Cannakale NPCs

The ID DM has some DMG previews that talk about generating memorable NPC’s. So I thought I would take it and apply it to some of the NPC’s in Cannakale. Here they are with more to follow :

Some of the secrets and useful knowledges are in white to prevent them from being easy for my players to see. Highlight the entries to see them.

Dianakous - Elf, Noble, (originally played by Matt) Cleric of Hades. Town Legate.

Talent: Draws beautifully.

Mannerism:  Speaks very carefully

Interaction with others: Acts friendly

Useful Knowledge: Knows a secret way into level 3, and some of Hades Plans.

Ideal: Greed

Bond: Loyalty to the Church of Hades and his uncle

Flaw: secretly believes everyone is beneath him.

Pennicus - Trader. Weasly skinny, little bit whiney, rubs hands together. WantsaAdventurers to find a route down to the dungeon market on Level 2. Has a bunch of books for sale.

Talent: He is a skilled actor,

Mannerism: Talks around the subject all the time

Interaction with others:

Useful Knowledge:

Ideal: is a trade empire surpassing boundaries of normal countries

Bond: Will keep his trading house’s secret.

Flaw: Arrogance

Secret: His trading house has ended up with the Golden skull and he wants to sell it back to the Temple of Elemental evil.

Rasmus - Severed Head on Level 2. Sarcastic. Bitter about being cursed. Knowledgable. Liar.

Etcetera. Goblin spy. No one is sure what he really looks like.

Talent: Actor and “master of disguise”

Mannerism:

Interaction with others: Curious,

Useful Knowledge: He knows where the goblin king has gone.     

Ideal: Whimsical

Bond: Captivated by his romantic interest in Mouse.

Flaw: He is a goblin, 

Frances Gottlestotch. Skinny but always well dressed, immaculately clean, Bar keep

Talent: great at throwing darts.

Mannerism: Prone to predictions of doom

Interaction with others: Gruff

Useful Knowledge: Asura’s secret.

Ideal: Might

Bond: Protective of the town.

Flaw:  Is a serial killer, usually controls himself at home (do not shit in thy own nest) goes for young men with big egos  

Asura, Slim and boyish figure, big gold brown eyes long black hair, wears simple dresses, barmaid      

Talent: Skilled dancer

Mannerism: Whispers

Interaction with others: Quiet

Useful Knowledge: See secret.

Ideal: Redemption

Bond: Out for revenge

Flaw: Secret Crime or misdeed.

Secret:  Actually a male vampire hiding from his sire. Real name is Asher

Areobindus  Big guy, potbellied, balding, builder (working on the orphanage), Wants to write a novel, lacks drive    

Talent: talented writer

Mannerism: prone to singing, whistling or humming.

Interaction with others: Hot tempered

Useful Knowledge: TBD

Ideal: Respect

Bond: Protective of orphans and children

Flaw: overpowering greed.

Beppolenus slightly twitchy. always seems a little bit stoned, really likes adventurers and comes to all the carousing (if he is invited or not), Farmer. Wants to be an adventurer and will be, damn it, the moment the apothecary gets the mix right on his pills    

Talent: expert carpenter

Mannerism: Twitchy

Interaction with others: Ponderous

Useful Knowledge: Knows what is in the basement of the House of Fragrant Dreams.

Ideal: No limits

Bond: Really fond of adventurers and loves what has happened to the town.

Flaw: Always seems slightly stoned.

Secret: Is being drugged by Marsheed because he knows about the stuff in the basement of the House of Fragrant dreams.

Helius, Human male looks like Pete Postlethwaite fisherman. Saving up for a bigger ship, wants to be a trader, and then lead a trading fleet.    

Talent: Great with animals

Mannerism: Paces

Interaction with others: Friendly

Useful Knowledge: Has clues about any coastal location on the map.

Ideal: Greater good

Bond: Dedicated to fulfilling his personal life goal and protective of his boat.

Flaw: Prone to rage

Charito, dreadlocks, half cast, pockmarked skin. female half elf, smells odd, Alchemist / Herbalist    

Talent: expert cook

Mannerism: Twirls/tugs on dreads

Interaction with others: Honest

Useful Knowledge: Used to be a druid knows things about the local druid cults.

Ideal: Life

Bond: out for revenge

Flaw/ Secret: Was a druid of the blackwood that used to worship the elements but managed to figure out how not to turn into an elemental, is hiding out in town to try and teach more of the druids.   

Bruno, Big (for a halfling) burly and threatening, halfling mafia leg breaker    

Talent: Perfect memory

Mannerism: Bites fingernails

Interaction with others: Rude

Useful Knowledge:

Ideal: Tradition

Bond: Protective of colleagues

Flaw: Envies others freedoms

Secret: Is working for them to pay off his brothers debts   

Marsheed a middle aged, Human, thin, smells odd, Owner of the House of Fragrant Dreams  

Talent: Knows thieves cant.

Mannerism: Chews something

Interaction with others: Suspicious

Useful Knowledge: can and will make poisons, and less savory alchemical mixtures.

Ideal: Independance

Bond: Drawn to a special place (his shop)

Flaw: He is very jaded

Secret: Functionally immortal he is waiting for the jailor of the things beneath his shop.

Francis, Gnome, with buggy eyes, Ex-bandit turned informant, Was spared by adventurers including Iola and Orien has turned into an informant and general hanger on at the arena.

Talent: Expert juggler, Good with badgers.

Mannerism: Excited.

Interaction with others: Enthusiastic.

Useful Knowledge: Knows where the hideout of the bandits operating on level 1 is.

Ideal: Aspiration

Bond: Loyal to his pet badger.  

Flaw: Foolhardy bravery

Torendil - Elf  - Noble - Former high priest of Hades, Dianakous’ uncle. Went a bit wrong during his sisters time in charge.

Talent: Great at solving puzzles

Mannerism: uses colorful oaths and exclamations.

Interaction with others: Arrogant.

Useful Knowledge: TBD

Ideal: People

Bond: Loyal to his family

Flaw: Has a powerful enemy

One of these is a ghost.

I have decided to use NanoWrimo as an incentive to get the entire dungeon finished!

You can watch my progress here: http://nanowrimo.org/participants/davetrollkin/novels/troy-mega-dungeon/stats

In the mean time i’m using Gygaxian democracy to make a table of random ghosts for my Troy Megadungeon. I’m looking for 3 sentences for each ghost; Who they were in life, How they died, How they escaped Hades.

Ideally i want about half Trojan war casualties and half other people who ended up in hades (people who died in the old Thracia campaign for example).

I stuck this request on Facebook to start with and got an amazing list of people who died in the Iliad and Odyssey from Everwalker. Now i’m looking to fill the rest of the list with Adventurer types to round out the selection. Drop your dead guy ideas in the comments.

Random Ghost Table

and a list of cool dead guys from the area.

1. Elpenor, companion of Odysseus, who sailed away from Troy with him to Circe's island, climbed up onto the roof of the witch's house whilst drunk and broke his neck falling off it when he missed the ladder. Escaped Hades when Odysseus opened a rift (via sacrifice) to seek the guidance of Tiresias.
2. Aias (aka Telemonian Aias), spear captain under Agamemnon, who was killed when the Trojans rushed the ships. Escaped Hades when ditto.
3. Adrestos, a Trojan charioteer, who was captured by Menelaos and due to be ransomed until Agamemnon threw a hissy fit about not ransoming any soldiers back and stabbed him in the side.
4. Elphenor, a Greek soldier, who was stabbed with a spear whilst bending down to strip the armour off a corpse (on the front line in the middle of battle, so kind of asking for it).
5. The brothers Phegeus and Idaios, charioteers and sons of a priest of Hephaistos. Phegeus threw a spear at Diomedes (Greek) and missed. Diomedes threw it back and didn't miss. Idaios tried to catch his brother before he fell under the wheels of the chariot, overbalanced, and they both fell to their deaths.
6. Gannikus the Gladiator. Devoured by drowned one zombies on the shores of the sea. Escaped the underworld by winning a dead gladiator pit fight.
7. Phereklos, the Trojan ship builder, who'd built the ship that Alexander used to steal Helen. He was stabbed by a spear 'in the right buttock, and the spearhead drove straight on and passing under the bone went into the bladder.' He died.
8. Tlepolemos, Herakles' son (so Greek), challenged Sarpedon, King of the Lykians (Hektor's friend and ally) to a duel. He got stabbed in the throat, but managed to break Sarpedon's leg as he fell.
9. Akamas, a Trojan captain and 'best of the Thracians', who was killed by Aias hitting the horn on his helmet so hard that the horn went through into his skull.
10. Teukros, Aias' half-brother and a Greek archer, who killed tons of Trojans and then tried to shoot Hektor. Hektor objected, and hit him in the throat with a rock.
11. Dolon, a Trojan scout, who went out spying on the Greek lines during the night. Unfortunately he ran into Diomedes, who had gone out to spy on the Trojan lines during the night. Diomedes ran him down, using throwing spears to shepherd him into a dead end. Dolon gave him tons of information in the hope his life would be spared. Then Diomedes cut his head off.
12. Agathe - a 12 year old girl with a lisp. Once a resident of Troy who was Bound for priesthood, she was killed fleeing the temples when Troy was sacked. Can cry on demand and likes toys.
13. Big Nose the Goblin, Killed by Faroque.
14. Douvan Stohl Gnome Archeologist. Cause of death unknown. Spirit summoned by a Hag and released into the dungeon.
15. Anaxagoras, a vain, arrogant, ageing bard. Poisoned by a young rival. Escaped by having his spirit form smuggled out in an Iron Flask to escape the notice of Cerberus and then used all his charm and well-learned politesse on Charon to get him carried back across the river.
16. Ghost of the Keymaster in Human form "I am Vinz, Vinz Clortho, Keymaster of Gozer...Volguus Zildrohoar, Lord of the Seboullia. are you the Gatekeeper?" "You will perish in flame! Soon as I find the Gatekeeper."
17. Ghost of Zuul the Gatekeeper in Human form. “We must prepare for the coming of Gozer” “Are you the keymaster?”
18. Ares - killed by Athene - very annoyed... escaped when Hades wasnt looking... still annoyed hes a ghost and not a god... hates everyone... (at least that is what he claims)
19. Ilium - The ghost of the spirit of the City itself. Remanent of all the souls that died when the city was sacked. Sent out by Hades to serve his purposes. (again he looks like a guy not a city)

I also have an updated Scoreboard with the players rocketing to the top after a fantastic haul from 2 stashes of treasure.

Status	Name	Score	Notes
	Dudes of Righteousness	11,010gp	Found a secret stash and The Arch of Greed. (player party)
?	The Sons of Men	5255	Went straight down to level 3 on their First delve. Have not been seen for 3 weeks. Still missing.
	The Lamenters	5009	Found a cache on Level 2 after following a treasure map. Lost all of their Hirelings and their wizard got bitten in half by spiders on level 3. Went down to the Centaur races, came back without Alice but with a good haul.
	The Iron Crows	2428	Snuck into the centaur race on level 4 and made away with a race prize. played it safe this week found some stuff on level 2. Went down to level 3 West have not returned
	The Strangers	3502	Went down to the north section of level 3 and got lost but came back with a massive pile of treasure.
	The Celts	1085	New Party from Gaul and Breton.
	The Disciples	2833	All Clerics or divine casters, apparently using divinations to find treasure.
?	Higgins’ Heroes	1075	Got some good loot but lost 3 guys to Zombies after they were trapped behind a Portcullis. Now looking for recruits or hirelings. Tried to go back into the North side of the first level but have not come back.
	Jacks	750

Are you running D&D? Want to stick your group on the scoreboard? Drop their details (party name,  level, composition and total loot gained from adventuring so far) and I will add them as more adventurers flock to the mega dungeon.

Troy Scoreboard

The west gate looks like this, but all the dudes are skeletons.

More Troy Megadungeon details, this bit specifically inspired by This post.

In the half finished Arena in Cannakale The Table Map has been converted to a loot scoreboard.

Adventurers returning from the depths deposit their cash on the table and the total goes up on the scoreboard.

The team at the top of the scoreboard is exempt from Adventurers tax.

The Scoreboard currently looks like this:

The Score Board

Status	Name	Score	Notes
Live	The Sons of Men	5255	Went straight down to level 3 on their first delve. Have not been seen for 2 weeks
Live	The Lamenters	3098	Found a cache on Level 2 after following a treasure map.
Live	The Iron Crows	1728	Snuck into the centaur race on level 4 and made away with a race prize
Live	The Disciples	1333	All Clerics or divine casters, apparently using divinations to find treasure.
Live	The Strangers	1296	managed a three or so average hauls
Live	Higgins’ Heroes	775	Came out with a pile of expensive furniture
Live	“Player Party”	220
Live	Jacks	150

The board is going to update each week as parties return from the depths laden down with loot.

Like in This is Thracia I have a table of rumours but I am handing them out more generously this time around. With other adventuring parties delving into the Ruins, The Scoreboard and Valthrun (the local Sage)’s big mouth information comes out of the depths much quicker.

A selection of Rumours the players have had about Troy so far are:

1. Pandaras The Bone Lord rules the West section of the first level.
2. There is a Dungeon Market Somewhere on level 2.
3. Centaur Races happen every month on level 4.
4. The South section’s gate is missing.
5. The Apple of Discord is hidden somewhere on the first level.
6. The western section of level 2 is home to a lot of spiders.
7. The Sword of Troy has gone missing and is somewhere in the Dungeon.
8. Athena’s Helm is somewhere within the Dungeon and militant Amazons are looking for it.
9. The Necromancer Wizard in the fort to the South of the city has work for Adventurers going into Troy.

The Board and the Rumours are both designed to encourage player led exploration and competition, giving out enough information for players to make informed decisions about where to adventure. We have had 2 sessions so far and the players are starting to put together a good idea of what can be found where on the first level, from talking to Acolytes of the various temples in the Eastern section of level 1 and some rooms with clues and riddles. It has also come to light that I was too stingy on my first pass of Treasure so I have revisited my currently finished levels and change dup some of the loot.  

I currently have Maps going down to Level 4 part 2 (there are 4 sections to each level) and fully stocked levels down to Level 2 part 4. Over the first 2 sessions the players have explored about 2/3 of Level 1 part 1.

Finally here is my Player Doc if you want to follow along at home or see the rest of the House rules I am adding.