide, though I think that was compiled by another GM and has some not listed in the wiki (mostly fleshed out some Sczarni, priests, and prostitutes).

[Pipefox]

My group's favorite NPC added by our DM was the tiefling rogue Corzipan.

Corzipan:

We encountered his poor guy in Sins of the Saviors. He was stuck in the Vault of Greed, having fallen prey to the morphic mist and baleful polymorphed into a goldfish. He'd been stuck there for ages, and was surprised and delighted to be rescued. There were other NPC rescued from that trap as well, but Corzipan really stood out. He was playful, fiercely loyal to the party and very handy in a fight.

He also had the rather adorable quirk of introducing himself to new people by saying "Oh, hello! I'm Corzipan. I used to be a fish."

[the Lorax]

Almost forgot - Janni Meeks Human Male Expert 1

Janni Meeks:

As Burnt Offerings moves along, he's opened a new business in a fire damaged building near the tannery selling "Authentic Goblin Weapons and Other Oddities". He's a small time crook from Magnimar who has moved to Sandpoint. Seeing a chance to make some money, he's opened a shop and is starting to ship goblin-made gear to Magnimar as a novelty.

[langen]

So someone posted Yossarian's NPC guide in another thread, but I thought this spot would be a good place for it too.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10866745/Sandpoint_guide_v1.2.pdf

[the Lorax]

Instead of having to rely upon haunts and knowledge checks to convey the background of the Foxglove family, I'll use

Albert Coln, Expert 3

Albert Coln:

Albert is an elderly groundskeeper at the Valdemar estate. Albert’s father, Louis was one of the caretakers at Misgivings. Albert has stories of his youth and can provide players with information on the old manor and the Foxglove history.

[the Lorax]

OK, these NPCs I'm having the PCs play.
Inspired by Gluttony's cut scenes for the giant attack on Sandpoint, I'm having the PCs play members of the group of farmers who went out to the Hambley farm to check out the weird noises.

So...

Junior Grump – farmer
Male Human - Commoner 2

Banj Hatnot – teamster
Male Human - Commoner 2

Pervis Hambley – animal trainer and breeder
Male Human - Commoner 2

Charlie Ray – local hunter
Male Human - Commoner 2

will head over to the Hambley farm to get torn apart by ghouls.

Each little NPC sheet has a question about the NPC for the players to answer, and I'm going to make each player tell me one distinctive thing about the NPC (one player already took his sheet and made a quick character sketch - I'm gonna love tearing them to shreds)

They're gonna play this scene right before running into Farmer Grump in town, with any luck this will add to their fear and horror of the ghouls....

[Aurelio 90]

My NPCs?

Don Calogero:

A Varisian draper, the "Don" (CN Varisian aristocratic1/expert3) is the Haldmeer Grobaras's brother and he is posing as a modest man and wine lover. Instead, he is the boss of a group of Sczarni (Haldmeer, off course, is completely unaware of this thing), and profiting from illegal activities such as extortion and handling stolen goods.

Don Calogero came to Sandpoint for the consecration of the Cathedral - but also to convince a widow to sell his couture (in order to use the structure to have a source of profit in the city). She rejects the offer, and Don Calogero looking for a way to gain his tailoring - but during the goblin's assault, one of this little monsters sneaks into the house of the widow and kills her.

For this man can be a fluke, but the PCs are not so convinced of this coincidence (they witnessed the altercation between Calogero and the widow on the day before the Sandpoint's festival). Also one of his henchmen, Genthus, was seduced by Nualia, and Calogero is unaware that his "picciottu" intends to betray him and destroy the city. When things get worse, the Don decided to go together to the Sheriff Hemlock to go Magnimar - in "Skinsaw's Murder" he will become an unexpected ally for the PCs

William:

William (CN Varisian rogue3/monk *martial artisti*3) is the Calogero's silent bodyguard. He faithfully follows his boss, and when the words of Don seem to have no effect, William takes action.

Shadowscale:

I don't use the Black Magga in Hook Mountain's Massacre. Instead, i will use the legendary Shadowscale, an very old hydra dragon! The hydra dragon is a variant of the black dragon, by #30 Variant Dragons

[Stepchild of the Sun]

Undersheriff Randy:

The goblin raid in Burnt Offerings went poorly for my players' oracle and bard so I had a handful of Sandpoint guards run in to help. One such individual that I kept calling "random guard" for FOUR CONSECUTIVE ROUNDS never rolled anything lower than a 15. This lvl 2 warrior made minced meat of every goblin he encountered and stole the kill from the oracle. During said fight his name evolved from "random guard" to Randy, and since then I've made him the Undersheriff and he's interacted with the party a great deal (even more since Sheriff Hemlock's knee got blasted to bits and has to limp around on a cane now). He's become a bit of a running gag and after every tough fight they win they joke about how they're surprised Randy didn't rush in to steal the kill.

Little do they know that's EXACTLY what's gonna happen during the giant raid on Sandpoint the moment they get a stone giant below 10 HP (or the oracle fumbles his roll on a natural 1 as frequently happens) as Randy appears out of nowhere and kills said giant.

Black Arrows:

In Book 2, during Walking Scarecrows I had the party encounter a group of 4 Black Arrows to 1) introduce Fort Rannick early and 2) make their death's more painful. These Black Arrows included Vale Temros and 3 other NPCs I made up.

Korva Mabravi (NG human two handed fighter 3/ ranger 1): a redheaded firebrand that was absolutely vicious in battle and never stopped flirting outside battle.

Tem Kaylos (CN half elf bard 3/ ranger 1): a sweet talking roguish character that enjoyed traveling and seeing new things almost as much as he liked helping his allies cut down giants.

and Aerodus Kotek (LN diviner 3/ ranger 1): the shy but clever youngest son of a wealthy but minor Magnimaran noble that left home to seek adventure and handles most of the Fort's book-keeping.

[gracie11facie]

I have used lots of NPCs. I have a PC who is romantically involved with Belvin Valdemar, who's family owns the shipyard and the fish markets. His father Ethram is deathly ill and about to die so young Belvin is in charge of everything. I play him as a kind noble whose mother came from poverty and always taught her sons that being aristocratic distant mean they are better than others.
His brother Kaleb lives in Magnimar, and according to the Magnimar handbook, Kaleb and papa Ethram are up to some shady shit without Belvin's knowledge.
For the Valdemar family I also created an NPC named Corrick, an ex-fighter that Ethram saved from the wreckage of a ship many years ago when they were both young men. Corrick is a huge man with a scar and a metal leg, and due today he views as a life debt (though Ethram always says it was common decency) he serves the Valdemar family dutifully as a bodyguard/butler/gardener/kitchen head etc. Think Reinhardt from overwatch in a suit that's too small with a metal leg.

I've also used Jubrayl Vhishki, the leader of the Sczarni, and his assistant, Gressel Tenniwar, and their spy in the pixie's kitten, a redhead whore named Jess. Most of this information cane from a .pdf download I found.
I'm a sentimental person and I always prefer tha people are good, so I have a hard time with criminal characters haha

[the Lorax]

Gracie, I like Corrick - I'm imagining a PC style stat dumped fighter using a metal gauntlet and a shield, sounds fun.

I've been slacking - theres a lot more I've added, a few notables...

After HMM, the players sort of reluctantly took over Rannick and quickly realized that it was likely to be a big money pit (it was, I even watched 1986s 'the Money Pit' in preparation).
The PCs asked for some reinforcements from Magnimar and got a small group of guards and workers led by ...

Gabriel Preston:

Gabriel is the captain of the guards sent to help reinforce Fort Rannick after the PCs explained what happened there. Gabriel is a clean cut disciplinarian, shaved sides of the head, neatly trimmed, clean cut LE fighter. He subtly suggested to the PCs to file false reports about giant/ogre activity near the fort to get Magnimar to sent more resources and men to the fort. Not strictly a villain, but happy to let the PC dig themselves into a hole.

During Stones over Sandpoint, I handed out a bunch more NPCs, and ran many of the encounters as being somewhat concurrent, sort of following Gluttony's NPC events, except it was PC plus major NPC, plus some low level but plucky townsfolk.
Again, like the Hambley Farm event above I gave each NPC sheet a question for the player who got them to answer to add to the towns back story, I dont think there were any NEW NPCs beyond those in Sandpoint and of course some more town guards.

Afterwards, in the appropriate spot under Jorgenfist, among some of captives, along with some of the other NPCs mentioned above (some also from other poster) - I have been shamelessly swiping and of course a few townsfolk that are from the books. They told tales of being horribly used, branded and tormented by the Lion Sisters, hinting at but not describing Graul-level horrors.

Sarah Malku:

Sarah is the illegitimate half-elf daughter of Titus Scarnetti's first wife - another of the wave of unintended half-elven children that are roughly of the same age in Sandpoint. She doesn't like Titus for the treatment of her mother, but had moved to Magnimar and was acting as a tutor (and abjuration specialist). She feels that life has treated her unfairly and wants to take from the rich everything she feels she was entitled to. She was nominally in town "visiting an old friend" when the giants attacked, but in this case really trying to research some of the background behind her elven parent and ways to discredit Titus.

[mousmous]

Mine aren't significant contributions, generated from random encounters/improv/necessity:

Pop: human captain of an unnamed river barge running out of Richard's Cove (I think), a little berg east of Riddleport. The players decided water was the fastest route to Jorgenfist, and so took a ship to Riddleport. The worshipper of Cayden C went to his old pub, which has become a 'temple', and befriended the barkeep there, who told him to look up Pop because Pop was the only one crazy enough to venture so close to Storval Plateau with so many signs of giants about.

Pop was a grizzly, cantankerous, a$$hole. He was disappointed that the party was not his delivery of eggs, and demanded that they pay him 200gp to travel upriver. His barge was not a garbage barge, but could have been. It stank, had junk everywhere, he never cleaned it, didn't have berths for them to stay in. When time came to hoist sail, it was a grimy undersized sail that promised a slow voyage (the druid solved that problem). The party hit upon the idea of buying up all the different eggs they could find; chicken, duck, goose, robin, gamebird, anything and bringing them to Pop as payment. He'd forgotten that he asked for money, so he took them upriver for the cost of about 3 dozen eggs.

My favorite moment was when they stopped at a 'campsite' of Pop's and found a campfire ring made up of stones too big to be moved by human hands. Pop insisted no giants had ever stayed there, and when the party pointed out the stones he harrumphed "Huh. Well that's new."

---

Lamellar: a larakien azata that was rolled on a random encounter chart on the same journey, after they'd left the river. The party had made a tiny fire so as not to attract attention, and Lamellar had cast a light spell on her lute while she flew through the night. She stopped when the party's campfire suddenly went out, thinking someone was in trouble. The party was sure that this was not a random encounter (they're mostly new, so the concept of random encounters is lost on them), so they grilled her incessantly. She was pleasant, if a little flighty. They wanted to know why she was here. She said she was lost. How long? Not long- 200 years or so. Have you seen any giants matching this description. Detailed history of every giant she's ever met matching that description. *party exasperation showing* Are they good giants or bad giants? Well this one giant wanted this, and another wanted that, one wanted to capture me, another needed help with an itchy back, yadda yadda. Right about the time they had had enough, the party's resident crackpot, asks "How did you get lost?" which I had to paraphrase because she told a three hour long tale that began back in Elysium, and turns out it was a few unrelated events which found her locked in a closet and fumble through a pocket for a key, but finding a gem that opened a one-way portal to this plane. Most of the party went ot bed in the middle of the story, but the two that stayed awake just bid her farewell at the end, and she flew off into the night again.

I hope they now understand that random encounters happen.

---

Edit: There's also

The Fox: the fox is an actual albino fox, that has acted as my deus ex machine twice now to save the party from tpks. Originally, they saved it from a trapper's snare, and fed it, so it followed them around looking for more food. It wouldn't follow them in to town, though. Then the party got in a sticky situation and so when the fox followed them, they really really really hoped it was more tha na plain fox following them all this time, so I had a minor spell cast through it, helping them out just enough, then it left without a trace. It showed up again out of the blue, in town, the next time they were in a bad way. It also showed up at the ship in the Shimmerglens in place of the AP's hound. Instead of drawing the party into the ship, like I thought, it completely creeped them out and they immediately ran away from it. I want the fox to be a representative of a major player acting against Big K, but I haven't worked out which or who. They might never find out. I try to limit it's sighting to once a book or less, so the next time it will show up should be just before or after Runeforge.

[Kalshane]

When my PCs were investigating the "Star Murders" in Magnimar, they decided to split up. The more upper-crust members went to speak to the Aspis Consortium (based on Aldern's payment to them his ledger) and had a wonderful question and answer "game" with Maiveer Sloan. (They tried using forged papers to say they were legally empowered to look after Aldern's affairs while he was away on business. Unfortunately for them Sloan had heard of their exploits, as well as Aldern's death [since the PCs weren't exactly quiet about what was going on at The Misgivings when they got back to Sandpoint] and saw through it, but he was interested in finding out what they were up to, so he gave them a choice of answering his questions (and he would answer a single question for each one they did) or him calling the Watch. They opted for the former.

The street-level characters, on the other hand, went to visit the Tower Girls, as the party alchemist had a good relationship with them when he was an orphan growing up in Magnimar. I decided their current base of operations was the abandoned church of Sarenrae in Underbridge. They spoke to a young girl named Mina, who was manning the door, and then Elsa Kalderash (who I made up on the spot after the alchemist inquired after her) an elder member of the gang who was motherly but firm and still put the Girls first. (The alchemist also inquired after a "Potty-Mouth Polly", but alas she mouthed off to the wrong person and had gotten herself killed in the time since he had left Magnimar.) This was also a really fun encounter, as we handled it by email and I was able to pepper Mina and Elsa's speech with slang derived from actual Thieves' Cant. It was a very different feel than the other group dealing with the refined but oily Sloan.

[CorvusMask]

Just Tup from Song of Silver bonus npc section and Blackfang & Thelsikar among other comic bonus stuff related to Sandpoint area.

[Black Jimmy]

CorvusMask wrote:

Just Tup from Song of Silver bonus npc section and Blackfang & Thelsikar among other comic bonus stuff related to Sandpoint area.

How did you implement Black Fang and Thelsikar? I'm thinking of using them as well.

[CorvusMask]

Black Jimmy wrote:

CorvusMask wrote:

Just Tup from Song of Silver bonus npc section and Blackfang & Thelsikar among other comic bonus stuff related to Sandpoint area.

How did you implement Black Fang and Thelsikar? I'm thinking of using them as well.

Well, Lamashtans and Karzoug seems to have some sort of alliance through the AP(mostly through Lamias I guess) so I inserted as part of sandpoint raid because I knew party would otherwise take giants down before they even had time to reach destinations(druids and plant growth is horrifying), Lucrecia had gotten away, so she recruitted them in particular to target the party. It didn't slow them much though because after they beat Blackfang, they one shot critted Long Tooth and he died from 70 points of fall damage due to crit card saying he lost his flight :'D

[GruntLordRyan]

Nice, I like this I'll be trying them out.

By the way, I'm Making a Compilation list of NPCs and Locations in a google sheet doc.

Here is a link:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19MlZLue6jwSmGoui10ctdENCjWB3DQdI2Wj pWCoEMrg/edit?usp=sharing

It's currently set to Comments. I may set it to allow anyone to edit; I'm just afraid of it being deleted or messed up by someone. it's still a work in progress with about 900 Varisia NPCs

[GruntLordRyan]

Ok here is the Link for my NPC and Locations Doc Hope it works

Linked