Tyranthraxus
Explorer
We are now into season 3 of AL and have seen more than 25 Expeditions scenarios go by ranging from Season 1 and the Dragon themed season to Season 2's elemental Evil and now Season 3's demon romp.
For me as primarily a DM, Ive seen a fair few NPCS come and go. Some I thought would be more memorable.. others not so much.
Most of my players for example were at first repulsed by Fat Mar (aka Markoth) and then started to warm to the gruff Fat Man. I only ran a particular scenario once in which he died but the players tried to go out of the way to get him back alive to no avail. We also had Aleyd Burral who popped up in Season 1 at various points.
On the baddie side we had Spernik. Spernik in my runnings of the scenario generally died horribly. The door would open and the pcs would kill him. I know later on he appears again but well I have yet to run that one so there is that.
What I have found personally is that the 'Helpful' NPCS: Your Zora Culkins, Aleyd (to a point) and a few others have stuck around. Im yet to however find a similar Villainous NPC who has done the same. Spernik might not survive the first Scenario you meet him in.
What got me to think on this was the character of Breex who is described thusly :
Breex Vandermast (Buh-REEX Van-der-Mast): male half-orc sorcerer, vicious poisoned, slaver, and blood sport enthusiast. Uses a disguise kit to conceal his racial features; able to pass as a very, very ugly human.
Now both times Ive run this the players have grown to dislike Breex a lot, and one player in particular kept telling Breex how he was going to kill him during the long transport back to Hillsfar with the rest of his group. While the connection from Breex to the Red Plumes is never really clearly defined, the fact he was allowed to enter and leave the city surprised most of my players. The Half orc in one game kept calling him a traitor to his race.
Breex is a great example of an npc that the players and characters can love to hate. They have many points of being able to finish him off but until the end never quite get the chance. (of course some might get to earlier but I think generally probably most groups finished him off in the final battle).
I had a lot of cheers on my table as the Half Orc Barbarian, Shautha struck the (Critical Hit whilst raging) killing blow on Breex, and a few people made the comment they wished it could of been their hit that killed him.
I must admit, I think its a shame Breex was the BBEG at the end of the scenario. I would of have liked him to become a recurring villain. Keep him personal . Maybe an encounter in the 'wild' with him again as the pcs are doing a completely different thing and he pops up. The best Villains arnt the ones you never really meet, they are the ones that you have to deal with, or who escape at the last second.
Now If I need to make a point, its that I think AL could benefit from having more recurring 'Evil NPCS. It has a good base of Good recurring npcs now but I think it needs some Expeditions villains who can recurr themselves to strike fear into the party or really get the players blood boiling.
For me as primarily a DM, Ive seen a fair few NPCS come and go. Some I thought would be more memorable.. others not so much.
Most of my players for example were at first repulsed by Fat Mar (aka Markoth) and then started to warm to the gruff Fat Man. I only ran a particular scenario once in which he died but the players tried to go out of the way to get him back alive to no avail. We also had Aleyd Burral who popped up in Season 1 at various points.
On the baddie side we had Spernik. Spernik in my runnings of the scenario generally died horribly. The door would open and the pcs would kill him. I know later on he appears again but well I have yet to run that one so there is that.
What I have found personally is that the 'Helpful' NPCS: Your Zora Culkins, Aleyd (to a point) and a few others have stuck around. Im yet to however find a similar Villainous NPC who has done the same. Spernik might not survive the first Scenario you meet him in.
What got me to think on this was the character of Breex who is described thusly :
Breex Vandermast (Buh-REEX Van-der-Mast): male half-orc sorcerer, vicious poisoned, slaver, and blood sport enthusiast. Uses a disguise kit to conceal his racial features; able to pass as a very, very ugly human.
Now both times Ive run this the players have grown to dislike Breex a lot, and one player in particular kept telling Breex how he was going to kill him during the long transport back to Hillsfar with the rest of his group. While the connection from Breex to the Red Plumes is never really clearly defined, the fact he was allowed to enter and leave the city surprised most of my players. The Half orc in one game kept calling him a traitor to his race.
Breex is a great example of an npc that the players and characters can love to hate. They have many points of being able to finish him off but until the end never quite get the chance. (of course some might get to earlier but I think generally probably most groups finished him off in the final battle).
I had a lot of cheers on my table as the Half Orc Barbarian, Shautha struck the (Critical Hit whilst raging) killing blow on Breex, and a few people made the comment they wished it could of been their hit that killed him.
I must admit, I think its a shame Breex was the BBEG at the end of the scenario. I would of have liked him to become a recurring villain. Keep him personal . Maybe an encounter in the 'wild' with him again as the pcs are doing a completely different thing and he pops up. The best Villains arnt the ones you never really meet, they are the ones that you have to deal with, or who escape at the last second.
Now If I need to make a point, its that I think AL could benefit from having more recurring 'Evil NPCS. It has a good base of Good recurring npcs now but I think it needs some Expeditions villains who can recurr themselves to strike fear into the party or really get the players blood boiling.
