Favorite NPC
There have been many NPCs over the years. Any DM will have had to utilize hundreds of NPCs over time. Few of mine get their own voice. I'm not a thespian, just an amateur story teller. I did try to rectify that once or twice, but never got the chance to put it in to practice.
Of all of the NPCs I've dreamed up, or even had to make on the fly, there have only been two I wanted to develop voices for. One was a Paladin. Lawful Neutral, he was going to be a calm stoic bane of evil. Kind of a cross between Rom Spaceknight, Machine Man, Robocop, and Sam the Eagle. How's that for imagery!? Hehe...
So now we come down to the reason I'm writing this particular post. Thrug. That's it's name. It also happens to be the only noise it ever makes. Thrug sits outside in front of Master Ping's Gnosis Emporium. This creature is of undetermined race and no amount of questioning will get a PC more than a "thrug" in response. He sits, or sort of squats behind a table stacked with old books. The books are written in multiple languages unidentifiable to anyone else save for Master Ping. Thrug won't try and stop anyone from stealing a book, however when the thief tries to read the pilfered tome, they will discover the book missing. If a character attempts to communicate with Thrug, he will look at them for a moment, scribble something on a piece of paper and hand it to them and mutter "thrug" in a deep guttural voice. The paper will contain a cryptic phrase indecipherable in meaning. A few examples I've come up with and found online are...
The Dark Moon is oft overlooked
The Queen's shadow extends towards the Brass Citadel
When the moon is crowned, the Six Empires shall fall
The Sunless Gate opens
The Throne of Scepters shall be destroyed
In the Valley of Grace, the Shield is broken and sea becomes sky
The Bridge of Rings is broken and the mountains are wreathed in flame
When light becomes shadow, the Seven Princesses shall fall
In the Spring of Storms, the Empire of Swords shall be sundered
Upon the Night of Prisms, when the stars fall from the sky
Most of those I lifted of the Donjon random generator website. I designed this NPC as a way to extract adventure ideas from players without their knowledge. Give them a snippet and let their imaginations fill in the rest. Keep in mind, for this to work you need engaged imaginative players that actually go after plot hooks.
I've never had a chance to use Thrug. So maybe by releasing him in to wilds of the internet, he'll find a purpose somewhere. Take the idea and run with it. I'd be interested to hear of anything you guys come up because of this. So go out there and mine your players for adventure ideas.
Happy Gaming!
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