It's important to note that while Old Night is a fantasy setting; a true secondary world in a traditional sense, the tone and themes are not really all that D&D-like; the concept is specifically to play a Call of Cthulhu-like game in a fantasy world, with Lovecraftian magic and more discrete and horrible fantastic elements rather than routine ones. Not unlike, in many ways, the old Warhammer World, although instead of based on an early Renaissance Holy Roman Empire, it gives more explicit nods in social and environmental cues to the American Old West, while otherwise culturally and technologically it's kind of High Middle Ages, more. Robin Hood and Ivanhoe meet Daniel Boone and Kit Carson, maybe. One rule I had at character creation was that everyone had to be human for their race, although other races
do exist. However, there is a workaround. Everyone can pick one of nine contacts, and some of the contacts allow play of another race. As it happened, nobody chose to play a non-human, although one toyed with an orc coming from an organized crime background.
The contacts are meant to be important drivers of potential interesting things to do, not unlike quest givers or patrons, as well as also benefits to the characters in game, so I thought it nice to list them all here.
Alpon von Lechfeld: Alpon is a renowned scholar and investigator into the obscure and the occult. He had a storied career at the
Academy in Mittermarkt, but is now retired to the Northwoodshire countryside after the death of his wife in Timischburg, where he
continues his research independently and lives with his teenaged daughter Revecca. Von Lechfeld is an older, middle-aged man, who has a dispensation from various authorities to study things that would otherwise be illegal for most. His knowledge of the occult, necromancy, daemonology, and the forbidden is prodigious, although he himself is no necromancer or daemonologist. Rather, he's occasionally offered his services to various organization, such as the Shadow Rangers, in the pursuit of rooting out these baleful influences. He studies them with an eye towards protecting his people from them.
Von Lechfeld tends to be polite, if closed off and quiet. His eyes get hard and he will go out of his way to help anyone who is on the track of a vampire, but he clams up and will often send away anyone who brings an influence who he believes might threaten his daughter.
Von Lechfeld holds forth in his manor outside Cockrill's Hill, a town in the eastern end of the Copper Hills in the Northwoodshire section of Southumbria, but he still travels a fair bit consulting his colleagues, or otherwise doing research, and he can be found sometimes when needed in any urban area in the Hill Country, or even the eastern part of Timischburg, where he still maintains contacts. Sometimes dropping his name in an academic setting can be as good as talking with him personally, as people who know him, or know him by reputation may be willing to help a friend of his. When he's not readily available, he can be reached by messenger bird (pigeons being the most commonly used, but occasionally specially trained ravens, usually an NPCs animal companion) or by express post, a service throughout the Hill Country that's somewhat similar to the old Pony Express.
Drancent Hewe: Hewe is also a renowned Zobnan scholar, although his area of expertise is not the occult, and he will generally indicate his distaste for any investigation into "generic" occult items, and provide a very high DC due to his reluctance to address it. He spends half of his time in Lomar, where his people are and his "permanent address", but he also has highly profitable "gigs" in both Garenport and Barrowmere, where he'll spend months at a time as a guest researcher in their universities and academies, living relatively large in houses in the center of town. His real passion is history, and he is especially knowledgeable about ancient kingdoms and places, languages, the history of the various demihuman kingdoms and their comings and goings. More recent history, or history of more recent people like the Hillmen, for instance, he finds boring. The older and more obscure, the more interesting to him. He is also universally recognized as the foremost expert on the Heresiarchs—other than the Heresiarchs themselves. Drancent is best consulted when one needs knowledge about something that is hard to find anywhere else, especially about history or geography. When the PCs need to find anything that they can about some lost artifact, city, powerful relic belonging to an ancient historical figure, etc. Hewe is their man.
Hewe is a Zobnan grisling, and a confirmed bachelor, although he's still only in early middle age (because of the pale coloration of grislings in general and their white hair in particular, they sometimes look older than they are anyway.) He's in good shape, but he is somewhat indolent in his habits. He can sometimes be more easily persuaded to help out by someone who brings him a fine wine, exotic cigar, or who buys him a very fine meal first. He's a snappy dresser in finery that looks a bit exotic, but would otherwise be fit for what most people imagine nobility dresses like. In spite of all this, he's not averse to some real adventure, and if you have a really exciting (to him) thing that you're looking for, he could even be convinced to come with as a guide or on-site expert. Although he'll probably pack way too many clothes and require his own packhorse (or two) for all of his luxuries. Having Hewe as a contact also unlocks the grisling race as a PC choice.
Shule: Shule is also a subject matter expert, but not an academic; he's the kind of person you go to for street smart wisdom and
experience. As a goblin informant around town (whichever town he happens to be in, and he does wander quite a lot) his information seems nearly unbeatable. He's also got contacts, friends, and fellow informants and criminals of his own everywhere, or so it seems, and anyone who can confirm to their suspicious nature that they are friends with Shule, can be more or less equivalent to Shule, even in locations where Shule isn't at the moment.
In addition to being an informant about what's going on in the criminal underworld, Shule is also an important liaison between the PCs and potentially all kinds of other criminals and the services that they might offer; smugglers, black-marketers, fences, protection, and more. However, if it's the Chersky Mafia that you're trying to get information on, the only thing Shule will give you is whatever intel can be used to discomfit them. He hates the Chersky Mafia with an abiding passion, and isn't super keen on any kemlings at all, frankly, whether they're related to the Chersky Mafia or not. This can occasionally get the PCs in trouble, if Shule's prejudice against the Cherskies causes the PCs to be seen as enemies of them as well.
Shule has a rat that he always keeps with him, and he's rarely seen without it perched on his shoulder, or resting in one of his pockets. Sometimes he holds it up on his wrist and speaks to it. Some who know him believe that the rat is actually the eyes and ears of Shule's outfit, and that somehow he is able to communicate what he sees back to Shule, which explains his preternatural street smarts. Others, of course, think that this is superstitious nonsense. Having Shule as a contact unlocks Orcs and Goblins as a potential PC races.
Oisin Dughall: (not pronounced Usheen like the Irish name; it's just Oy-zin, like it looks like.) This large and strong woodwose used to be associated with the Chersky Mafia himself, as many urban woodwose were, as shakedown and protection, rather than deeply involved with the organization. Oisin, however, had a falling out with the Mafia. He's been "out" for a number of years, and spends most of his time in the rural areas of the Hill Country, avoiding the cities, and trying to keep a low profile. That said, he's a friend to many rural homesteaders, hunters, scouts, trappers, and other men with a lonely occupation in the wilderness. He's hard to find, but because he wanders across the Hill Country, he could be nearby almost anywhere if the GM needs him to be. Other hunters, trackers, homesteaders, and woodwoses may also have knowledge of where to find him, although they're often suspicious and protective, and will only share such knowledge if convinced that the seeker is a genuine friends of Oisin.
Oisin's support to potential PC activities can be quite varied. There are fewer experts with more knowledge of the backwoods and backcountry of the Hill Country than Oisin, and he can be consulted about what happens and what's to be found outside of settled areas, where his advice and knowledge is second to none. Where he can be even more helpful, though, is that because he's always on the move anyway, it's not hard to convince him to travel with the PCs for a short time, offering his expertise freely. Any travel rolls made (through the Appendix travel system) with Oisin in the group, treat such rolls as effectively +5 due to his expert knowledge of the geography. He's rarely lost, he makes good time across the wilderness, and he's an expert at finding food as well as avoiding trouble from other travelers, wildlife, or anything else that you might find in the wilderness. He's also a fierce fighter when he needs to be. However, he'll never stay with the PCs for long; a few days to maybe a week or two tops—and less if they are heading into a town, city or even a village for more than a night, or if they are magnets for trouble getting involved in all kinds of combat with all kinds of things.
Oisin is friendly to those he knows, but always chary, with everyone. His eyes dart around carefully, he rarely looks you in the eyes, he often stops and ignores you, even mid conversation, as he listens for something beyond you; in short, he always behaves paranoid. If you have Oisin as a contact, you also unlock both woodwoses and kemlings as potential PC races.
Brythe Aermeld: This young lass can be placed wherever you need her to be. She was young, pretty, and ambitious, and was a student at the Academy in Barrowmere. She is a brilliant, if somewhat acerbic and sharp-tongued sorceress (or witch, if you prefer), but she's also an object lesson on why exactly witchcraft should be avoided. Corruption from her exposure to thaumaturgical rituals and energy has mutated her body. While she's still beautiful, after a fashion, she no longer looks remotely human, and is considered by sages to be a non-born cambion; i.e., a person who's exposure to witchcraft has made them half-daemon rather than one who was born half-daemon.
Because of this, Brythe almost never leaves her tower; although her tower itself either seems to appear in multiple places, or there are multiple versions of it that she can travel between. She will receive the PCs in the lobby of the tower, if they come to visit her in person, but will probably not show herself, preferring to keep the lobby very darkened, and her physical form hidden behind thick curtains or even a grated door. If she is gained as a contact, however, she doesn't need to be physically present to contact the PCs (or vice versa) she will give the character a small round stone inscribed with a few curious runes. If the character sleeps with this stone in his bedroll, or pocket, or otherwise on his person, he can speak to Brythe (and she to him) in his dreams as needed. If this is done repeatedly, eventually the rune will start to appear as a small mark on the skin of the character, and when it is fully realized, the stone will no longer be needed.
Brythe is a prodigy in sorcery. She can, if convinced, cast spells for the PCs. She can give PCs spells that she believes that they are capable of learning. She can also offer all kinds of advice on occult and magical concerns. Most importantly, as she is constantly looking for a way to reverse her corruption and expand her own power, she will have things that she wants from the PCs, and is a great source of potential side quests and other tasks, which she will barter for with the benefits that she can provide.
Brythe is very bitter about what has happened to her, and this is reflected in her arrogant and angry way of reacting to the world. Unfortunately, she doesn't accept responsibility for her condition, and hates the world, her former teachers, or anyone else who she can rationalize as a person to blame other than herself for her mutations. Or for that matter, anyone she can blame for doing anything wrong or inconvenient for her at all. But she is helpful, if you can tolerate her abrasive personality.
Dean Bannermane: Dean grew up on the streets of glittering Simashki; an expatriate Hillman boy in a harsh, criminal environment. And he thrived. First as a pickpocket and small time con artist, later as a cat burglar and entry specialist. But always, he had a vision in his mind of home, of a place where he wasn't forced to be a criminal. In truth, at some point he wasn't forced to it anymore either. He had become relatively successful and wealthy, and he had cordial working relationships with almost everyone who was anyone in the criminal underworld of Simashki.
When one of his rash friends was killed in a job gone wrong, he remembered his dream, cashed out with his fences, and traveled in style by coach across the Great Northern Road. He'd barely reached the technical edge of the Hill Country, when his coach was set upon by bandits. Because he was carrying everything he owned, he ended up penniless because of this unfortunate setback, but still—he had skills that he could put to use, and he did to gradually start reacquiring his fortune... although it galled him to now be taking it from what he considered his own people in his own homeland. One night when robbing the wrong house... maybe it turned out to be the right house, everything changed. The man was a ranger in Barrowmere; an old, venerable, well-connected ranger. And he saw something in Dean that nobody else had. Bannermane found a real job; as a spy; using his skills to help his people rather than take from them. After the initial shock of the change, Dean found that he quite liked the work, and he liked feeling like doing what he was good at was actually doing some good.
Dean can be consulted, if he's your contact, for all kinds of information; politics, the nobility and other important people, crime, and the comings, goings and likely secret intentions of many who come and go. Because his assignment is what it is, he can be found anywhere; much of his best work happens away from the Hill Country, but he can be found there too; albeit Bannermane isn't much of a rural kind of guy. Big cities, where the movers and shakers operate is where he's likely to be. In a pinch, Bannermane can also part with excellent spy tools. Some very unusual things he can actually go and get that the PCs may not be able to, or be able to afford, due to his past as a cat burgler; a skill that he still has.
Dean keeps a much lower profile than when he was robbed. He's actually fairly wealthy, but he looks like a rather common, plain artisan; extremely non-descript and someone you wouldn't look twice at. He's also extremely talented as an actor, impersonator, and at disguising himself. If Dean himself isn't where the PCs are when they need him, someone who is part of the Ranger spy network who knows him may be, and can either get in touch with him quickly, or provide some portion of what Dean might if he were there. Having Dean as a contact will unlock the elementalist and kemling races as potential PC races because of his background in Simashki.
Fredegar de Vend: The de Vend family was once a Timischer noble family, but one who'd bought a manor in Barrowmere, and spent most of their time there. The Ranger Corps uncovered evidence that a bastard son, Audley Hardwicke, was involved in human trafficking for occult means; and that his biggest customer was Lord de Vend himself. Rather than coming quietly when the Rangers—stiffened by the Lord Mayor's Guard—came to arrest him, there was a big fight in which cultists of all stripes attacked the Guard. In the end, there were dozens killed and the manor burned down. The full story was hushed up, but snatches of it made their way like wildfire through the rumor mill for years. Young Fredegar, the nephew of Lord de Vend, was a teenager, away visiting family in Timischburg when it happened. Horrified at the revelations that his uncle and head of the house was a foul cultist and murderer, he vowed to make it his life's mission to root out such evil whenever he could.
The fortunes of the de Vend family, needless to say, took a severe downturn from that point on, but Fredegar was able to marshal most of what remained of the properties and valuables, set up his remaining cousins and elderly relations financially who—as near as he could tell—were uninvolved with the Troubles, as he calls them, and have enough for himself. All of the remaining de Vends live much more modestly than they used to, but they are still borderline idle rich, unless they are ambitious enough to take an interest in some enterprise, which many have. Fredegar's own inheritance has often been supplemented by money made by his younger brother in the fur trade, since his brother heartily approves of his mission.
Fredegar is kind of like a traveling knight-errant mixed with the Inquisition. As a contact, he is knowledgeable about geography, and especially nobility and the other wealthy and powerful (he often stays as a guest of former friends of his uncle when traveling). He can be approached for help in terms of items, gear, knowledge, or even first-hand support if one is going up against a supernatural or cultic threat. He is also a strong source of side quests of that type, and he does offer support for such side quests as well. He's a powerful warrior, so he can stiffen many a weaker party of adventurers if absolutely necessary, but he should most often be seen as too busy with his own pursuits to chase down every rumor or assist personally in every mission. Which is exactly why he's often a font of side quests; stuff that he doesn't want to leave unaddressed, but which he doesn't have time to get to himself.
Once characters have Fredegar de Vend as a contact, they may also be able to contact the many branch offices of his cousins mercantile pursuit, drop the famous (among his family business, at least) knight-errant's name and receive some help second hand as well.
Lord Anstal Tane: Tane is a mercantile "prince"; based on Barrowmere, but traveling (or sending caravans and ships) all across the Hill Country, as well as much of Timischburg and up to the northern part of Baal Hamazi where trade contact with the rest of the world is still common. Anstal Tane is an "expatriate" Northumbrian who wants to know about his old flame, who is now the Grand Duke’s wife. Disturbing rumors about what’s going on up in Garenport are starting to circulate across the Hill Country, but few have any confidence in their truth. Anstal is still worried about the Grand Duchess Josephine du Vandes and if she's OK, so he asks the PCs to check in on here while they're heading that way. Anstal Tane as a contact will have branch offices where help can be found, where the PCs can crash if they need, where they can get some basic supplies if they need, and most importantly, where they can get more work. Side quests and little favors abound, and they will drive adventure possibilities, while also making sure that the PCs are equipped to be successful in these endeavors. His connection to the events of the first campaign make him a good contact for that campaign, but his utility in other campaigns will be more limited.
Sir Liamond Wreldane: Sir Liamond Wreldane is a high-ranking (although now semi-retired, at least publicly) officer of the Ranger Corps. Although the Ranger Corps doesn't officially acknowledge or admit to the existence of a Shadow Division that focuses on supernatural threats, the reality is that Wreldane is the head of that, and the Ranger Corps leadership sees it as probably the most important division. But it is very secretive. Wreldane, however, likes to do some of this work "off the books" with talented freelancers. Many of these are themselves former Rangers themselves, but former Rangers still willing to work in the field are few, so much of what needs to be done needs to be people who are unconnected in any way with the Ranger Corps. Wreldane carefully vets potential freelancers, but if you have him as a contact, then you are already pre-vetted.
In addition to being a major side-quest source, Wreldane is a font of information on how to successfully fight supernatural threats, as well as a possible source of the gear needed to fight them (silvered weapons, etc.) You're not likely to talk to Wreldane himself very often; he's older, he has a political/administrative role within the Ranger Corps, and he spends most of his time in Barrowmere, consequently. However, he has many agents, and they identify themselves with a special coin, and he will often send them around to recruit or give information or help to his freelances.
Wreldane is a powerful force within the Hill Country, and while he does occasionally look further abroad, his influence and
reach drops off precipitously beyond the borders of the Hill Country.
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