Friends, Foes, Familiars, and Followers

First, I cannot recommend Unframed: The Art of Improvisation enough.  Trying out just a few of the ideas from this book made my GMing considerably better.

Ironically though, to be able to improvise at my best, it helps me to have some advance preparation.  I'm pretty terrible at thinking up things on the fly, especially from thin air, but I am good at taking a general idea and making it unusual, or running with it once there's something to hang on to.

Hence, my ultimate NPC creator!  This is not a document to be used during prep and planning (although I guess you could if you wanted) as there are more in depth generators available.  (In fact, I used Gamemastering for some of the ideas that appear on here.)  This list was specifically made to keep in your binder and to give inspiration on the fly.

I'll provide an explanation of each part, but at the bottom you can also just download the document and make it your own.

NPC Reaction Table

2d6	Reaction
2	Hostile
3-5	Unfriendly
6-8	Neutral
9-11	Friendly
12	Helpful

I had been using the LotFP reaction table, but I prefer this one.  Some of the most interesting moments in our games have been when the players made a "12" and became allied with a variety of unusual NPCs.  The ongoing drama of these NPCs provided multiple sessions of enjoyment rather than just a single encounter where they fight, snub the party or run away.

I only use this table when it's unclear how an NPC feels about the party, or to get an initial reaction before an important social interaction.  It's not something I'd use for monsters or villains.  It's modified by charisma, skills or abilities players might use, and situational effects (having a fancy coach, wearing nice clothes, etc.)

NPC Basic Drive (roll 1d8 and 1d4, then cross reference)

	1	2	3	4
1	Power responsibility, leadership	Service follow authority	Independence autonomous	Dependence association
2	Curiosity  seek knowledge	Ignorance simplicity	Acceptance by self or others	Rebelliousness challenging, changing
3	Order structure	Freedom flexibility	Saving materialistic	Experiential non-materialistic
4	Honor principled	Driven goal-oriented	Idealism	Realism
5	Family	No Ties	Social Contact many friends	Loner
6	Romance sensuality, art, beauty	Pragmatism	Vengeance aggression, retaliation	Avoid Conflict harmony
7	Eating	Fasting	Physical Activity	Inactivity comfort, rest
8	Status conspicuously different, elitist	Ordinary conformity, fitting in, invisible	Tranquility emotional Stability	Drama moody, pushing buttons

This chart was directly inspired by Unframed.  Robin D. Laws discusses the idea that in many interactions there's a petitioner (somebody wants something) and a granter (they have the power to give the petitioner what they want).  I like this idea, but I found I had trouble figuring out what most NPCs wanted.  I did some research and found a handy theory that boiled motivation down to 16 drives.  I figured out what the opposites of these drives would be and put them in a table.  I would use this chart when an NPC needs a desire, drive or motivation, but there isn't one given for them (or it's not obvious).  A shopkeeper wants to sell his stuff.  But what about this random cleric wandering the countryside?

+	Positive, beneficial, legal, acceptable
/	Neutral, quirky, inconsequential
-	Negative, harmful, illegal, deviant

If that's not enough, I also roll a Fudge die to see if their drive manifests in a positive, neutral or negative way.  For example, let's say their primary drive is "power."  In a positive light, this person might want to gain power so they can make the world a better place, to fix the system or help people, in a neutral light, they're just natural leaders and so go into politics because it pays the bills, in a negative light, they want power because they want to abuse it, control people, or some other nefarious purpose.

First Impression (Sensory) - roll 1d4 and 1d6, then crossreference

	1	2	3	4
1	Tall	Short	Hulking	Scrawny
2	Dirty	Pristine	Fragrant	Reeks
3	Athletic	Disabled	Attractive	Repulsive
4	Old	Young	Pale	Tanned
5	Clumsy	Graceful	Feminine	Masculine
6	Scarred	Twitchy	Sick	Unusual

This is just a quick and simple chart to give an idea of first sensory impressions.  The first 5 rows contain opposites, while the last row is just some miscellaneous things.  I assume everyone is average in most traits, so these would be extremes.  Tall isn't just a few inches taller, it's like Brienne of Tarth tall, hulking isn't just a strong guy, it's The Mountain.  Unusual is a challenge to think up something truly bizarre about this NPC.

Mannerisms - roll 1d4 and 1d6, then cross reference

	1	2	3	4
1 (eyes)	Blinks	Winks	Rolls	Distant
2 (words)	Stutters	Slurs	Mumbles	Repeats
3 (hands)	Gestures	Picks	Fiddles	Works
4 (voice)	Loud	Bored	Monotone	Petulant
5 (mouth)	Coughs	Chews	Fake smile	Noisy
6 (style)	Swears	Jokes	Loquacious	Digresses

Mannerisms can also help set an NPC apart, although I've found them hard to use.  (Unfortunately, I'm also abysmal at doing accents.)  Here are 24 quick ones that could also provide inspiration for others.  You could even just roll a d6 and use that as inspiration.

Personality Traits - roll d10 and d4, then cross reference

	1	2	3	4
1	Bully	Delusional	Addicted	Extremist
2	Liar	Aggressive	Flamboyant	Confused
3	Con	Bigot	Bossy	Coy
4	Depraved	Elitist	Gullible	Insecure
5	Coward	Lazy	Gloomy	Toadying
6	Lewd	Cocky	Neurotic	Paranoid
7	Vain	Passionate	Careless	Jolly
8	Pious	Altruist	Grumpy	Cruel
9	Taunting	Sadistic	Needy	Intense
0	Insane	Reserved	Diplomatic	Flirty

For super quick traits, I'm going to use this chart.  It's basically taking the work of all the other charts and just putting it into one trait.  I handpicked these to be interesting, provide variety and be fairly easy to play.  The previous charts will provide nearly endless inspiration, but this one will cover many NPCs in a pinch.

Wilderness Encounter

D20	What’s the NPC up to?
1	Seeking spiritual fulfillment, praying, ritual
2	Searching for a mate, mating, displaying
3	On guard patrol, defending territory
4	Seeking shelter, building shelter/lair
5	Looking for water, drinking, swimming
6	Looking for food, eating, hunting
7	Looking for warmth, comfort, fire, light
8	Looking for treasure, carrying treasure
9	Looking for lost companions, missing child
10	Out to prove their worth, bullying
11	On a quest for knowledge, reading, studying
12	Playing a game, having fun, singing
13	Being pursued, injured, fleeing
14	Pursuing, chasing, transporting prisoner
15	Grooming, shedding, preening, bathing
16	Trapped, tangled, captured, being eaten
17	Fighting, ambushing, marching
18	Traveling, migrating, exploring
19	Mutated, undead, illusory, diseased
20	Trained, tamed, charmed, ordered

This chart is heavily influenced by Telecanter's Receding Rules, 1d8 and Dreams in the Lich House (I've talked about my idea to combine them here).

Like the previous chart, this is a good one-shot motivation generator.  It's especially useful for a wandering monster or NPC that is likely to be an enemy, but it's also useful for putting the NPC into some sort of action or position so that everybody the party meets isn't just walking down the road.

Basic NPC Stats

NPC	0 Level
HP: 1d6	1d3 / 3-5 (average die)
Modifiers	+3, +2, or +1
Armor	None: 12 Leather: 14
Shield	+1 melee / +2 ranged
Weapons – 1d8	Long Sword Battle Axe Mace
Weapons – 1d6	Short Sword Hand Axe Spear
Weapons – 1d4 (-2 vs AC 15)	Dagger Club
Gun – 1d8	Ignores armor

Your mileage may vary here, but I wanted to have the stats handy for the average human in a LotFP game.  This has stats for the weapons they might have as well as an idea for generating hit points (d3 for a commoner, non-fighter type; averaging die for a stronger, fighter type, and d6 when it doesn't matter or total variation is desired).

Here is the word document if you'd like to take it and use it!

---
Links I used for research in addition to those above:
Forum Discussion 1
Forum Discussion 2
Massive list of personality traits

New Beginnings for New Ends

I've been running LotFP for almost a year now and had my first TPK.  This past session I had a chance to try out all the new character creation stuff I've been wanting to try.

---

First, I had players generate stats using Goblin Punch's Career Paths.  Unlike normal LotFP, players did not re-roll characters who had modifiers less than 0 and were not able to swap stats.  (A couple players ended up with some abysmal characters - multiple 4s and 5s...)

Next Step: create a sort of worksheet that players can fill in as they go, which will also provide them with a nice history of their character.  I may also revise it to fit with the low-fantasy Early Modern Era feel of LotFP, and fix the die rolls so players can roll standard dice more easily (instead of d24s and d16).

Each character also had a previous occupation, what they would have done if they hadn't set out on a life of adventure.  I have been using this for a while (earlier version here) but James Young came up with a better version at Ten Foot Polemic.  I took his and replaced about 70 of them with mine (combined version available here).  I always enjoyed this aspect of DCC and am glad I finally brought it over to LotFP.

Next Step: We all love this.  I might tweak all the starting weapons to be unique, though.

Players received a random trinket (p54-55, Basic D&D 5E).

Next Step: I have no idea what the relevancy of these trinkets are, but surely they are going to destroy the game as we know it.

The players were a bit concerned about my hat fetish until they got their awesome randomly generated hats and a unique power that stays for as long as they're wearing the hat.  Both of these were done using The Complete B/X Adventurer: Fantastic B/X Headgear + Exceptional Traits: Customizing Character Classes.

Next Step: Hats?  Fuck Yeah!  HATS!

Also from The Complete B/X Adventurer, we used the "100 Fine Reasons Characters Travel Together" chart to see how PCs knew each other.  Each player rolls to see how they know the person on their left, so everyone has a connection with two other players.

Next Step: I did this at the end of character creation and realized it might have been better at the beginning.  It caused for some awkward shifts when things didn't quite fit, like two 20 year old characters were somehow supposed to have a parent-child relationship...

When looking through all the dead characters, I saw that no one has used: Retainers, Properties, and Investments.  Not once.

So, time to edit the character sheets:
Replaced Retainers with: Friends, Foes, Followers and Familiars
Replaced Properties with: Special Abilities
Replaced Investments with: Appearance
Replaced Surprise Chance with: Raggi Points
Replaced Cleric/M-U spell stars with: Occupation and Titles
Whited out the skills so that there are now 12 blank skills

Check out the new sheet here.

Next Steps: I'm going to create a Dungeon World style sheet that has all character information for leveling up, title advancement, and major choices right on it.  This will also include some additional changes I'm making to saving throws and leveling up.

House Rules:

Raggi Points
-My players were extremely upset after experiencing encounters from Adventure 10 and wanted something to offset its horribleness.  I offered Raggi Points.  Each time they level up and each time they trigger an encounter from Adventure 10, they get a Raggi Point.  These can be spent to roll on the Alternative Advancement offered in Green Devil Face #5 (in addition to a normal level up), reroll any die roll once, or 3 can be used to avoid death (only if reduced in HP, not disintegrated, immolated, etc.)

Next Step: Players love their Raggi Points!  Complaints are way down - just the way James Raggi would want it, right?  I need to continue to tweak this system to get it just right.

New Class Abilities
The Fighter can break any held item (shields, weapons, etc.) to block all damage from an attack (inspiration from Goblin Punch).

The Woodsman (Human replacement for Halfling) has the special ability to tame animals and starts with an animal companion.

The Explorer (Human replacement for Dwarf) starts with printed up maps of the area, country and world, and has low light vision.

The Dabbler (Human replacement for Elf) has a higher resistance to sleep and charm effects.

The Cleric can use their holy symbol to convert spells (just like James Young's house rule).

The M-U can cast cantrips based off spells in their spellbook (also like James Young's house rule).

(Another idea from James Young: charisma influences starting money; in my version, the base is still 3d6, but your charisma modifier adds or subtracts 1d6 from that.)

The Specialist gets first pick of skills and can save skill points to make up a new skill at any point while playing.

Next Step: I like giving minor flourishes to classes to make them seem special.  I am working on my title advancement system as a way to incorporate a variety of class choices within the seven base classes.

New Skill System
Instead of everyone having the same skills, players divided them up (so only one person has Languages, one has Stealth, etc.)  They started with 1 point in each skill and each player got 1 point they could use to boost a skill up to two.

I am using the VS6 method from Liberation of the Demon Slayer by Venger Satanis for skill rolls.  In this system, players roll a d6 for each skill point they have for a skill, plus or minus any modifiers.  A 6 is a success, a 1 is a fail, and in between is narrative opportunity for varying "kinda pass/kinda fail" situations.  (Also from LotDS: players could choose to take a dark secret in order to re-roll one stat or switch two stats.  Finally, characters could also roll randomly to get a motivation if they wanted.)

Next Step: I need to get better at applying the VS6 method.  Also, Dark Secrets are for flavor now, but the next iteration will have them tied to XP and other in-game goals.

--

After all this, we had just enough time for the players to hang out in the tavern, get to know each other, and make plans to go find Richard Fox who has mysteriously not returned from his shipping trip...

Classy Titles for Characters

One of my favorite bits of flavor from 1E was how each class had a title associated with each level.  I was missing this in our LotFP games, but when this "titles and their progression into other titles" from Sellswords & Baronies of the Shattered Empire was posted on the OSR forums by Claytonian JP, I was inspired to bring them back.

I used a number of resources (ie, random google searches) in addition to Dyson's Dodecahedron (for his titles + abilities), Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG (for the way it does skill progression), and of course the PHB, DMG and Unearthed Arcana 1E, to create the following title progressions.

--

Rules for all classes:  Once a title is gained, the next tile must be decided immediately (either randomly or chosen, depending on the class).  Some steps must be taken to gain that title (like getting the appropriate weapon, trying to do something in character, getting training, etc.)  Each title is gained halfway between the next level.

I'll start with the Fighter since it's the most straightforward:

Fighter Title Advancement (PDF)

All 1st level Fighters start off as Veterans.  The player gets to choose where to advance next.  They can pick anything from the first row (Mariner, Horseman or Militaman).  Let's say they pick Militiaman.  This one will be fairly easy to demonstrate, they need to attack things while on foot to qualify.  Once they've reached enough XP to be halfway to level 2, they become a Militiaman and gain its benefit.  Now they must pick their next title.  There are lines connecting Militiaman to Horseman or Spearman.  Let's say the player chooses Horseman.  Now they must ride a horse (and probably attack while riding it) before they can gain that title.  At level 2.5, they will gain the title and benefit if they have demonstrated it.

Note that staying in a single column will allow the Fighter to reach the more powerful titles at the end of the track quicker, but they may end up with some less interesting abilities by moving straight through.

Once they reach the black dividing box, they must pick a column and stick with it for the last two advancements.  These provide interesting role play scenarios and powerful abilities.

Cleric Title Advancement (PDF)

Being Lawful, the Cleric works differently.  They must pick their progression early on and stay on the same column.  They have three main choices: become an evil cultist that worships a dark god, become a healer, or become a paladin.  At the end, however, all three face the same fate: become a martyr in the name of their god, or give themselves over to be the embodiment of their god on Earth.

Magic-User Title Advancement (PDF)

As a human entangled with the forces of Chaos, a M-U doesn't get to choose (usually) while advancing.  They roll a d4 and only get to choose if they roll a 4.  The three columns have general themes, the first relates to the dark arts, the second to a sort of "scientific" understanding of magic and the third is magic that comes from innate power.  If a M-U has managed to complete an entire column, then they can choose from their final title, if not, it is determined randomly.

Specialist Title Advancement (PDF)

The Specialist has the most flexibility of all.  The only restriction is they must have at least one title from a previous row before they can pick one from the next row.  All of their abilities are numerical so that when they reach the final title of "Master" they can pick one of the Titles again.  So if they pick Burglar twice, they become a "Master Burglar."

--

I am still working on two other Title progressions but they are not ready to post.

The Dabbler (replaces the Elf, which I don't allow in my game).  Being Chaotic, they also roll randomly.  The abilities that go along with these titles, however, are very different from the M-U.  They have access to things like tumbling, playing instruments, falconing and dueling.

The Sidekick (replaces both Dwarf and Halfling, which also aren't allowed) is the most unusual progression.  On the left side is the "dwarf" column and you can pick either Guide, Squire or Dogsbody as a beginning title.  If you choose the "halfling" side, you can start off as a Sneak, Hunter or Herbalist.  There is a center column that both sides have access to.  Almost all of these abilities work to buff the party, prevent them from getting lost, have access to equipment, potions, etc.  They offer big choices for the player because each choice locks you into a certain set of titles and abilities.

I'll add the PDFs of both of these here when they're finished.

UPDATE:  I no longer use the Dabbler or Sidekick (or any classes, really).  However, all of the titles that would have gone to these two classes are now combined into one set of titles under the "Defensive Focus" mechanic.  See these two posts for updates: I Have No Class! and The Long Overdue Titles Post.