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Thursday, 7 March 2013

Twelve Peculiar NPCs

The following characters may make interesting henchmen or retainers (or allies or enemies or whatnot), in addition to showing how silly my games can sometimes be. Statistics are not provided so that each Referee can decide how powerful these characters are.


  1. Wearing a black top hat and suit with little adornment, Eybram Lincon, with his chin curtain beard is a recognised hunter of unnatural entities. Besides his cane-sword, he always carries some silver-tipped arrows, wooden stakes, garlic, and a holy cross with himself.
  2. A travelling cleric of the Order of Glassbreakers, Gilbert Glassglad; he is most concerned with breaking everything made of glass in the world. Besides regular equipment, he wears a piece of shattered glass as an amulet.
    (credits to Palkó Gábor for the original concept and to Premier for the cool name)
  3. The infamous Grim Brothers, Jacob and Wilhelm; armed and gruesome travellers whose dream is to publish a book about their adventures presented as folk tales, hence they always carry some paper and ink with themselves.
  4. A martial artist, John Smith, who claims to be the long-awaited reincarnation of a legendary warrior, named Ku-Laong the Thousand-Fisted. He is obviously delusional, for not only is he a coward but also a rather clumsy fighter.
  5. Joshua; despite being only a carpenter's son, he is surprisingly loyal and virtuous, albeit regularly involved in dubious amiable relationships. Everyone agrees, though, that he has great potential.
  6. Kohn N. Minator, a strong and cunning warrior from the north, descending from an ancient lineage of fighters and merchants. He wears no armour (and is, in fact, half-naked all the time); he wields a freaking-big axe, and also carries a small abacus for quick compound interest calculations.
  7. An old gentleman wearing green suit, introducing himself as Ozpinhead. A magician by trade, he tries everything to get out of trouble. He has a hot air balloon which can be turned into a pocket-size miniature; unfortunately, the balloon has a terrible sense of humour and intends to transport travellers to unknown lands far beyond.
  8. A nameless man in crude black armour (including a helmet which he never takes off), armed with a pretty old but still impressing sword; he claims to be the Son of the Black Knight and intends to find the Sacred Bridge of a Thousand Miraculously Amusing Deaths where his father used to be on duty, until he was killed by a travelling White Knight.
  9. A bitter outlaw clad in black, wearing a mask; he is Sorrow: once triumphant crusader of justice and defender of the weak, now an impoverished, depressed alcoholic. When drunk, he muses about his glorious past; when really drunk, his passions overcome him and he parties like hell.
  10. Filled with angst and anger, The Vigilante is ready to unleash his wrath and deliver justice to anyone causing harm or pain to law-abiding citizens. He wears rather colourful cloth armour with a capitalised V woven into it.
  11. A handsome adventuring archaeologist, Wyoming Wilson; he wears a fedora and is equipped with a whip, used as a weapon and a utility item, as well. He is mostly looking for legendary artefacts.
  12. Xavier Xan-Xander, a wizard's apprentice expelled from the Guild because of his strange sexual desires; he has not given up on becoming a true wizard, hence he adventures to gather the funds to join the Guild again. He wears black latex robes, and his spellbook contains the following spells: Comprehend Inscription, Lantern of the Purple Dreamer, and Induce Insomnia.
    (credits to Palkó Gábor for the original concept)
Other useful lists of henchmen I find inspirational (and whose greatness I attempted to match):
- Dungeon of Signs (list of a hundred henchmen for HMS Apollyon)
- Meatshields (random henchmen generator for Barrowmaze/Labyrinth Lord)
- Kazamata #1 - Bérencek, de különcök (twenty interesting henchmen for the Landar setting; it's in Hungarian, though)

Any other similar inspirational lists I missed?

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