Campaign Journal 5: Setting Design, Part I

Originally published October 31, 2012

So with our basic planning and preludes done, we now need complete our initial setting design. In a sense much of this should already be done. We know what city we will be in and what the characters will be doing. Now we just need to fill the world with nonplayer characters (NPCs), secrets and mysteries.

Specifically we need to add a political dimension so the setting expands from the basic quest or dungeon linear format. I’ve had it remarked to me that I seem to know how to build political chronicles: games filled with secrets, backstabbing, and shifting allegiances. The secret I believe is to create NPCs who want something and who will change the setting to achieve these wants.

The first step is to identifying your necessary NPCs. This goes back to the idea of a minimal cast. You don't want to create too much at once.

For my current game, I plan to be very minimalist. I know each adventure will bring their own NPCs and thus my population of characters will grow rapidly. After the preludes, I already had three new NPCs in the form of the survivors of the sniper PC's old SEAL squad.

I see three main categories or uses for NPCs in most games. They can serve as hooks for future stories or adventures, they can serve to bring out the themes of the game, and they can serve as antagonists. NPCs can fill more than one of these categories as we will see.

A warning to my players. There are spoilers here. If you don't want to spoil yourself stop reading now.

In terms of hooks for my chronicle, I'm mostly looking at possible connections to the larger mysteries and conspiracies. To this end most of my NPCs will focus on the various compacts and conspiracy groups of Hunter: the Vigil. These groups might employ the group in their monster hunting activities and possibly try to recruit them. Of the various groups established in the game system, the ones most fitting the style of the chronicle and the nature of the group's hunter cell are Network Zero, who gather evidence on monsters in hopes of posting it to convince others of the truth; Null Mysteriis, who study monsters using science; Chieron Group, a nefarious corporation which harvests monsters for their organs; and Task Force: Valkyrie, funded by the U.S. government to hunt down monsters.

So my initial set on NPCs should include members of these groups as potential contacts and patrons. One, Mr. Gray has already made his appearance in the prelude. Mr. Gray is a younger, fitter version of Agent K from Men in Black. He's an experienced hunter who is looking to recruit Vito, the ex-SEAL sniper, for the organization.

A new character will be Lisa Peterson, an executive of Keystone Pharmaceuticals, which is owned by both the Cheiron Group and the Pentex Corporation. Pentex, in my game, is a massive multinational corporation that owns Verdant Technologies, another pharmaceutical company, that employed Dr. Sorenson, one of my player characters (PCs). They are using monsters as sources for new drugs. She will tie in the evil corporation to the local events of the chronicle.

I also want to play with some of the players' expectations. So I intend there to be a lot of graffiti with the tag VI. This is a shout out for the vampire players in the group. VII in Vampire: the Requiem is a reference to a mysterious rogue clan of vampires that hunt other vampires. Hopefully this will make them just a little more paranoid.

The character behind these tags is Victor Isaacs, a brave street level member of Network Zero. He has a number of connections with local hunters and should serve to get them involved with more "normal" hunters should they decide to go that route.

A final hook character is the mystery hacker from the prelude. This person or persons was able to hack the investigators computers and print a cryptic message on their printer. He or she definitely knows about the supernatural, directing them toward weird phenomenon. They also know about the Frank's condition (see below) and seem to want to help. I plan to use this individual to direct the action as needed. As to the true nature of the character, they are actually a monster, specifically a Promethean. The character hopes to use the group to find a secret in Seattle, a secret she hopes will allow her to become something more than she is right now.

NPCs can also be used to reinforce themes. My chronicle is based on the original prospectus The Abyss Stares Back. So one theme is that hunting monsters is detrimental to one's sanity and health.

The obvious example of this Frank, the founder of the private investigating firm. He went missing for a period of 3 weeks and when he returned he was suffering from "delusions" and dementia. Every scene with Frank should reflect that loss, either through flashbacks showing him prior to the incident or with him at the asylum, damaged and insane.

Mavis, his wife, also reinforces this theme. Though she is technically the retainer of one of the PCs, she is also an example of those hunters leave behind, unsuspecting mortals who have to pick up the pieces of a destroyed life. Mavis also helps to keep Frank relevant since not every session will involve visiting him. She is the company's secretary and they will pass her desk every time they visit the office.

The final use of NPCs is as antagonists. For my minimalist cast, I'm looking for reoccurring antagonists. One has already been mentioned by Frank in his mad ramblings. The Silent One and his minions, the sandmen, represent the primary threat of the chronicle. These strange undead subsist off the memories of others. The Silent One in particular is able to manipulate memories and thoughts, thus tying him into the theme of madness. I'll have more to say about him in my post detailing planning the first adventure.

Another character I decided to add was a focal character for the brain spiders that one of my PCs uncovered. These parasites live inside the heads of living humans, potentially causing fatal brain damage. They are based loosely on the Abyssal Spiders from Intruders: Encounters with the Abyss. I wanted to give them some more agency than just a disease though. So I've created the character of the Dream Widow which steals some material from the Azlu, the spider-human hyrbids from Werewolf: the Forsaken. The Dream Widow as her name implies can affect people's dreams. In the real world she looks like an inhuman cross between a spider and young woman (unless she disguises herself) but in dreams she can look like anything from a giant spider to a young girl. I expect her to play with the characters for a while, wearing them down before any real confrontation. And all the time she will spread the brain spiders hoping to make more of her kind.

That it is for now. Next time we will discuss how much detail you need for your initial set of characters.