Need to generate an NPC or a plot on the fly? A new card deck on Kickstarter is designed to help you do exactly that, with choices for motivations, methods, secret hooks, and more. Take a look at this example:
First up, I draw a Character card: LEADER, it explains, may head a team or department but must explain decisions if things turn sour. Historical examples include: Bishop, Foreman, or Slaving Overseer. At the bottom of the card I’m instructed to draw an Organisation card. This turns out to be a COOPERATIVE and the examples include a Guild, a Club, or a Lodge.
Putting these two together I get a Foreman within a Guild. The examples give me inspiration, so I come up with a Treasurer of the local chapter of the Bakers Guild – an organisation my group saved from the Menacing Mold Merchant in a previous adventure, so long ago it could be stuck in the 80’s. That’s got merit. Being historical, I’ll go ahead and make the antagonist an enterprising Female – just to stir the pot. So what is this bad woman cooking up?
Well, for that we sift in a Result. She wants to PROMOTE SELF. A high achiever wanting to rise up in society; that stands to reason. What is the drive behind achieving her goals?
We need a Motive: FAME. Our bakers delight wants to walk down streets glazed in chocolate topping. She wants to bake in the glory of her rise. Fame is the icing on her wonderfully flavoured cake.
How is she going to achieve this? By a Method: BRIBERY. The card goes on, but for now that should stand on its own.
So there we have background to our story. The Guild of Bakers has achieved a previously unattainable position of head guild in our fictional historical realm of Beaudesert Shire. This can be attributed to the diligent and fastidious work of one of the Guild’s office-bearers, Mrs Jam Decorator. Underpinning the guild’s levels of acclaim is the fact that she is bribing state officials with delicacies – sticky buns with mouth-watering glaze and melt in your mouth pastries. By baking… ahem… making the guild look good, she is achieving her aim of promoting herself and getting into a position to make a move for the position of Baking Guild Grand Pastry. This would see her achieve her aim of being the Beaudessert Shire Head Guild Master (or Mistress), and thus as famous as Lamingtons (a fictional dessert, made from stale cake dressed up with desiccated coconut and chocolate). There we have the plot for the Bribing Baker of Beaudessert!
If you like the sound of it, check out the Kickstarter here.
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