Meta NPCs - Reusing My Favorites Across Game Worlds

I have found, as an evergreen referee, that I'd much rather pilot NPCs than play a proper character in an ongoing campaign. I've mentioned this before, but as I consider today's topic, it is especially relevant. 

NPCs are skeleton keys to the campaign world for referees. They are direct representations of tropes, themes, needs, and wants that you (if you're running a game) want to convey to the players to make the setting come alive. I'd rather spend three hours playing a dozen+ NPCs than a single, titular character. I've learned this over time. It remains my staple experience in adventure games. 

This is brief preamble for my sharing with you my Meta NPCs. That is, my favorite NPCs that show up in just about all of my games regardless of genre or setting (tailored to fit, as necessary). I've lived with these characters in my head for years now, and they always bounce around when I daydream some idea or another. Some were spawned originally in my 5e games, and others elsewhere. All of them have been a blast to drop in and out of my various tables.

Plunder these as you like.

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Mood Music

1. Victorious Secret has featured in my games since 2016. A highly professional outfit, think of this group either as the apex rival party to your player-characters or, at the very least, a highly-regarded group of mercenaries who are known by all of the elites in your setting. The group's leader is LADY FIREBALL™, and includes Ken, Mitzi, and Brif.

LADY FIREBALL™

Personality Traits
I take great pains to always look my best and follow the latest fashions.

I work hard so that I can play even harder when the work is done.

Ideal
Sincerity. There's no good pretending to be something I'm not (which is fabulous).

Bond
No one else is going to have to endure the hardships I've been through.

Flaw
I remember every insult I've received and nurse a silent resentment toward anyone who's ever wronged me.

- Wand of Unending Fireballs
- Winged Gucci Boots

In short, LADY FIREBALL™ is my porting an Ecstasy-fueled Ke$ha into my game world. She is fabulous, arrogant, unhinged, and exceedingly overclocked in her ability and reach. This woman brooks no opposition and parties harder than she works to immolate her opponents. Often covered in glitter. Proceed with caution. 

Khuuhrukehul "Ken" Hrihuluuvar

Personality Traits

I never pass up a friendly wager.

Whenever I come to a new place, I collect local rumors and spread gossip.

Ideal
Discovery. I want to be the first person to discover a lost culture.

Bond
I want to find my mentor, who disappeared on an expedition some time ago.

Flaw
I'd risk too much to uncover a lost bit of knowledge.

- Crystal Orb of Planar Sight
- Ioun Stone, Supreme Intellect

Ken is not a typical bugbear. Keenly intelligent and nearly obsessed with cryptids, he does not pass up an opportunity to turn over a new leaf even if it risks his life and limb. Collector of dad jokes and porcelain miniatures, Ken is at home wherever average folk conduct their daily business. He is an everyman, while also being a gatekeeper of esoteric arcana. 

Mitzi Weebl

Personality Traits
I use polysyllabic words to convey the impression of great erudition.

I'm rude to people who lack my commitment to hard work and fair play.

Ideal
Charity. I distribute money I acquire to the people who really need it.

Bond
I wish my childhood sweetheart had come with me to pursue my destiny.

Flaw
I overlook obvious solutions in favor of complicated ones.

- Cape of Teleportation
- Shortbow of Alarms

Very much the mom of the group, Mitzi has a heart of gold. This is often a cause of LADY FIREBALL™'s eye-rolling and Brif's admiration. She is a cheerleader and sneaky-silent comic relief, often the source of witty jokes. No one is outside of her care and consideration, and her bleeding heart leads to many complications for the team.

Brif Rooktalon

Personality Traits
I quote (or misquote) the sacred texts and proverbs in almost every situation.

If you do me an injury, I will crush you, ruin your name, and salt your fields.

Ideal
Glory. I must earn glory in battle, for myself and my clan.

Bond
My freedom is my most precious possession. I'll never let anyone take it from me again.

Flaw
I am dogmatic in my thoughts and philosophy.

- Greataxe of Berserk Fury
- Ring of the Alpha Ram

Brif is the baddest of asses. The man is a thunder shaman of some obscure sect of lightning vikings who ride wyverns and eat wolves, or something awesome like that. He is deeply rooted in ancient lore, a friend to the lost, and will split you in half if provoked. Some say he rides a flying horse. Others say he rides the lightning while flashing horns.

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2. The Fell Rippers are monster slayers of the highest order. Do you recall the toppling of the bronze drake that burned out four-hundred settlers in the Eastfold? Eli and Alphonse tore the throat out of that dragon and torched its head in a city square. These men are beyond mercenaries. They live to garrote lofty nobles, rend castles in twain, sunder criminal cartels, and behead ancient beasts for fun and profit. 

ELI VELJOUEN (left), former (and very troubled) cleric

Harrowing Event
A hag kidnapped and raised me. I escaped, but the hag still has a magical hold over me and fills my mind with evil thoughts.

Personality Traits
I refuse to remain a victim, and I will not allow others to be victimized (unless it is at my hand).

I live for the thrill of the hunt.

Ideal
I have a dark calling that puts me above the law.

Bond
My torment drove away the person I love. I strive to win back the love I've lost.

Flaw
I have certain rituals that I must follow every day. I can never break them.

- Animated TOWER SHIELD
- Agrippa, Blade of Severed Memories

Eli is not a nice person. He takes jobs that pay well, especially if they are risky. Some might argue he attempts to get himself killed by dangerous assignments, only to prevail and further deepen his introspective stupor. He is exceedingly threatening even during simple interactions. Were Alphonse not around to offer him some perspective, he'd either be dead or atop a pile of corpses.

ALPHONSE (right), listless Rakshasa and amphetemine-fueled marauder

Personality Traits
No matter where I go, people are afraid of me due to my reputation.

My language is as foul as an otyugh nest.

Ideal
I'm a monster that destroys other monsters, and anything else that gets in my way.

Bond
Something important was taken from me, and I aim to steal it back.

Flaw
If there's a plan, I'll forget it. If I don't forget it, I'll ignore it.

- Chainmail of Efreet Sultans
- Millerian, Greatsword of Profound Statements

Most Rakshasa do not bother to meddle with mortal affairs, unless they are hungry. Alphonse is cut from a different cloth altogether. Tired of aimless Planeswalking, he has left his history among the Cities of Platinum far behind him, and instead become a personal menace to anyone who shares a competing objective. He lives for ruthless superiority over his peers, and utterly despises rival "adventurers."

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3. Chaska Hymnsing is a mendicant paladin of sorts, first introduced in my idealized Night Below campaign where she had some beef with Illithids abducting her sisters years prior. She has a nice smile and gentle manner, but push this woman a little too far and her placid, azure eyes blaze with an intense flame of vengeance. 

Personality Traits
I'm always polite and respectful.

I'm full of inspiring and cautionary tales from my military experience relevant to almost every combat situation.

Ideal
Live and Let Live. Ideals aren't worth killing over or going to war for.

Bond
My honor is my life.

Flaw
The monstrous enemy we faced in battle still leaves me quivering with fear.

- Sigil of the War Caster

- Purge, the Demon Chakram

Chaska is a meat-and-potatoes hometown girl. Her attention is most often captured by the downtrodden, simple folk who do their best when farming dirt. She's a patient listener and thoughtful friend. She's also a descendent of a gold dragon eons removed from the mortal plane, and is suffused with vidictive rage sourced from some distant pool of extradimensional resentment. She loves puppies and occasional righteous slaughter.

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4. Terrance Telemachus Tettlebury is the courtier to end all courtiers. Nobles, minor kings, and aristocrats everywhere trust this man. He is of high birth (or not, but he certainly fakes it until he makes it) and is a discerning palate for matters both carnal and political. I originally ran him as a player-character is an old campaign, then resurrected him as a perfect intrigue NPC. He features anywhere there is power and influence to be swayed.

Personality Traits

I’m full of witty aphorisms and have a proverb for every occasion.

I’m well known for my work, and I want to make sure everyone appreciates it. I'm always taken aback when people haven’t heard of me.

Ideal
My talents were given to me so that I could use them to benefit the world.

Bond
I owe my lord a great debt for forging me into the person I am today.

Flaw
I’m never satisfied with what I have... I always want more.

- Chalice of the Phantom Servant
- Waistcoat of Holding

Terrance is a high-society charlatan with 50% of his eggs in the basket of whichever political mover and shaker is prone to the nearest success, 50% tied in with the murky underworld kingpins of any given quarter, and an extra 20% assigned to the underdogs in both contexts. He is a manipulator, negotiator, swashbuckler, and sincere knave. And he loves being a knave.

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5. Captain Beautyhorn is a majestic, fabulous unicorn who has now been summoned from the beyond the kaleidscopic ether on six unique occasions across that many separate campaigns. I first brought him into existence with a bit of wild magic from Howlin' Jimmy Jefferson, a 5e sorcerer I once played, but he's shown up across multiple settings and genres since. He is currently the benevolent patron to a warlock of sorts in one of my Weird North games.

Personality Traits

I'd high-five everyone I meet except I have happy little shiny hooves and that's awkward!

This one time, I saw a storm cloud shaped like a smiling face, and I'm down for that energy.

Ideal
Hoooooo yeah let the heavens open up and SPARKLE!

Bond
You got the spirit? I got the spirit! We all got the spirit!

Flaw
My greatest weakness is that I am too loving.

- Captain Beautyhorn doesn't have any magic items because he's a frickin cosmic unicorn and doesn't need that nonsense. He has friendship, rainbows, and glorious stellar power beyond your imagining.

In the time of your greatest need, Captain Beautyhorn is there. You only need to make a wish in your heart, and BAM, rainbows raining down from the planar heavens, baby. It helps if you manage to tap into the wild, twisting nether of good vibes and raw arcana. The Cap'n spends his downtime chasing kirin across the astral spheres. He like haikus, warm milk, and the smell of wet air just after a refreshing rain storm.

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6. Lawrence Van Asseldonk, CPA, is very average-looking man, and he prefers it that way. Many years ago, I set out to imagine what an accomplished necromancer would look like if he were a "lawful good" social pragmatist, ultimately concerned with as many boats raised using the lowest expended effort. Naturally (or perhaps ironically, unnaturally) he found the dead (and their discarded bodies) as a tremendous opportunity for labor efforts, utility service, and cultural welfare.

Personality Traits

I believe that anything worth doing is worth doing right. I can’t help it--I’m a perfectionist.

I'm used to helping out those who aren’t as smart as I am, and I patiently explain anything and everything to others.

Ideal

If you're not going to do it right, you're not going to do it at all.

Bond
My honor is my life.

Flaw
I am easily distracted by the promise of information.

- Rod of Invisible Lifting

- Papplio's Charm of Sustained Prestidigitation

Cold, precise, articulate--the life of Lawrence Van Asseldonk has only ever been one of calculation and exactitude. Raised in a family of regional bureaucrats, he has always known order and regulation as the standard of normalcy for respectable and civilized living. Advances in personal effectiveness as a contributing member of one's culture and moral proximity are paramount objectives for Lawrence. Being a necromancer, of course, is merely a means to that end.