D&D General "One or More NPCs Associated with a Pre-Published Setting have Appeared in a D&D Campaign I have Run or Played In." (a poll)

[Malmuria]

The question is confusing...I take it that it means to refer to the famous NPCs of published settings (Drizzt, etc). Otherwise, if you are using a pre-published setting, would you not use the minor NPCs provided? Like, if you encounter any of the NPCs in a 5e adventure, does that count as an NPC associated with the setting?

 

[Benjamin Olson]

When I've run published campaigns, sure. And I can certainly imagine doing a cameo for one of the characters based on a player character from the early history of the game, because I think that it provides a genuinely cool continuity for someone else's ancient home game to impact mine. And the characters with spells named after them are already written straight into the core rules.

But generally with the published adventures my move is to cut way down on established characters, and, more importantly, simplify. WotC thinks everyone is such a fan of their characters that having them show up is a valid end unto itself, and I just don't play with anyone who is that invested. WotC is also sometimes more interested in the integrity of their characters than actually making the campaign's story good.

 

[Grogg of the North]

In Shackled City, there is a part where the party discovers a dead drow with two scimitars. I think he also has a holy symbol of Mielikki. No names are given, but you know who it references.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I've never added an established NPC to my adventures, but of course they appear in their own if I've run them (such as CoS).

 

[Shiroiken]

In my epic 1E campaign, my party met with the Circle of Eight multiple times. One of the PCs almost became one of the Eight, but another PC deliberately sabotaged his chances out of jealousy.

I've played in a few Realms campaigns that had cameos by various named NPCs. In general I've never found it to be an issue, but all of these DMs were pretty respectful of the setting.

 

[FriendlyFiend]

A’kin, owner of The Friendly Fiend in Sigil, was one of the first folk to wander past the PCs at the start of my latest campaign.

 

[Voadam]

True, and I've regretted it almost every time. Unless you count the time Garl Glittergold persuaded a party to go into the Feywild while pretending to be a humble merchant. That was fun.

In my Reign of Winter game the party rescued a gnome running away from Baba Yaga in the feywild. The paladin offered the gnome protection against the witch chasing him, and so she could not touch him or the party unless they left their path. The gnome's name, Garl.

 

[Voadam]

I've used Baba Yaga in two campaigns.

I've used darklords in Ravenloft.

As a PC merchant prince I've met and worked with Mordenkainen, Dracula, and Elric.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I don’t mean to be pedantic… but if you’ve ever run any published module or adventure, then this would be true.

Beyond that, I have one campaign (on hold currently) that includes many published characters from multiple campaign worlds. Iggwilv, Geryon, Eclavdra, the Circle of Eight, Snurre, Hamanu, Strahd, along with many of the Archdemons, as well as the dukes of hell… and so on.

The purpose of that campaign is to be a celebration of all the D&D games we’ve played over the years… so it has to have that kind of stuff in it.

 

[see]

My cleric of Azuth briefly met Elminster.