Lastly for this article series we’re going to cover some banditry with Insta-NPCs #8: Bandits!. Inevitably there are bandits in just about every campaign world. You might find a few on horseback in the middle of the forest. Others may be riding motorcycles through an apocalyptic desert or the streets and alleys of an urban…
Today we’re going to work through creating a “damsel in distress.” But first, I have to clear the air… Though Insta-NPCs #7: Damsels in Distress has been out for a few months now, there still seems to be some concern over the title. Is it meant to be ironic? Was it *not* meant to be…
So the last two articles have been about creating a single artist and a group of artists and seeing how plot and story might flow from those random elements using the Insta-NPCs #6: Shh… Artists at Work… product. But sometimes we don’t need to go that far. Sometimes we just need an item. A piece…
Last Friday we talked about creating a single artist and some of the ways you might be able to use it in a campaign. Today we’re going to take that concept a bit further by exploring a conclave of artists. Now you may be wondering about the reasons behind creating a group of artists, but…
If you’ve noticed, there has been one of these articles about each of the Insta-NPCs products so far… We’ve dealt with a few unsavory types recently, so why not focus on the artistic ones this time? Artists are one of the oft-overlooked story hooks for GMs in my opinion. Think about it. How many times…
Yesterday we started the process of describing a prisoner from the Wild West (see it here). We gained some details using the process in Insta-NPCs #5: Prisoners and Escapees but left it in an incomplete state… So let’s see what we can do about that. We have determined… Who: Undetermined Real/Imagined: Imagined Crime: Breach of…
If it’s something I’ve noticed about fiction, prisoners don’t like to stay locked up for long. I’m watching The Flash and Gotham and waiting for all those ne’er-do-wells to escape from their various cells. And when it happens, it will be spectacular (I hope)! Even in video games like Fallout: New Vegas, there are entire…
Last week we created the villainess Umani out in the grassy sea with a watchful eye on the Kingdom of the Dead. And we even went so far as to create a few minions for her protection… Agrios the were-bear, her giant eagle Roccan and giant owl Caillea, as well as a pack of were-wolves…
Yesterday we focused on developing a villain for the world of Phaedrus using Insta-NPCs #3: Scum and Villainy, Inc.. We got as far as working through the worksheet and deciding on a few broad concepts for our villainess. Here’s a refresher with the details we figured out yesterday… Origin: Unmatched intelligence Goal: Achieve justice Methodology:…
This has been a fun series of articles to write so far, but I had some feedback from another designer who suggested I needed to slow it down and focus more on a single product at a time. So to address that concern, today we’re going to focus on Insta-NPCs #3: Scum and Villainy, Inc..…
