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)

[Jfdlsjfd]

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

Indeed. My players have met that recurring character... how was it called, yes, kobold #3, repeatedly. Too bad the interaction never lasted more than 12 or 18 seconds to explore his rich backstory.

To answer more seriously, I'd say yes again in a way that's inevitable at higher tier. If you're playing in an established setting, the royalties are very likely to be named. If you're a "saviour of the realm", there is a good chance one will reference them, and honestly if after saving Breland three times, the PCs aren't awarded the order of the golden bear, with cross and palms, they'll really start remembering that there are five nations, after all...

 

[Lanefan]

I had to vote "true" as the moment you either run or play in a canned setting-based module you're almost inevitably (you hope!) going to meet its NPCs. Run A-2 Slavers' Stockade - you're going to meet Markessa. Run S-1 Lost Caverns - you're going to meet Drelzna. And so on.

And, does it count if the NPC appears in the wrong setting? I'm not running Greyhawk by any stretch of the imagination, yet Iggwilv has put in an appearance during my current campaign - mostly because she was just so wonderfully suitable for what I needed at the time.

 

[Gradine]

My longest-running Eberron campaign had quite a few established NPCs in it, including Merrix d'Cannith, Jaela Daran, and the Lord of Blades. The big bad was Erandis Vol. It was a ton of fun.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The question doesn't really ask what it thinks it asks, since it doesn't clearly define who is and is not included. As worded, anyone who has ever run a WotC adventure should tick yes. Plus there are named unique monsters. My players have "met" Ygorl Lord of Entropy. Plus the gods. They are also characters within their respective settings. And is it limited to physical appearances, or is a name-drop enough? Drizzt is name-dropped in RotFM, but doesn't appear.

A better question would be "I have used gratuitous celebrity* cameos in my games" T/F

*A celebrity being defined as a character my players would recognise and enjoy meeting.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Back in 2e, I would usually run games in the Dalelands, and groups would often try to get advice or help from Elminster. Lhaeo would always put them off with mounds of paperwork to put in a request, always in triplicate, and after a few hours the party would inevitably get bored and wander off (all except one very lawful neutral character who enjoyed filling out paperwork; eventually he exhausted even Lhaeo, who sent him away with dozens of further forms to fill out at his leisure). I think the only time Elminster actually appeared is when, after saving the Dales from some terrible threat but causing a lot of incidental damage, they were banished from Shadowdale, with Elminster and the Lord of Shadowdale standing sternly at the bridge out of town to ensure they left.

 

[Tallifer]

Never, because I always refluff almost every published module and world to better reflect the traditional Arthurian/Tolkienian and whimsical Oz/Narnian atmosphere of my campaigns.

 

[el-remmen]

I thought the examples in the statement were clear enough regarding the kind of NPCs I mean. I mean those who appear in novels or have spells named after them and the like.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I thought the examples in the statement were clear enough regarding the kind of NPCs I mean. I mean those who appear in novels or have spells named after them and the like.

Video games? Video games that have been made into novels? Gods that have been in novels? Named monsters that have been in novels? TV shows? Characters who are in novels and also appear in WotC adventures?

 

[el-remmen]

Video games? Video games that have been made into novels? Gods that have been in novels? Named monsters that have been in novels? TV shows? Characters who are in novels and also appear in WotC adventures?

Whatever you like is fine.