Fresh NPC Lists Are Now Available! (Taking Requests For Future Releases)

If you're a fan of my TTRPG supplements, then you probably know that I'm rapidly approaching 200 splats at time of writing! While it's unlikely I'll cross the bicentennial by the end of the year, it probably won't be too long after 2025 gets here that I'll mark that particular occasion. However, with all of the different topics I've covered over the years, I wanted to draw some attention to two of my more recent releases, and to ask the readers out there if they'd like to see me put out more NPC-based supplements in the near future!

And if you haven't checked these out yet, please do!

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

What Kind of NPCs Do You Need At Your Table?

For folks who aren't subscribed to my newsletter, or aren't keyed-in to my social media feed, my two most recent releases were 100 Helpful Hirelings (which is a list of NPC hirelings that have a variety of skill sets a party might want to put on the payroll), and 100 Town Guards (since most towns have some sort of guard or militia ready to protect them from threats).

While these might seem like the standard sort of release you'd put out for Game Masters, it's actually been quite some time since I've focused on NPC lists specifically. Most of what I've put out lately has been keyed to a specific game (like my recent release Army Men, or my fantasy RPG setting Sundara: Dawn of a New Age), or I've been focusing on organizations over individuals.

Why, you might ask? Well, at first it was because organizations overall seemed more popular than lists of individual NPCs (100 Monastic Orders seemed like a more enticing supplement than 100 Monks to Meet, so I wrote the former, but not the latter... yet, at least). After that, though, it was because I just needed some variety in my output, since if I write the same kind of content for too long I start going cross-eyed. But I figured that it was time to come back to something that honestly started off my career with Azukail Games, and which is currently one of my top types of sellers.

But I wanted to ask readers this week... what kinds of NPCs do you need most at your table? And before you scroll down to leave your request in the comments below, check the existing supplements I've listed to see whether the one you want/need is already out there, and waiting for you to pick it up!

Also, before you all get to scrolling, please take a moment to check out The Wind and The Demon, the introductory story from 100 Monastic Orders. If you like it, subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel, and share it around to help us get a little closer to the 200 hours we still need to get the channel monetized!

Current NPC Supplements

I'm not including the NPC lists I've written for the World/Chronicles of Darkness, or for Call of Cthulhu, as I feel those are a little bit too game-specific for this week's post. But in addition to the supplements for town guards and hirelings mentioned above, I've also put together:

- World's Oldest Profession: 100 Courtesans and Concubines: Brothels can be found all over our fantasy settings, and if you're looking to make sure there are plenty of memorable NPCs in yours, this list will definitely make that happen!

- 100 Nobles To Encounter: Whether you need antagonists, paymasters, or extended family members for some of your player characters, this collection of nobles has all kinds of aristocrats to choose from.

- 100 Random Bandits To Meet: From being waylaid on the roads, to meeting up with old friends on the wrong side of the law, this supplement has all sorts of highwaymen and brigands, including a few legendary bandit lords who may not be quite what they seem.

- 100 NPCs You Might Meet In The Tavern: My first (and thus far only) Platinum seller, this is the book that started me down the NPC-list path. Grab this one, even if you grab none of the others, because you're going to be getting together at the bar sooner or later.

- 100 Pirates To Encounter: The flip side of the bandit supplement, this one is for adventure on the high seas! From scallawags and blackguards to pirate lords, there's a bit of everything in here.

- 100 Prisoners For A Fantasy Jail: Whether your characters start off in one of these, or they get sent there in the course of their "adventures," it always helps to have a couple of fellows to fill the cells with.

- 100 Merchants To Encounter: A Gold seller that isn't far behind the NPCs to meet at the tavern, this one has merchants from small towns and bazaars, to big cities and high-end districts... wherever your party goes, and whatever they need to buy, there's someone in here for them.

- 100 Unusual Aasimar: One face of the coin I wrote along with the following supplement, this was originally going to be the start of a series where I covered most basic player species. I could still get back to that, if there was a demand for it!

- 100 Tieflings To Meet In Your Travels: As mentioned above, tieflings and aasimar were meant to be two halves of a whole for GMs who wanted to sprinkle them throughout their game setting. Sadly, neither has crawled out of Silver metal status, so I never went back to species-specific supplements like these.

- 100 Characters You Might Meet In A Star Port: Thus far my only NPC-specific sci-fi supplement, I might have a few more of these up my sleeve in the near future, if that's something folks would like to see more of! Just like this one, the initial release will likely be geared toward the aliens found in Starfinder.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Game Masters, Make Sure The Villains Aren't Just Sitting Around Waiting

There are a lot of names for it. I've seen it called dungeon scumming. I've seen it called Skyrimming (suggestive tone optional). I'm sure there are terms that other Game Masters have heard of that I wouldn't recognize without some explanation. At the end of the day, though, all of these terms refer to a specific kind of behavior from the players. In short, they go into the plot-relevant situation (assaulting the villain's keep, kicking in the door of the dungeon, etc.) and blow all their big resources up-front. The barbarian roars through their rages, the spellcasters empty their slots, daily charges of magic items are used, and as soon as the party gets too low, too hurt, or things don't go their way, they pull out. Not just from the fight, but from the entire situation, backing off a safe distance so they can heal up, recover their resources, and come in hot again.

However, this kind of behavior only works if you treat your NPCs like they're in a video game, rather than a living, breathing world. Which is why, if you want to create dynamic challenge, remember that whatever your players are doing (or not doing), they aren't the only ones in the setting who are moving. Your villains have better things to do than just sit around, waiting for the heroes to show up and thwart their plans!

All right, men, we've been discovered. Move the treasure to a safe location!

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Your Antagonists Are Characters, Too

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, or so the science tells us. However, when it comes to your story, both actions taken and not taken should have an effect on the plot either for good, or for ill. And as the Game Master you should encourage the game to feel organic, and to act like a living, breathing thing.

Take one of the examples above; the party tasked with getting rid of a bandit gang in the woods that have been harassing people on the roads. These bandits shouldn't just be a series of encounters waiting to go off until your players find the bandit lord, get their loot, and turn in the quest. These NPCs should be living, breathing parts of your game world, and they should react to what happens (or doesn't happen) in your game based on the actions taken by the party.

How are you going to persuade the highwaymen to turn over a new leaf?

As an example, say your players locate the stronghold deep in the woods used as a base of operations by these bandits. They raid that stronghold, going in with spells flying and powers going off every round, but it's not enough. Before the bandits can bring them down, the party retreats out into the forest to rest and recuperate, getting back their hit points and spells to come back and do it all again... but what did the bandits do in the 8-10 hours between the party's raid, and them coming back for round 2?

Do the bulk of the remaining forces abandon the fortress, rigging it with boobytraps and just leaving a skeleton crew behind to ambush the party before leading them in deeper? Do they reinforce their positions instead, and send out word to their forces, bringing reinforcements back to the fort so the party now faces more enemies than before, all of whom are now ready for a fight? Does the bandit lord pack up the treasure the party is hoping to reclaim, sending it out with trusted lieutenants to take it to a safer location that the party will now have to track down again if they want to get back the stolen goods? Or do the bandits regroup, and come after the party in the woods, staging a midnight counterattack with all their numbers while the party is weakened, and may not be as ready to fight?

There are, of course, going to be situations where things remain static in the PCs' absence. If they're going through an abandoned ruin that's guarded only by constructs, mindless undead, and traps, then none of those things are going to deviate from the orders they were already given. In some situations it may be legitimately impossible for them to leave their posts, or to pursue the party beyond a certain point, making them very much a static, somewhat predictable force. But if the antagonists your party is facing are sentient, and if they have plans that are already in motion, then they need to be able to react to what your party is doing... or if your party opts to not do something, then you need to know what stage the antagonists' plans are at.

Let's return to the bandits in the forest. Perhaps, instead of trying to track down their hideout, the party just escorted merchants back and forth along the highways to ensure they weren't attacked. Or maybe they started taking out the bandits a few at a time, trying to catch them out in small teams in the woods, away from their hideout, and their support. If the bandit lord and their men find out what the party is doing, what preparations will they make? Will they start terrorizing the town as a way to try to get the PCs to back off? Do they form assault teams meant to take the party out at a time and place of the bandits' choosing? Will they disperse, fading away into the woods and finding a new place to ply their trade, believing it's better to live to fight another day? Or do the bandits reach out to another faction, such as the necromancer or devil-worshiping cult that was going to be the next antagonist, joining forces with them to try to defeat the party?

Nothing happens in a vacuum, and to make your game feel like a living thing, make sure that your villains are acting to reach their goals just as surely as the party is trying to reach theirs.

Additional Resources

If you want a little help with your antagonists, consider checking out a few of my supplements that are designed to do at least some of the heavy lifting for you!

- 100 Random Bandits To Meet

- 100 Prisoners For a Fantasy Jail

- 100 Gangs For Your Urban Campaigns

- 100 Cults To Encounter

- 13 Fiends: A Baker's Dozen of Devils

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

5 Supplements For Players Looking For Character Inspiration

Folks who frequent my page know that, in addition to running this blog, I also work on a lot of other gaming projects. Most of those, though, are aimed at dungeon masters. Stuff like 100 NPCs You Might Meet at a Tavern, for example, of the DND 5th Edition one shot The Curse of Sapphire Lake.

You know you're curious, now.

However, I've put out a lot of content over the past year and change that is also useful for players who are looking for a bit of inspiration to spice up their characters. So if you've been looking for some unique flair to add to your PCs, I'd recommend checking out some of the following to get your creative juices flowing.

#1: 100 Fantasy Bands

I call this next one, "Hope You Roll an 18 on Your Save"!

This was one of my most recent releases, and it's still fresh enough that it hasn't even hit Copper status yet, but 100 Fantasy Bands is a collection that's full of the weird, the wild, and the bizarre in the world of entertainment. And while it's useful for all the bards and skalds out there, no doubt, there are tie-ins for a variety of character concepts.

If your character is the party muscle, were they security for a controversial band like Devil's Bargain? Or were they a part of The Wall for a time when they left the service, performing in parades and similar events with other veterans? Did your spellcaster provide special effects for some of these traveling shows? Or do they just like music, and as such they keep track of who's coming up from the underground scene on their travels and adventures?

All sorts of possibilities in this one!

#2: 100 Random Mercenary Companies

You looking for iron, friend?

 Being a mercenary is one of the most common character backstories in an RPG, but it rarely gets more development than that. 100 Random Mercenary Companies provides all sorts of free companies your character could have been a part of, and which will affect everything from your reputation, to whether you made enemies when you left your fellows in arms.

Whether your character fought for the black-armored Harbingers of Sorrow to try to fill the void after a personal loss, or they skulked through the underbrush and back alleys as saboteurs for the Eyes of Karesh, there are all sorts of unique companies that require a number of talents. There are even mercenary companies that specialize in magic, from the destructive capabilities of the Acolytes of Arannis, to the Coven and their ability to foretell the omens for coming battles.

If your skills are for sale, it pays to know who trained you, who you've fought with before, and whether that unit is respected, feared, hated, or some combination of those things.

#3: 100 Knightly Orders

My steel, my oath, my life.

 For those who want to dedicate their steel to a cause nobler than their own purse, 100 Knightly Orders is an ideal place to find inspiration. Whether you're common born or of noble stock, and whether you fight for valor, glory, honor, or reputation, there's likely an order that will fit your character's needs.

From the gray-cloaked members of the Grave Wardens who ensure the dead pose no threat to the living, to the Heralds of War who are always the first to sound the charge in any battle, these orders provide a solid background for characters who want to be part of something greater than themselves. Or who, in some cases, want to set being inducted into such an order as a goal of their character progression. And it's not just for the martial characters, either, with organizations like The Eldritch Order of The Ivory Hand, as well as the Masters of The Unbreakable Chain providing plenty of room for wizards, sorcerers, witches, and summoners to join their ranks.

#4: 100 Gangs For Your Urban Campaigns

And just how did an adventurer like you wind up down here on my block?

 Perhaps only slightly less common than sellswords when it comes to character professions are thieves, scoundrels, legbreakers, and assassins. And if you're looking for a way to flesh those characters out, then 100 Gangs For Your Urban Campaigns has got you covered, and then some!

From the confederacy of small gangs that rose to prominence in the form of the Rat Kings, to the Gilded Lilies of the pleasure districts, there's a gang for nearly every criminal specialty you could imagine. And if there aren't quite enough for you in that collection, then you'll find additional allies, inspiration, and crews you could use in both 100 Random Bandits to Meet, as well as in the nautical-themed 100 Pirates to Encounter. From plague-ships captained by dark necromancers, to former soldiers banding together to take back what's theirs from the nobles who taxed them off their lands, there's quite a variety to choose from, here.

#5: A Baker's Dozen of Noble Families

Honor to your house, shame to your enemies.

 Noble characters are already tough to play (one reason that 5 Tips For Playing Better Noble Characters is one of my most popular guides), but it helps if you don't have to do all of the heavy lifting on your own when it comes to the details of this character's family and lineage. That's where A Baker's Dozen of Noble Families comes in.

Unlike the previous entries on this list, the Baker's Dozen does a fairly deep dive on 13 potential noble families. From the backwater swamp folk of the Dredger clans who were raised to nobility for their help in a war, to the monster hunting warriors of the Silvers, each description provides a history, colors, style, and heraldry. So if you're looking to play a noble character, each of these should give you more than enough details to get you started along that path without breaking too much of a sweat.

And if you're looking for further inspiration, as well as for friends, rivals, family, or just fellow members of your social caste, then 100 Nobles to Encounter should make a handy companion supplement.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you found these suggestions useful!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!