Ethos Magazine 02.pdf

Issue 2, March 2003

INSIDE

Bring Life to Your NPCs!

Explore the Ubar Valley!

Get Roleplaying Tips!

ALSO

Celtos: Using Celtic

Myths and Legends in

Your Game

Product Reviews

Short Fictions

Resources for Players &

DMs, Including:

3 New Prestige Classes

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Ethos Magazine: Issue 2, March 2003

CONTENTS

Monthly Columns

Editorial

News

CREDITS

Storycraft, Part 2: NPC Necessities

Editor

The Sojourner’s Diary: The Ubar River Valley

James Henley

Product Reviews

Staff Editors

Clayton Bunce

Celtos: Character Races in a Celtic Setting

Daniel Crocker

Chris Perkins

Features

Advanced Roleplay, Part 2: Character Interaction

Staff Writers

Ryan Boell

The Life of a Bard

Dominique Crouzet

Bruce Gulke

A Dragon’s Protection: Prelude

Chris Morris

Dimitrii Pavlov

Resources

Illustrators

John Bingham

The Dark Clown Circus

Herman Lau

John O’Connor

Open Game License

Cover Illustration

Open Game License, Version 1.0a

“A Dragon’s Protection”

by John O’Connor

Submissions

‘d20 System’ and the d20 System logo are

trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a

subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used with

permission.

Some of this magazine, where marked, is Open

Game Content under the Open Game License

version 1.0a. All text and art not marked as Open

original author or artist, and is used with

permission by Ethos Magazine. You are free to use

this material for personal use, but commercial

distribution of the materials is prohibited without

the express permission of the copyright holder.

Ethos Magazine will accept submissions from

anyone as long as they follow the appropriate

guidelines at:

www.ethos.0catch.com/submissions.htm

Email your submissions to:

ethosmagazine@hotmail.com

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Ethos Magazine: Issue 2, March 2003

EDITORIAL

H i,

Welcome to the second issue of Ethos Magazine. This issue is full of articles and resources, and will hopefully be just as good as

Issue One. Thanks, once again, to everyone who helped to make this issue, and to Steven, Morgan (TempesT) and Jeff at The

d20 Magazine Rack for their help. Also, thanks to our new staff members: Bruce Gulke and Chris Perkins, our new layout artist. If

you’ve come from The Magazine Rack then you might not know about the existence of Ethos ’ own website at:

www.ethos.curvedspaces.com .

At the website you can find details on our staff, as well as contact information and access to our mailing list, so you can be informed

when the next issue of Ethos is available by email. On the other hand, if you haven’t visited our pages at d20 zines , please do. You

can download all of our previous issues from there and visit our forum.

In this issue are the second installments of StoryCraft and The Sojourner’s Diary, both packed with information to help

with your roleplaying. Also, we have the second part of Advanced Roleplay, by yours truly, and The Life of a Bard, a piece of work

looking into the life of a typical bard in D&D and at the tools of the bard’s trade. This issue also presents a prelude for a series of

short stories, collectively entitled A Dragon’s Protection, which will be featured in future issues of Ethos.

For more information see the news section of the magazine. If you enjoy reading Ethos, then please join our forums at

ethos.proboards2.com , and tell us. The forums are also a good place to socialise with Ethos staff, and keep in touch with the

latest news.

That’s all for this issue - see you next month,

James

Wales, UK.

James Henley, Editor.

NEWS

Ethos, Issue 3

Issue 3 of Ethos Magazine will be a special, themed issue. The magazine will present an entire new Dungeons & Dragons

campaign setting, based around the city of Crookhaven. Most of the details of this setting will appear in the magazine, including

stats for important and influential figures, maps of the most important places in the city, and ideas for adventure hooks in the city, as

well as a small adventure written by James Henley. In July of this year, the Ethos Magazine Press will also release a free PDF

sourcebook containing fuller details of Crookhaven and go into more detail about the area around the city. For more details and

previews of Crockhaven, the Corrupt City, visit the Ethos website at:

www.ethos.curvedspaces.com

and The d20 Magazine Rack at:

www.d20zines.com

COMING SOON!

Green Ronin Publishing

Pocket Magica – February 2003

M&M GM Screen – February 2003

Avatar's Handbook – February 2003

Freedom City – February 2003

Bastards & Bloodlines – March 2003

For more details visit

www.greenronin.com

Malhavoc Press

Arcana Unearthed DM’s Screen & Player’s Guide- August 2003

Arcana Unearthed Malhavoc Handbook I- August 2003

The Diamond Throne Malhavoc Handbook II – August 2003

Cry Havoc Event Book – July 2003

Anger of Angels Sourcebook – July 2003

When the Sky Falls Event Book – April 2003

For mores details visit

http://www.montecook.com/mpress.html

Mongoose Publishing

The Quintessential Barbarian – March 2003

Encyclopaedia Arcane: Dragon Magic:

Power Incarnate - March 2003

The Tribe of Shadows - March 2003

Armageddon 2089 Total War RPG:

War Machines of 2089 - March 2003

The Quintessential Bard - April 2003

Encyclopaedia Arcane:

Divination, The All-Seeing Eye - April 2003

The Slayer's Guide to Kobolds - April 2003

The Ultimate Game Designer's Companion - April 2003

The Rookie's Guide to the Undercity - April 2003

Earth 2089 - April 2003

The Quintessential Gnome - May 2003

The Slayer's Guide to Derro - May 2003

Power Classes III:

Arcanist, Cabalist, Fool, Pirate - May 2003

Encyclopaedia Arcane:

Conjuration, By Bell, Book and Candle - May 2003

Behind Enemy Lines - May 2003

The-Game-That-Cannot-Be-Mentioned - May 2003

The Fiery Trial - May 2003

For more details visit

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com

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Ethos Magazine: Issue 2, March 2003

by Ryan Boell

W elcome to the second installment

of Story Craft, NPC Necessities. We

will look at how to define, remake

and create Non Player Characters.

While the DMG contains rules for

NPCs, it leaves many important

items out. NPCs can be anyone,

from diabolical villains to the Player

Characters' best friends. In terms of

creating a memorable NPC, the

DMG states, “An NPC with a hacking

cough and strong opinions about the

king is always more interesting than

Kiale, the 2nd level commoner.

Remember, NPCs aren’t just game

statistics, they are individuals with

personalities, quirks and opinions.”

DMG pg 149. While this is correct, it

fails to go into enough detail, and

that's what this article is about.

begin defining them, and even more

that should probably be avoided. In

an ongoing story where a new

character must be introduced

because of a development in the

plot, it is usually easiest to take the

requisites and then build the NPC

into them. For example, if your PCs

decide that they are going to travel

into the frozen northern lands, they

will probably need a guide. In this

case a local or, possibly,

pro fessional traveler will be

say that Aristocrats and Experts will

not exist there - everyone has to

struggle to support themselves and

they do not possess the level of

technology required to maintain

expert knowledge of anything. By

knowing this and answering some of

the questions I've posed so far, it is

easy to piece together an idea of

what the NPC will be like; we have

created its concept.

Statistics / Attributes

It is often said that you should not

create an NPC around randomly

rolled Attributes; this is wrong. Role-

playing games are a unique media in

that, if you run out of ideas, you can

always randomly generate statistics

and use them as inspiration when

creating characters. Once you have

statistics created for the character,

you can judge and describe it, filling

in details and building a foundation

for its personality. Alternately, if you

do not have statistics, you can

analyze the existing concept or

description of the NPC, “You smell

musk, a body clad in strips of leather

scrapes against your armor as it

passes you in the marketplace. You

look back and see the bulky

silhouette of a man carrying an

awkward package disappear behind

the pavilion.” What are the attributes

of this Non Player Character? In this

example, a Guild courier from one of

my players' Thieves Guilds has been

making minor cameo appearances in

my plots over the course of the last

five games. Finally, I have found a

larger part for him to play in a battle

between a Fallen Paladin and a PC

Monk's school of martial arts. In

preparation, I want to have the

statistics for all of the NPCs, as well

as a compiled collection of notes so

that I will be able to glance at the

sheets and know every detail. Thus,

I will not have to dig through my

campaign source, dragging out

combat and dialogue. In the past, the

courier had

The Role of NPCs

My definition of an NPC is someone

who is a plot hook, a backdrop, a

friend, relative, enemy and a

nuisance. They are a love interest, a

member of another adventuring party

or a crotchety innkeeper. They do

not exist solely in terms of statistics

on a character sheet; they are as

real as PCs. They can cause the

world to rise and fall with a single

spell, and countries to collapse into

an economic depression with one

word. They should be thought

provoking characters, as much a part

of your game as the setting. NPCs

are independent characters, like

PCs, that help to introduce, define,

and provide closure for plots. Their

actions should follow their

personalities and live within the

confines of their character concepts,

remaining consistent. Typically, an

NPC fulfills several roles throughout

the course of a Campaign, growing

with the Player Characters and being

shaped by their words and deeds.

They should be both diverse and

dynamic.

required. Usually, I consider how the

PCs will contact the NPC, whether it

is through a church or via a town

message board. Then, I think about

what kind of person would maintain

that kind of an eye on the source of

the PCs’ query. Also, I want to know

what the PCs have that will serve as

adequate payment if they do

manage to contact the NPC they are

looking for. A good start from here

would be to locate a class for the

NPC - which one will fit in with his or

her personality the best. The DMG

includes the NPC classes Adept,

Expert, Commoner, Aristocrat, and

Warrior. And Traps and Treachery

adds Thugs. In my game, there are

nomadic tribes in the northern lands,

which are rather barbaric and

primitive. They worship the Goddess

of Chaos, and have used powerful

magic to create a number of

subterranean towns. So, it is safe to

Creating an NPC

NPCs should not be developed in a

vacuum. There are many places to

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Ethos Magazine: Issue 2, March 2003

never given his name, nor had he

spoken more than a few disjointed

lines -- he is a man of action

because he has no education and

nothing to say.

When assigning stats, you should

remember that some are important

to certain classes than others (such

as Strength for warriors, Intelligence

for wizards, etc). But what's fun

about Third Edition Dungeons and

Dragons is that you can make an

intellectually inferior wizard, or a

weak fighter, and so forth, if you so

desire. You are only limited by your

imagination.

Before I walk through making an

NPC, let’s talk about Quickstatting. If

you are a DM and you use the point

system, feel free to skip this section.

few ranks in cooking. But that gets

old. What about the innkeeper who

has all that and has a rank in

sewing? It may never come into play

but it's something that’s unique about

him; give the NPCs stats they would

have but also throw in a skill they

wouldn’t regularly have. A farmer

might have craft - whittling. It my not

be necessary, or appear in every

story, but it fleshes his personality

out, and could prove to be an

important plot point in future stories.

When it comes to Feats and Spells,

things get hairy, so I won't touch on it

too much. Feats are meant to be

selected to help the individual out

with his everyday life, and Spells

only come in for Adepts, Clerics,

Wizards, Sorcerers and the like. The

NPCs spell selection and treasure

should be unique.

Hey Angel!

I have a daughter of a king and

I just don’t know what to do

with her. All I know is that she

is annoyed with all the pomp

and circumstance around her,

she wants to be married

because it seems the only way

to leave her life in the castle,

aside from running away which

is not something she will even

consider.

Thanks a lot buddy!

Kesh

In detailing this character, the NPC

wants to be married, but if she were

pretty, this probably would have

already happened. Therefore, I will

give her an 11 Charisma. She has a

smile that appears to be kind of

bucktoothed and wide.

She will have Disguise to walk

among the commoners to escape

her everyday life, Perform - Ballroom

dancing, Knowledge - Heraldry,

Knowledge - Weddings and as a

quirk, besides the smile, she’s

always depressed. The king holds

monthly contests to cheer his

daughter up, where the winner will

get her hand in marriage. However,

no one has been successful yet

because she knows when she opens

her mouth, the contestants will see

her teeth and run -- sad thing huh? I

hope that helps you, Kesh!

Quickstatting

Quickstatting is used to determine

your NPCs Attributes. The NPCs

Strength, Dexterity, Constitution,

Wisdom, Intelligence, and Charisma

begin at 8. Roll 6d6 and add the

results together -- if you roll a 1, you

may wish to roll that die again; I find

that this works best for my own

game, which has a somewhat heroic

theme. Finally, you should divide and

assign the points to the Attributes in

a way that represents the NPCs

concept.

Quirks and Flaws / Appearance

Along with quirks and flaws,

appearance is very important. It

helps set the mood and gives the

PCs ideas of what they see. With

regards to the physical description,

NPCs should also have clothing and

equipment that is visible to the PCs

and illustrates exactly who and what

that character is.

Example: I rolled 6, 1, 3, 5, 5, and 6.

I re-rolled the 1 and got a 3, which is

28 points total. The character I am

working on now is a Thief. Because I

have good stats, I'll place an 18 in

Dexterity and Constitution, leaving

me with 8 points. I will assign 4 for

Strength and again for Charisma,

putting the Attributes at 14. This

provides no bonuses, only penalties,

for Wisdom and Intelligence, but the

bonuses in the other Attributes will

compensate.

It's easy to do stuff like that—and

see? A plot hook to boot! What

happens if one of the PCs tries to

cheer her up and succeeds? Will

there be a wedding in the future?

Angel’s Iconics

What follows are two unique NPCs

that you can insert into your game

anywhere that they might be

appropriate and they are adaptable

for any game. Sun elves however

have a +2 Int, and a -2 Con and can

be found in the Forgotten Realms

Campaign Source Book. These are

straight out of the Player’s

Handbook. I only presented two due

to the space restrictions in Asgard

Magazine, where the original version

of this article was published. If you

all write in, I will be happy to publish

two more next issue!

For example, you could use the

colors of hats that various Non

Player Characters wear or

incorporate into their appearance

(such as dyed hair, jewelry, etc.) in

order to tie them together and carry

off an underlying theme or motif.

Additionally, every NPC should have

a noteworthy flaw or a quirk --

something that makes them

memorable -- which could be as

simple as a catch-phrase or a

specific word that is repeated

whenever they are encountered.

Sometimes they are hard to come up

with. Recently, my friend Kesh

emailed me a request for quirks and

flaws for this character concept:

Skills / Feats / Spells

Skills are essential to NPCs. How

else do you know what they can and

can't do? An innkeeper will have

profession - innkeeper and maybe a

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