RPG ideas to steal. Spooky words. Author's thoughts.
Sometimes you want to go where everybody has a name
Every GM knows the joke: The players ignore the NPC with the ! above their head and gravitate to the one person drinking alone at the tavern because (insert reason).
Continue reading “A Pub Called Quest – A tavern where every NPC has a name, face, and quest”
NPCs serve many purposes. They’re friends, allies, enemies, Continue reading “Steal My Idea: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective NPCs”
Accents (accurate or butchered) are a great way to differentiate NPCs. But accents are a single tool in a box brimming with more options you can use to make a world of NPC with unique voices. Continue reading “Steal My Idea – 7 factors to making unique NPC voices. Also, Frank Oz’s Muppets”
[Part of the Gollicking Collective]
If you grew up among thieves and struggled to find each meal, you’d have different priorities and knowledge than the child of a profitable cult leader on the outskirts of society. And your stats would reflect that.
These charts show you where you grew up and the unfortunate circumstances in that environment that helped shape you. This is not who you are now. These are events and conditions that you grew up with. How you accepted or fought against them decides who you are now.
This is meant for inspiration for players and DMs when crafting NPCs. If any of the origins inspire you, then use them. This is a method to find a set environment for a character to grow up within without you having to choose. After all, none of us get to select where we grow up. We simply choose what we do with the lessons we learned. Continue reading “Steal My Idea: Your Background in Stats: Discover your Homestead and the trials you faced according to your highest and lowest stats (also quickly make NPC backgrounds)”
For more on the Gollicking’s cult series, check out The Order of the White Rose and The Harvesters by u/Mimir-ion
“Teach the wielding of magic and dispense learning throughout Faerûn so the use and knowledge of magic may spread.” – Azuth.
Azuth, the Lord of Spellcraft. The First Magister. Hand of Sorcery. His many names all contain the most common words for magic, truly making him inseparable from the craft itself. And that union of magic and the self is what Hum Alshirih strive to replicate. Most mages see magic as a tool. They can learn spells that aid them in some fashion. For Hum Alshirih, they wish to become magic.
Many people view Azuth’s religion as tradition-bound. So does the Hum Alshirih. Magic is about expanding, changing, evolving, and growing. No spell, no idea, no person cannot be made better with additional work. Hum Alshirih will forsake the old ideas when new ones allow them to delve deeper into making themselves into a truly magical being.
Continue reading “Steal My Cult: Hum Alshirih, on behalf of the God of Wizards”
First, you hear him. The clanging of thick metal armor shifts with each forceful step. The only sound louder than his steps is the “breathing.” Rhythmic and horrid, it’s a noise like strips of moist jerky rattling within a throat. Continue reading “#DnDcember 3: Favorite NPC”
There is an unseen bond between close friends. It is said that if two people know each other well enough and care deeply enough, they can know one other’s thoughts, finish the other’s sentences, and in the most extreme cases, syphon some of their friend’s power. Continue reading “Steal My Idea: Rings of the Two Best Friends”
While holding Occam’s Razor, one of the players accidentally said something that made logical sense:
“If there are two of these weapons, shouldn’t there be more of these insanely powerful artifacts with different, awesome powers?” This phrase accidentally created two new reality-bending weapons. I told the player that he felt some power leave the sword, but he didn’t know exactly what it did. Continue reading “Steal My Idea: Occam’s Razor and Arkham’s Razor (Part Two)”
