Hello,

I was wondering if there would be eager volunteers to share their NPKs and PKs to help me populate Salisbury for the new campaign. Now I am not promising that I use them, but at least it saves me the bother of thinking them up by myself, and introduce some element of surprise when I am not recycling just my own ideas.

Especially interested if you have already some kind of dynasties/webs of marriage alliances.

As a format, I was thinking something like this:

Manor: Cholderton (517 AD)
Improvements: None
Defenses: Double Ditch, Palisade, Gate, Gateworks (DV 3 (of the top of my head))

Knight: Sir Ceren
Glory: 6742
Culture/Religion: Cymric / Roman Christian
Skills: Sword 18, Lance 16, Battle 15, Stewardship 3, Intrigue 10, Courtesy 10
Traits: Just 16, Chaste 15, Forgiving 13, Merciful 13, Modest 13, Valorous 17
Passions: Loyalty 19, Loyalty (Arthur) 18, Honor 12.
Other notes: He takes a keen interest in the Manor of Kimpton, for Kimpton's heir, a young boy, is his cousin's son. The current regent of Kimpton is the lord of Malvernton, who married the widow of Ceren's cousin.

Or even:

Manor: Cholderton
Knight: Sir Ceren, a notable knight whose loyalty to the Earl and the King is unquestioned. He is famous for his justice and valor, and is an experienced leader of men. He is the cousin of the previous lord of Kimpton, and is concerned about the safety of his cousin's son, growing up in the household of the lord of Malvernton.


EDIT: Oh, nice maps! *yoinked!* http://gspendragon.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/book-of-maps/

I've not set my games in Salisbury - partly because they started before we the information on Salisbury as a default setting. One of my ideas for the Pendragon Eschille website when we get it up and running is a bit of an NPC bank, probably aimed at higher levels.

I would probably develop a quick series of tables that gave me a few relevent ideas with three or four dice rolls (I already have some for NPC women - known as girls of renown - that do things like generate the girl who likes dancing, or cream cakes, or gossiping etc - along with what traits e.g. generous that she might be known for. I don't know if this is your sort of thing or not?

I consider one of the problems you will have is player identification of NPC's so that you get quick assimilation of information.

So, a few quick ideas (15 minutes) for NPC's that I would consider throwing in:

a) The bear of a man with the design of a bear on his shield. Large, generous but sometimes a bit earthy and overbearing.
b) The twins who married twin daughters but who have different fiefs.
c) The young widow who's husband went on a sea journey but who is not yet officially 'dead'
d) The Knight known for his ruthlessness, both in acquiring his fief and his treatment of peasants. Depending upon what timescale you have sent your game in then he could have chain gangs of slaves working...
e) The illegitimate half brother of Countess Ellen
f) The knight who is married to the illegimate half sister of Countess Ellen
g)Probably good for 3-4 fiefs - the retired officer - ex hunter, ex falconer, ex steward, ex constable etc. These are all likely to be 'old knights', but if politics floats your boat then for example Countess Ellen / Earl Roderick might always spare some time for the old Steward and his views....
h) Similar vien - the ex Saxon mercenary captain who did so well in the Anarchy period that he has been rewarded with a fief and owes not knight duty, but provision of a particular group of mercenaries - could be heavy infantry, could be archers.
i)The disputed fief. The Knight has died and the inheritance could go to two distant cousins, each with an equal claim. They are pressing for settlement, meanwhile the fief is 'administered' by Countess Ellen.
j) For more 'normal' knights then - of which you will need I would have thought many more to balance out what 'specials' you decide to have, then why not pick one or two traits that they are known for (i.e. at 16+), 2-7 (1d6+1) social skills that they have got to 16+, think of a passion that is high and see what you can do with the result.
h) Most if not all of Ellen's/Roderick's officers are going to have manors.
i) Look to characters that appear in films and borrow them with a bit of tweaking. One major NPC in the game i ran at Continuum was based around Clint Eastwood's character from 'Heartbreak Ridge' and his job was to oversee the passage of all squires into Knights. Look at the Magnificent Seven - the gambler, the just warrior, the mercenary warrior, the thief.

Hope this helps.
Chris

I would probably develop a quick series of tables that gave me a few relevent ideas with three or four dice rolls (I already have some for NPC women - known as girls of renown - that do things like generate the girl who likes dancing, or cream cakes, or gossiping etc - along with what traits e.g. generous that she might be known for. I don't know if this is your sort of thing or not?


I would be interested to seeing those tables, yes. I wrote a program years ago which spewed out yearly progression of a number of ladies and their relevant skills and childbirths, as well as assigned one of three-four personality archetypes.

I find, to my weakness, that my NPCs tend to look and feel a lot alike, so I tend to turn to randomizing to get a fresh idea.




I consider one of the problems you will have is player identification of NPC's so that you get quick assimilation of information.

So, a few quick ideas (15 minutes) for NPC's that I would consider throwing in:

Hope this helps.
Chris


Thanks, those were indeed helpful. :)

Since the campaign is set at 485 AD onwards, any Saxon Mercenaries need to watch their backs in Salisbury. ;)

Best,
Morien

One thing which I have found helpful when throwing together some NPCs are their motivation.
When you have that it will color everything that NPK will do.
Here is an ooooooold reminder document of mine in it you will find a random motivation list.