NPC Highlight: Chet Starbeam and his Blazers

Chet Starbeam
The Design Diary

I'm not usually a fan of pre-generated NPCs, as I generally prefer to make bespoke campaigns with my own particular NPCs.  I have noticed, though, that people do make use of them.  They can be a nice way to quickly illustrate a particular element of a setting, and as an immediate encounter.  So, I thought I'd try a new series, wherein I outline an NPC that I've whipped up.  I usually make them for playtests I run, or to make sure a particular template "makes sense."  But they might prove useful to you, so I've created a new entry on the Wiki for them.

Of all the opponents that PCs might meet, I think Bounty Hunters are likely the most universal.  We can justify them fighting just about anyone.  In Jedi: Fallen Order, they sprinkle encounters with Bounty Hunters across the map as your adventure progresses to keep  you on your toes.  Having access to a variety of ready-made bounty hunters, then, could be useful to any Psi-Wars GM as someone to bust in the door and shoot up the place.  After the initial encounter, the PCs can try to piece together who put the bounty on them.

I've started the series with an NPC that I created as part of my "Let's kill Everyone" series, which was designed for the NPCs of the Tall Tales of the Orochi Belt.  We never got to encounter them, but you can use them in your campaign.  The first is Chet Starbeam, celebrity bounty hunter and total bro. I started with him because he is the most generic of the Bounty Hunters I've created, and he makes a nice, fun "first step" into being bounty hunted, as he's not especially difficult to defeat, and can be entertaining to fight.

See what you think of him, and I'd love to hear if you think the series would be useful to you, and if there are particular sorts of NPCs you'd like to see.

Alright, fine, let's kill Axton Kain too! Bounty Hunter Design Diary addendum

One of my players complained when the Bounty Hunter series ended, as he had hoped I would explore how to defeat all of them.  This isn't a bad idea, actually, as it informs the sorts of things bounty hunters should be able to do. The primary argument against it is a matter of time: how much of my time is better spent building sample bounty hunters vs building out more of the setting?  This isn't a rhetorical question, as I don't know the answer, but I've had to balance it, and it does directly feed into Tall Tales of the Orochi Belt, even if we're unlikely to see these hunters right away.  So, shall we come up with one last bounty hunter to fight the legendary Axton Kain?

Some of my favorite people are bounty hunters -- Greef Karga, the Mandalorian

This isn't an entirely inappropriate question.  Patrons have already seen the current state of the Bounty Hunter document, but one element I've begun to include are Bounty Hunter Lodges, organized groups of bounty hunters, and one of the three I intend to release is the Exilium, a group of hunters deeply embedded into Maradonian society, who have the diplomatic finesse to operate across several borders, including in Imperial Space, without being questioned or sanctioned.  Thus, this asks the question: how do you hunt a Maradonian?

The Maradonian aristocracy aren't Jedi by any stretch.  In some ways, they're far harder to hunt, and in other ways, far easier.  On the one hand, their mastery of psychic power leaves much to be desired when compared to the psychic mastery of the Jedi and they're not elite force swordsmen.  On the other hand, they are all psychic force swordsmen, who also have armies and international influence networks and vast wealth available exclusively to them.  When you fight a space knight, you're not just fighting him,  you're fighting his house, thus you must move with caution.  Presumably, a nobleman with a bounty on his head has been cast out of his house, and thus can be as easily caught as any aristocratic pretender, but this is not always the case, especially in circumstances where a rival has begun placing bounties on a member of the house.

Of course, Axton is a little different: he's not psychic at all, but cybernetic.  He belongs to a House that skirts the line between legitimate aristocracy and pirate-lord empire.  Where the other aristocrats play at being a space knight, he's trained in the Old Ways and has personally knocked genetically augmented super-soldiers off their feet with the full force of his cybernetic body, single-handedly taken on a dozen men and shrugged off plasma shots to his chest.  He's not an easy mark to take down, and still, someone in the Exilium must be able to take down a member of House Kain.

So how would you do it?

Hey guys, let's fight everyone! Bounty Hunter Design Diary Part III

So, as part of my Bounty Hunter designs, I've been picking on one of my Tall Tales players, Xerxes, because he actually has Bounty Hunters as an enemy, so it's fun to tailor some opponents around him. But realistically one would not expect to see every bounty hunter tailored to their target.  Certainly, if bounty hunters realized that a Witch Cat was their target, those who specialize in hunting Witch Cats would pick up their kits and rush out the door to take down their preferred target.  But that anti-cyborg guy needs to put food on the table too.  Sure, he might not be as good at it as the first guy, but he only needs to get lucky, right?

So, we should have at least one "generic" bounty hunter.  This also makes it useful since you, dear reader, are unlikely to need a bounty hunter who specializes in hunting Witch Cats.  Thus, of the three-ish hunters I've proposed this week, this is the one you're most likely to actually use.

But what to do?  Every hunter needs a schtick, and our first one already melds excess collateral damage with precision planning.  Our second one melds melee excellence with a sympathetic character.  Every hunter should feel different enough that they represent a unique challenge for the PC, so ours should feel different.

Well!  I've been discussing Bounty Hunters with some of my Patrons, and Gentleman Gamer suggested that most bounty hunters are "either bosses or groups of mooks." I corrected him on the latter: you're unlikely to see a group of mooks.  "Why?" he asked.  Well, the real reason is that we expect to see highly competent loners doing these tasks, and that it's hard to pay an entire crew off of the sorts of bounties most people collect.  But that just means its rare, so why not have a bounty hunter with a group of mooks at his disposal?  It offers some unique opportunities: when searching for the character, his posse can canvas an area as a group and when they close in for the kill (er, capture), they can "beat" the target towards the primary hunter, like dogs in a hunt.  Gentleman Gamer went on to muse about drones, robot dogs and Shinjurai hunters, and I'm not going to dismiss any of those as ideas.  There's an entire world of hunters we could be making.  I'm going to focus, for now, on a guy who uses human mooks to help him fight.

Hey Guys, Let's Annoy the Witch Cat: Bounty Hunters Design Diary Part II

Yesterday, in an effort to keep the blog from being empty and giving the impression that I'm not busy behind the scenes, I unveiled some of my thoughts on making an interesting and rather tailored challenge for a character who took Bounty Hunters as an enemy.  The point, of course, is not to single him out for having the temerity to take the Enemy disadvantage, but to use his Enemy disadvantage as a spring board to create some interesting NPCs, because I expect you'll want to feature Bounty Hunters in your campaigns too, and why not have some ready, on-hand ones, even if these are rather specific.

But not every game is D&D, and even D&D doesn't really benefit from making every single encounter as lethal as possible.  Yes, we can treat Bounty Hunters as random Boss encounters, but  we don't have to.  An encounter, especially with something as "random" as a broad and general group of ill-defined enemies, offers us opportunities to explore and reveal some things about the setting.  Not every enemy needs to be lethal.  Some can really suck.  A weak opponent not only reveals something about the world, but makes the game feel less like a mechanical series of ever more difficult encounters and more like a real world to interact with.  And an inept enemy creates an interesting set of choices.  Sure, you could just, you know, kill them, but are you the sort of person who would do that? Or you can leave them alive to threaten you further and eventually they might get lucky.  Or you can try to talk them out of killing you.  But suddenly, you have a more interesting set of choices beyond just "kill or be killed."

So, I propose we introduce a bounty hunter or, actually, a team of bounty hunters that isn't constructed to be a thoroughly dangerous opponent, but an interesting NPC encounter that happens to involve a strong desire to kill you. I want to introduce a "newbie" bounty hunter.

Patreon Double Trouble: the Names of Humanity and Building Imperial NPCs

Today, I've got not one, but two, Patreon posts!  In the first, I've got the Names of Humanity, a proposed expanded list of the generic sci-fi names offered in Iteration 5.  These include a brief discussion of the various "ethnicities" of humanity in Psi-Wars, and where the original culture groups came from ages ago, to create a cohesive set of names, as well as a discussion of how to mix and match them.  Hopefully, this gives you plenty of ideas on how to name your characters.  The Names of Humanity is available right now to all $3+ patrons (and no, you're not crazy, back in the State of the Patreon I argued that this would be a $1+, but in retrospect, it's less of an aside or generic article, and more of a preview of coming Psi-Wars material, so thus appropriate for $3+.  I hope this change does not offend!)

Next, I have Building Imperial NPCs, an open invitation to all $7+ patrons (my Disciples) to contribute to the Empire by creating your own NPCs.  I've included instructions, what I'm looking for and what I'm not, as well as questions and real or fictional characters to inspire you.
Go and take a look!  If you're not a patron, as usual, I'd love to have you!

Patreon Posts: The Empire and the Emperor

Today begins the reign of the Empire!  Over the next month, I'll release all the details of the Empire, from its organizations to its unique technology and its dangerous personnel.  For my $3+ "Fellow Traveler" Patrons, I have a complete preview (though currently lacking technology and personnel!)

For my $5+ Companions and Disciples, you get to decide on the Emperor himself.  Heir to the great war hero's legacy, he might be a sinister psion or a misunderstood genius.  What is his true agenda, and who will reign when he passes away?  The introduction post is here.

As usual, I want to thank my patrons: you guys make this possible.  If you're not a patron, don't worry, all of this stuff will eventually be available to you too, but if you'd like to join, I'd love to have you.

Damien Bogsworth, Viscount of Toys, King of Toyland

Belphegor acquired the Estate of Toys by contract, which stipulates that he must honor the laws of Toyland, the seat of the Estate of Toys and a complex world home to a variety of lesser estates. The law of Toyland states that Toyland itself chooses its King, who is also made the Power of Toys. Upon turning 13, the King of Toyland must give up his position to the next king of Toyland.

Damien Bogsworth, the current King of Toyland, refused. The only child of a wealthy lawyer and a doting trophy mom, Damien has lived a life surrounded by the best and most exclusive toys. He’s learned to collect limited edition toys that he leaves in their box (“It preserves their value”), and his parents ensure he has better toys than everyone else, which he uses for leverage to ensure that he’s “the coolest kid in school,” bribing those he’d like to be his friends by letting them watch him play with his awesome toys. His magnificent collection contained such occult weight that Toyland selected him to be the King of Toyland when he was 8.

As his thirteenth birthday approached, Damien realized he had already been replaced and that toyland had selected a new king, Tommy Tinkerton, who would ascend to the throne on Damien’s birthday. Furious at the prospect of losing all the wonderful toys of Toyland, Damien turned to Belphegor, who was all to happy to agree to help him. Belphegor and Damien found Tommy Tinkerton and kidnapped him. Damien keeps Tommy locked up in a dungeon in the bowels of toyland in a magical cage that slowly drains the youth from Tommy and keeps Damien eternally twelve. Soon, Tommy will be too old to be king, and Damien will be the immortal emperor of Toyland.

As the toys of toyland become increasingly aware of these, they have rebelled and tried to free Tommy. Damien has responded with brutal crackdowns and secret police. The toys of Toyland are now divided between those who support Damien’ revolution, enforcers and informants, and those who fight it: rebels and guerillas.

Damien's flowers are aconite, the Key of Rage, and oak, the Key of Something That Hasn't Changed.  He follows the Path of Hell, and his anchors are Tommy Tinkerton, the True King of Toyland, the Pinup Princess, the Great Toy Hoard, and Toyland itself, his Sanctum.

Estate of Toys

-Toys are the playthings of others (3).
-Toys tempt you to use them (1).
-Toys spark nostalgia and fond memories (1).
-Toys bring fun and amusement (1).
-Toys are childish (1).

Domain Miracles of Toys

1. Summon a common toy from nothing, or change one toy model to another, common toy model.
   
2. Know a toy’s true name at a glance. Know everything about an obscure toy. Talk to a toy, get it to talk back, to find out whatever it knows.
   
3. Make a toy even cooler: More fun, more tempting, more nostalgic. Upgrade a common toy to a limited-edition, exclusive, high-end toy. Make a toy physically stronger and tougher.
   
4. Create a toy to spec. Bring a toy to life, so that it’s animated and able to act according to its will. Make a toy enact your will. Give a toy a new function (“Kung Fu Grip!”)
   
5. Use a toy like a ouije board or a magic 8-ball to see the future. Damage or destroy a toy. Strip a toy of its value, or its color, or some of its functions.
   
6. Change a toy’s destiny, what purpose it serves, or how the world sees it. Make a toy haunted, or extremely valuable, or the last of its kind. Make a toy epic, making it immortal, unbreakable, or magical.
   
7. Animate all the toys of a region or a city. Summon one of the Seven Fabled Toys. Create a magical toy from nothing. Create a new genre of toy.
   
8. Destroy all toys in a nation. Destroy a genre of toys. Create an item capable of destroying even one of the seven fabled toys.
   
9. Empower a toy to become one of the Seven Fabled Toys.. Forbid toys from ever entering a particular area.
   

Persona Miracles of Toys

1. Make someone a little more plastic, a little more fun, or a little more childish
   
2. See through the eyes of any single toy. Become a specific toy.
   
3. Make yourself tempting. Make it so that someone remembers you fondly. Become enormously fun. Become a child.
   
4. Turn someone into a toy, or a toy-like creature. Make someone into your plaything. Curse someone with childishness.
   
5. Strip a toy of its fundamental toyness. Remove any fond memories someone has of someone else. Remove all of someone’s childishness. Destroy a toy-like quality of toys, such as making them boring (“An educational toy”), or remove the fond memories associated with them. Become an army of toys.
   
6. Connect someone to their toy. Change who is connected with a specific toy (“This teddy bear is now fundamentally yours”). Bless (or curse) someone so that they can see the true lives of toys around them as those toys come alive in their presence. Bless someone so that they may enter toyland, or that they may never enter toyland. Become a truly epic toy. Create a specific fond memory about yourself and put it into the mind of a god. Tempt the whole world to make use of you.
   
7. Turn someone into a magical toy, or into an entire genre of toys. Make someone into an eternal child. Bind someone into eternal servitude as your plaything.
   
8. Remove an entire genre of toys from your estate. State that all toys within a nation no longer count as toys. Curse someone so that nobody will ever have fond memories of them again, or that nobody will ever have fun with that person again.
   
9. Connect someone to an entire genre of toys, so that they are its king and defender, existing so long as they exist, granting them access to a minor estate associated with that toy genre (like one of the seven fabled toys).
   

The Seven Fabled Toys (and the Thirteen Hell-Toys)

The Estate of Toys is vast. Damien rules over far more than just toys. He rules over the balls that bounce in playgrounds, over the dolls that rest in a child’s crib, the teddy bears that watch over their children as they slumber. The Estate is so vast that no single Power can rule it directly, and the Estate of Toys has seven additional guardians, the so-called Seven Fabled Toys, who act as its lesser gods. When the Estate of Toys is harmonious, the Seven Fabled Toys are the servants and lieutenants of the Power of Toys, and the True Power of Toys approaches an Imperator in total power, his sanctum almost a chancel, and his Estate encompassing at least seven other estates! But Damien has lost control of the Estate of Toys, and the Seven Fabled Toys have fled him.

The Seven Fabled Toys are Spirits of the Ogdoad. They are not powers, but they are like them, only lesser. Each rules over a lesser Estate associated with one form of toy, and has power similar to a Noble, but lesser (typically between 10 to 20 character points, rather than 20 to 30).

Toys do not die, but they do break down, fade or become lost. Thus, in time, even Fabled Toys must leave their estate behind and when they do, a new Fabled Toy rises to take its place. This churn means sometimes the nature of the Estate of Toys change. There hasn’t been a Fabled Toy of Tin Soldiers for a long time, for example. Not all Fabled Toys are listed below, and Snickersnack is not listed here (it’s one of Jack Livingston’s anchors), but is the Fabled Toy of Toy Swords.

The NPCs of Toyland

Dolls

Ace (“Asu”) Daisho

Passions and Skills

Passion: “I believe in Justice” +2
Passion: “I am better than you” +1
Superior Quality: Elegance +1
Skill: Assassination +4
Cool +5

Bonds and Afflictions

Bond: I am the Coolest Doll (1)
Bond: I must protect my sister, Alice (1)
Bond: I serve the Doll-Maker (1)
Bond: I’m in love with Hazel (2)


Background
As a Japanese ball-joint doll, Ace is among the most expensive and prestigious of dolls, hand crafted from porcelain like the rest of his family, the House Daisho. Their prestige means the Daisho family resides within the Great Toy Castle, and often act as the courtiers, body guards, knights or maids-in-waiting for the King of Toyland. When Damien became the King, he allowed the Daisho to remain in the castle, for while they weren’t his favorite sort of toys, he acknowledged and admired their  collectability. Even so, he shelved them, preferring his franchise toys and his Commando Elite.

With nobody to play with, Ace watches the life slowly drain from his sister, Alice. He would tend to her, setting up tea parties for her, or inviting her to some of the most prestigious dollhouses with other Japanese ball-joint dolls, but nothing worked. So, in an effort to prove how fun it would be to play with him and his sister, Ace put himself in service to Damien as an assassin and spy par-excellence, working with the tyrant to take take down the Resistance. But when he hunted one of the Resistance members to Damien’s great vault of Packaged Toys, and Ace saw what an abomination Damien was turning Toyland into. Shortly after, he met the Doll-Maker, the leader of Toyland’s resistance, and he pledged himself to her, vowing to play both sides of the conflict.

Brat

Passions and Skills

Passion: “All the world is corrupt” +1
Passion: “You can change yourself for the better” +3
Skill: Flirtation +3
Shine: +1

Bonds and Afflictions

Bond: I serve only myself (1)

Background
Brat belonged to a tween girl, who didn’t like barbies. Brat was terrified that she’d be discarded and end up in the Dungeon of Lost Toys, but no, her girl changed her. She took a pen and paints and remade her face. She sewed new clothes for her barbie and changed her name to Brat, and Brat loved it. Other Barbies wore prissy dresses and attended dreadful tea parties, Brat got to attend the scene. She turned Ken’s head, and flirted with G.I. Joe, and danced her heart out in a tin-foil disco.

Eventually, her girl grew up and Brat slipped away into toyland. If she’d learned anything, it was that the status quo was broken, but she didn’t have to accept it. She violated convention, crossed boundaries, dated teddy bears and took joy rides with Transformers. She was her own doll, and she was on the look out for her and her alone. If she didn’t like her situation, she’d just change it.  As she strutted about Toyland, she saw whole broken and ruined the rest of Toyland was and felt better about being abandoned: It was all a lie anyway, and she was going to make the best of it.

Teddy Bears

Inspector Bearington

Passions and Skills

Passion: “Everyone lies” +3
Passion: “I want to bring justice to the dispossessed” +1
Skill: Conspiracy Theory +1
Skill: Street brawling +3

Bonds and Afflictions

Bond: I refuse to follow the rules (1)
Bond: I’m in love with Brat, even though I know better (1)


Background
Inspector Bearington used to work for the TCDP, until his instistence on solving crimes and exposing corruption in of Toy City forced Commissioner Gadget to take his badge away for being a “loose cannon.” Thus, Inspector Bearington was cast out into the mean, rain-wet streets of Toy City, where he became a private investigator.

His work for the poor and outcast of Toy City led him to the femme fatale, Brat, and into conflict with that other force against corruption, Commando Bear. He’s begun piecing together a vast web of conspiracies: the sock puppet mafia, the Commando Elite, the All-Former’s disappearance, Percival the Bear Knight, and the rantings of the Mad 8-Ball and he now believes that Damien has made some sinister pact with a devil who has secretly ruled Toyland for years, and through this pact now holds the True King of Toy Land captive and is somehow maintaining a grip on Toyland to become President for Life, but he doesn’t know how to reveal this to the toys of Toyland.

Commando Bear

Passions and Skills

Passion: “Evil must die!” +1
Passion: “If violence doesn’t solve your problems, you’re not using enough of it!” +4
Skill: Commando Bear Stare +3

Bonds and Afflictions

Bond: I must finish my crusade (3)
Bond: I always have enough firepower to finish the job (2)

Background
Once one of the Care Bears, Commando Bear and his friends and family were cut down by a battle between the Sock Puppet Mafia and the Commando Elite. His fluffy belly was ruined, with stuffing spilling out as a pool of growing foam around his still body. The local doll-hospital managed to preserve his stuffing, but not his adorable Care Bear symbol, which had to be cut away and replaced with scar-stitching. Driven mad by the loss of who and what he was, he had a skull stitched into his belly, and took up an armory of toy guns, and began to clean up the streets. His crusade took on religious connotations when he cornered the Sock Puppet Don and nearly died under a hail of gun fire, but was possessed with the righteous rage of the Primeval Teddy Bear. He didn’t defeat the Sock Puppet Don (who managed to get away), but now he believes that he is ordained by the Fabled Toys to clean up Toy Land, and he has his sights set on the highest prize, Damien Bogsworth.

Other Toys

The Mad 8 Ball, Prophet of the Sandbox Wastes

Passions and Skills

Passion: “If reply is hazy, you must try again later” +2
Passion: “Embrace randomness” +1
Skill: Prophecy +3
Skill: Sandbox Survival +2
Shine 2

Bonds and Afflictions

Bond: I serve the will of the Seven Fabled Toys (1)
Bond: My cult can rely on me (1)
Affliction: I know the future (4)

Background
Toyland is a vast realm, encompassing Doll Town, the Teddy Bear Reach, or the Asphalt Courts, full of chainlink and home to feral tribes of balls. But amongst the most dreaded are the desolate Sandbox Wastes. Exiled from Damien’s court for an unfavorable answer, the Magic 8 Ball found himself lost in them, his inner liquids draining out as he stared up at an unforgiving sun, and saw visions of wavering sandcastles in the distance. The outlook was not good: He thought he’d gasped out his last and would be a rattling, desiccated ruin when he looked up and the shadow of the All-Former looked down upon him. He spoke words, in his glorious, Peter Cullen voice, the last words any Toylander has ever recorded: “Without a doubt, you bear the truth of Toyland within you. Spread my word.” And it was decidedly so: The Mad 8 ball sprang to his feet, filled with religious fervor. He scribed new words into his hide, into his answers, and became the mad prophet of the Seven Fabled Toys. Toys from all over Toyland flock to the Sandbox Wastes to try to catch a glimpse of him, and to ask him about the future, and a new religious has begun to form around the All-Former and his wild prophet.

Rubik’s Tessaract, the Preacher of the Lost Toys

Passions and Skills

Passion: “The Puzzle Box is the answer” +1
Skill: Sermonizing +3
Skill: Dungeon Navigation +2
Shine 2

Bonds and Afflictions

Bond: I serve the Puzzle Box (3)
Bond: My words hypnotize (1)
Affliction: I can see a puzzle from all sides simultaneously (2)

Background

Originally just a traffic consultant for Toy City, a hot cars traffic snarl was blamed on him and he was thrown into the Dungeon of Lost Toys and promptly forgotten. As some toys do in the Dungeon, he managed to escape his cell and wandered the endless labyrinth of the Dungeon, trying to avoid ravenous Hungry Hippos and haunted dolls, when he found the Puzzle Box, floating serenely in one of the vaults of the Dungeon of Lost Toys. The Puzzle Box seemed to speak to him, glowing and humming as it floated from the ground. Parts of itself unlocked while Rubik’s Cube watched, solving itself before his gaze, and then unleashing a fragment of its horrifying cosmic truth, and Rubik was enlightened. The world shifted, and he saw it from an impossible new perspective. He knew what he had to do. He took his message to the rest of the Lost Toys, his wild, charismatic sermons hypnotizing them into following him deeper into the dungeon, where they meet the Puzzle Box. Some are devoured by what it shows them, but others are changed, and become as fanatical as Rubik’s Tessaract.