Silver Princess NPCs

I've been attending the free Yoga class at my work for a few months. One piece of advice the teacher likes to give is to notice where your body is 'weak' and focus your efforts there. I'm going to apply this lesson to the DnD campaign I'm currently running.

So where am I weak? One place I've noticed is in coming up with fully-fleshed out NPCs. So here is a list of some NPCs for the campaign:

Cpt. Vallaria Amazonus

An officer in the Galluvian army. She is haughty and misandrynistic, yet dedicated to her job to the point of self sacrifice.

The party encountered her in session 2. What will she say when she sees them next?

Human F Law F3

HP18 AC17 AB1 Save12

Plate Mail, Shield, Spear, Horseman's Axe, Warhorse, Saddlebags with rations, 10GP

One Eyed Jack

A local bandit of some note. He was born with unnaturally lucky, such that however many times he has lost everything, he always seems to turn up again with a new lot of ruffians.

The party encountered him in session 4. He still holds a grudge over them taking his "eye".

Human M Neutral Th2

HP8 AC15 AB0 Save14

Long Sword, Leather, eye patch, horse

Mooncow the Artificer

A prestigious Gulluvian gem dealer. He old and a bit eccentric. He may give the party escort missions, fetch-quests, etc. He will also buy any gems, jewelry, or other fine relics, though he is a discerning customer. He wants his daughter home to help him with business, rather than running around adventuring.

The party gained his good will in in session 4 and started session 5 in his house..

Mooncalf

Daughter of mooncow. She is a dutiful daughter, participating in her father's business, but she is also well trained in her true passion of sorcery. A bit clumsy on occasion. She has been feeling the itch to go adventuring. As such, she may join the party or meet them after having run away.

Human F Law Mage2 slots2
HP5 AC10 AB0 Save14
Nice but practical dress, emerald necklace, 3 rings, sharp gem file, spellbook: read magic, detect magic, comprehend languages, shocking grasp, Monster Summoning I

King Gob

Big green mean Goblin King. He rules the largest tribe of goblins and has united the hordes, but to what end?

HP22 AC14 AB3 Save14
Battle Axe, armor
Intricate silver ring

Warg Mount

Palace of the Silver Princess

And finally, let's not forget the NPCs mentioned in the module;

• Tinker and Daughter
• Catharandamus
• Xyzom, Boron
• Aleigha

Palace of the Silver Princess Season 2

With the change to Winter time, the kids and I are picking-up our Swords and Wizardry campaign again where we left off half a year ago. Not only that, but one of our neighbor's kids just got into Magic Cards, so he jumped at the chance to join our DnD game when I mentioned it. So the party as it currently stands:

1. Princessa- Human Fighter with a bastard sword, ring mail and a shot bow. Watch out for this one!
2. Melech Yisrael- Elf Fighter/Magic User. He carries a scimitar and longbow along with his spellbook
3. Lavi- Dwarven Fighter/Thief with leather armor,  magic longsword, and light crossbow
4. Minion- a chaotic Elven thief with a two handed sword who has joined the party for obscure reasons

Gulluvia

Gulluvia City

The party begin in the house of Mooncow the Artificer, a Jeweler(and his daughter) who they had previously saved from the goblins.

The three veteran members wanted to head straight for the Palace of the Silver Princess, while Minion wanted to know where he could earn large quantities of coin. They managed to convince him and the party headed out.

But before they could escape the city, a roving Goblin patrol, led by a huge Bugbear, overpowered them(despite Melech's excellent shooting and successful charming of one of the goblins). They woke up in a house that had been modified as a holding cell.

Together, the party members managed to break the lock and Minion found his sword in a pile of equipment and backstabbed the Orc guard into the netherworld. The party managed to find all their equipment, but gave up on recovering their mounts from among the goblin camp laying siege to the castle in Gulluvia. Instead, the party snuck down an alley and made for the nearest exit from the city, killing a couple wandering Goblins on their way out.

Overland

Kingdom

The party shunned the main road and took the less used path to N'Sau. They avoided fairy trickery at night and chased a bear. After two days' brisk hiking, they arrived at the village. After buying some supplies, they headed North.

While heading through the forest, the party was held up by a band of bandit archers hiding in the trees. Minion managed to sweet-talk them into accepting 10GP and leaving the party alone.

The Palace

Arriving at the palace, the party climbed back up the tower and started searching rooms. They found a room full of spare short-swords but were discovered by an angry looking bugbear. The Thieves jumped to attack him. They dispatched the beasie, but Minion was left wounded and unconscious, so they decided to bunker down in an unoccupied room and heal-up.

Norwegian Metal Campaign

Mythic Norway

While wasting time reading about Black Metal bands on Wikipedia, I couldn't help noticing what great stage names some of these guys have. Building a Norwegian Black Metal band lineup looks sort of like an adventuring party, doesn't it?

• Fafnir- vocalist
• Shagrath- guitarist/vocalist
• Silenoz- guitar/songwriter
• ICS Vortex- bass guitar
• Winter- keyboard
• Hellhammer- drums

"Hellhammer" is a great name for a metal drummer, isn't it? This really makes me want to run a campaign where where the party are a Dark Metal band questing through mythic Norway. What might that look like?

Soundtrack

This is easy. Play some Black Metal music from youtube to set the tone. Burzum, Emperor, and Darkthrone are a good place to start.

The Hook

A strange cultic symbol

The adventure hook is simple. The party is a black metal band. Their last gig got a little too intense. It was a show in the old Cathedral of Nidarosdomen in Trondheim. Suddenly, in the middle of the show, there was a dark flash and some sort of gateway or portal opened up and sucked you in! But to where? It looks like the Norwegian countryside, but, somehow...darker. And there is a strange cultic symbol nearby.

Game System

Pick an old school DnD of your choice.

Character Creation

This should be fun. The party is a band. Have the players create their character,

1. Pick a really metal name
2. choose musical specialty
3. Starting level 3 is good
1. Since there are no starting weapons, PCs will need to be a bit resilient...
4. Alignment: choose between Pure Black Evil and Nihilistic Neutral
5. Choose a class. Some of you may soon discover you've gained strange cultic ability. Choose between Viking, Anti-Cleric, and Witch/Wizard)
1. Regarding spells, I need to go through the list and find the most metal spell list possible...
2. DCC Spellburn and Ritual rules would be a good fit
6. Equipment

1. your instruments(not too helpful since Mythic Norway doesn't have electricity)
2. your clothes(probably count as leather, studded, or padded armor?)

Adventure

As DM, you really want to sell the mystery of where they are and how they might get back. Point out how bummed they must feel unable to play their instruments. Have them run into places/people they know, but that are different. Tease them with hints at a way back to the normal world.

As for setting, have strange, run-down castles, haunted forests, bleak snow-covered peaks.

Encounters can include:

• Huge dumb Trolls
• Rowdy Vikings
• Cattle-riding Huldra
• Pale alluring Nattmara Werewolves
• Depressive, man-eating Mermaids
• Ship devouring Krakens
• Cryptic Witches
• Hungry Fossegrimen
• Black-Metal Nøkken
• Plague-ridden Pesta
• Forlorn Draugen
• Cattle-tending Wights
• Greedy Svartálfar and Female Elves
• Fanden- the devil himself