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Written by Greg Saunders
Cover art by Yuri Perkowski Domingos, design Paul
Bourne, internal art by Yuri Perkowski Domingos
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CONTENTS
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Sad Albert - terrified town
guard
43
Rogues, miscreants and
vagabonds
3 Selegren Wist - priest of
the Thrice Blessed
45
Bad Victor - really, really
bad drunk
5 Shav Reed - veteran and
adventurer
47
Begen - berserker and bawd
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49
Bitter Pele - thug and bully
9 Skerrew - ratman thief
Black Ivan - bandit and thug
11 Simon the fox - cutpurse and
informer
51
Erin Selenis - elven
prophet and artist
13 Sister Gavita - aggressive
nun of the Red King
53
Fewick Lowbrow - priest of
the Heartstone
15 Stour Sternbrow - dwarven
55
Filthy Konrad - gutter prophet 17 alchemist
Terdick - butcher and
Garelow Sessen - priest of
57
the Red King
19 poisoner
Vortigen Hech - forgetful
Gollin - old soldier with
59
a secret...
21 watchman
Hey, what is that person
Grakk - goblin bodyguard and
60
mercenary
23 doing?
61
Ivan Teseris - bounty hunter
25 Who is in the street?
Defining statistics for
Lord Sengek - noble with
63
'interesting tastes'
27 Non-Player Characters
NPCs and careers
63
Magda - wise woman and spy
65
mistress
29 Stamina
Persistent characters
65
Old Albus - halfling poacher
66
and gossip
31 Character maps
66
Otto Kew - circus owner
33 Start small
Think about what you need
67
Pellon Ord - wizard and
Make
notes
67
vagabond
35
Arrange the notes spatially 68
Red Kelorn - hunter and
raconteur
37 Make the Connections
68
Revela - elvish outcast
39 Look at the pattern
69
Rubuss - bravo and bully
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Rogues, Miscreants
vagabonds
and
This book details a selection of rogues, miscreants
and vagabonds that can be used to populate any city
of the Kingdom, or any other fantasy setting for
that matter. They are designed to be recurring,
persistent individuals that player characters may
interact with many times, and can be interconnected
to create a sense of a living, breathing location
during a game. Note that there are no statistics
for these characters - in Warlock it is very easy
to create these numbers on the fly, and this way
the games master can fit them to the needs of the
moment. At the back of this book are notes on how
this is done from Warlock Compendium 2, as well and
a discussion on creating character maps to keep all
your non-player character relations in mind. The
format of entries is as follows:
A name and general description in bold.
'Notable quotes.'
Description: the physical appearance of the character.
Motivation: a short description of their goals.
A longer description of the character, including
some history and background.
Secrets: something secret about the character that
may influence how they behave.
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BAD VICTOR - REALLY, REALLY BAD DRUNK
'Pass that bottle over.'
'I'll kill you! Keep away from my snaven!'
Description: when he's sober, he's an imposing man
with a full beard and braided hair, striking in a
rough and ready kind of way. When he's drunk, he's
a beast!
Motivation: keep the snaven safe, don't let anyone
see it. Get a drink. Hey, are you looking at my
snaven?
Bad Victor is just plain Victor when he's sober an intense, somewhat awkward man who nevertheless
is decent and upstanding. Get a drink him however
and he turns into a madman, raving and snarling and
accusing people of trying to steal his 'snaven',
whatever that is. He's so ferocious when the drink
is on him that he's been known to take down a handful of guards before they pin him down, only for
him to wake up in the cells the next day with no
memory of the incident and a very sore head. Some
think he drinks to forget, but at the mention of
the snaven, certain wizards narrow their eyes...
Secrets: the snaven exists! It's a small imp-like
creature only he can see that sits on Victor's shoulder and talks constantly, enough that he drinks to
ignore it. But he also knows he must keep it safe,
as it knows where his children are, and if he does
what it says, it will tell him.
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BEGEN - BERSERKER AND BAWD
'Sorry about your nose. A song!'
'Let me finish my beer, and we can settle this
like men.'
Description: a huge, sweaty man prone to bearing
his chest and swinging his huge, ancient-looking
sword. Full of laughter, with a single eye and a
skull on his eye patch. Smells of body odour and
blood.
Motivation: smash things, have fun, sing songs!
A giant of a man who claims to hail from the distant north, Begen is a mighty warrior, poet and
minstrel, or so he says. Mainly he spends his time
in the hostelries of the city, drinking and singing bawdy and risqué songs, which he says are of
his own invention. He earns his keep as hired muscle, and his size means that he rarely has to draw
'dooming', his sword, which apparently cannot be
sheathed unless blood is spilt.
Secrets: Both of Begen's eyes work - he just thinks
the patch makes him more glamorous. He not from the
'distant north', but a village outside of Rebeck.
Most of his songs come from a work called 'the ribald priest', which he picked up in a flea market.
The sword 'dooming' is actually an elvish blade,
which Begen discovered in the ruins of Dreaming
Impessk. Unbeknownst to him, the elves seek the
weapon as an ancient treasure of their people, and
have sent emissaries to bring it home, no matter
the cost...
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BITTER PELE - THUG AND BULLY
'Shut your mouth!'
'Hand it over, or you're on for a cuttin'.'
Description: a brutal and ugly man who rarely washes and never seems to take off his padded jerkin.
Gives off an aura of anger and viciousness.
Motivation: kick people around, preferably for pay.
Try not to sleep.
Pele is as nasty a man as he looks. He's a thug and
a villain, who will pretty much do anything to anyone for coin. He is a veteran of the wars against
the traitor, and those episodes scarred him physically and mentally. Rumours persist that he fought
on the side of the traitor, and the mental damage
he took is a result of his interactions with some
of the darker forces that fought on that side. He
denies this of course - otherwise it would be time
for a visit from the witch hunters. Certainly it's
known that Pele doesn't sleep well, and often wakes
up screaming in the night. His haggard appearance
is as much due to these night-terrors as the physical ravages of war.
Secrets: Pele has a wife and a daughter, incredibly. He dotes on both, and is very careful to keep
them safe and secret from the many people he's upset over the years. So far. He's also started working for a necromancer, collecting corpses - some of
which he 'generates' himself...
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BLACK IVAN - BANDIT AND THUG
'Your money, or I bash you.'
'You won't hand it over? This is sad. I'm sad,
you're dead.'
Description: a rough looking brute of a man with a
scarred and beaten face. Wears a strange hat from
the east and rarely seen without his spiked club
to hand.
Motivation: get enough money together to get back
home. Wherever that is.
Black Ivan is a robber and a bandit. He robs anyone who seems relatively easy pickings, using his
size and brawn to get his way, though he's quite
happy to use his club too. Anyone who manages to
get him talking, usually by buying him drinks when
he's 'off duty' will learn that he's saving money
to head back east to his homeland. It soon becomes
clear though that he's not too sure where home is.
Something he takes philosophically.
Secrets: Black Ivan's current home is in the sewers - he's found a walled off section that he has
converted into his hideaway. No one know where this
is. He also occasionally takes on 'jobs' for the
upper classes, typically silencing critics, often
terminally.
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ERIN SELENIS - ELVEN PROPHET AND ARTIST
'There is beauty in everything, if you know where
to look.'
'Suffering is one route to unity with the Wild
Wood.'
Description: with a covered face, it is hard to
tell that Selenis is a woman, let alone an elf. She
keeps her face hidden most of the time, but otherwise dresses sparely, with seemingly little care.
Motivation: achieve oneness with the Wild Wood
through fasting, prayer and hunting. Tolerate those
who do not understand her ways. Hunt.
A hidden figure that keeps to the shadows, Selenis moves with a natural grace that marks her as
an elf. She seems to spend time in the city but no
one really knows what she does, she's just always
'around and about'. If you can get her to talk to
you, usually by demonstrating that you at least respect the Wild Wood, she knows much of the natural
world and of the creatures and beings that inhabit
it, and many comings and goings of wild beasts in
the city are known to her.
Secrets: Selenis secretly hunts those she considers
'evil'. This means those that act directly against
the teachings of the Wild Wood. So anyone who destroys nature or acts to bring conformity and order
to the chaos of the unbridled growth of the wild is
fair game. She keeps her face hidden as her cheeks
are tattooed with the anti-human liturgy one of the
more extreme Wild Wood sects.
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FEWICK LOWBROW - PRIEST OF THE HEARTSTONE
'By the Hammer!'
'Disrespect an honest trade and you disrespect
me.'
Description: a tough and rugged dwarf with a thick
white beard and an eye patch. Wearing battered
armour and carrying a shield full of notches and
holes - he bears these with stubborn pride.
Motivation: fight for the oppressed, uphold the
honour or the Heartstone, and drink to forget.
Lowbrow is a tough-looking dwarf, grizzled and worn,
who promotes the ideals of the Heartstone with a
passion. He sees himself as a defender of the working class, a champion of the trades and industries
that the Heartstone promotes in the distant dwarven
kingdoms. When he's drunk he reminisces bleary-eyed
about his time in the wars of the dwarven holds apparently his arms and armour come from this time.
Strangely, despite his championing of the trades,
he refuses to get his equipment repaired, and gets
quite angry if people try to discover why.
Secrets: once during the wars of the Black Spine
mountains, Lowbrow was ordered to cover the retreat
of his kin from goblin raiders during the fall of
a dwarf hold. He didn't, he turned and ran. That
shame haunts him, his bitter secret. So great is
this that if anyone would find his secret out, he
would do all he could to keep them silent.
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FILTHY KONRAD - GUTTER PROPHET
'The fires of the underhell await you!'
'Damnation beckons your rotten soul! Spare a
coin?'
Description: a ragged beggar dressed in scraps of
finery with a flowing white beard and crazed, rheumy
eyes. Always has his tattered 'book of dreams'.
Motivation: Point out the damnation of the soul to
random folk. Collect more scripture for the book
of dreams.
A flea-bitten and ragged man, Konrad stands on the
street corners preaching the gospel of 'Lekie', his
mad god. Mainly this involves invoking damnation on
anyone who passes by, before asking them to spare
some coin or food. Despite appearances, Konrad is a
fairly decent fellow, just a little unhinged from
his time in the war against the traitor, and desperate to 'help' others with the proclamations he
reads from the book he uncovered in a ruined tower.
Somehow he scrapes together enough food and drink
to survive, and is one of those people that just
seems to get by, no matter how bad he looks.
Secrets: the book of dreams isn't just a collection
of a mad scribblings. It is actually an ancient
spellbook, with many unknown and powerful spells
scribed within. Konrad unconsciously casts these
spells in the quiet of the night when he reads the
book aloud...
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GARELOW SESSEN - PRIEST OF THE RED KING
'The King'll have you, in the end.'
'Praise be to him who watches. Best hand it over,
lad.'
Description: a squat, ugly man with a balding head
and yellowed, staring eyes, Sessen is exceptionally
unpleasant to look upon. He wears tattered, torn
clothing, much stained from the road, and is armed
with a small battered shield and a hammer. When
he's 'preaching for the King', a flaming jug of oil
is often to hand...
Motivation: burn things for the Red King, and make
a little money on the side.
Sessen is a broken man - some loss many years ago
broke his spirit, and he has never truely recovered. He find his only solace of sorts in his adoration of the Red King. To him the diety is the
personification of flames and destruction, and it
is through fire that the 'King is born'. He's also
a thief, which is something that he has no trouble
marrying with his faith. Most consider Sessen to be
someone best avoided...
Secrets: Sessen was once a high-born noble, who
fled the family estate many years ago after that
'business with the maid'. His family still hunt
him, and would pay richly for news of his whereabouts. He's also a coward at heart - anyone facing
up to him would soon learn that.
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GOLLIN - OLD SOLDIER WITH A SECRET...
'Are you cut? I... Er...'
'I've seen things you wouldn't believe...'
Description: a skinny man with a sallow complexion
and a leering, evil glint in his eye. Haughty and
sarcastic. Wearing a worn and well-used soldier's
uniform, with a long spear and patched armour.
Motivation: feed, sate the urges and find relief.
Gollin is a nasty man, make no mistake. He's cruel
and unfeeling, and has a hard time showing any sort
of empathy for others. He's also got a dark secret
- every week he must feed on blood or become weak
and ill. Is he a vampire? He's certainly not afraid
of the sun. But the compulsion is strong. He keeps
this side of himself well hidden, but as a result
he tends to know the seedier parts of town, and is
familiar with some of the people and creatures that
might be found there. If you want to know something
of the nastier side of the city, Gollin is likely
to be able to provide an answer. You might not like
the prices he charges for information though...
Secrets: Gollin was cursed by a witch long ago,
when he was a lad. It's made him mean and nasty, and
rendered him unfeeling and dead inside. It's also
given him a craving for the blood of intelligent
creatures which he must sate at least once a week.
He's desperate to find the witch and end her, hoping to break the curse and make him whole again...
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GRAKK - GOBLIN BODYGUARD AND MERCENARY
'Who d'you want me to hit?'
'I can do 'im. Cost ya though.'
Description: a squat, large eared goblin wearing
tatty armour and bearing a rotting shield. Large
axe slung over the shoulder casually.
Motivation: earn enough money for some semi-decent
grub, and find somewhere warm and dry to sleep.
Avoid contact with other goblins.
Grakk is a rare sight - an armed and armoured goblin abroad in the Kingdom. Luckily he has a reputation - he's only a danger to those that mess with
his paying boss, so that's alright then. Short like
all goblins and with an even shorter temper, Grakk
is cheap and effective, which makes him quite popular with the lower strata of paying clientele. He
seems to have some issue with other goblins, and
avoids them at all costs, which is unusual as most
of his kind are gregarious. He's also quiet and
introverted, also very peculiar for a goblin. But
with that axe to hand, most find it better not to
ask questions.
Secrets: Grakk isn't the goblin outsider he appears - he is actually a devotee of the Dragon.
He's in the Kingdom trying to locate the infamous
Splitskull Staff, a goblin relic of great value to
the Dragon's priests. He's also extremely fond of
dwarven beer, something he considers a deep shame.
He avoid other goblins in case they find out about
his vice...
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IVAN TESERIS - BOUNTY HUNTER
'At last I have you!'
'Hold on, let me wind this thing back up.'
Description: a shaggy-haired, red-headed youth who
always sports a fine hat, never seen without his
crossbow and leather jerkin.
Motivation: catch people for coin, an honest days
work.
A talkative, friendly and seemingly somewhat bumbling individual, Teseris's exterior hides a far
shrewder individual than others take him for. He
has a keen eye, and is adept at wrinkling information out of people in seemingly innocent banter,
a skill he uses to great effect when hunting his
quarry. His favourite weapon is his crossbow, which
it seems is always at his side, and a oft-employed
tactic is to shoot his quarry through the leg with
the weapon - typically this leaves him enough time
to collect the bounty before the wound festers.
He's also been known to use goblin bolts, laced
with arachnid paralysis poison for particularly
'big jobs'.
Secrets: Teseris is currently hunting the bandit
known as the Golden Stag, a job he was forced to
take. What no one else knows is that the Golden
Stag is none other then his little sister Amelia.
Now his employers want results and are questioning
his capabilities and reputation... So a choice must
be made...
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LORD SENGEK - NOBLE WITH 'INTERESTING TASTES'
'That was painful! Do it again.'
'I'm looking for something... Exotic.'
Description: a young man who gives of an aura of
deep disinterest and mild annoyance. Very well
dressed in the finest clothes from the most fashionable cities overseas. An outrageous hat.
Motivation: find something to make the interminable
parade of days somewhat bearable. Keep away from
the Lady Sengek.
Lord Sengek is to many a classic example of the
dangers of too much money. A paragon of the idle
rich, a dissolute hedonist who cares only for his
own pleasure. Sengek spends much of his time avoiding his wife who he's known to despise, wandering
about the murkier areas of the city and seeking
out ever greater pleasures to stimulate his jaded
palette. It's said if you can provide something to
keep him entertained he pays very well, but the ever-present guards that surround him make upsetting
him... Unfortunate.
Secrets: Sengek appears to hate his wife, but secretly he is in terrible fear of her and avoids
her at all costs. She is domineering and cruel, and
he's a coward at heart. Sengek also buys unmen to
place in his 'personal zoo of monstrosities', under
his manse. What exactly goes on there is too terrible to think about...
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MAGDA - WISE WOMAN AND SPY MISTRESS
'Do not deny it. Magda knows.'
'I know what you seek to hide. I can help - for a
price.'
Description: somehow elegant in rags, Magda is a
striking woman with powerful demeanour and a certain haughty pride despite her apparent poverty.
Motivation: discover things, know things. Make people do what you want.
A well-known wise woman, Magda is well-known for
the ability to see into a person's soul and understanding what it is they really want. In reality,
this is because she heads up a ring of beggars,
thieves and miscreants that act as her eyes and
ears across the city. There are few people her
spies haven't seen doing something they shouldn't,
and as a consequence she has some dirt on nearly
everyone. She uses this information not for coin
but for her own amusement, which in some ways makes
her more unpredictable and dangerous.
Secrets: Magda has a daughter that she hasn't seen
in years. She would never admit it to herself, but
what she's really been searching for throughout her
life is a relationship with her child. Magda is
also a necromancer - she has used scrolls to converse with the dead and learn secrets from beyond
the grave. This is slowly eating away at her soul.
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OLD ALBUS - HALFLING POACHER AND GOSSIP
'Hey, something for your pot?'
'Well, so what I heard is this...'
Description: A handsome is somewhat shifty-looking
halfling, dressed for the outdoors and sporting a
jaunty cap. Bow in a bag slung over his shoulder,
and bowstring coiled in his pocket to keep it dry.
Motivation: catch and eat or sell what he can. Find
out more about the elves of the forests.
Old Albus is harmless enough, and the town guard
mostly just ignore him. They know he poaches the
King's forests, and sells his kill in the town,
but there's a lot worse to worry about so the law
just leaves him alone apart from the odd ticking
off for form's sake. He's also a terrible gossip,
which means if you need to find out something about
someone in town, Albus is the man to ask. He seems
particularly interested in elves, and is always
asking folk if they've seen any in the woods when
they pass through on the old roads. No one knows
where the fascination stems from - just an odd interest is most folk's guess. Funny thing is he acts
quite odd in their company, red-faced and blushing.
Secrets: Albus once shot and killed and elf by accident in the deep woods. He was horrified by what
he did, but he still took the beautiful carved dagger the elf carried. Now he's desperate to give it
back to the elf's kin, as some kind of penance...
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OTTO KEW - CIRCUS OWNER
'Roll up roll up - monstrosities galore!'
'I caught that myself in the wilds of Far Hissain.
A savage beast!'
Description: a bearded man who dresses in quality
but worn clothing, and often sports a huge and very
exotic hat. Carries a throwing axe, a sign of his
'trade'.
Motivation: Money. What else is there?
Kew is a born showman. He grew up in a travelling
circus, wandering about the Kingdom and putting on
shows for plebs as well as lords. Kew's talent lay
in axe-throwing - he is a very skilled performer.
He's long since given this up though, now he owns
a circus of freaks and curiosities that he proudly
displays, for the right coin of course. He has unmen, goblins, all manner of beasts, and the prize
exhibit is a mutated man, twisted by corruption and
very repugnant. Many authorities have tried to shut
Kew down, but to little success - the high-born
lords like his travelling freak show as much as the
paupers and gutter scum. Kew doesn't care who comes
to look, as long as they can pay.
Secrets: The unmen in Kew's circus are not what they
seem - they aren't prisoners, they are partners.
Kew shares his earnings with them, and for their
part they play the savage beasts. The mutated man,
the prize exhibit, is actually Kew's brother Herbert, who tried to use the wrong type of scroll...
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PELLON ORD - WIZARD AND VAGABOND
'I know a spell that would help. What's it worth?'
'Pay me in wine. Good wine, mind.'
Description: a tall elf, quite handsome, but with
a distinct smell of sour wine about him. Elegant
cloths much worn-in and turning tatty.
Motivation: find the next drink. Preferably a vintage, perhaps one from the Rebeck region?
Apparently once a promising wizard, Ord discovered
another passion - hard drinking. He's a sot, always
a little worse for wear, and smells of wine most of
the time. He seems to prefer wines and hard spirits, but he is obviously ashamed of his vice, as he
takes any drink offered and imbibes it alone. He
has a reputation for being a cheap if non-too reliable sorcerer, and most other wizards laugh him off
and struggle to take him seriously. Who can blame
them? He's usually found outside various bars in
the areas of town wizards frequent, usually drunk
before anyone else even arrives...
Secrets: Pellon doesn't really drink, it's all a
con. He find most folk don't trust wizards, but if
he splashes some cheap wine over himself and acts a
little worse for wear, people tend to relax, especially wizards, who consider him a joke. What he's
really after is spells, and he's not above stealing
them from other wizards given half the chance. Being ignored as a drunk and a fool is a great cover.
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RED KELORN - HUNTER AND RACONTEUR
'The path is clear to see.'
'Ah, the spoor of a beaked bear. I've met these
before. Best be careful...'
Description: a young handsome man with an easy air
and good quality clothes, Kelorn is never without
his stout bow of yew and quiver of arrows.
Motivation: hunting, for the sheer thrill of the
chase. Having the girls look up to him doe-eyed
when he spins a yarn of his exploits..
Kelorn is a show off who like nothing better than
regaling an audience, preferably female, of his
hunting exploits in the great forests of the Kingdom. He says he's a monster hunter, and has plenty
of stories of his bravery and daring when faced
with hideous beasts. He can be hired as a tracker
and a scout, and is certainly handy with the ancient, carved bow he carries. If pressed he's unusually silent on where he got it from.
Secrets: Kelorn's bow is of elvish design, which he
found next to the body of its original owner deep
in the woods. He took the bow, and now he's being
hunted by those that think he murdered the elf that
bore it. Also, most of his tales are rubbish - he's
never hunted monsters, and makes most of what he
says up on the spot. He spends his time in the woods
hunting deer and the like, nothing more.
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REVELA - ELVISH OUTCAST
'Who has been asking about me? Who!'
'I am without honour. If I die, I die.'
Description: an elf with tattered clothing and wild
hair, Revela looks like an outcast. Her notched axe
shows signs of much use.
Motivation: hide in plain sight. Get revenge on
other elves for banishing her. Watch the Kingdom.
Revela is an elf, but she shuns the company of
others of her kind. It seems she was ejected from
elvish society for some undisclosed crime, and has
since harboured a deep hatred of her people. She
is, however, remarkably well-informed, and seems to
have a good eye for what is really going on - if you
want to know what's happening in the less salubrious parts of town, Revela is a great person to ask.
She'll bore you with a tale of how hard done by she
is however - nothing is free.
Secrets: Despite appearances, Revela is actually a
spy for the Lady of the elves. She has been despatched to the Kingdom to report on the cities and
towns and the people within them. It seems that the
Lady would like to gauge to strength and determination of the folk of the Kingdom, to what end no one
knows but her. Revela has however found the assignment irksome, and the people of the Kingdom boring,
so the dislike she has for other elves is no longer
feigned - they sent her to this place after all!
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RUBUSS - BRAVO AND BULLY
'What are you looking at?'
'Hey lads, this one's got spirit. Let's see how
long it lasts.'
Description: a rough-looking man missing teeth
and with one blind eye. Wears brightly coloured
clothes, now patched and dirty. Sword and buckler
always to hand.
Motivation: pick a fight. Hit someone. Feel the
magic of the theatre!
Rubuss is a bully first and foremost, someone who
picks on the weak and defenceless. He fancies himself a bravo, a carefree blade whose skill with a
sword is as great as his wit, but this isn't really
the case. Really he's just a thug, and like all
bullies a bit of a coward. However, he can be good
to know - he has a similar group of leering fools
who hang off his every word, so if you need a gang
of rough types to cause a diversion, tossing a few
coins to Rubuss or flattering his ego can work wonders. Just don't expect his boys to actually stand
up in a fight - more likely they'll just melt away
once things get serious...
Secrets: Rubuss is an avid theatre lover, and
spends as much time as he can watching plays and
hanging about trying to spot his favourite actors.
Of course his presence isn't appreciated in most
playhouses, and most actors are exactly the kind of
folk that he should be picking on, so he goes is
disguise. Should it come out this secret would ruin
his hard-worn reputation.
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SAD ALBERT - TERRIFIED TOWN GUARD
'Thrice-blessed save me, thrice-blessed save me..'
'I don't like the sound of that. Run!'
Description: a somewhat overweight man with pallid
skin and round, staring eyes. Always sweating, and
very twitchy.
Motivation: get to the end of the shift alive. If
there's a fight, stick with the winning side.
Sad Albert is terrified of pretty much everything.
His huge eyes are constantly scanning the environment for danger, and he's often literally quaking
with fear. How he ended up in the town guard is
beyond most folk - most likely a recruiter spotted
him with that nice sword and wearing that well-used
armour and thought he must be up to the job. Most
likely, he nicked it off of a corpse, even though
he doesn't seem the type that would... Albert can
be useful however - he has a good brain for bureaucracy, and knows his way around the interminable
forms of government. He says he only feels safe in
a place too boring for anyone dangerous to consider
visiting...
Secrets: Sad Albert was once a great warrior. He
got hit on the head by a goblin's club, and lost his
memory. Now he's terrified of everything. There's a
good chance a similar strike will reawaken the warrior. His sword is magical, and sharp enough to cut
metal (armour has no effect). But it only works for
those it believes to be just, and it really doesn't
like Sad Albert. Besides, he never draws it.
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SELEGREN WIST - PRIEST OF THE THRICE BLESSED
'Peace be upon you.'
'The Thrice-Blessed looks to your soul. You must
look to your own heart.'
Description: a skinny man enveloped in robes
and bearing a staff with the three heads of the
Thrice-Blessed, Wist is an unthreatening figure.
His small head wobbles on a thin neck, moving in a
twitching, bird-like fashion.
Motivation: convert people to the Thrice-Blessed.
Try to keep out of trouble.
Wist has been a priest of he Thrice-Blessed for
many years. He belongs to the 'pauper' order, so
he wears no shoes and his robes are ragged. But
he's well-known and his sermons mostly indulged,
mainly because he's so unassuming and easily fades
into the background. There is a little talk that
he's sometimes seen in the gambling dens of the
city, often seeming keen not to be noticed, but
folks just put this down to his desire to convert
the lowlifes of the city to the ways of goodness
and purity. He's always willing to collect monetary
contributions to deliver to the church.
Secrets: Wist is a gambler, addicted to the card
game Lady's Gambit, and he's been stealing from the
coffers of the Thrice-Blessed to pay for it. So far
no one has noticed... Yet. He's also a fraud - he
doesn't believe in the Thrice-Blessed - how could a
benevolent god allow him to sink so low?
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SHAV REED - VETERAN AND ADVENTURER
'I remember something like this from the battle
of Henning'
'You need some help? Sure, for a price.'
Description: a tough old man, wiry and callused,
wearing functional travelling cloths and armed with
decent, well-used weapons.
Motivation: earn enough money to get by and save a
little for the future. Forget the war, stick to the
back of the group when adventuring, and come back
alive.
Reed has seen it all - the armies of the traitor
lined up for battle, night trolls wading through
troops like scythes through corn, the explosion of
cannon and the screams of the dying. Somehow, he
lived through it, and his one wish now is never to
experience anything similar again. But he has to
eat, so now he sells his services to adventuring
parties looking for a little experienced help. He's
canny though - he always sticks to the back of the
group, offering advice while keeping a good eye on
all the available exits. Many is the adventurer
that found that running away when Reed did was the
best move they made on some sorry enterprise.
Secrets: Reed is an accomplished wizard, with a
half dozen scrolls about his person, but he won't
use these unless he really has to. He also has a decent stash of cash and gems hidden under tree roots
on the edge of town - his retirement fund.
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SKERREW - RATMAN THIEF
'[chitter chitter].'
'[Squeak] for the Underkingdom!'
Description: a ratman, cloaked and bearing the
crescent moon sign of the Night King.
Motivation: Steal things, pretty things. For the
glory of the Night King! Find someone to talk to.
Skerrew is a ratman who spends his time moving between the Underkingdom court of the Night King and
the Kingdom above. He steals things, pretty things,
for the glory of his master, and isn't above dealing
with the original owners in his own brutal fashion.
He's also however talkative and lively, and always
eager to chat with anyone he meets. He's actually a good conversationalist, if you can steer him
away from espousing the glory of the Night King for
hours on end. Skerrew is that most rare of things
- a ratman who understands a little of the society
of the Kingdom, and has a unique perspective on the
world. He knows all sorts of secrets, and even better, doesn't even know they are secrets!
Secrets: Skerrew doesn't just steal for the glory of the Night King. He keeps the best and most
shiny pieces for himself - better hope the Night
King's agents don't find out. He's also struck up
a friendship of sorts with some of the beggars in
the world above, something the other ratmen would
be very unhappy to learn.
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SIMON THE FOX - CUTPURSE AND INFORMER
'Me? I don't know anything. Well, not much...'
'Well, now we're friends, this is what I've
heard...'
Description: a young, nondescript man who dresses
in drab colours and a dirty, travel-stained cloak.
Fairly easy to ignore.
Motivation: food, beer and warmth! Watch people,
as they are fascinating. Become a great sorcerer!
Simon is a cutpurse, well-skilled in slipping a
short blade through the leather of a money bag and
making off with the contents. He's always searching
for the next mark, and as such is very observant.
Now Simon has turned that skill to profit, selling
information he observes around the busier parts of
town like the great market to the watch for coin.
If you need to know a little of the comings and
goings about the town, Simon will have the information. For a price of course. Be careful though
- he'll as likely sell information on your request
to interested parties as well.
Secrets: Simon once aspired to be a great wizard,
after he 'discovered' a book containing a scroll
(in reality, he stole it from a careless spell
caster). He's actually trying to scrape enough money together to join the Arcane College - anyone who
finds this out and helps him in some way could find
they have a friend for life!
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SISTER GAVITA - AGGRESSIVE NUN OF THE RED KING
'Silence child, or feel my club.'
'Dead men are not rude. You are rude. I see the
solution.'
Description: haggard and ugly, with a milky eye
covered by a huge scar and bearing the dagger of
the Red King around her neck. Carries a huge spiked
club covered in what hopefully is rust...
Motivation: teach manners. Aggressively. Collect
money for the church of the Red King.
The Red King's followers are an tough and aggressive crowd, and not just the men. Sister Gavita has
taken it upon herself to teach manners to those yet
to see the Red King's wisdom. She does this with
a dead-eye stare, razor-sharp tongue and the occasional use of her nasty club. People have asked
the town guard to do something about her for years,
but they just can't seem to do it - she cows even
the most experience soldiery. She comes across as
a stern grandmother, and even tough old warriors
quake at her reprimands.
Secrets: Sister Gavita took to the Red King after
she 'accidentally' let two children in her care be
stolen by goblins. Unbeknownst to her, they survived and are now respected members of the town's
elite. It would thaw her frozen soul if she were to
learn they lived.
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STOUR STERNBROW - DWARVEN ALCHEMIST
'I can make you something to dissolve all but the
gold. It'll cost you.'
'Bah manling, you know nothing!'
Description: a tough, wiry and wizened dwarf, Sternbrow has a long beard as befits his kind and often
seems to be carrying something explosive, corrosive
or both.
Motivation: discover something unique to win a return to his clan.
Stour Sternbrow was kicked out of his clan in the
Black Spine mountains after one of his experiments
destroyed the second alchemist's hall and filled
the refectory with a poison cloud. Some would decide at that point that alchemy perhaps wasn't for
them, but Sternbrow believes that his salvation
lies in his concoctions and so ploughs on with his
research regardless. He's a short tempered type,
and gets easy upset with dwarves, who he assumes
immediately recognise him and are judging him for
his 'mistakes'. But he does know his stuff, so if
you want something blown up, dissolved or otherwise
ruined, he's your dwarf.
Secrets: Sternbrow sells his concoctions to the
thieves guild, who use them to blow things up,
dissolve things and kill people. He's not proud of
that, but at the end of the day it only harms humans. He'd be distraught if a dwarf got hurt though.
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TERDICK - BUTCHER AND POISONER
'Lovely pie for you. Look at that, real meat that
is!'
'Dodgy guts? Don't blame me!'
Description: dark skinned and huge, Terdick is
strangely unthreatening and meek in nature, despite
the huge cleaver he's usually carrying.
Motivation: get enough money to get his daughter
through the academy of magic. Earn a little on the
side killing people.
Terdick is a huge beast of a man, but placid and unassuming as a mouse. He's an excellent butcher, and
can turn even the most unappetising of meat into
an excellent pie. He's saving up money to get his
daughter through the magical academy, where she's
studying the mystical arts. Terdick is convinced if
she gets through she can earn a decent wage as a
wizard, and he can give up the pie business. This
he tells to everyone, but most know that making
pies is in his blood, and it isn't the kind of gift
you can just ignore. A good pie is art, after all.
Secrets: Terdick has found he has a knack for poisonings. Much of the meat he uses is 'on the turn',
so now he just leaves it a little longer, then adds
some good spice to hid the smell and some of his
other 'ingredients'. It earns well.
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VORTIGEN HECH - FORGETFUL WATCHMAN
'I didn't see nuffin.'
'Stop stabbing him! Now, run along.'
Description: a tall, bedraggled man with a long
pock-marked face and sunken eyes, Hech carries far
too many weapons and gives off an air of manic
watchfulness combined with the musk of fear.
Motivation: survive. Ignore pretty much everything,
and survive.
Hech assumes, quite rightly, that most criminals
would rather finish him off than let him bring them
to justice. So he makes it his business to not see
anything unlawful that occurs around him. Unfortunately, local ne'er-do-wells have noticed this, and
therefore ensure that he's about when they commit
their worst crimes. When asked what happened by authority figures after the crime Hech will deny he
saw anything, or that in fact there was anything
not to see, or in fact that anyone was there at all.
And who would doubt the word of the watch?
Secrets: Hech once had a dalliance with the Lord
Sengek's wife. She made him do it. Now he lives in
terror of being recognised and either punished by
the Lord or, worse still, latched on to by his lady.
Hech dreams of escaping his life and taking up his
real love - poetry. He's actually an accomplished
writer, though too modest to let anyone know.
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HEY, WHAT IS THAT PERSON DOING?
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You can't even enjoy a quiet pint in peace... Roll
1d20.
1. Slipping coins to a member of the watch.
2. Smoking dubious herbs with some halflings.
3. Trying to persuade the barkeep to give them another drink in return for some 'juicy gossip'.
4. Scribbling down notes about everyone in the
room.
5. Drawing a pentagram on the table with blood
from a pricked finger.
6. Picking their teeth with a wicked-looking dagger.
7. Adding something to someone's beer.
8. Cheating at a gambling table.
9. Frisking the pockets of a drunk.
10. Berating others in the room as boring cowards.
11. Inconspicuously pointing to the party and muttering to a colleague.
12. Counting what look like dried goblin ears on
the table.
13. Haggling with a cloaked figure over the price
of a 'job'.
14. Going through the contents of a bag as if they
have just 'acquired' it.
15. Wiping dried blood off a nasty looking knife.
16. Talking to thin air, and pointing at the characters...
17. Staring murderously at one of the player characters.
18. Composing a letter, scratched out with quill
and ink.
19. Concealing cards up a sleeve as surreptitiously as possible.
20. Unrolling a scroll and muttering as they read.
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WHO IS IN THE STREET?
You see all sorts these days... Roll 1d20.
1. A street artist having a one-sided argument
with a pavement portrait that looks suspiciously like one of the characters.
2. A group of flagellants, beating themselves in
veneration of the Thrice Blessed and inviting
others to join them.
3. A fire-breather, spitting flame to the gasp of
the crowd while his companion collects coins.
4. A shifty-looking labourer who staggers along
the street as though carrying an invisible
heavy load.
5. Two goblins, kicking something about... Wait,
was that a head?
6. A wide-eyed, spittle-flecked crier yelling tomorrow's news, including the gruesome deaths
of several prominent townsfolk and at least
one of the characters.
7. An animal tamer with a troop of monkeys that
play musical instruments. They take requests.
8. A dwarf sporting a tremendous beard, staggering along spilling beer from a massive tankard.
9. A merchant, selling something from a cart.
10. A troupe of mummers, one dressed as a king and
another as a fool, who caper about to the reedy
tune of fiddle and drum.
11. A drunk man with a crudely scrawled sign saying
'killer' pinned to his back.
12. The Outhouse Oracle, a filthy looking fellow
with chronic diarrhoea, who has a 3 in 6 chance
of truthfully answering any question provided
he is seated on his 'throne.'
13. A servant dragging something behind them which
may be a carpet, or a large sack of something
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or another... But is certainly, possibly, human-body sized...
14. A member of the watch asking people for 'contributions'... while large, threatening companions look on.
15. A press gang, looking for lone individuals to
'persuade' into service in the King's glorious
army.
16. A group of bravos lounging in a doorway and
calling out jeering insults to anyone passing
by.
17. A tipsy thug with a dartboard design crudely
daubed on his face sidles up, offering a throwing knife and a 'free go.' His ominous looking
mates glare on.
18. An ogre porter passed out in the middle of the
street. No one can get past him.
19. An elf, walking in wide-eyed wonder as if they
had never seen a town before.
20. A group of beggars fighting over a soiled collection of coins tossed into the mud.
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Defining statistics for
Non-Player Characters
Civilised non-player characters in Warlock can have
careers and skills which define them. To create
such denizens, the games master has a few things
to consider. The process is quick and can be done
'on the fly', so a lot of forward planning isn't
required. Note: this content is reproduced from
Warlock Compendium 2.
NPCS AND CAREERS
Many of the denizens that player characters encounter will be in a career, for example the town
guards, traders, dock-hands, pedlars etc., or will
be unintelligent creatures capable of acting as
such, for example a great feline behaving like a
'hunter'. To create such a denizen, especially if
no combat is expected, all that is required is to
determine the level of their relevant adventuring
and careers skills. To do so, the games master is
first advised to give the denizen a career skill
for their relevant job at the following levels.
Note that this doesn't have to be one of the careers from this book - it could be any career name
that suitably sums up what the character does.
Career skill level
Description
0-3Amateur
4-8Professional
9-13Expert
14+Master
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Then, the games master should pick one adventuring skill that represents the most iconic skill of
that career, for example large blade for a soldier
or bargain for a trader. That skill should be set
at a level of the career skill +3. A couple of
other skills that might feature in such a career
(for example intimidate for the soldier) should be
at the level of the career skill -1, and all other skills at the career skill level -3. Note that
these skills don't have to be the skill associated
with the career as defined for characters in the
main rules - the NPC may have had previous careers
and experience. The games master should feel free
to mix things up! Also, the games master should
feel free to change these rough 'rules of thumb'
- for example we only define a couple of skills at
career skill -1, not because the maths adds up, but
because it is easier that way!
For example, a professional soldier might have a
'Merchant Guild soldier' career skill of 7. The
games master determines that the large blade skill
is iconic for this career, and sets it at a level of 10. Two other adventuring skills - brawling
and command - the games master decides are important for the career and sets at level 6. All other
skills are then at level 4.
There's no need to write this down to this level of
detail, often all that's needed is the level of the
one relevant skill to the situation at hand, which
the games master can just eyeball using the list
above as guidelines.
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STAMINA
For non-player characters, just use the stamina
values from the core rules. These numbers are reproduced below:
CommunityStamina
Dwarf 15
Elf15
Goblin10
Human15
Ratman10
Persistent characters
In Warlock, it is expected that most foes faced in
combat will either surrender or flee as their stamina nears zero. This is intentional, as murdering
people isn't something most civilised societies
will put up with. It also means that non-player
characters can be persistent - they can pop up
more than once in a campaign. It is much more interesting to have that annoying thug you've dealt
with before reappear in a later session, nursing
a grudge at his treatment, than to just have one
of the player characters run him through the first
time they meet. After all, if the player characters
get a reputation as murderers, and it is not going
to be long before they all end up dead or in jail.
So the games master should give the players every
chance to show mercy and restraint. That way carefully crafted non-player characters will be around
a lot longer, and the imaginary world that the game
takes place in will be the richer and more believable for it!
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Character maps
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Character mapping is a technique used by writers
who are preparing complex plots, such as novelists
and screenwriters. However, these ideas also work
for writing adventures and scenarios in roleplaying games. Character maps are simple flow charts
that allow you to track interconnected relationships between player and non-player characters in
your game, helping to build complexity into those
relationships and make them more 'real'. They also
allow you to introduce more secondary characters
while keeping track of everything, making for a
richer, more complex and more realistic game world.
The characters in this book already have some interconnections, and by building a map you can keep
these linkages in mind as well, develop new interactions, and effectively chart changing relationships - roleplaying is a dynamic experience after
all, and relationships will change constantly. That
is part of the fun!
Here are some tips and advice for creating character maps for your own games when you are planning
for a new campaign.
START SMALL
To begin with, just consider a few important
non-player characters in your campaign. You'll no
doubt add more as the adventure continues, and it
helps not to make things too complex at the beginning otherwise it can be hard for the players to
get their heads around things.
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THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU NEED
What is the purpose of the map? If you think about
the campaign you have planned, what exactly do you
need? If it is an investigative campaign, then what
you need from a 'who knows who' map is not the same
as it might be if you were focusing on exploring
a forgotten tower. So as a first step, frame your
overall themes and consider what is going to help
you during play. Of course, that is the key point
- the character map has to help you in play, otherwise why have it?
MAKE NOTES
Before you start the campaign, consider the cast
of characters you have in mind to start. Take the
most important characters in your campaign and make
a post-it note for each of them - just a name, and
a brief description of what part they play. If you
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are using characters from this book, make a note of
what page they are listed on too - this is the kind
of useful information that helps you at the table.
ARRANGE THE NOTES SPATIALLY
Take the notes and arrange them on the large piece
of paper or a dry-erase board. Start by placing a
note for the player characters in the middle of
the board - they are the focus of the campaign,
and although events may take place away from them,
they are of course the focus of play. Then start
to lay out the major players around them, circling
outwards. If you do it this way, minor characters
will be on the edge, where they have less focus and
where there's more room to add more characters if
needed - adding another major character near the
middle is going to shake the campaign up a fair
amount and that will be reflected in a big change
to the map.
MAKE THE CONNECTIONS
Now, draw the linkages between the characters in
the campaign. Make a note next to each line indicating the type of relationship - friend, enemy,
lover etc., and any other pertinent information.
Your mapping may start as quite a simple sketch,
but the idea is that the relationships will change
and deepen as the campaign progresses.
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LOOK AT THE PATTERN
Now take a look at the pattern you have formed.
This is a good time to assess the relationship map
for the start of the campaign. Does it look like
a fun setup? Is it biased to one character, which
means maybe another needs a more prominent role?
Now is the time to make changes and assess the map
ready for play.
Once you have a perfect starting character map in
place, take a photo of it and print it out. This
is now you reference map for the start of the campaign. Ideally, keep the original lay out as well.
Then, as play progresses and relationships change,
characters disappear and new ones come in, you can
rework the note-map to show the changes and produce
a new print out. This will help you keep on top of
things; especially things that happen that are not
in the foreground with the player characters, making the world seem more 'real'.
At the end of the campaign, you will also have an
excellent resource showing what went on in the
adventures and how the non-player character map
changed, which is especially useful if you plan to
run the campaign again.
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