(no subject)

[kingtycoon]

Yeah, today's definitley coming up 6.  Here's the rumpus - I'm feeling thoroughly defeated by the winter, by my house, by my complacency about my house.  Everything is ruined & dirty  & I can't possilbly ever clean these messes.  I'm feeling pulled under or confounded.

But then!  Good-ish news.  A's friends who want to come & roll dice with us together (they're cool kids, but trying, difficult to manage in the DungeonMasterly sense) have been waved off.  Me & A are both cold & tired, let's just eat pizza and not change out of jammies today.  Let's have gentle feelings while struggling to do just, just any fucking thing-  laundry, at all.  Just enough to be dressed for a day or two...  Just enough.

I'm still beat up, the winter - it's wha'ts exhausting, I guess.  And the messy house.  Dammit I am jealous of people who have a helper or what-have-you.  I guess I'm going ot hire a maid or something because fuck this.  All the time.

I'm working on universal NPCs that aren't system specific -  people who aren't 'typical fighter' or 'average wizard'  Rather personalities that work in a few different contexts.  Open ended side characters:
The Four Friends –
Always found together, they are a group of friends who are working together to find their own way.  They somewhat resemble the Musketeers & are principally a group of friends, secondarily a member of one or another faction.  They fit in as members of any faction or party and can be included as members of any group, dropped in as examples of any of the Shrike Delta’s factions – or as members of none.  Their friendship transcends & supersedes any other affiliation.
                Remy – Resourceful, clever farmer.  Folksy, self-reliant type.  Even-tempered, stoic & active.  If there is nothing to do, Remy finds something to do.  Only really complains about other people’s laziness if (s)he’s angry.  Never angry for long.
                Kwell – Talented, lazy dreamer.  Big plans without execution.  Funny & gregarious.  If there’s no plan, Kwell will provide one – sometimes outlandish, but often a decent starting place.  Only ever gets upset by the issuing of pointless orders & the need to obey stupid rules.
                Sunn – Stern, mannerly sophisticate.  Aristocratic upbringing & a society type.  Politically agile& socially adept.  Sunn is able to navigate bureaucracies & hierarchies well.  Only dislikes mistreatment of social inferiors, protects the meek & cares for the disenfranchised.
                Veda – Spiritual, intellectual type.  Curious & questioning & interested in everything.  Distractible, but rigorous, avid & questioning.  Prefers to know for sure instead of guessing.  Strongly dislikes uncertainty & will seek answers before guessing.
The four friends can be any gender & any race.  They are a framework of compatible identities that work together for one another.  They set a good example for parties that are faltering or incapable of cohering – and they provide their own drama if needed.
                Plots involving the Four Friends

• One of the Friends has been caught by an enemy faction (e.g.:  Veda was caught by the Malinalx Cult while the Friends were working for the Black Scorpion – now they must infiltrate & rescue him/her.

• The Four Friends are working on a mission for their faction (e.g.:  The four of them are on a mission to locate a terminus in the underworld for the Blue Company)


• The Four Friends are looking for a base to start their own town or settlement.

Rossiters – Slacker, Wanderer, unlucky ne’er-do-well.  Rossiters appears at inopportune moments & at seemingly random intervals.  If used best the response when he appears is:  “Oh, this one again!”  Rossiters always has information, sometimes true, sometimes false- (s)he is disinterested, aloof and very often chemically altered or dazed.  When (S)he leaves – something is always missing, usually food, but often coin.
Never-Suffer-A-Witch-To-Live – Serious, militant & strange.  Intense murderer Never is suspicious & aggressive toward magic-users of any kind, has an uncanny ability to detect them & surprising knowledge about the types & natures of the local covens & religions.  Never can be found wandering alone, and prefers to hold witches underwater as drowning them seems to part of Never’s cult practice.
Jing-Jang – Comical, solicitous, mercenary.  Jing-Jang is of unspecified race/gender – always wears a mask & a strange costume of a strange land.  Speaks often of ‘transactions’ and regards all interaction as compensated & transactional as a religious doctrine.  Will offer goods in exchange for prosaic services – such as conversation & friendship.  Will demand goods or money in exchange for same.  Travels with a caravan of others from the same homeland – or travels alone.  Plots include a picaresque of the Delta with Jing-Jang’s transaction caravan – defense of the caravan or avenging the caravan – vengeance is a type of transaction in Jing-Jang’s ethos.
Iron-Fang Fredriksdottir – Assertive & aggressive as a concealing pose.  Iron-Fang is secretly meek & terrified, in far over her/his head in the Delta & the North – Iron-Fang is putting on a tough pose but is close to cracking.  Brave & strong, Iron-Fang needs friends but can’t trust anyone yet.  A decent ally & a good lieutenant, it’s easy to get Iron-Fang as a loyal retainer.  Without allies (S)He will fall into any band or party that will take her/him – but will most likely end up with the Black Scorpion or the Ramhorns.