Citizens of New Commerce City

[Operator5]

Back in the day (oh around the late 70s, early 80s) I used to play... *whispers quietly* ...RPGs. And when AD&D came out, they released all sorts of things for it. I remember pouring through the racks of the local hobby shop looking for neat things to pick up. I must have bought every module that came out for a 5 year stretch. I only ever ran 1 or 2 games direct from them, but they spurred tons of ideas for my own players.

But one of the things that I remember most (and one of the few things I kept after selling off about 75% of my RPG stuff) was the AD&D Rogues Gallery. I must have read that thing a hundred times over the years. There was something about having characters with a history behind them that really sparked my imagination. I even put one or two into games as NPCs.

In a few weeks I'm going to do a bit of the same. I'm going to put out a PDF (for about $3) called Citizens of New Commerce City. It will be around 50 pregnerated characters for players who don't want to have to create their own characters for a quick game or to be used as encounters in any possible game. Some of them will have a brief history attached to help set the tone of the characters. Some will be grouped into teams already (Like the Doogan Detective Agency, with Karl Doogan, Sarah Hall, and Abe Wright). Some will be freelancers that players can attach to any team. All (with one exception) will be built from archetypes already provided in our first three books (.45 Adventure, Dragon Bones, Amazing War Stories).

I am adding one new archetype (it's not a major one, just one needed to fill out a University group). No one will need to get this PDF in order to play. It's just a handy bit of source material for players looking to toss in some characters without having to put them together.

Here is one sample of a background:

For some men, the pursuit of power and wealth is their driving force, others seek comfort and family, then there are those who revel in the freedom of having no ties to any place or person. Bob is just such a person. He’s claimed to have ridden the rails for more than 50 years and seeing as he is one of those men whose age is hard to discern, no one has reason to doubt him.

Bob comes and goes with no set pattern, he’s been seen hopping off a cattle car in the midst of a raging snowstorm and waving farewell to a compatriot on a beautiful spring day. Sometimes he remains in the city for months seemingly going about no business at all. But the police have quite a large file on him, though no concrete evidence to convict him on anything.

Bob has been seen in the vicinity of a number of major incidents in the city. The police have also nicknamed him Komrade Bob as he is known to frequent the Little Moscow section of New Commerce City. During the periodic Red Scares, the cops will assign a detective to tail him when he’s in the city. Nothing is ever found to link him to any kind of subversive movement. Soon, the police lose interest and Bob is on his way again, following whatever agenda he has for himself.


Rich

[zbyshko]

sounds like a great idea.  i for one can appreciate the time savings of having pre-generated yet more fully described targets, i mean NPC's.

[Driscoles]

a good idea... It usually takes me some time to create figures for a game.
Björn