Sidekicks & Sidequests Blog

Sahara

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Joshua Simons generated with a combination of inspiration from a Far Side comic and the random tables.
What is this character’s name? - Sahara
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Dragonborn, but they are a lycanthrope (werewolf).
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Blacksmith that focuses on armor and weapons. They previously were an adventurer and have settled in the town (not their hometown) either because they were ready to plant some roots or due to possible nearby lycanthrope activity to act as a secret guardian and protector. Sahara might run a blacksmithing apprecenticeship and is actively involved in the community, so the townspeople look to and respect Sahara. Sahara is an ethical werewolf (won't attack innocent people) but also has a sense of self-preservation, so they will provide non-pure silver weapons to disreputable or selfish people if they've heard rumors about werewolves or something similar. It possible that this community might possess a small cabal of werewolves protecting the town (DM discretion).
How old are you? - Late 30s.
Describe your physical appearance. - A muscular figure who works long hours in the forge that (like a reptile) will utilize cold-blooded/ecototherm techniques of warming up in the forge and cooling off in a nearby river. They are a bronze dragonborn (we speculated that no natural hair was present) that is a non-binary character. They are 5 foot 9 inches tall. They dress very simply in trousers (or a kilt), a sleeveless, v-neck, string-tied, plain shirt, along with a dark, brown, leather tricorne hat adorned with a small blue feather. There is scarring present on the left arm of where Sahara was scratched and bitten and afflicted with lycanthropy from a werewolf. When pressed on the scars, Sahara might present an answer referring to their adventuring past, a supposed mishap while handling heated metals, or they might give an answer filled with innuendo -- either way, it's not going to be a straightforward answer.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Grizzled, Light-Heartedness/Joking, Slick.
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Their lycanthropy condition is a secret of the character. Sahara has an enchanted silver sword that they keep; it is probably the single greatest and most beautiful weapon they have ever made. There's a wonderful irony for Sahara to still hold on to this weapon to use to help protect the town from werewolves perhaps.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - We came up with two possible sidequests: (Joshua's Idea - Sidequest A) Sahara needs the players to gather information on either nearby lycanthrope or bandit/thug activity in the area (depending on your game) AND/OR (Dice Roll - Sidequest B) to find a rare spell component - we decided that it woud be a specific kind of salt needed in order to make Ghost-touched Weapons that deal extra damage to ghosts and undead. Joshua stated in Sidequest A it's possible to leave it as simple as information gathering to report to Sahara for them to take care of it alone at a later time, the party could take it upon themselves to take care of the situation, OR the party teams up with Sahara to go deal with them and it becomes a moment where Sahara MIGHT choose to reveal their secret. With the Dice Roll Sidequest B suggestion, Sahara is working with a local priest and mage to develop these Ghost-touched Weapons in dealing with undead threats present in the area. We speculated that depending on if you want a gritty, Ravenloft/Barovia Vampire vs. Werewolf style campaign or lots of undead around, might influence which of the sidequest options you would want to present the players with.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - If you do Sidequest B, you get a Ghost-touched Weapon. If you do Sidequest A, the players earn Sahara's trust to get some kind of discount in their shop, they might have the ability to call on Sahara to help in the future, or they earn some kind of financial reward (could be some combination of these).
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Unless the party is intent on killing werewolves in the town, there wouldn't be an immediate effect. In the Sidequest A scenario, the bandits or other lycanthropes launch a surprise attack on the town and do enormous damage to the town and grave harm to Sahara. Whereas in Sidequest B scenario, the undead threat isn't addressed in time and proceed to overrun the town and cause great harm and destrcution. The town is either in ruins or mostly abandoned with Sahara still in town, now bearing additional scars, a missing eye, using crutches, etc. Depending on the relationship with the party, if they had built up trust and a good relationship, Sahara will certainly feel a sense of disappointment in the players not being able to help the town when they could have. In either case, the inaction of the players leads them to see these devestating consequences. If the party is entrusted with Sahara's true nature and they betray that trust by becoming antagonistic towards Sahara, Sahara will hold a grudge against the party and attack the party the next time they return to the town or in the area.

Optional Questions - not required

Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Sahara will trail off in thought when speaking, leaving things unsaid , not completing thoughts, and ending sentences with rhetorical question phrases ("ya know?" or huffs/hmmphs). They do not fully articulate and verbalize what they are thinking, which is how they are able to be slick. This is how they are able to navigate some gray areas.

Daneel

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 18 May 2022 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that FyreWriter generated with the random tables.
What is this character’s name? - Daneel
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Koalinth, the sea hobgoblins.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Theologian. She lives solitarily in a port town, living on the outskirts of civilization by the water's edge by the hillside, treated as a pagan medicine woman. The deity that Daneel worships and studies is a self-serving entity with about 20 total followers of various ancestries and species. She knows who the deity is, but does not know their name, which is why she is preoccupied in study. So while the rest of the town is not enthused about her devotion to this god, they also benefit from her apothecary-like skills (which Daneel thinks are trivial in nature -- she thinks healing items she provides are like junk. Daneel just is super knowledgable with herbs/plant-life and sea-life of the area).
How old are you? - Teenager.
Describe your physical appearance. - She does have dark green skin with long, stringy hair. Very dark green eyes. She is young, so she hasn't had a lot of extra sea life start to grow on her body, but there are some places on her back where barnacles are beginning to form. Expect a more developed coral reef within the next ten years.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Cunning, Highly-Intelligent, Condescening
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Daneel is actually a ghost, possessing her own body (which is still healthy). This is part of the pilgrimmage process in the worship of this deity -- it kills you, turns you into a ghost, and brings you back to your body to possess it, but you're still considered Undead. Once she completes her pilgrimmage, she will be reintegrated and return to being fully alive.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Daneel needs the players to go find a "friend" of Daneel (perhaps another pilgrim) who borrowed a book from her and she needs this book back. She doesn't want any harm to come to the friend; she is very busy with her studies and worship, and she cannot leave her residence to go find them. They are in the nearby port town, but it is very busy, so it will take some investigative work to track them down. The book is important to Daneel, and it is part of the process of her pilgrimmage to return her to normal.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Daneel will reward the party with money and healing items if they successfully retrieve her book for her. This mission helps to build trust with Daneel, who will clue them into her secret and ask for additional help in completing her pilgrimmage.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Refusing the adventure doesn't have any immediate negative consequences; after all, Daneel has a sense of superiority, so she will just probably continue to act that way if the party has future interactions with her. If the party chooses a particularly "renegade" approach to this sidequest, perhaps resulting in the friend dying, there is no reward, no further sidequests, Daneel is VERY MAD and rude and condescending. It is possible that the party earns the ire of this unknown deity, who will begin to take interest in the group to plague them and punish them for killing one of its disciples. Also depending on the attitutde of the party (and how the DM approaches this), the deity could inspire Daneel to cease possessing her own body, and lead to a series of events where Daneel is using the party to fight amongst themselves, which either causes the party to harm themselves and/or further confrontation with this cult.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Daneel wants to complete her pilgrimmage so she can be accepted as a fully-invested member of this cult, returned to life in service of this entity.
How do these affect your general personality? - She has been needing to get this book, so she has been anxious to begin this process in earnest, which has been frustrating for her.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - Her feeling of superiority mixed with her hurridness to get this book back should help to capture that teenage attitude of approaching the character. She feels ABOVE the player character intellectually (and might be) unless you have some highly intelligent PCs in the party. But she also realizes she needs help to get this book, so she knows she has to "play nice".
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Hurried and irritated quality that she is barely able to hide.

Amelia

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 04 May 2022 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Patrick Kolb rolled for randomly.
What is this character’s name? - Amelia.
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Bullywug.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Enchanted Pest Control Agent.
How old are you? - Young Adult.
Describe your physical appearance. - Amelia wears her emotions a little bit easier, typically adopting a cheerful demeanor. She wears what could be considered a "witch's hat" and a uniformed robe that is distinctly designed to have colors, logos, designs that match the branding of a guild/company that deals with pest control. She would appear as lower or middle class, and she takes care to ensure that her robes are regularly repaired with patches, etc. in order to keep a clean appearance. But she still might have some slight tattering on the ends of shirt sleeves or pant legs, depending on the make-up of the uniform ensemble. She has the tools of the trade (defensive capabilities, traps, snares, and other tools and magic items {e.g. a magic snare pole} to help pacify creatures) -- she would look like a hunter or trapper, but she has more utility items. Her equipment is indicative of the division or group she works for: mostly mundane and common magical creatures. If spirits, ghosts, and undead are around, that's the more elite team that will be outfitted like artificers and such.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Patient, Caring, Responsible
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Knowledge. She originally joined for selfish motives (free bugs to eat!) due to experiencing a change in her home environment when a food source was exhausted or too many trees were removed. As a result, she was quick to learn about how removing an entire species (plant or animal) from an environment damages the land. As her training with the guild continued, she has learned more about the trade and the benefical impact (both ecological and environmental) that her guild's animal/pest control services provide. Amelia has become dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge in these areas to become the best agent that she can possibly be. She works alongside a mentor figure who was an elite agent but has retired from that division. He has to teach her the proper application of techniques, which might take several times, but Amelia is otherwise an eager and enthusiatic student.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Amelia needs you to help introduce a pest/an animal to an area -- you need to retrieve a live animal in order to introduce it to this ecosystem. We talked about perhaps too many mosquitos need some opposums, a giant alligator (Chubbs) to eat the leeches of a nearby lake or pixies. Basically, you're helping to turn this captured pest/animal into the new town pet!
What would be their reward for succeeding? - There might be an enchanted tool she could pass on. More likely, Amelia can provide lore about a creature the party needs to know about or perhaps provide the location of a local dungeon to explore alongside Amelia for an additional sidequest.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players refuse to go on the sidequest, there is a long-lasting environmental impact in the form of being unable to successfully deal with this problem or worst case scenario having to abandon the town because it has been overrun by creatures. If the players fail to retrieve the "pest/animal A" either by it escaping or it being killed, you return to town and have to fight a wave of the pests plaguing the town. Amelia is able to hold them off a little bit longer after this battle, but now you have to find a "replacement creature B" but now you need multiples of them instead of just one. If you still are unable to acquire the necessary number of "pest/animal B" in time, when you arrive back to the town, now you're having to fight multiple waves of creatures that are beginning to properly overrun the town. If the battle goes poorly, everyone is forced to abandon the town.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - She has a thirst for knowledge. The more she can learn about the local ecology and environment, the better she is at her job and helping other people. If she doesn't know something, it will "eat her up inside" until she finds out the information.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Amelia would love to be on an adventure, but she doesn't have the skillset, strength, and abilities to actually survive confrontation on a lethal scale. She can do her job and survive/sneak/help out at the level she can now, but this is preventing her from "getting promoted" and living the life she'd like to.

Jack Splash & Wayne

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 08:00:00 -0500

This is a pair of characters that Gary Barker rolled randomly using my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Jack Splash & Wayne
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Jack Splash is a Manticore. Wayne is a Grimlock.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Wayne is a tax collector/enforcer/"protector" of sorts in an Underdark free town. Jack Splash is his "pet" or means of enforcement.
How old are you? - Jack Splash is a Young Adult. Wayne's age was not determined.
Describe your physical appearance. - Jack Splash is an albino-colored manticore with white fur. Wayne splashes red paint or blood onto his fur and lets it dry, thus was born the moniker of "Jack Splash". Jack Splash does have eyes that glean red because of the albinism. Jack Splash also has the more traditional scorpion tail for a manticore but still possesses a few nettles that can be used offensively. Wayne has a stench, appearance, and demeanor befitting of a grimlock, but he is adorned in drow finery (these are the items he's been able to claim as tribute). Wayne does not care about whether the clothing items are meant for men or women. Wayne has no eyes, only skin grown over the eye sockets. Wayne has a walking stick that has the hooks from a Hook Horror on either end of the stick, which he uses to great effect in convincing the community of his and Jack Splash's effectiveness of protecting them all.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Jack Splash is Massive, Downy, Occasionaly-Adorable. Wayne is Lanky, Abominable, Bold (has bravado).
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Jack Splash has been secretly farming mushrooms as psychedelics. The mushrooms originated from some corpses of drow individuals who did not want to pay taxes to Wayne and Jack Splash; when Jack Splash returned a couple of days later, these mushrooms were growing out them. This is a recent discovery, and he is not eager to share this discovery with Wayne because "Wayne takes away all of his fun toys". Wayne knows the location of an old ruin here in the Underdark. When dwarves from the surface began to delve further into the Underdark, they attempted to establish a settlement. The place that Wayne knows about from this place is an old dwarven restaurant with a broken Keg of Unending Dwarven Ale (it might only provide a cup a day).
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Jack Splash wants the player characters to join Jack Splash on a vision quest fueled by the mushrooms. This sidequest will require you to discuss with the players if they are okay with this situation, consequences, and ramifications. Gary and I talked and suggested several ways to present the quest, such as taking the mushrooms worked like a fast travel mechanic to a new part of the Underdark when you awoke or the DM and the player characters collaborating and discussing what epic party/adevnture/legendary moment happened during this vision quest while your characters blacked out but the characters don't remember; they keep meeting NPCs who were at the time of the events to help the party piece together the interaction. This could serve as a mechanism for a one-time level up (so as not to abuse the power of the mushrooms). Wayne is worried about Jack Splash getting too big and no longer threatened by him -- he wants the player characters to bring back a mate for Jack Splash to make babies with and train!
What would be their reward for succeeding? - For Wayne's sidequest, after retrieving a mate for Jack Splash, he will direct the party towards a cave of his loot -- go in there and pick from it the spoils you want. This is actually a DECEPTION! Wayne leads them into the maw and belly of a GARGANTUAN or TITAN sized purple worm like an angler fish (imagine the Riftworms from Gears of War 2) and they are now eaten. They now have entered into a dungeon full of whatever else has been swallowed by this creature, and they will have to fight their way through and out of the creature! They will find even more treasures inside, should they survive! You also get the bragging rights for slaying this ancient beast of the Underdark! For Jack Splash's sidequest, through the course of the vision quest, Jack Splash gains some higher level of understading, has an epiphany, and unlocks some great cosmic, spiritual truth -- he ascends into heavenly realms and escapes Wayne and the Underdark! The party is then able to piece together a rhyme (which serves as the command word) that is able to summon a spectral version of Jack Splash to assist them with one command/task once per day. The party can always recharge this ability by going on another vision quest with the mushrooms. However, it was noted that repeated uses of the psychedelics to try and gain free level-ups would only work a total of one or two times before negative consequences and rumors (a.k.a. "bad trips") would start compounding and affecting the party - PLEASE discuss with your party to avoid unwanted elements.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the party completes Jack Splash's sidequest BEOFRE completing Wayne's sidequest (since Jack Splash will disappear), Wayne will think that Jack Splash has run away, and clearly, your party is not smart enough to be adventurers, and offers to hire you on as tax collectors working for him in this town to replace Jack Splash. Wayne will still need ANOTHER manticore if he's hoping to get offspring, so perhaps he contracts the party to retrieve yet another manticore (or just find an offspring to bring him?). Wayne is a basic challenge rating Grimlock - so he could be overcome easily, freeing the townsfolk from Wayne's oppression and making a base of operations in the Underdark. If the party refuse to go on the vision quest with Jack Splash, then Jack Splash will complete his transcendence on his own, and the players will miss out on the spectral Jack Splash. If the players ingest the mushrooms and then tell Wayne about the psychedelics, then Wayne will take the mushrooms and go on his own vision quest to end up in a colony of Grimlocks. Wayne reunites with his people, and leads them towards the Underdark free town to completely take over and subjugate the innocent people here.

Optional Questions - not required

How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - The relationship between Jack Splash and Wayne is exploitative; Wayne raised Jack Splash from birth and trained (with malice/abuse) to work for him. Jack Splash is getting to a tipping point where one wrong move on Wayne's part could see him dead. However, Wayne is more intelligent and usually able to fast talk his way around Jack Splash to confuse and subdue his anger that would be directed towards him.

Boris

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 06 Apr 2022 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Brianna Jean rolled randomly using my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Boris
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Brianna rolled Angel, and elected to choose a Belare, which is unique to the Esper Genesis setting. They are energy beings who reside in suits in order to interact with the physical world.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Boat Captain/Space Ship Captain
How old are you? - Adult
Describe your physical appearance. - Being an energy being, most of the description is about the suit. The suit is well-constructed and has sensor modifications that allow for improved ship movements and a more effective captain. Boris's suit matches the same color as the ship. The suit is a mixture of metals and polymers, with most of the metal being on the outside. Belare are secretive about the internal construction of their suits to prevent tampering or hacking. Boris has welded or emblazoned medals or filigrees on himself that work like tattoos in certain regards, especially of places he's been to and has enjoyed. The emblem of his ship is over his heart.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Quirky, Lonely, Trustworthy
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Boris hates the player characters. This is due to messing with Boris (fridge magnets on his person), other people being on his ship and moving things around, they are loud, etc. There is just a fundamental difference between being an energy being versus an organic. DM is free to invent an pre-existing history.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Boris needs to convince his teenage child Glitch to give up their hooligan ways. Boris and the other parent keep in touch, but while Boris is content to explore and stay with his ship, the other parent is more free spirited and often going off on adventures, sometimes top secret kind-of missions. So naturally, Boris is the more stable parent to raise Glitch. Glitch takes after the other parent and wants to go explore and get into adventures. So the quest that Boris wants the players to undertake is to take Glitch along with your party to go retrieve some missing cargo from a crashed ship.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Boris is will to offer some credits and offer discounts if they succeed. Depending on the severity of the retrieval mission will either convince Glitch that he needs to stick with Boris OR he will be inspired to actually seek proper combat training/education in order to be a more successful adventurer in their own right.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players don't convince Glitch to give up the hooligan ways after this mission, Boris will not award as much money and the discounts as were being rewarded, due to the still rambunctious and wild behavior of Glitch. If something really bad (Glitch is damaged or injured), less money. If something REALLY REALLY bad happens to Glitch, NO money and the authorities are called on you.

Optional Questions - not required

Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Boris has a vocal coder on his suit that he has switched over to adopt a Slavic/Russian sounding accent, to match with his name.

Pathos Anthropoi

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Fr. Blake Britton is bringing to the table.
What is this character’s name? - His original name was Rito Hercomer of House Hercomer. He was chosen to fulfill a specific office from among the lineages of itinerant clerics and became the Zotani Nimi, adopting that as his name; the name and title could also be referred to as "The Zotani" for short. However, after corruption of some of the leadership and a tragic civil war that led to the collapse of the Zotani nation, now he goes by the name Pathos Anthropoi, "The Ache of Humanity", "The Ache of the World".
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Human. His culture and nation, The Zotani people, had a gift with preserving and maintaining Living Memory and being expert record keepers and amassing knowledge and wisdom. A multi-ancestry citizenry, The Zotani people were traditionally a monastic and reserved people who have minimal interaction in the wider world, their only encounters being limited to consultation and guidance with other peoples and races who need to learn from their knowledge. While many types of ancestries, races, and species belonged to the Zotani people, humans served as the religious figures for the culture. However, it IS possible for other ancestries (like elves and dwarves) to be able to become Zotani Nimi -- though Pathos might not have knowledge of this.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - He is the last Zotani Nimi, a special office or type of cleric. It transaltes to "The Living Memory". This is a role that is organically passed from the previous Zotani Nimi to their successor (like The Giver). He is now an itinerant cleric that travels and warns of the dangers of the world to those who would follow the same path as his people. The deity that Pathos Anthropoi serves is simply called "The Other Memory" or "The High Memory", and this is what creates Living Memory and goes back to the first Zotani Nimi. He is regarded as a mythical legend or well-known, depending on where he goes.
How old are you? - When someone is chosen to become a Zotani Nimi, their aging process changes to extend their life. Pathos is in his 80-90s but still has a human body that looks like a physically-fit 30 year old. This is to help with the process of helping wisdom and knowledge to be synthesized gradually without rapid, jarring shifts.
Describe your physical appearance. - Younger, physically-fit, with a full set of brown hair. Pathos's eyes have permanent bags and he looks like he's lived a thousand lifetimes and will shift in coloration as he's accessing memories and living through them. As a suffering servant (aside from appearing tired in his eyes), Pathos does have a bit of a hunch like he's carrying a weight and he travels with a staff. Pathos is dressed in druid-like robes. Typically, a Zotani Nimi would be required to wear white with a golden sash, however, due to him being on the run, Pathos does not wear his official robes. But also, dressing officially makes him intimidating and less approachable, so he tends to dress simply and be able to meet people where they are at.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Longing, Wisdom, Insight
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Living Memory and The Grimoire. This leather-bound book is given to each Zotani Nimi, which has moving pictures inside of it, that allows the Zotani Nimi to see and access memories from the past. The Zotani Nimi is able to transcribe and add new memories to The Grimoire with vellum. The book always appears to be small and lightweight, but has an infinite number of pages and memories.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - The sidequest is called "Living Memory". With Pathos, you have to travel to the remains of the Zotani nation, explore the historical remnants of art/culture/history, confront what dangers have taken over, and search the ruins for a missing vellum page of The Grimoire. This missing vellum page details the last act of the civil war and what took place and its conclusion. This is the final piece of the puzzle that Pathos needs to understanding what took place and what happened to his people.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Pathos will either transcribe one of your memories or make a copy of a memory from The Grimoire onto a vellum page for you to be able to use and access whenever you need it. In addition, recovering this missing vellum page allows Pathos to gain insight into the conflict to eventually be able to end any lingering conflicts and start to rebuild his culture once again.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players fail to recover the page or refuse to go on the journey, they will not get the obvious material reward. In additon, whatever lingering rebel forces or other evils that occupy the Zotani ruins will be begin to crop up on the road as recurring bandits, making travel difficult and dangerous.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Pathos is to really trying to find closure about what happened to his culture/people and to make sure it never happens again to anyone else. He is also not going to live forever, so Pathos does need to see if he can restart his culture and be able to pass on the gift of Living Memory.
How do these affect your general personality? - Pathos has this sense of longing and being driven, never still. He's visiting libraries, speaking with people, and always engaged with the practices of being a perpetual student of the world. He's always working to gather knowledge and to add to Living Memory. But he also has a deep sense of peace and trust in the Living Memory and its ability to to provide wisdom and guidance which makes him hopeful.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - With most people, he's very genial and charismatic, there's fascination and wonder at how Pathos knows what he knows. With his enemies, Pathos can be fierce and has insights on how best to deal with them, preferring nonviolent cunning, outsmarting the enemy, or avoidance. But if pressed, Pathos will fight.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Pathos does have an accent when he speaks Common: he uses tall vowels and sounds highly cultured. This is because of Living Memory and having knowledge into all languages, his Common accent is a mixture of these languages that makes him hard to determine where he is from. Pathos does have a unique accent and native language he speaks called Zotani, since it refers to and revolves around the Zotani Nimi, which is central to the Zotani peoples. Pathos does have some OCD-like tendancies in that he might prefer things done, placed, arranged a certain way, and yet, he is very Spartan and not gaudy.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Pathos could have as much or as little information as the Dungeon Master permits, but Pathos would be seen as immensly important. A note from Fr. Blake is that perhaps the Zotani nation and people are isolated like Winterhold from Skyrim, so while their impact is recognized on the world as a whole, they are not a superpower in the world.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Pathos is the only one left from his culture, which directs his actions and thought-process. But he's never alone because of the Living Memory.

Link to LORE NOTES from Fr. Blake Britton

Arinth D'faranin

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 09 Mar 2022 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Katie Downey is bringing to the table.
What is this character’s name? - Arinth D'faranin
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Changeling. She originates from the Feywild and her genealogy is inspired by Celtic folklore/myth. This is a RECENT discovery through a series of dreams/memories from her past that she has confided in with a professor of hers. She realized she was switched with the human child of her human adoptive parents by her Feywild birth parents.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Student Wizard, roughly equivalent of a Level 1 or 2 in PC terms. Still in general studies on the pathway to divination in the future.
How old are you? - 15
Describe your physical appearance. - Her resting appearance is one of a human woman. She is approximately 5'4", long ashen blonde hair, tanned skin, hazel eyes, a lithe dancer's build. She grew up the daughter of two human farmers, living an agrarian lifestyle. She has used her newly-discovered changeling abilities to mimic some of her professors in order to gain access to the restricted sections for the library at her university; she's done this in order to learn more about changelings and the Feywild.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Kind, Confused, Determined
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Arinth has in her mind a perfect map of the Feywild created through her memories and her studies to visualize that realm in 4 dimensions. She keeps the secret of the dreams (exception is the one professor sworn to secrecy), and few of her closest friends know about her changeling abilities but they DON'T know she was switched at birth. Arinth is still dealing with the discovery of her true ancestry, already experiencing an emotional breakdown related to this revelation. She wants to confront her birth parents about all of this. Arinth has a locket with pictures of her human adoptive parents inside, and she's able to squeeze it/clasp it and sense their emotions/mental state. Her human parents value education and have a desire to travel/explore, but being farmers, are unable to do so, so they made sure that Arinth was educated by a tutor as she was growing up before attending university (and Arinth taught her parents how to read and write so they can send letters back and forth!)
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Arinth wants to go find out what happened with her birth parents and where her human parent's child is. Her changeling parents, being chaotic creatures and not having the same emotional bond with their offspring were bored and wanted to switch theirs with a different baby. She is hiring the players to be her armed escort and she will be the guide as they make their way through the Feywild!
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Arinth does not have anything that she herself can physically offer (aside from her services), however, you could potentially use her knowledge to find and gain treasure/loot from various encounters within the Feywild itself.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players refuse to help Arinth, she will go it alone, and most assuredly NOT SURVIVE the journey in the Feywild. She has the knowledge but not the training in order to survive the dangers and perils of the Feywild. At some point in the future, they would begin to find crudely written posters with her picture on it, with her human adoptive parents looking for Arinth. Journeying through the Feywild presents its own dangers, so this is a possible explanation of how failure of the sidequest could happen (i.e. player death, Arinth's death, the inability to find the birth parents).

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Arinth wants answers and to bring home the daughter of the two people she loves the most in the world. Her feelings haven't changed towards her adoptive parents, she has questions about her birth parents, but she loves her human parents, and they deserve to know the child that they gave birth. As far as Artinth is concerned, this other child IS HER SISTER.
How do these affect your general personality? - She's normally very sweet and kind. When it comes to finding her birth parents and her sister, she is firm on this point and determined; she won't be talked out of it and she knows what she needs to do, and she knows how to do it -- she just needs help to get it done!
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - Arinth is shy with other students because of her humble, agrarian roots. She is easily intimated by other students who come from nobility and higher social standings. She gets along well with all of her professors and is an attentive student that devours knowledge. While she isn't the best of the wizards in her class, she is the HARDEST WORKING one. When she meets player characters and finds out that they are adventurers, she is positively giddy with excitement because 1) oh wow, actual adventurers! and 2) these people can help me on my quest!. Arinth will talk a mile a minute trying to explain how happy and excited she is and needs help with the sidequest she is offering, having to stop and apologize and restart at times.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Arinth has a slight drawl from growing up in a more rural area, swallowing the ends of her words (think the states of Texas & Georgia). People think she isn't that bright, but she is! She works hard! It's not fair that people should judge her based on how she speaks. When she's stressed, she'll grab that locket and focus on her human parents to help her calm down.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Arinth is something of a hero in her hamlet. She's a girl who's making it: she learned to read, she can do magic (which is frightening and exciting), and she goes off to this big school! Perhaps the Folk Hero background.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Arinth is still a student wizard, so she is still a greenhorn. Despite that, she WANTS to find her birth parents and her sister.

Thistle

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Katherine Spitler rolled randomly using my tables. She knew this character would be an artist/painter and knew what the sidequest would be.
What is this character’s name? - Thistle
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Sky Elf
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Artist/Painter/Portraitist. A master of the fine arts.
How old are you? - Elder, at least 700 years old.
Describe your physical appearance. - Thistle has hair on the short side, a long pixie cut. Her coloration is soft greens with purple, which is found in her wings and the feather. The baby feathers trail up her neck into her hair, spread throughout in patterns along her skin, which is medium/fair. Violet/light purple eyes. Mixtures of pristine gray and brown, accents of light green and purple, in her clothes (nice blouse, skirt, boots). She wears an apron, a finely made smock with her paintbrushes. Her apron/smock is covered in so much paint that it is considered its own work of art.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Quirky, Kind, Perfectionist
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Thistle is secretly in love with one of the Player Characters.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Thistle has been given a commission on a painting, and she needs one particular & rare ingredient in order to make this last pigment she needs in order to complete the painting and meet her deadline. She tasks the player characters to go hunt down this missing ingriedent. Katherine has left it open as to whether than involves retrieving a plant, fighting and harvesting something from a monster, etc. to the Dungeon Master to decide.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Thistle is certainly happy to reward the entire party with a tidy sum of gold for retrieving the rare ingredient. For her paramore, she is willing to profess her love and offer to paint a master-level portrait of the character for FREE.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Depending on the nature of the ingredient, players be risking life and limb in order to retrieve this ingredient -- that's something to consider. For her paramore in the party, Thistle will become a spurned lover of sorts, pining after them and sending people after the party to keep tabs on you and to figure out what you are doing. If the party refuses or returns empty-handed, no payment and one very upset artist! Since Thistle is patroned by nobility, high society, and the mercantile, she will be able to spread word about your failure/refusal and it will impact your social standing/interactions in the local area. Your party will receive the cold shoulder or you will find that suddenly things are more expensive!

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Art
How do these affect your general personality? - Thistle has this reputation of being eccentric (don't touch her paints, don't touch her brushes), but she is still good-hearted and kind, and keeps a very close circle of friends. She is respected for her artistic abilities, techniques, and skill-level. She is well known and takes care of her community.

Bubbles Medusa Chambermaid

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that LeRoyal Tutt rolled randomly using my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Bubbles Medusa Chambermaid
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Medusa
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Chambermaid, she works for a local lord who is a cousin of the king
How old are you? - Young Adult
Describe your physical appearance. - Super thin frame, large elbows (button-like), and a long body. She is a beautiful woman. When she walks, her body sways as it moves. She looks fragile, but she is not. She has garden snakes for her hair, they are long, and she's always struggling to keep them braided and under control. She has very snake-like eyes and doesn't have a nose -- nasal slits. People see her and associate her with the Medusa legend and they are typically fearful of her because of her appearance; they also don't believe her when she says she cannot turn people into stone. She has not unlocked the Petrifying Gaze feature of the D&D Medusa -- she has not fallen in love and had her heart broken.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Beautiful, Shy, Loyalty
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Bubbles is a wanted bounty from the nearby town near the Lord's Estate. When she went grocery shopping in the market on her birthday, she got into a confrontation with the local Mayor. He was trying to forcefully grab her, she defended herself, which caused him to tumble over a railing on the 2nd Floor of this market, and the Mayor broke his arm. The wind blew her hood up to show that she was a medusa. As she reached out to try and save him, the point of view from everywhere else made it seem like she has pushed him deliberately. Perhaps a random townsperson WAS able to see Bubbles defend herself. The mayor immediately called for guards to arrest her, but she managed to escape into the nearby woods and back to the Lord's Estate. These events occurred 6 months PRIOR to the player characters discovering any wanted posters in the town, and the Lord & Mayor have NOT interacted or exchanged information about this event.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Bubbles needs the player characters to retrieve a rare, family heirloom. It is a necklace that is deep inside a cave called Murgepoe. This is the lair of THE ORIGINAL MEDUSA; this legenedary figure is no longer alive, it is simply her final resting place.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - If the players bring back the necklace to Bubbles, this necklace will allow Bubbles to cast Disguise Self on herself into a human, which will allow her to escape her oppressive life within the service of the Lord and the bounty of the nearby town; she would be free to live life in society as she saw fit, without fear or violence.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Depending on the dangers present within the Cave of Murgepoe, the players could die or perhaps lose the heirloom. This would mean Bubbles would be DOOMED to remain in the service of the Lord. An interesting complication (depending on the ruling of the Dungeon Master) could be that perhaps failure of the quest meets the conditions for her to gaining her Petrifying Gaze ability (because she had her heart set on getting this heirloom, but now it's been broken by failure to retrieve and bring it back), now she is a hazard/danger in civilized lands. Suddenly, the staff and Lord's family are beginning to turn into stone. Any heavily populated area that Bubbles tries to flee towards, the people all begin to turn to stone. The party will then have to decide how to confront and deal with Bubbles! Alternatively, perhaps the Mayor of the town finally checks in with the Lord and discovers that Bubbles is the woman from the wanted posters! She's arrested and thrown in the dungeon of the Lord's castle or she is taken back to town to be imprisoned in the town jail.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Bubbles wants to live free, without fear or judgement. She no longer wants to be a chambermaid, chained to duty. She wants to change her name!
How do these affect your general personality? - Bubbles wants to do the best that she can under the circumstances that she finds herself. She's not happy, and she wants to change her situation and feel accepted.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - Bubbles has learned to judge off of appearance, based on how she's been treated. When she's around other chambermaids or people of a similar standing, she's relaxed -- she won't approach them immediately, but she knows she will be okay. Bubbles knows who all the other staff/servants are within the Lord's Estate. She knows if someone is dressed like a noble, DON'T make eye contact with them. She knows she could be subject to violence, etc. if she looked at someone higher than her in the wrong way. In general, Bubbles is VERY cautious when it comes to interacting with other people. She is very slow to trust new people, but she is open to trying to understand other people.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Bubbles has a speech impediment, which she is trying to learn to hide. Anytime she says a word ending in a long "s", she draws it out in a long hissing sound.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Bubbles is kept as a secret essentially, so aside from being a bounty in the nearby town, she has not made a large impact on the world.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Besides the fact that she is a medusa in a civilized area, she's completely normal. She is only hindered by servitude to the local lord and the fear/scorn she is subjected to by the feudal system.

Ahta

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Joseph Anthony used an art prompt generator to create. These were the following prompts: a girl with dreads in a field of beautiful flowers, brewery, cafe, dovecote, ruins, wild beasts
What is this character’s name? - Ahta
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Half-orc/half-dryad
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Druid who has overtaken some nearby ruins and the surrounding area and runs a cafe and dovecote, thus "The Dovecote Cafe". She likes to make potions, drinks, and coffees. She was given a boon by a Nature spirit/god after doing a good deed and now is half-orc and half-dryad.
How old are you? - 27-32
Describe your physical appearance. - Dreads with flowers and moss growing in the hair. Literally, there's a connection with nature and plants in being a half-dryad. Desaturated grain (gray-green) skin, tusks, nose piercing through one nostril. She wears robes in multiple layers of browns and beiges, with one arm bare, and draping over her shoulder. Toga-ish, with plants growing from the robes. Any coloration of her robes comes from the plant material that grows. Inside her dreadlocks, there are some root structures. She has some wooden branch horns coming out (could be mistaken for a headdress).
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Happy-Go-Lucky, Empathetic, Inquisitive
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - One of her clan members hates that Ahta has these powers, and has vowed to fight her to the death the next time that they meet.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Ahta needs the player characters to travel to some caves to the south past some swamps in order to retrieve a piece of a Giant Cave Fungus and bring it back to her.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Ahta can then offer a secondary sidequest to go investigate the suffering/pain from an animal/nature she is feeling in the nearby valley to the south. Ahta will then take the mushroom piece and incorporate it into the ruins of the Dovecote Cafe. She will then prepare a potion/receipe out of the mushroom. Consuming the potion will cause the Dungeon Master to role on a random table to produce a general, harmless effect for the player for a short amount of time. Ahta will then state to come back at a later time, and she will have then officially perfected the apothecary-type receipie to make a specific kind of potion (like enhanced night vision, bioluminescence, flight, etc.) with this mushroom. She then unlocks as a apothecary-type NPC for relatively cheap.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players refuse the sidequest, Ahta is pretty chill and not going to be terribly upset. She won't lock you out any other additional sidequests. If the players accidentally fail in the quest (not malliciously), she also will not bear or hold a grudge. However, Ahta is not opposed to violence (she just prefers to not have to fight), so if murder hobos/aggressively anti-Nature/hostile player characters try to attack Ahta, and diplomacy fails, then she will summon her full wrathful might. This is Ahta's lair essentially, so she is able to summon grasping roots and vines to entangle their legs, while she retrieves a battleaxe from inside a tree and summon a multitude of animals to protect her.

Optional Questions - not required

Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Ahta employs a Valley Girl accent. She is a chill, swole hippy.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Ahta has improved the glade/ruins. There is a noticeable change in the abundance of fruits/berries/nuts that now grow here. Nearby towns have heard of the Dovecote Cafe, and go out to visit and treat it like how people in the modern world go to the Farmer's Market on the weekend. There is a mixture of people who like and appreciate Ahta, while some people deem her to be a "Wood Witch" who has "cursed fruit". Some try to treat her as a demigoddess, but she does not possess that level of power.

Talin Uran

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Sara Thompson created (her first-ever character!) in order to utilize the combat wheelchair. Talin now exists in the Champions of the Forgotten Realms mobile game!
What is this character’s name? - Talin Uran
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Infernal Tiefling
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Daredevil Rogue and member of the Bregan D'aerthe. Formerly part of the Grambar’s Blades
How old are you? - 26
Describe your physical appearance. - Crimson, deep red skin. Yellow eyes. Horns that twist up and backwards from his head. He has a scruffy beard, messy black hair. Talin wears greens and leather armor. Talin has a Combat Wheelchair named "Edge" with a bunch of rogue-centric gadgets/traps. Talin is paralyzed from his lower back down, making him a parapalegic. His tail also doesn't move very much either; he has very bad nerve pain running through his tail. Talin's legs have undergone muscle atrophy because of how long he has been unable to use them.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Cunning, Charming, Exploitative
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - His combat wheelchair "Edge" was gifted to him by Jarlaxle, which has various gadgets including traps (scattering caltrops, grease), daggers in the push rim case, a green flame lantern, and pronged shin-striker! A rapier which has been reforged using a kintsugi technqiue with gold; the rapier was originally damaged the day when Talin Uran was caught in an industrial accident of improperly stored gunpowder while working for the Grambar's Blades. The rapier has become a symbol of Talin's journey in life. Talin's relationship with Jarlaxle and the Bregan D'aerthe is also very important to him, despite eventually having a falling out with Jarlaxle due to conflicting morals/ideas.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Talin usually would spend his time where there are a lot of people (tavern, docks, etc.) at a business that is operating as a front for the Bregan D'aerthe. Talin would recruit the players to do work for the gang without realizing that they are working for the gang, for example, like a shipment has gone missing, go retrieve it from this other place. This is the approach he uses for a good/lawful party. If they are more choatic, neutral, or evil, Talin might just be more straightforward.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Talin might offer some kind of small item that grants a boon or a magic item that benefits your stealth abilities. Perhaps Talin is willing to part with some particular magic items that the Bregan D'aerthe warehouse has in stock (i.e. a pair of flintlock pistols, illicit magic items, alchemist fire, a new weapon of some sort, etc.). Talin knows that in order for people to do work for him and sway their morals, you have to sweeten the pot and hype it up, along with a down payment of some gold to ensure their commitment to the task.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players refuse the sidequest, Talin will play it cool and invite the party out for drinks at a crowded tavern (that just happens to be populated by members of the Bregan D'aerthe) and potentially make a signal for some item(s) that get stolen from the party. Talin will then hold these items hostage in exchange for the party undertaking some job/task to be done in order to get them back. Talin is underhanded in this way, but he will not bully or hurt the party -- Talin will just inconvenience the party to the point where things are unnecessarily difficult until some job/task is completed. It wasn't discussed, but if the players fail in accomplishing the task, depending on the severity, could be as harmless as taking the down payment back to becoming enemies of the Bregan D'aerthe and hunted down!

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Talin's goal currently is to continue being the best at what he does. He shares the goal mindset of Jarlaxle's sometimes (like in stealing things or doing some for the Bregan D'aerthe) but Talin does have his own motivations. Talin respects the goals of Jarlaxle and will usually follow those; where they have differences and this eventual falling out is over motivations. Initially, Talin wanted to prove that he could still be a rogue after the accident (despite it beign an unhealthy mindset). Now, Talin is motivated to stay at the top of his game, because he has the tools and talent in order to do so. Talin is also interested in making as many contacts as he can as well, because Talin believes in the power of strength in numbers when it comes to friends veruses in the number of enemies you have accumulated.
How do these affect your general personality? - Talin is sarcastic, playful, and used to be prone to fits of being moody/snippish. Talin can still be short and irritated when he is experiencing bad chronic nerve pain in his tail. Talin is also very jokey in the that lightly bullying way with your friends. He is socialable much more so now versus how he used to be. Talin keeps tabs and remembers favors, and keeps this unspoken: if he buys you a drink, he expects something in return. Nothing is truly done out of the goodness of his heart -- strings are always attached. Talin can still be very conniving and cunning.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - Within the Bregan D'aerthe, Talin is happy around them, like a giant group of friends. There are some of the gang members that he is closest to because of spending the most time with them, but he is still friendly to other gang members. With Jarlaxle, it's not always constant chattering and being excited/energetic. Jarlaxle and Talin sit in comfortable silence with each other as companions. Talin very clearly respects Jarlaxle on a deep level, even when they disagree. Talin doesn't get go out of his way to get aggressive, he tries to use reason to convince Jarlaxle.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Talin talks with Sara'a local slang from England. His voice would be a deep, gruff, West Midlands accent (Birmingham) from the UK.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - In Sara's home campaign, after the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist adventure, Talin Uran helped to prevent the town of Luskan from the Forgotten Realms from being completely destroyed by an ancient red dragon, with help from folks like Jarlaxle and Soluun Xibrindas.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Talin is indecisive about where he stands with Jarlaxle, and he is beginning to have some doubts about Jarlaxle's ideology, actions, and motivations. That the two of them don't always align, this is freaking Talin out. So Talin is trying to focus on working for the gang, but he knows that eventually confrontation with Jarlaxle will have to happen and what that means for Talin's future with the Bregan D'aerthe.

Artwork by Lio (@kroovv on Twitter)

Binwick

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Travis Frederick randomly generated with my tables. Travis generated his own sidequest.
What is this character’s name? - Binwick
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Death Tyrant Beholder
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Chef. He is a member of an inter-dimensional culinary guild of chefs, with access to recipe cards to cover dishes from all food cultures from all worlds and planes of existence. They have strict rules about staying with your kitchen and following recipe cards to the letter, lest you forfeit your rights and privileges of membership. Binwick is currently assigned to a royal kitchen in the mundane world.
How old are you? - Adult but undead/immortal
Describe your physical appearance. - Traditional beholder traits, especially of a Death Tyrant. However, Binwick is unique that he seems to perpetual sweat this bubbly ooze. It is this magical dark green with dark black shadow ooze that perspirates and falls, but never actually hits the ground; it evaporates before it makes contact. Binwick has a big, wide open mouth, but his teeth are not that sharp surprisingly -- pretty standard chompers. Almost to suggest a possibly vegetarian diet.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Large, Ovular, Oozy-Blob
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Binwick cares about his culinary guild of chefs. Binwick was dreamed of and spawned into existence in order to help attend to those who had need of their services (i.e. the undead and the Far Realm). This guild serves many masters and spans the realms.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Binwick needs the player characters to go on a dungeon crawl into a Funhouse Dungeon (The Cave of Aberlast), into the deepest depths of a mountain cave that requires travel to get there (past the Summer Mountains, through the Extraplanes, you'll see the one entrance in the middle of nowhere, you'll see the obelisks standing there marking the entrance). He needs them to retrieve a rare herb (the glowing mellow chicory plant) that can only be found there. He needs these in order to make the fabled "Mellow Chicor Cakes", which are a specialty! You may bring back copious amounts, but he literally only needs a pinch of it. This ingriedient is required for his dish and he CANNOT deviate from the recipe card!
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Binwick initially promises riches from the royalty that he serves. Once the party returns with the herbs, the party is then invited to this lavish dinner with the royal family. It's a long, drawn out dinner with horrible conversation. At the end of this dinner, the royal family reveals that they have no heirs and can no longer continue to rule -- they crown the party (or maybe just one or two members?) to become the new monarchs! YOU GAIN A STRONGHOLD AND KINGDOM! Plus Binwick as your royal chef! However, this comes at a cost: the reason the royal family abdicated was because of the encroaching armies of other nations, and you are now responsible for the defense of this kingdom.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the player initially refuse, Binwick will attempt some fear-based intimidation to try and force them to do the sidequest. At the end of the day, the chef's guild doesn't allow violence against adventurers, so Binwick will not actually attack the players, but he's hoping the promises of riches and his fearsome appearance WILL convince you. If the players come back empty-handed, there are two-fold consequences: 1) that Binwick will have to abandon his kitchen, and thereby FORFEIT his membership, rights, and privileges with the chef's guild, in order to go hunt for these ingredients himself. However, Binwick will become bested by the funhouse dungeon, and will be driven insane, as he becomes the LORD AND MASTER of the FUNHOUSE DUNGEON. 2) the royal family has been waiting for this meal for a long time, and failure will result in the party needing to ESCAPE the castle! Guards will chase the party out of the castle and out of the city. The royal family will spread terrible rumors about the party across the land and all the cities and towns!

Jasper

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 15 Dec 2021 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Alexi Sargeant is bringing to the table.
What is this character’s name? - Jasper
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Frog. He is a literal talking tiny frog with intelligence and speech-capabilities. One might say "awakened" in D&D mechanical terms. Perhaps Jasper was once something else and was transformed by a wizard, maybe he was a druid who drank the wrong potion and found himself permanently turned into a frog. But Jasper ONLY remembers ever being a frog that talks and being knightly.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Knight-errant. An Arthurian amphibian!
How old are you? - (This question got accidentally skipped, but I think we are assuming a normal adult frog age range -- perhaps magic has artificially elongated or modified his lifespan).
Describe your physical appearance. - Green skin, bulging orange eyes, wearing scraps of leather and metal armor that he's fashioned into his own suit of armor, complete with a little red cape! He also has a tiny rapier/sword that he wields. Sometimes he will lick his eyes when he's talking. He bulges his throat for croaking as an intimidation tactic.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Gallant, Overconfident, Grandiloquent
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Jasper ascribes to the ideal of knighthood. Jasper has a clever cap with a feather in it; this feather is a token of favor from the birds of the forest. ALL BIRDS recognize this feather as a sign of respect/deference, the ability to call for aid, and safety.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Jasper wants the players to accompany him to rescue a beauteous frog maiden that is being held prisoner in the top of a tall, ancient tower that has been in his dreams.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Jasper will part with his feather token and give it to the players, which would convey the SAME privileges that Jasper had (respect/deference, ability to call for aid, safety). It grants you a diplomatic advantage to conversing with great birds! You cannot abuse this token to always have rocs/giant eagles/etc. to Uber/Lyft you everywhere constantly or not respecting birds by and large.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - The frog maiden is being used in a dark, evil ritual/experiment. If the players do not help Jasper, she is now transformed into a Froghemoth and is now terrorizing the countryside. If the players attempt to rescue the frog maiden but she is killed in the process, Jasper will be heartbroken, and the evil cultists will be scattered to have to find a likewise blessed frog maiden to begin the process over again, being delayed by the players.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Seeking knighthood
How do these affect your general personality? - Jasper has a need to prove himself, but also to NOT seem that he has to prove himself. That overconfidence. He rarely acknowledges that he is a small frog, but sometimes he does have to admit it and then ask for help. He wants to be competent, heroic, and committed, but he is not ignorant to the facts.

Winston

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Will Murray randomly generated with my tables. Will Murray created his own sidequest.
What is this character’s name? - Winston
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Githyanki
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Miner. He is MOST interested in metals. He's also an accomplished Metallurgist, Alchemist, and Scientist. A freelancer with strong connections. Taking decades to experiment and test metals and find their optimum properties and abilities before he will even share the knowledge of them with anyone else to ensure top dollar and that the materials are being put to the best use.
How old are you? - Immortal, spends his days in the Astral Sea, so time moves differently.
Describe your physical appearance. - Tall, thin, a very heavy beard. His hair is beard like too. His silloutte might look elegant, but his actual features are much different, looking at his head, it's quite brutish. In fact, his face might be so covered in hair that there's really only room for his eyes, nostrils, and mouth.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Determined, Focused, Single-Minded
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Must drink elderberry wine/very health conscious. You got to maintain the body! Take care of yourself, but also enjoy yourself too.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Join Winston as he goes to explore a new asteroid or planetoid in the Astral Sea. Winston wants to run point on this, but he would want some backup, to do some investigating, as he is searching for something "golder than golder"...unobtainium!
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Winston believes in loyalty/commitment and rewarding people, so he will give the party a piece of the action; he will give you a fair cut of the total profits found within the asteroid/planetoid. There is more money to be found in being his friend rather than stabbing him in the back, because you probably don't have his level of expertise and can't exploit him. You get more money being on his team/cooperation rather than being a competitor.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If you don't wish to go on the sidequest, Winston has an extensive network to call upon, and will find someone else to go with him -- this other party or other persons will then get subsequently rich (and not you!). If you decide to betray Winston, he's going to dig your grave -- he'll open a mine, invite you inside to explore it with him, but then he will seal you inside it alone, making it your tomb and final resting place. If he doesn't have the time or unable to do this, "he likes to shoot people in the brains" as a way to deal with backstabbers and competitors. He would leave the surviving party members filled with that fear or wondering what happened if Winston was the only survivor.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Not to be bored. When you live a long time, you accumulate money, you can be comfortable. But how comfortable can you be? Winston likes to do things, discovering new things in areas that are worth his efforts, i.e. exploiting asteroids and planetoids!
How do these affect your general personality? - He is single-minded, but he will take some time for vacations/breaks between explorations. But he's truly alive when he's mining an asteroid or planetoid.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - He's outlived his family. He's professional, he's very to the point. He doesn't have too many friends, but he wants to talk about anything OTHER than his work, like entertainment, but he wants to relax when he is among friends.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Winston mastered a considerable number of languages, but some he's forgotten over time because of disuse. He tends to speak the lingua franca of the particular section of space he's operating out of, whatever is prevelant in the area.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Winston has cleared and reduced a number of asteroids to dust, to their basest components, thereby freeing the Astral Sea of some big obstructions and obstacles for travel, making it safer to sail the Astral Sea. He's still working on this with his whole immortal life before him in the Astral Sea. But beyond this, people on inhabitated worlds/planes of existence are able to make advances and revolutions in technology and engineering based on metals and elements discovered by Winston.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Winston doesn't want to be a big player, he just wants to pursue his own interests. He's an archaeologist of metals. He wants to constantly be discovering and finding uses for unknown metals/elements.

Elanora & Adriana

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 08:00:00 -0600

These are characters that Anson & Elvia rolled for randomly using my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Anson's character is named Elanora. Elvia's character is named Adriana.
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Elanora & Adriana are twin sisters AND rakshashas.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Currently, they are masquerading as a pair of composers. Previously, they were magicians, store owners, etc.
How old are you? - Ancient, they have been corrupting souls for a LONG time.
Describe your physical appearance. - Elanora is decked out in shades of tiffany blue/lighter blues. Adriana is decked out in shades of pink/red tones. SILKS! ONLY THE FINEST! When the sisters are in humanoid disguises, they tend to reflect their ancient nature -- they are hunched over and compact and appear older, but they are still strong and powerful. They've adopted a multitude of disguises over the centuries.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Elanora is Patient, Wise, Sympathetic. Adriana is Defiant, Headstrong, Ruthless.
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Elanora has a jeweled collar which gives a bonus to her Charisma. Adriana has an earring that lets you cast the spell Detect Thoughts once per day.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Elanora and Adriana believe that someone is suspicious of them being rakshasas and has gone into hiding. Because the sisters do not want their secret to be exposed, the sisters ask the player characters to locate this "missing person" by either reporting on their location or bringing them back to the sisters.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - If you have a Bard in your party, the sisters will teach them a song that will allow them to cast the Detect Thoughts spell once per day. At the DM's discretion, if there is no bard in the party, perhaps a monetary reward might be in order or something equal in value (OR CURSED).
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the party refuses the sidequest, the sisters DO NOT want to risk their ruse being found out, they will not immediately react (despite Adriana's ruthless nature). If the party talks with the "missing person" to discover that the composers are actually a pair of rakshasas that are hunting them, then Elanora & Adriana will have no choice but to attack the party at the next available opportunity -- the sisters DO NOT want their secret getting out! If the party genuinely fails to the find the "missing person", the sisters will not teach your Bard the song. Instead, they will "thank you" for trying to help them -- perhaps they will follow your party for a time to torment or mess with your group with their presence/music OR they make plans to strike back at you for failure at a future, UNEXPECTED point in time.

Anamaria

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Charles Basile randomly generated with my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Anamaria
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Mind-flayer a.k.a. Illithid
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Calligraphist. Works for the local governemnt (in both official and corrupt/criminal capacities).
How old are you? - Teenager
Describe your physical appearance. - Average medieval teenage peasant girl, except a mind-flayer. Her farm-basic dress is embroidered and a littler finer. She has ink stains on her mouth tentacles.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Precise, Prissy, Sarcastic
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - A gemstone necklace. It's from her first meal.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Steal some documents and switching them out with a forgery. In this case, it's a love letter and mundane document switch situation; she will make up the story about how serious it is, but in reality, she sent her crush (a shopkeeper type figure) a love letter and she meant to give him a requisition order.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - A forged copy of a prominent, inaccurate compendenium that was written by a famous person (with a forged signature).
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Her and the shopkeeper will actually hit it off, but she will be resentful towards the party for this. Whether her beau will just be her next meal, will remain to be seen.

Axios

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Fr. Tom Bombadil is bringing to the table, with guidance from Kurt.
What is this character’s name? - Axios. This is the name given to him by his Deity, for he was found "worthy".
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Revenant, formerly a human. Undead but not gruesome.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Priest of a Good Deity, who has been commissioned to seek out other undead creatures to release their souls into death. He was formerly a wicked man in life, but repented for his evil deeds and sinful life upon his death/shortly before his death, and for his conversion experience, was granted Undeath and became a Revanent. He will be "the last one in the door" as he serves this purgatorial and ministerial role to seek out lost souls across the lands to bring back to salvation. He is an ambassador between the living and the dead. He uses Radiant powers that heals Good, burns Evil, and if you are Neutral it works like purging fire (both being healed and stunned). The tradeoff of his abilities means he has to rest for 3 full days after a week of using his powers and he sometimes will be overcome with voracious thirst for water (suggestions from Father to give Axios some constraints or handicaps to prevent him from being too overpowered).
How old are you? - Immortal, at least several hundred years, perhaps even a 1,000 years or more. His role in the Deity's plan spans eons and has grand designs beyond Time. His commission has equipped him to be able to do the job he has been tasked with and will endure to the End of Time.
Describe your physical appearance. - A mixture of skeletal, lich-like, zombie, and spirit. Kel'Thuzad from Warcraft III was part of Father's original inspiration. Remnants of flesh in his face and parts of his body. He is not grotesque in a horror-like way. He can be intimidating or offputting, but he's not supposed to be scary. He's not who you expect him to be. He appears to be floating or moving like a ghost because some of his bones have deteriorated and his spirit works to fill in the gaps. You will see the echoes of how he appeared in life through the appearance of his soul (a la Celebrimbor from the LotR: Shadow of Mordor/War video games). He is not a husk of a person. Looking into his eyes/sockets, you can see the pinpricks of light showing the spark of life, like a star, showing the depth of time that he has spanned. He is powerful, but within confines permitted by the Deity; he looks ancient in the manner of clerical garb that he wears and maintains.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Regretful, Compassionate, Dutiful
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Axios harbors the secret of the apex of his shame (something very terrible that he did when he was alive), back when he lived his immoral life that he is VERY reluctant to share these details; you would have to travel with him for a long time and earn his trust before he devulges any of these details because he is deeply regretful about it. Because he's lived a long time and wandered the world, Axios has picked up A LOT of lore about places, cultures, people, useful things, etc.. Axios also has a book from his Deity that will provide snippets and cryptic messages and answers that can be used in the way that a crystal ball might work if he is seeking a solution or leading him to where he should go next; it's a communication device with his Deity, but it's not a Deus Ex Machina device so as to not break the game. The pages and writings will change.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Axios has learned via his book, that his Deity wants a bloodline preserved or protecting an artifact from being stolen. Alternatively, when you meet Axios, he asks you to capture/incapacitate undead to bring them to him or to escort Axios into an area overrun with undead.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Knowledge. Axios is a wealth of lore, information, and advice, and anything the players need to know about their current campaign, he is able to provide this information. Axios could also decide to become a follower to the players and tag along while he does his job.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Axios is not malevolent, not vindictive, not malicious. Axios is disappointed, but he does not punish failure. If he sees player character killing undead without concern to Axios' mission, Axios will object to your actions, but he's not going to be moralizing. If the player characters are evil and acting in evil ways, Axios will combat the threat fearlessly.

Rock & Folio

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 08:00:00 -0500

These are characters that Elizabeth & Michael rolled for randomly using my tables. They developed their own sidequest.
What is this character’s name? - Elizabeth's character is named Rock. Michael's character is named Folio.
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Rock is a deathlock, formerly a human warlock who serves an archfey patron. Folio is a Vedalken.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Rock is a cobbler. Folio is a coin minter.
How old are you? - Rock is an elder, so he's been undead for quite a while. In true Vedalken fashion, Folio is immortal, as he is continually striving for perfection.
Describe your physical appearance. - Rock does have the whole skeleton look, long flowy blue robes -- which look worn and very old, but they have been patched and well taken care of. Ancient looking clothes, doesn't want to have to get new clothes or get used to them. Rock has VERY nice boots and has an assortment of tools hanging off his belt. Folio works in the financial industry, so he dresses very pressed and proper, very sharp, wears the equivalent of a suit or something similar thereof.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Rock is Ancient, Imposing, Suspicious. Folio is Smooth, Observant, Clean.
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Rock knows the best hunting spots for deer, which helps him to get the necessary leather to make these penny loafers and other kinds of shoes. Folio ascribes to the concept of Self-Betterment.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Rock and Folio have formulated a business partnership. Together, they have developed "Penny Loafers", shoe wallets to stick your coinage inside! Rock has enchanted the loafers (secretly at the behest of his archfey patron and unknown to Folio) to make wearers more susceptible/roll at disadvantage to the Command spell (you have to roll a saving throw in order to take off the shoes because they are CURSED) and they enhance the effects of the proprietary magic coins that Folio has developed. Otherwise, the idea is to wear the shoes and hold minted coins that feature the images of the nearby, ruling monarchs. Folio knows how to make "valkuda coins", or magic coins that will enhance one Ability Score by +1. So placing the valkuda coins inside the loafers, you gain an additional +1 to your Ability Score -- for example, in the Random Encounter Section, Duncan used a Coin of Strength and a Coin of Accuracy, so Duncan got a +2 to Strength and a +2 to Dexterity -- This pair needs someone to go out and market the regular loafers and the royally-minted coins in the town and sell AT LEAST 10 pairs of loafers and royally-minted coins.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - If you successfully market the shoes and sell at least 10 pairs of shoes and royally-minted coins, Rock & Folio will gift the players with their own pair of penny loafers, loaded with some valkuda coins. The idea is that now regular people will buy the shoes and royally-minted coins, and adventurers will be inspired to spend the EXTRA money to get loafers with valkuda coins!
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If you fail to market and sell at least 10 pairs of shoes and royally-minted coins, then your local rivals/enemies will be given loafers with valkuda coins to enhance their abilities. While Rock & Folio were hoping for a clean face to market their shoes, your enemies/rivals were gung-ho to undertake this challenge, and Rock & Folio have no problem equipping them.

Jocelyn & Andeer

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 08:00:00 -0500

Stephanie Jones is rolling randomly for a character using my tables. Andrew Newcomb is presenting a character idea to be made into a NPC (Andrew does roll randomly for the Secret).
What is this character’s name? - Stephanie's character is named Jocelyn. Andrew's character is named Andeer (a Dutch friend's misheard his name).
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Jocelyn is a firbolg. Andeer is a human that looks Norse/Scandanavian/a Viking.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Jocelyn is a bartender/tavernkeeper; she runs a tavern called "The Friendly Giant". Andeer is a traveling warrior, an adventurer-for-hire; he is a regular of the tavern, using it as his base of operations of sorts.
How old are you? - Jocelyn is an elder, at least 400 years old. Andeer is in his late 20s.
Describe your physical appearance. - Stephanie really liked some online images she found on firbolg, so she loved/was inspired by some of the modern 5E interpretations of firbolgs. Jocelyn has a softer body that is hourglass-shaped, big hair, big eyes, big ears. She is between 8 to 9 feet tall. She has a Frank Frazetta girl look: powerful look and presence and musculature -- a hearty build. Andeer is lean, athletic, not bulky/muscular. His features mirror those typically found in Skryim (the Nords)/Scandanavian-type appearance.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Jocelyn is Fierce, No-Nonsense but Witty, Decisive. Andeer is Nomadic, Purposeful, Honorable.
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Jocelyn knows where the best pub in town is for entertainment; she's a bit biased and will say that it is her place! Andeer has secretly been involved with doing work for the local counterfeiting ring/black market run by The Silvercoats that have been operating around "The Friendly Giant". He's only doing these jobs for the money and he's hoping to be able to turn it around, do something for the greater good. It pains him to do these jobs because they go against his moral code, and he doesn't quite know how to get out of this situation.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - After Andeer has confided in Jocelyn about what's been going on, he confesses his involvement with The Silvercoats. If the players can prove their trustworthiness, abilities, or knowledge about the situation, Jocelyn & Andeer will ask for the player characters to help bust up the counterfeiting ring and black market of The Silvercoats.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - A monetary reward might be sufficient -- whether that's offered by Jocelyn & Andeer or taken from the spoils of defeating The Silvercoats. After being freed from under the thumb of The Silvercoats, Andeer will volunteer his services as a follower/hierling and become a companion of the player characters for a time. Jocelyn will allow the player characters to use "The Friendly Giant" as a base of operations, safe house, or hideout.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - The situation doesn't end well for Andeer if he's discovered trying to cut ties to The Silvercoats -- it's do or die! So if you fail or you refuse, it's probably going to mean the death of Andeer (either mortally or his code of ethics). For Jocelyn, refusal or failure means she will lose the bar entirely or end up having to pay protection money to The Silvercoats. Either way, "The Friendly Giant" is basically under new management, and it is NOT FRIENDLY to the player characters. The community suffers also as a result of this change.

Quando

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 08 Sep 2021 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Andrew Strother randomly generated with my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Quando
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Orc
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Tinkerer. In his past he was an artificer making weapons, etc. for an organization.
How old are you? - Elder
Describe your physical appearance. - He has a long and wispy beard, which he braids with beads/jewelry or trinkets of brass and copper. Dwarf-like in his beard composition. Dark green skin and is well muscled despite his age. His tusks are prominent. He has a big leather sunhat that he wears and is recognized for. He has a waxed leather apron he wears as well that carrys every possible tool or thing he could need (an Apron of Many Pockets, an Apron of Holding).
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Clever, Perceptive (eye for the details), Mirthful
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - A copper chalice. Andrew leaves it open to you for inspiration. For our purposes, it was a family heirloom and was the last thing he was able to grab from his home before it burned down, faking his death with his previous organization.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Plot a path/course through a dark forest to the next town. Andrew clarified that there was a inexplicable, magical darkness blanketing the forest and Quando cannot find a way to light their way through the forest. Quando needs the player characters to retrieve a crystal from the mines of the abanonded town on the other side of the forest in order to repair the Clockwork Device (The Guthari) in the middle of Firthshire to prevent the portal to the hell dimension from opening in the next 3-10 days.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - A wrist-mounted hand crossbow that shoots a grappling hook. Andrew said he would trust someone else to properly spec this item, but he proposed that it could move someone up to 100 feet. It would allow you move in one direction, pull an item towards you, or it can make an attack.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - In trying to get through the magical darkness, the players succumb to whatever monster or force is causing it. The Clockwork Device (The Guthari) cannot be repaired, and the town is overrun by devils and demons pouring through the portal to the hell dimension.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - He wants to protect people around him, bring joy to others, he cares about maintaining the Clockwork Device (The Guthari).
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - He's very friendly and amicable and deferential. Happy to live a more simple life. He wants to help people.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Andrew deploys an Australian accent, but leaves it to you.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - He has made his world a better place. The hamlet of Firthshire has a surprising amount of automation for the simple tasks of life, thanks to Quando.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Quando doesn't want to bring attention to himself or Firthshire to protect himself and his fellow townsfolk.

Arlie

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 25 Aug 2021 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Darby Pak randomly generated with my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Arlie
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Hobgoblin who is a wereboar
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Storyteller for this conclave of lycanthropes
How old are you? - Young Adult
Describe your physical appearance. - Stocky, coarse brown hair, scaring around the body from being in this community. His hobgoblin nose has changed to be more hog-like. He has developed small tusks that look on par with an orc or half-orc. His ears are also subtly boar shaped as well. Small shifts in his appearance over time, but not a Shifter.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Thoughtful, Kind, Gruff/Blunt
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Arlie knows the receipe for Elderflower mead.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Retrieve a rare cookbook. It was originally written by Arlie's old mentor, but the mentor was unable to bring the cookbook with him and he passed away. This cookbook contains a number of oddball receipes, one of which was on Elderflower mead. Finding this book has more of a sentimental reasoning in relation to history and storytelling.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Arlie and the group of lycanthropes are willing to transform the heroes into a lycanthrope of their choosing and be adopted into the group. Other gains would also be weapons, armor, and money in addition to the transformation or in place of.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the cookbook is bought by someone else, ends up in another dimension, lost, etc. and the players cannot retrieve it, then Arlie will just be disappointed and will just have to figure out another way to get it. If the cookbook is destroyed, this is a major sore spot, since it was a point of connection in history and story to the old mentor (since it might have been the only one in existence!); the next time the party meets Arlie and this group, they will be cold and not very friendly to the group. Repeated visits or escalations will result in the entire group of lycanthropes to turn on and attack the party. If the players are unable to accept the sidequest for some reason, that's fine. If the players express disinterest or say something along the lines of "we don't care" or "this is stupid", then Arlie will launch into a Ted Talk, berating the party for their ignorance and cold-heartedness.

Optional Questions - not required

What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Arlie is invaluable in helping this group to be able to navigate to a particular island that can only be accessed at a certain time of the year where the moon affects the ocean tides to create a land bridge for them to be able to cross. They are then able to commune, bond, reconnect, and celebrate their lycanthropy as a community during this time before they disperse. It's a dedicated time to be able to rejoin the group or catch them if you can't find the group.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - He is dedicated to the group, and his role as storyteller bears a lot of weight and responsibility. He feels obligated to remain with the group (and he's not free to leave he feels) until another storyteller can be trained up. He wants to find the right person to be able to run in tandem with him or be able to succeed him one day.

Enna & Aylynn

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 08:00:00 -0500

These are characters that Quinn & Alex Schulte randomly generated with my tables (but they are based on themselves -- married and they are both wizards and they already have a sidequest in mind).
What is this character’s name? - Quinn's character is Enna. Alex's character is Aylynn
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Enna is a Sea Elf. Aylynn is a Human.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - They are both wizards who run a bookstore/magic supplies store together.
How old are you? - Both characters are adults. Enna is much older (Ancient), whereas Aylynn is 45-50.
Describe your physical appearance. - Enna has blueish-green tinted skin, mermaid-like. Seaweed (dark forest green) in color and wavy. She has dark brown eyes. She's all about fashion, very unique, avant-garde in her tastes, loud colors and prints. Very Edna Mode. Aylynn has blonde hair, but its turning white at the temples. His eyes are the same color as Enna's skin (blueish-green), but he wears a black bandana around his eyes because he is visually-impaired; during his adventuring careers is when he lost his eyesight and has now retired with Enna to work the bookstore and is slightly self-conscious about it. Soul patch on his chin. Generally wears black robes, very simple and practical in his clothing. He might change to a different bandana color at Enna's insistence.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Enna is Fashion-Adventerous, Spacey, Know-It-All. Aylynn is Practical, Intelligent, and Morbid/Dark-Humored.
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Enna's valuable item is a horned helmet; she inherited it from her late father. Aylynn loves exotic food - he especially loves Goblinoid food culture (he ignores the fact that he might sometimes might be ingesting other humanoids).
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Locate their missing cat, Cuddles. Cuddles is ACTUALLY a displacer beast with a collar.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Depending on the character levels, the pair are willing to offer one of the six, very rare Manuals/Tomes of Improvement to boost a stat, or possibly spell scrolls. Perhaps humorously, they offer a "Locate Creature" scroll that would have helped them find Cuddles in the first place.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players refuse to help, they will not learn about the rare Tomes that could have been their reward, and the wizards will not be super-friendly afterwards. If the players fail to retrieve the cat or hurt Cuddles, they will be upcharged egriegiously in their bookstore for items and supplies. If the players kill Cuddles, the wizards will attack the party.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - They are collectors of books, so they want to collect all six very rare Tomes/Manuals of Improvement. In addition, they value stories in general to add to their knowledge.
How do these affect your general personality? - The wizards are friendly and open with people they meet, unless you show a distate or disinterest for books or cats -- they will be hostile to anyone who destroys, disrespects, or damages books or kicks cats. They are willing to sell books and supplies to adventurers and want to hear back from people to add to their collections of stories.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - Their two employees dislike Enna, because she doesn't let them work basically becasue "Enna can do it better" (Enna will constantly rearrange the store, etc.). Their employees prefer Aylynn. They are likeable to their friends, family, and player characters. They are cold and confrontational with their rivals and hold grudges with competitors.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Enna moves and gestures wildly like Cpt. Jack Sparrow (drunk on her thoughts but not drunk actually), as if she's still moving through the ocean even when she's on dry land. Aylynn will use common idioms from different langauages and cultures (i.e. Goblinoid and Elvish). Enna and Aylynn are polyglots and have developed a mixture of languages that they speak to each other in normal, everyday usage.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Enna and Aylynn figured out how to manipulate the Magic Mouth Spell to create audiobooks, inspired by Aylynn's visual-impairment and unable to read print; they are convinced that some of their rivals stole this idea from them some time afterwards and wish they could burn down the rival's shop (though they wouldn't because of all the books). Because of their pursuit of knowledge and love of stories, they started a literacy program and school to improve the local town, modelled after the Pizza Hut Book-It Program, where Aylynn cooked food for them. After some complaints and dislike of Aylynn's goblin cuisines, they have since switched to Sea Elf and other exotic foods instead. A year or two later from when the player characters meet Enna and Aylynn, the couple will eventually have a half-elf baby!
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Because Enna is spacey, she's content to stay where she is. Aylynn, he's done with the adventuring life and seen that power corrupts and has lost his vision; he's content to stay with Enna, run the shop, help promote literacy in the town. Perhaps they will expand the program to more towns, but they are happy where they are!

Wolf

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Shannon Robichaud randomly generated with my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Wolf
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Thri-kreen
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Teacher, specifically, a professor within the College of Artificery at the Royal University. She came from humble beginnings and her family/town saved up money for her to go to university and/or a deal/relationship was worked out and that's how she became a professor.
How old are you? - Child. She is a prodigy!
Describe your physical appearance. - Short in size. Kind face, softer features, but with an air of naivety. Wears flowing professorial robes, always carrying some sort of book.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Intelligent, Caring, Determined
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - She has a magic dagger of her own creation. It operates like a Dagger of Returning/boomerang, but it can do other things like splitting into small daggers or forming into different weapon combinations, lockpicks, etc.. It's basically a clockwork/magic Swiss Army Knife of a dagger. She has a close relationship with her mentor, Dean Sullivan, who helps to guide Wolf through not only university life but real life as well (to help her learn to advocate for herself and speak up and turn naivety into wisdom). Her family is always sending her carepackages from home.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Help Wolf to locate the missing Mike Wazowski, a green psuedodragon, that belongs to her mentor, the Dean of the College of Artificery, Professor Sullivan (a blue dragonborn). The psuedodragon is an emotional support animal that allows Professor Sullivan to be able to perform her functions and duties of running the college.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Wolf will craft a communication device or some other small magic item for the party.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players refuse to help, they definitely won't receive any of the magical items she was making. If the players are unable to locate the missing Mike Wazowski, Dean Sullivan will resign from her position because she will be unable to perform her job. The disgruntled professor (Randall Boggs??) will finally gain tenure and will be chosen as the new Dean of the College of Artificery. The mood and attitutde of the college will become much more dour and unpleasant. Not as many students are enrolling into the college anymore, and Wolf's professorial job and responsibilities have become much more difficult and not fun.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Wolf wants to advance her craft and push the boundaries. She wants to see what she can create and what materials she can use and what she can discover. She's young with her whole life ahead, so she wants to continue to learn. Eventually, she'd like to become the Dean of the College of Artificery at the Royal University or a similar position at another university. She wants to live a truly academic life with research, treatises, and distertations. She will get her fantasy PhD and multipe degrees. She would eventually like to get the equivalent of the Noble Prize for an extraordinary achievement in magical engineering.
How do these affect your general personality? - She is very analytical and can visualize complex engineering in her mind. She has a tendancy to be absent-minded in needing to leave a conversation/room to go write something down and then return as if nothing happened. She is quirky and eccentric, but she is endearing. She is very motivated and to continue learning and devouring information. Wolf wants to use all her knowledge for good to help people and to just have all the knowledge. She's very excited, curious, and ask a lot of questions (like children do!).
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - Wolf is well loved by her students, and is very welcoming of everyone and wants to be friends with everyone. Friends and family are treated the same! There is one particular, older professor (maybe named Professor Randall Boggs???) that hasn't made tenure yet that is annoyed and disapproving of a "child" being admitted to teach at the university before they were able to be promoted. Wolf is often quiet around this professor or anyone else that she doesn't like, but Dean Sullivan is teaching her to speak up and not be afraid to voice her opinions and objections.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Wolf doesn't have a particular accent, but her mandibles buzz and click faster when she's excited (which is a lot of the time). Her tone is very high energy, excited, full of wonder and amazement.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Wolf has inspired many children to seek higher education, to strive for success, and to aspire to major magical and scientific/engineering accomplishments. She is a role model for children.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Her young age and naivety about the world.

Athanasius

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Harper Hayes randomly generated with my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Athanasius
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Vampire, was once a human. Turned on accident one night when he lost a bet and worked the graveyard shift for bricklaying. Since then, he continues to work the night shift and goes out once a week to ethically hunt game/bandits/humanoids/threats to satiate his hunger.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Bricklayer
How old are you? - Adult, late 20's, early 30's. He's only been a vampire for a couple of years.
Describe your physical appearance. - He grew up in a working class family, not well off, but pious human family. He stands 5'8" and is pale-skinned. He has a scar on his neck that he keeps covered, but he probably also has other scars as well. Well-muscled arms from hauling and laying bricks. He works exclusively on the night shift of bricklaying. Sandy hair, very average looking otherwise.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Determined, Simple, Meticulous
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - His overall secret life of being a vampire, which he hides from his family and the village. He values his family (his mother, sister, nephews, and nieces). Athanasius still worships Pelor despite his undead nature, so he has a bit of self-loathing and guilt in this regard and feels conflicted (can't attend services and makes excuses). Athanasius has a gambling addiction; since he doesn't want to become a monster, he justifies this vice when he only used to only have a weekly poker night with his coworkers. People have noticed this notable change about his behavior; his family still support him but they don't understand why and Athanasius can't tell them.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Athanasius, in order to fulfill a bet from a game of cards he lost, needs to go pick a flower from the royal gardens, which is a two day journey away from the village. He can't travel there during the day, and he can't get there in one night and back. He doesn't want to get caught and discovered.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - If the players succeed with bringing him the flower, Athanasius will offer them what he can, a small handful of coins and being able to help introduce them to various townfolk. The party will see him hunting in the woods and he will explain his situation and offer a secondary sidequest to ask the party (especially if they have a cleric or paladin) to help him find a cure for his vampirism. This could be done with a Wish Spell (RAW), killing Athanasius and restoring him to life (RAW), or your DM might allow other spells like a Remove Curse, Greater Restoration, Resurrection, True Resurrection, or some other type of approrpriate magic/ritual. If the players help Athanasius be cured of his vampirism, he will offer them his entire cache of weapons and armor (magic and otherwise) and animal hides that he has kept hidden in the woods and not gambled away.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players do not accept the first quest, Athanasius doesn't mind, no big deal. If the players accept the first quest but then upon discovering that Athanasius is a vampire refuse to help him, there is a decent chance that Athanasius goes into a crisis mode and will attack the party the next opportunity he gets in an effort to silence the party and prevent his secret from being discovered. The party's refusal on the secondary quest is the final straw that causes Athanasius to spiral downward into monstrosity and eventually become a major villain in the campaign.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Athanasius is determined to hold on to his humanity and return to being a human. He still loves his family, he cares about his village, he still worships Pelor despite his hatred of the undead. He doesn't think it is possible to be cured until the party arrives. He's determined to live as a human until he no longer can and he will find a way to end his own life if that time comes.
How do these affect your general personality? - He wants to remain the same person he once was, but now he's more serious than he used to be. He lived a life of hardship growig up, but nothing truly bad ever happened. He used to be able to joke and be lighthearted. Nowadays, it's hard to be that way. He holds onto his humanity with an ironfist. His determination has been amplified since he's become a vampire.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - In general, Athanasius is very genial. He likes to get along with everyone where he can. He loves his family very much and affectionate with his nieces and nephews. He dotes on his mother. He lives around people he grew up with his entire life, so he's comfortable around them -- he knows them, and they know him. Yet, Athanasius feels the crushing weight of this secret of his vampirism that he can't tell anyone. He's been very welcoming of strangers, which means money/business and the roads and bricks get used and need to be replaced. Very friendly and open, he likes to see new people. You can sit down next to him in the bar and have a conversation and get to know him.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Because of his sharper teeth, Athanasius has developed a more careful way of speaking. He used to speak quickly, but he's now slowed down (he's cut his tongue in the early days). He's developed a slight and small lisp. He's more deliberate with his words. Sounds an awful lot like James Stewart/George Bailey
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Athanasius is the guy that everyone in town knows. He's a nice guy, fun guy to play cards with, you can talk to him on the corner if you see him. However, Athanasius has removed himself from social life over the past couple of years. People have noticed that it's less fun at the tavern at night; Athanasius isn't there every night like he used to. He used to bring a lot of joy around to the townsfolk, but it's hard for them to notice it or describe it that way.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - His vampirism.

Professor Pandemonium

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Ian Shoulders is bringing to the table.
What is this character’s name? - Professor Pandemonium
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Lich, formerly a human wizard.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Carnival Ringmaster. He grew up inside this carnival, which had dormant powers itself.
How old are you? - A young lich. With glamour magic, he continues to appear youthful, sexy, appealing, etc.
Describe your physical appearance. - Tall, slim, good-looking, fancy carnival clothes -- glamour! Skeazy yet sexy, car salesman-like. Either looks like Hugh Jackman or Zac Efron from "The Greatest Showman" -- depends on your personal preference.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Charming, Cunning, Intelligent
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - His phylactery or soul-containment device inside the central Big Tent. His carnival is coin/ticket based, so you have to complete games/fight mini-bosses in order to gain the specific tokens in order to access the Big Tent. You needed at least three of them to access the Big Tent.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Professor Pandemonium wants the player characters to encourage people to attend the carnival/circus and/or to provide security for a ride to the next town. Professor Pandemonium (with his powerful abilities) will seek to exploit/manipulate the desires/wants of the characters to get what he wants -- more souls for the carnival.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - A large amount of coin. Perhaps some increased renown or fame.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - The doors shut and it's game on. You're either going to die to be consumed by the carnival/Professor Pandemonium or get through the carnival.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - It's a cyclical process of recruiting/inviting people to the carnival and feeding upon their souls/lifeforce.
How do these affect your general personality? - He looks and acts like a car salesman. He says all the right things, looks the part, does the right things...he's selling the experience.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - In general, he's indifferent to people already working within the carnival. He's charming to people he's trying to recruit or invite them. The minute someone doesn't cooperate, "it's lights out".
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - No particular language or accent, but he's adaptable depending on where he is or who he is talking to. Almost too charming. Always has nice hair, loud, boisterious, charming when he's recruiting.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - The carnival is always on the move, so no real effect on the local level. On the world stage, A LOT of bodies. There are tall tales, urban legends, and myths that surround the carnival.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Recruiting people -- can't get enough people.

Huxtable

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Karla Romero randomly generated with my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Huxtable
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Deathlock, was once a human warlock
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Horse Trainer and servant of the local demonic cult
How old are you? - Adult, appears to be mostly still intact (not horribly decayed)
Describe your physical appearance. - Someone who is watching, very observant, cunning, mysterious. Like Geralt of Rivia (his eyes), stoicness, on guard. Robes tucked in with a belt, tunic style. A spellcaster feel, but not outright. He has a twitch/gimp. Something off.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Stoic, Mysterious, Cunning
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Huxtable is a member of the local demonic cult, which uses the abanonded lodge nearby for their dark deeds. He's been resurrected by the cult and is bound in service to them.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Investigate the abandonded lodge. This is trap to lure them into the clutches of the local demonic cult. If the heroes are successfully captured, the cult is dangling the promise to release Huxtable from his undeath if it is a worthy sacrifice. For his own party once ventured in there long ago, died prematurely, and then he was resurrected by the cult (a cover story was then formed to explain Huxtable's employment as the horse trainer).
What would be their reward for succeeding? - If the players survive, they defeat the local evil cult. They alleviate the nearby town from the creepy lodge. Heroes get to be heroes! Perhaps Huxtable is released from undeath -- this may affect the horse-based economy. Alternatively, the players can take over the lodge if they clear it out and now have a Stronghold. There also might be coins or magic items left over from the demonic cult as well.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - The heroes are being cowards. They don't get a stronghold. The townsfolk continue to suffer from the lodge and the local demonic cult. Huxtable and the horse-based economy continue to thrive at the expense of the town.

Ester Van Missive

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 02 Jun 2021 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Kay Laird is bringing to the table.
What is this character’s name? - Ester Van Missive
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Halfling
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Mail Carrier/Courier
How old are you? - 50, like 18-20 in human years
Describe your physical appearance. - Not very tall for a halfling, stout, walking a lot, she has very pronounced calf muscles. Ester is barrel-chested. She has mousy brown curly hair and deep-set dark brown eyes. Tan-skinned and wind blown. Physically fit from carrying a lot of mail all the time.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Quick, Stout, Chatty
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Ester has a very tiny bluejay feather in a locket that her mother told her would protect her and make her quicker. She values her mother and her large family of siblings. Her mother wishes Ester worked in town and wasn't a courier. Taught her the Golden Rule.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - To clear and make safe a particular route in the woods that has been overgrown and made dangerous by some unruly plants and deliver an important message to the goblinfolk living in the woods concerning the expansion of the nearby town. Smallfry the Goblin is the point of contact.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - The post office might be able to offer up a reward in gold. They might also be able to offer you some travel (as long as it's on the mail route!) via carrier griffons.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Ester will have to continue to walk around the entire forest or seek out more dangerous routes if the path isn't cleared. Important mail and medicine will not get delivered! The goblins might get wiped out by the nearby town if they aren't notified.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Ester enjoys helping people by delivering the mail. She enjoys being physically active and fit, and the opportunity to be able to explore the wider world, and to get to see places that halflings have never seen before. She wants to see all the major cities and towns on the continent.
How do these affect your general personality? - Ester is determind, focused, and loves to travel. She is encouraged to explore and see new places while she's walking and not keeping her nose to the ground. Ester was raised to be happy and positive, which come in handy with the road gets lonely. She's happy to meet other travellers on the road (but she's got tricks up her sleeves to protect herself!)
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - Ester tries to treat everyone with kindness (the Golden Rule). She loves her family deeply, and will always treat them lovingly; all of her pay goes back home to support her family. Ester has a deep-seated rivalry with another courier named Clark.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Ester speaks in run-on sentences, and she will lose words and stammer because she speaks so quickly. Often, she will forget what she is talking about and find it hard to focus on anything else when she's deep in conversation and walking. Ester tries to speak without an accent and as plainly as she can to be as clear as possible. Her voice is slightly nasally.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Ester feels she is making a large impact in a small way. People know and recognize Ester since she is the one who delivers the mail. She delivered the peace treaty that helped to settle the land dispute between the Tall Folk and the halflings. She also delivered divorce papers to a local businessman who constantly gives her the stink-eye.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Clark. He's a jerk! If he and Ester work together, he will always steal the credit. He has stolen important letters out of Ester's bag in order to deliver them himself and get the credit. When Ester first encountered the dangerous plants in the woods, Clark took some of the mail that fell out of her bag and ended up delivering them himself and not returning them to Ester who was already on the route.

Jack

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 19 May 2021 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Brian Rose randomly generated with my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Jack
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Sky Elf
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Farmer
How old are you? - Elder
Describe your physical appearance. - Cantankerous, whizened, slumpy, has done hard work for a long time on his farm, doesn't smile or frown - something inbetween. His wings are past their prime.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Wise, Knowledgable, Loyal
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Jack is an expert about manticores.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Jack needs the players to go an hunt some local game, which means going on a manticore-hunt!
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Jack has some money he might be able to give them. He also knows how to grow and cultivate certain plants/ingredients for potions, etc. Jack might have some knowledge about the nearby BBEG. Also being an expert on manticores, he could pass on his knowledge about how to properly use all the parts of the manticore for food, leather, spell components, potion ingredients, etc.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If Jack has information on their main story questline, it makes it complicated for their failure or refusal (town/farmer destruction, NPC deaths, etc.). The players reputation with the sky elf community is drastically affected with local law enforcement following you around. Grandchildren of Jack shame you for not helping. More manticores appear in random encounter attacks on the road.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - To take care of his farm, get a good crop, and provide for a living for his family.
How do these affect your general personality? - He's stone-faced, but he's happy with his living and the work he does.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - Jack is warmer with family and friends. He opens up to players if they get to know him. Jack is guarded and silent against people he doesn't know. Once he gets talking, he won't stop.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Jack speaks Elvish for sure. English or American accent, upper-crust in the Common tongue.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - If he's a solid farmer and knows about the manticores, Jack is teaching the next generation about these things. He is a bedrock in the community.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Jack is just older and can't swing his sword like he used to. He's fearful that he can't do it. He second guesses himself. Old age, he is a grandfather figure, working to teach his children and grandchildren on how to take care of the land once he's gone.

Timothy

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 05 May 2021 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Nathan Alcoser is creating live during the recording.
What is this character’s name? - Timothy
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Dragonborn
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Blacksmith. He is relatively green, a journeyman.
How old are you? - Early 20's
Describe your physical appearance. - Silver scales. Built not too scrawny, but he has well-built upper body strength due to his smithing. Because of his experience with Bill the Bounty Hunter from Texas, there was a magical effect that gave him a luscious beard.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Stubborn, Passionate, Naive
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - He values his time when he first met Bill the Bounty Hunter. Hearing the tales of Texas and this other universe, he wants to seek bigger and better things than his simple upbringing and town, so he now is singularly focused on breaking the 4th wall and get to Texas.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Track Bill the Bounty Hunter to give him a message (written on a dagger) to contact Timothy
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Gold, since Timothy has been saving it up and he's been devoting resources to tracking Bill the Bounty Hunter down. Also enchanted weapons and armor as well.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Since Timothy is low-level and not adventuring himself, he will just be dad-level disappointed in you.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - To explore and discover new things and work with new metals and further his craft by getting to Texas. To learn about this new universe and figure out its power and how it was able to get Bill the Bounty Hunter to his world.
How do these affect your general personality? - He is obsessed, to the point that he's willing to giving his life savings and it's affecting his daily life.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - Timothy is across the board the same for everyone. He gets louder when he gets excited, that people tell him to tone it down.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - New York accent is what was ultimately decided, though you could try the original higher smoker-like voice.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Everyone thinks Timothy is crazy because of his obsession with Texas and the Real World beyond the 4th Wall.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - His background, he doesn't have connections, he's trying to dabble in these great arcane equations and adventuring life, but he's a simple blacksmith.

Jakuhlin

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Justin K. randomly generated with my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Jakuhlin
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Goblin
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Blacksmith
How old are you? - Young Adult
Describe your physical appearance. - She's fairly well built, swinging her hammer all day. Covered in soot, she has darker green/gray skin. Jakuhlin has a pretty honest face, she looks friendlier, but she doesn't spend time on her appearance (not attractive). Has a flatter nose and big ears.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Apologetic, Organized, Confident/Defiant
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Nature. Jakuhlin has a soft spot for animals, which she keeps on her person (like squirrels in her pockets) and cares for within her shop. She started her career with muleshoes and horseshoes.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Search for and retrieve a rare book on metallurgy from an evil orc blacksmith. Having this book would allow her to be able to upgrade her skills in order to make master or magical weapons.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - She will upgrade a piece of equipment (magical) for a member of the party or silver one of their weapons.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Jakuhlin will charge more for her services. The party doesn't take advantage of upgrading their merchants. Failing to remove the book from the posession of the orcs (or whoever) means that the enemy will continue to combat the party with upgraded weapons and equipment.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Jakuhlin wants to excel at her craft. She wants to prove the naysayers wrong! She wants to be the best blacksmith she can be.
How do these affect your general personality? - She's used to people trying to cheat her or not pay her a fair price. As a result of the negativity and her status in society, her shop is her safe haven, so she is secluded from society. This also makes her apologetic.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - It depends if Jakuhlin is in her safe spot or not, this is what swings the apologetic vs. confident/defiant attittudes. Concise in her wording, doesn't like talking for a long time. She has to maintain an air of professionalism, since people will jump on the opportunity to discredit her based on any promises or agreements not kept.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Jakulin speaks like a typical, high pitched, screechy voice. She's always apologizing, regardless if you tell her not to. She likes to stand in a power pose, so her body language doesn't also match her spoken words.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - There are a lot of little goblins from her tribe who look up to Jakuhlin, and seeing how she is able to survive and succeed in civilization without being killed on sight. Other blacksmiths have taken notice of her and her work, and acknowledging that Jakuhlin is a capable blacksmith. Perhaps some professional rivalries. She's made a reputation for herself among the other merchants and guilds within the town, and she's made some nice and viable equipment for other adventurers in the world.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Jakuhlin needs more training and knowledge in order to improve her smithing abilities and perhaps moving onto bigger and better towns and cities. With her needing to care for and tend to the animals in her care, she uses this as an excuse to not push herself further beyond the safety of her shop.

Digibromm Stonesong

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Mark Wilson is adapting into an NPC. We rolled randomly for the age.
What is this character’s name? - Digibromm Stonesong
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Dwarf
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Lyrical stylist/musical hip-hop bard, "Dwarfhop". Leader of a singing group called The Songsmiths, which is analogous to the Beastie Boys.
How old are you? - Immortal, cursed by a fey creature. He has to rap battle a god (or demi-god) in order to break the curse.
Describe your physical appearance. - Digibromm has a gray beard by this point in his life, but he works very hard to color his beard to hide his age and apply a copious amount of makeup; he also makes useage of a variety of costumes. He looks older and wizened, but he can still move around -- a fey creature cursed Digibromm somewhere in his adult life.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Jovial, Knowlegeable, Trustworthy/Steadfast
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - The secret of his immortality, which keeps him constantly on the move so people don't catch on. Works to keep a youthful appearance, since music is a young man's game. He's been married multiple times and has outlived his wives; he's had a lot of children and grandchildren (some of which he's traveled with and have been in the band, expanding the influence of dwarfhop across the land). Based on his age and knowledge and making stories and music for centuries, he's a bard's bard. Proficient in a multitude of instruments.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Find his two band members and reunite them with The Songsmiths since they are not talking to Digibromm. They are either currently in the same town or in a nearby town that is not far away. Triple T is in a classical phase, but if you challenge him to a rap battle, then you can help him remember and convince him to come back. Mickey fell in love and left the group, but this spouse seemed VERY antagonistic towards The Songsmiths -- it's a fey creature (or incubus/succubus) in disguise who wants to break-up the band to hinder Digibromm's success in breaking the curse; the party will need to confront Mickey and the spouse and reveal the subterfuge!
What would be their reward for succeeding? - A generous sum of money and a hype song/theme song/anthem for your party. This song could potentially exist for several hundred/thousand years.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players fail in trying to get the band members back, Digibromm will understand and appreciate that they attempted to get them back. If the party refuses, depending on how vindictive Digibromm is feeling, he will write the ultimate diss track that paints the party in a negative light, helping to spread rumors about the group. This song could potentially exsit for several hundred/thousand years, impacting any descendants of the PCs.

Hoppel

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Andrew Leslie randomly generated with my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Hoppel
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Shifter. Descendant from a were-elephant.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Masonry Apprenctice
How old are you? - Child
Describe your physical appearance. - Due to his were-elpehant ancestry, this shifter child has a blend of humanoid and elephantine features. His legs are thick like an elephant/loxodon. He has normal humanoid hands in order to handle masonry tools. His head is mostly shaped like an elephant. Is tall for a child, at least 4 feet tall (destined to be 8 feet tall?). A dark gray look to him.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Quiet, Hard-worker, Noble
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Hoppel is knowledgable about the geneaology of the local regent -- like the baron from the Random Encounter.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - To catch Hoppel a fox. This fox is going to lead him to a particular kind of stone he is looking for.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - He will tell the player characters more information about the local regent.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - He would be sad at their failure or refusal. Hoppel might not want to talk to the player characters until they have done something good and positive to help rebuild trust with Hoppel again.

Ignum Eldeus

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Seth Crenwelge plays in a D&D campaign that he is adapting into an NPC.
What is this character’s name? - Ignum Eldeus
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Tiefling originally, now given a boon by his archdevil father to make him MORE fiendish. Born into a doomsday cult in a ritual, of which the child would fulfill a prophecy to bring about the destruction of the known world. Proclaims himself a child of destiny, harbinger of destruction.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Cult Leader of Edon (doomsday cult, follower of the God of Destruction), Prophet, Conjuration Wizard & Death Cleric
How old are you? - 60-70 range
Describe your physical appearance. - Tall, 6'1-6'2"", skinny yet lean and muscular. He has a handsome face with black horns that go back and jut up. Short black hair, chiseled jawline, nice red eyes. The reason why his appearance is so specific is because his archdevil father granted him a boon, making him more of a devil and able to execute devil contracts. He has a 30 Charisma as a player character at the moment. He is the reddest skin pigmentation, classical devil/tiefling archetype.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Deceptive, Silver-Tongued, Arrogant
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Ignum really hates humans because they are always really mean to him. His spellcasting focus is a devil's horn that he tore off the head of a devil while he was in Hell, thus making this a wand. His mother, Runi Celindia, is a major political figure that is helping to further the goals of the Cult in secret and making sure she keeps her relationship with her son Ignum Eldeus guarded.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Ignum would hire an adventure party to go retrieve an item for him that he feels is beneath him or doesn't have time for. He would lie if it is a powerful artifiact, posing as a good person to bring him the item.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - A cursed item, something that will screw them over later in the future.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If Ignum Eldeus reallys wants the party to do this quest, but they are refusing to talk to him, then Ignum will send one of his subordinates to speak with you to send you on a similar sidequest or Ignum would disguise himself to try and offer it another time or in another way (though Ignum is PROUD of his appearance and doesn't like having to use an illusion). If the player characters don't mean anything to Ignum and they keep refusing him and his subordinates, he will hire another adventuring party to do his bidding. If the player characters are significant that he intends to screw them over from this sidequest, then he will go do the task himself, and bring the full wrath of the Cult to hunt down and kill the party. This is because Ignum is narcissitic and used to getting what he wants; refusing him and not doing his bidding is akin to a death sentence! If you fail really badly, Ignum will probably try and kill you. If you messed up, he won't give you the reward and ignore you, thinking you are useless; alternatively, he could assign you a secondary sidequest as a redemption quest but this is really a suicide mission.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - His goal is destruction of some sort. Whether it's the sun in order to bring about darkness, a kingdom, a land, a place. He is a very chaotic in regards to the destruction, but he is lawful evil, so he has a specific and methodical way of going about evil. Despit being a narcisstic and wanting attention, Ignum isn't dumb and won't risk exposing the Cult or reveal his plans prematurely.
How do these affect your general personality? - If you meet Ignum Eldeus in his natural form, you will figure out he's the son of an archdevil within five minutes, very loud and boastful. His Cult is secret, and you won't learn about this unless you've gained his favor or are in the his inner circle; you won't force this information out of him unless he wants you to know.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - With friends/peers, Ignum is not as verbose or arrogant, not as much; they are already know what Ignum is about. With an enemy, Ignum is going to be the most intimdiating and creepy that he can be, to be a big presence. WIth subordinates, he is an authoritarian and expects things to be done immediately, no talking back. With player characters, the first time they meet, Ignum is going to be very charismatic, verbose, and sly, trying to get on their good side, convincing them he's a good person and trustworthy. This way he can use them and then screw them over later. If the player characters are hostile with Ignum, he will be very intimidating, a large presence, narcissistic, letting you know he can kill you (and he will!).
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Despite having a 30 Charisma, he is not a very socialized person. He spent his whole life in the Cult and being worshipped, so he has no basis on how to interact with others. He says weird and off-putting things. He sounds very deep, proud, and loud -- Severus Snape-ish. Ignum has biffed conversations because he has no people skills.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Ignum will have had his Cult infiltrate into political situations and climates in the surrounding area in order to shift the power balance in the way that Ignum wants it in order to accomplish his goals. His mother, Runi Celindia, has been instrumental in this regard. Ignum also operates an extensive spy network that feeds information to him and his Cult. This way, Ignum can extend his level of control into as many layers of society as he possibly can.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Kind of, any Order dedicated to Law, rooting out evil, or hunting cults. Religious Zealots! Diviniation magic is also a problem for Ignum, which is why as an NPC, he has gone to great length to shield himself from prying eyes as best as he can.

Degen Hardt

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 24 Feb 2021 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Jacob Prince plays in a Pathfinder campaign that he is adapting into an NPC.
What is this character’s name? - Degen Hardt
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Human. Raised from the age of four in a monastery that is a melting pot of other races.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Monk. Estranged from his monastery that practiced extreme fasting.
How old are you? - 19.
Describe your physical appearance. - He is heavily influenced by Kenshiro from the Fist of the North Star manga/anime series. He is 6'5" and muscular, built like a tank. Most likely still wearing his orange gui from the monastery or common clothes. Peak physical shape despite his choice to eat gluttonously when he has the ability to do so.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Focused, Driven, Hungry
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Degen always has a ration (a piece of hardtack/ a biscuit) in his back pocket at all times.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Convince Maat to leave Degen alone and that Degen has no desire to return to the monastery. You may have to persuade or intimidate Maat or even fight him, but DON'T kill him.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - If Degen has money, he will give the players his money; he has no attachment to it. Otherwise, as long as he is well-fed with good food, and the party acts in ways that align with his Lawful ways (or until the party decides to dismiss him), Degen Hardt will join the party as a hierling/follower.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players refuse the call, Degen will continue to wander the area, avoiding Maat. If the players fail to convince Maat to leave Degen alone, Degen will continue to be flighty and not stay in one place to long, it might be hard to have a relationship with him -- perhaps this leads to an inevitable confrontation between the two monks. If the players side with Maat and attempt to convince Degen to return to the monastery, while Degen can be spoken with from someone who is persuasive, he might become confrontational or try to avoid you from now on; he DOES NOT want to return to the monastery. If you KILL Maat and report to Degen, he will fight everyone in the party with the intent of knocking everyone unconscious and fleeing. If you continue to encounter Degen (and Maat was killed as an accident/you are remorseful), like before, it will take some convincing in order to have him interact with you again. If you are murder hobos, then any repeat encounters will result in fights that might escalate into Degen actually killing characters.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - To live a life with a more fulfilling life, namely with food. If his problems were dealt with (stable source of food, Maat leaves him alone, the world is at peace), then Degen would be happy to settle down, find love, raise a family, work out, meditate, etc. -- but this is a pretty IF...
How do these affect your general personality? - He can sometimes be talked into doing things he wouldn't normally do, but because of his god and how Irori's Law works, if he does not remain Lawful, he will lose his monk powers.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - In general, he is stoic and a man of few words. His preferred communication style is grunts. However, he can speak more eloquently if needed.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Degen speaks Common, since the monastery was a melting pot of species and the monks having various accents. He developed a neutral-sounding accent for Common. Again, he is terse and prefers to grunt or not speak.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Due to his nomadic lifestyle, If he has made an impact dealing with bandit gangs or other problems, he hasn't taken credit for them. People speak of him like an urban legend, although you can find him and recruit him (with food!)
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - His insatiable appetite and Maat constantly following are the reasons why he is constantly wandering.

Zalda

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Elvia Garcia randomly generated with my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Zalda
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Manticore
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Spymaster/spy boss
How old are you? - Elder
Describe your physical appearance. - While having all the normal appearances of a manticore, she doesn't have protruding spikes from her mane or tail (which is still a stinger). Her mane is pretty, wild, red, and curly. The wings are still good and there. But don't let her softened features fool you, she is still a fierce and deadly creature!
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Fierce, Wise, Courageous
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - She has a pair of leather cuffs/bracers that increase your speed.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Steal the town's prized cow, which can talk! This cow was witness to something, and these spies need to know what the cow knows...
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Zalda will gift the magic leather cuffs/bracers that increase your speed to the players.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players refuse the call, Zalda will attack the party and attempt to eat them all. If they fail to heist the cow, she will be polite and not harm them; however, she will order her guild to follow your group for a time to mess with your future quests/impede your progress. To teach the party a lesson in failure with her organization.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Through her guild and her own desires, she wants to make the world a better place and fight evil/corruption in her own way. These goals MAY NOT necessarily be objectively good.
How do these affect your general personality? - Because of her goals, that is how she is fierce, wise, and courageous.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - Zalda speaks civilly and formally, for she is educated, savvy, and wise. She is nice to everyone in the beginning. If you mess with her, the rows of teeth come out.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Zalda knows Thieves' Cant and possibly has a coded language particular to her spy organization.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Zalda has climbed the ranks of the spy guild in order to become a leader of a particular cell that operates in the local area. She is respected, being higher up within the ranks, and works with other leaders to further aims of the organization as a whole. Zalda frequently will conduct her own missions, using her natural abilities to her advantage and willing to get her hands dirty.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Zalda previously made a mistake (i.e. she ate someone, couldn't control herself due to fear and committed a major crime -- her identity is compromised!) in the town with this talking cow. If she is spotted in the town, she will be killed on sight.

Lima

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Keah Young randomly generated with my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Lima
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Tabaxi
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Librarian
How old are you? - Adult
Describe your physical appearance. - She is a tabaxi/cat-person. She is slender and calico in coloration. She has brownish-orange on her forehead, white face and black nose. Doughy green eyes. She wears simplistic, loose-fitting garb/clothes that still looks neat so she can take naps on top of the bookshelves.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Obsessive-Compulsive, Quiet, Stubborn
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Her human husband, Felix.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Rescue her husband Felix (who is trapped at the dam somehow, unable to repair the dam and return to Lima) and repair the dam that threatens her library (and the village!).
What would be their reward for succeeding? - She will gift them a magical tome or a rare book about a specific creature or lore (perhaps foreshadowing something in your campaign!).
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players refuse the call, both Felix will drown and the dam will break and destroy the town and library. Many other people (including Lima?) will drown, and there will be further ecological damage to the area. If the players prioritize one objective over the other without trying to addres both, the previous, respective consequence will occur (rescuing Felix vs. fixing the dam). If the players attempt both objectives but fail forward, then perhaps Felix is severly injured or the town gets partially destroyed if the repair work is done poorly or too slowly.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Lima wants to aquire more and more books, especially rare tomes.
How do these affect your general personality? - She takes pride in being an avid book collector. She appreciates books for their aesthetic quality and their smell.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - Lima's husband Felix is a human, and she is one of few (or maybe the only one) tabaxi in this area, so she is most certainly unique and different versus the local populace. She shares many traits and characteristics of a domesticated housecat. For example, Lima's personal space bubble is very large and often intrusive to others.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - She speaks in a quiet manner, like a librarian (shushing loud people inside the library), but she has a small lisp due to her fangs.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Her library is often visited by wizards and magic users because of her vast collection of rare books.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - She loves her library and is reluctant to leave the library for most reasons; she is particular in how she cares for the library and doesn't want to leave it in anyone else's care. Her husband Felix works on the dam nearby for the safety and survival of the town.

Inpro

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Tony Vasinda randomly generated with my tables, Tony determined the character name on his own last.
What is this character’s name? - Inpro (short for The Inappropriate Thri-Kreen Tailor in Common). His Thri-Kreen name is unprouncable in Common.
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Thri-kreen
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Tailor
How old are you? - Adult
Describe your physical appearance. - As a mantis-man/thri-kreen, he has more of a green shade to his chitin because he doesn't go outside nearly as much, but his mandibles have brown accents in them. One of his antennae sticks straight up, the other at a 45 degree angle. He wears a finely-made vest on his torso.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Fastidious, Cut-Up (by thri-kreen standards), Workaholic
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Inpro has been stealing from the communal store in order to showcase more of his goods and his section in order to impress the hive; he will replace stolen items with secondary quality items (i.e. gold mandible cleaners replaced by silver mandible cleaners).
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Inpro has been charged by the community to charge surface-dwellers/outsiders to chart and draw out a map of the nearby ruins in the search for the stolen goods. This is meant to divert attention from Inpro as the source of the thefts to be able to blame on the surface dwellers and adventurers.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Inpro will give them a special chitin from young thri-kreen as they age out from the larval stage that can be reworked to made into lightweight armor, as well as several items (armor, clothing, etc.) made from this material that would be good for higher-level campaigns.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If they refuse the quest, the next time the party returns to the store, Inpro's head is on a spike, he is killed for the thefts. If they fail (deaths, running away), Inpro can blame the thefts on the party. If they attempt to map it out but don't so fully, Inpro will give them some (but not all of) the same kinds of rewards. If the party figures out that Inpro is responsible for thefts and don't do the quest or attempt to report him to the hive, out of desperation, Inpro will attack the party.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - He wants to expand his shop and be seen as successful by his hive. He is one of the few willing to bring in outsiders to engage with trade/commerce, which his hive appreciates despite their apprehension.
How do these affect your general personality? - He has a sharp edge to his personality, he is quick to turn. He is friendly and jovial (questionable based on his sense of humor) at first, but if people aren't going to do what he wants or start prying into his business, he will resort to threats or heavy-handedness very quickly. Able to go from playful to dark very quickly.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - Inside the hive, Inpro wants to be perceived as magnanimous, generous, and a community-leader. He has a "customer-is-always-right" mentality. If the PCs engage him and do the quest, he is going to be specific and demanding in regards to how it should be done because of his fastidious nature being a tailor. He will be painfully annoying in this regard, since this is the level of service he provides to his customers.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - This thri-kreen hive has a guild-like structure, which means material success affects your level of influence/power/authority. The hive has burgeoning yet guarded trade with surface dwellers and other subterranean groups; the hive has been very resistant to outside influence, but Inpro has been a leader in bringing in outside trade. Inpro is highly influencial to his hive with helping to bring in material wealth through trade while still playing on their cultural values of distrusting outsiders or keeping them at arms' length. Inpro has been very machiavellian in manipulating his hive through the thefts, incoming trade, and cultural distrust of outsiders.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Inpro needs to prove himself and increase his influence to the community before the Leader dies or steps down. The biggest things affecting him are time and proving himself. He is also trying to make sure his secret isn't found out before this happens.

Skinknose

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 30 Dec 2020 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Leigha Murray randomly generated with my tables, Leigha determined the sidequest on her own.
What is this character’s name? - Skinknose
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Lich
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Beekeeper
How old are you? - Immortal
Describe your physical appearance - 6'6", Tim Burton-esque with his height in his legs (but still approachable). Appears undead with mottled and graying skin. Skinknose looks pretty much like the Horned King from The Black Cauldron.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Unpredictable, Haunted, Contemplative
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - An elaborate pipe and fine tobacco.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Skinknose wants the players to right a wrong from his past, before he became a lich. In order to begin his journey toward power and eventually lichdom, he had to kill the friendly, young woman from the neighboring farm in order to get a sorcerer's help to save his mother, which enacted a curse on her family. They need to retrieve her bones from a seaside cliff cave lair, inhabited by deadly creatures and traps, and return them to the family in order to lift the curse; the family doesn't know the circumstances surrounding this missing family member, they just think she ran off long ago and the family was cursed ever since.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - A magic item which would be very helpful/neccessary to them in their overall campaign.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Skinknose will take one party member's soul as a consequence of failure and keep it in storage -- this becomes a bargaining chip to ensure compliance with any other dealings the party has with Skinknose (especially if they want their party member's soul back!). Depending on his mood and the level of severity in refusing the quest ("he doesn't think that anyone has the right to refuse him"), he will attack the party, with the intent of harvesting and consuming their souls in due time.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? Contemplative and reminsicing on his past. Focusing on his bees as he ponders these deeper things.
How do these affect your general personality? - Has made him isolated and withdrawn compared to stereotypical liches.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Gravely and slow in his voice (it bears the weight of eons).
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Had a rise to power and the mantle of villain placed upon his shoulders in the vein of Elphaba Thropp from Wicked.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - He's had enough time to live and do what he wants and enjoy his power. However, Skinknose is taking an opportunity to isolate and tend to bees. He wants to address his past which is haunting him. When the time is right, he will reemerge on the stage, ready to carry out his plans, whatever those may be...

Noodle

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Nolan Paige brought and we randomly generated the name and ancestry/race.
What is this character’s name? - Noodle
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Human
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Beekeeper
How old are you? - Upper middle-aged, 50 to 60 years old
Describe your physical appearance. - Average height, stout, strong, thinning hair but a good beard. Wears beekeeping robes. He carries a censer to help control the bees.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Gruff, Neighborly, Dedicated
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - The bees that he cares for (maybe because of the censer, the type of bees they are, or some other reason) produce a magical honey that has similar effects to a basic healing potion or half of a basic healing potion.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Kill the invasive giant wasps (murder hornets) from the forest that are attacking his bees.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - He will reward the players with some of the magic honey.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Noodle will appreciate the heroes' efforts in trying to stop the giant wasps. If the players fail to kill the giant wasps in time but save the hives from being completely destroyed, Noodle will no longer be able to produce magic honey; the most likely reason is it will take some time for Noodle to recover and he cannot produce any magic honey until the hives are returned to normal. If the players fail to kill the giant wasps and the hives are destroyed, Noodle will be forced to move in search of another queen to start beekeeping in a new area. If the players choose to ignore the problem of the giant wasps, not only will Noodle be ruined but nearby farms will start to lose livestock in greater and greater numbers to these insects. If the giant wasps are still not dealt with, the nearby town will become besieged by insects who will multiple to the point of overrunning and infesting the town.

G'aznor

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 02 Dec 2020 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Kevin J. James randomly generated with my tables.
What is this character’s name? - G'aznor
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Troll
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Sailor, possibly a pirate
How old are you? - Middle-aged
Describe your physical appearance. - G'aznor has a wooden leg (made of one board jutting from his stump, a rusty, used, and not-taken-care of hinge for a knee, followed by another board that completes the leg). This affects his gait, and being older, he is not very mobile. While he has two eyes, he wears an eye-patch, and will switch it between his eyes each day to help give them a break. He's pretty bald but won't commit to it (hair only on the front part of his head). He's pretty jacked/muscular for a troll of his age.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Stubborn, Insecure, Loud
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Has a missing page from an ancient tome -- perhaps knowledge about the treasure at the bottom of the ocean?
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Perform an impossible task: retrieve the buried treasure at the bottom of the ocean without the aid of magic
What would be their reward for succeeding? - They gain a magic item that allows the user to cast the True Resurrection spell one time
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - G'aznor will make fun of you/think little of you for being a coward for refusing the quest. No other real negative consequences from G'aznor besides befriending him or missing out on a skill (i.e. a musical instrument). Certainly, you can die in your attempts to reach the treasure.

Optional Questions - not required

Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Speaks like a pirate
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - From the local culture, your value is based upon your gait. Because he is missing a leg, his social status is severly hindered. People think he became a sailor and lost the leg as a result, when in actuality, he's lucky to be a sailor since he's never had that leg.

Cedril

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character that Kenneth Vigue randomly generated with my tables.
What is this character’s name? - Cedril
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Rakshasa
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Taxidermist. Lives in the Material Plane in a town.
How old are you? - Child-like, a young fiend
Describe your physical appearance. - In his natural appearance, he has an irritatingly long tail that he is tripping over constantly, which seems to have a life of its own and he is having to bat it away. His legs are a little too long. He is constantly keeping his hands in his pockets because his hands are all over the place and different. He wears a steampunk monocle with multiple lenses that allow him to focus up close. Either he hasn't come fully into his powers or he has difficulties always keeping a humanoid illusion intact, so you might see an odd hand or tail every now and then out of the corner of your eye.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Skittish, Intelligent, Sarcastic
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - He is witness to an unsolved murder, but he hasn't come forward yet. Did he cause it??
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Deliver a love letter covertly to Elaine on behalf of Biff the Hunter. Cedril has penned the letter, since Biff is not learned and articulate
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Biff & Elaine fall in love, Biff gives Cedril a magic object that allows him to stablize Cedril's illusion powers. Biff and Cedril's friendship is strengthened! Also, Cedril might be able to offer the party a taxidermied animal; this animal is shaped by fiendish powers, and saying the Infernal command word brings the creature to life. Once the animal drops to 0 HP, it becomes a taxidermied animal once again and the magic is spent.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Elaine's father will discover the letter and confront Biff the Hunter and ban him from the forest and he can no longer hunt. Cedril doesn't get good local animals anymore, and might have to risk his own life and possibly be discovered, since he hasn't been able to control his powers yet. This brings economic ruin to Cedril's shop. Cedril loses his friend in the process, and gives into his fiendish nature and goes full Lawful Evil.

Gozer the Gozerian

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 04 Nov 2020 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character based on the Gozer character from the Ghostbusters franchise (this is a tribute, we don't own this character!)
What is this character’s name? - Gozer the Gozerian
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Tiefling
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Celebrity, Cult Leader, God, and Gladiator Brawler
How old are you? - Ancient. Their age is 5,372.
Describe your physical appearance. - Sickly white and pasty in coloration. Almost translucent, never seen the sun it seems. Very small horns and short hair. Andrognyous. Frail and petite looking, but quick and deadly with their fists. Blood red eyes.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Arrogant, Socially-aloof, Sociopathic
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Their white/see-throughish jumpsuit. It is lacy and has some pearls on it as coverings. This suit allows Gozer to travel between dimensions.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Destroy a town for the glory of Gozer.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Increased renown/fame because of your association with Gozer.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - The party will battle Gozer if they refuse the quest. If they fail in trying to destroy a town for Gozer, you get decreased renown/loss of fame because of your failure.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - To find and bring people to their cult to worship Gozer and increase renown, power, and glory.
How do these affect your general personality? - Like a celebrity hungry for the spotlight, Gozer will do whatever it takes to attain fame and followers.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - Gozer is a huge JERK to everyone!
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - The Cult of Gozer continues to grow to gain renown and worshippers and spreading chaos across the world.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Gozer is not a very trustworthy figure due to their chaotic nature, so they have very few allies outside their cult. So the Cult is not growing at so quickly a rate as Gozer would like.

Constantine Modesto

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Max Cicchino that is based off a real-life, distant family relative involved with the American Mafia.
What is this character’s name? - Constantine Modesto
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Halfling
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Enforcer (the intimidator) for the Ruby Ring criminal organization. He comes from a large family and grew up in poverty. He joined the Ruby Ring in his mid halfling 20's with the agreement that his personal family is not involved with or knows of his profession.
How old are you? - Early 40's (for a halfling)
Describe your physical appearance. - Salt-and-pepper hair, very fine clothes (noblemens quality), a very visible coin pounch on his side. He talks out of the side of his mouth (an uptick). He has some visible battle scars from his work -- he has a mangled/cauliflowered ear.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Arrogant, Generous, Enigmatic
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Constantine is loyal to the Ruby Ring second only to his actual family. He knows many secrets of the Ruby Ring, which he uses as insurance and feels he is untouchable.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Constantine needs to get a message to someone who is in bad with the Ruby Ring (they are in debt/behind on a favor). He wants the player characters to tell this person that Constantine is looking for them. The message the party is delivering is actually a coded message -- it is not one of intimidation but of allied communication; the party can figure this out with proper investigation.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - The party is rewarded a FAVOR from Constantine Modesto and the Ruby Ring.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players refuse, they now become enemies of the Ruby Ring (they have difficulties in future adventures/cities/etc because of the far reaching influence of the Ruby Ring). If the players fail to alert this person (because they are nowhere around), this is still valuable information to the Ruby Ring. If the players fail because the target is dead/murdered, Constantine might not share this news (someone is on to the ruse!) with the Ruby Ring and keep the players on as his own personal informants (not informants/associates of the Ruby Ring).

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Constantine is trying to keep his biological family safe and prosperous.
How do these affect your general personality? - If he talks the talk and walks the walk, then people are hesitant to mess with the people he cares about.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - There is a front he puts on, as he wants people to wonder about him. Constantine lightens up around his family.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - He speak with an uptick/talks out of the side of his mouth.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Constantinue Modesto has amassed some power in his local area. People know who he is, but they also know that there is a bigger fish than him.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Constantine always has someone above him, keeping him from climbing the ranks -- Mafia Politics!

Seraphine Luna

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Jessica Duval brought that we are making into an NPC.
What is this character’s name? - Seraphine Luna
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Half-elf. Her human father was a mercenary, and her mother was a wood elf/nature elf that served as a healer for her clan and specialized in conjuring the dead.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Assassin. She trained with her father and surpassed his skill level, and now hires herself out as an assassin for hire.
How old are you? - Real age is unknown. She appears to be in her 20's. The Shadow Dagger grants her immortality, so she is much older than she appears.
Describe your physical appearance. - An average height of 5'5". Long black curly hair, worn in a braid off to the side. She is built like an acrobat (muscular) but still feminine. Her skin tone has a slight blue shimmer undertone that reflects in the sunlight. In moonlight, her skin takes on a sea green to help blend in with the environment. These skin tone effects are similar to iridescence. Her face is soft and elflike. Her eyes are piercingly light blue to the point of not appearing to be real. A little ninja. Liv Tyler/Arwen-esque.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Ruthless, Cunning, Enthralling
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - The Shadow Dagger which grants her eternal life. It was gifted to her upon her mother's death in combat.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - For causing the death of her mother, Seraphine wants aid in killing the King of the Ashlands. It is Seraphine's sworn duty to avenger her mother's death.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Seraphine would give one of the player characters a mirror of The Shadow Dagger, but this dagger has a magical effect which grants Health Regeneration. They are each made from the same magical steel, but each magic dagger has separate magical properties.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players don't succeed in killing the king (but you at least tried), she will be understanding and recognize you at least tried to help her out--no negative consequences. If the players refuse to accept the quest, she will work as a chaotic and antagonistic element tormenting the party and sabotaging future quests for the party by killing NPCs with information, etc. (she does not like being slighted or refused--she gets this trait from her father). If the players betray or purposefully sabotage her attempts at assasinating the king, she will immediately become hostile and attempt to murder the entire party.

Karhuu

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 30 Sep 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This character was voted for, and Kurt is creating this character
What is this character’s name? - Karhuu
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Bearfolk
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Skyship Pilot of the Meriankka. He works for Lapines & Maison merchant shipping company based in the port town of Cape Lafayette
How old are you? - 52
Describe your physical appearance - He has blueish-gray colored fur. He has white and black peppering on his snout to help show his older age. He is rotund, thanks to enjoying the "bare necessities of life"; likes to eat and drink and nap when he isn't working! He wears a khaki/tan tunic and a decorative maroon/red hat.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Laissez-faire, Loyal, Confident
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - A very unique skyship with modifications called the Meriankka; it uses anti-gravity engines to propel it through the air and execute daring and precise aerial manuevers. Karhuu has a ward/adopted son, a bearfolk child named Ungi. Clarissa Lapines is the shrewd and savvy human woman who owns the Meriankka now (thanks to Karhuu's debts) and runs the merchant shipping company she inherited from her deceased father, Lapines & Maison (Clarissa has a daughter named Poppy). The tabaxi carpenter & artificer that provides maintenance and modifications to the Meriankka is named Whiskers. Duke Alfred is a dwarf who runs a cabana/tavern called Alfie's (built out of an old shipwrecked pirate ship) and Karhuu's best friend and can often be found here having fun and relaxing.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Karhuu asks the player characters to be extra muscle/protection for a valuable shipment of cargo on a dangerous journey that is threatened by pirates and monsters. Karhuu could be asking on his own (if Clarissa is ignorant to the danger of the job) or Clarissa could be demanding and forcing Karhuu to find the cheapest security possible (to save costs after all!)
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Karhuu is happy to offer the services of his ship (and Lapines & Maison - $$$) to the party to transport them around the world as needed. Karhuu feels they should be paid handsomely, Clarissa might be trying to squeeze silver out of copper. Depending on how well the party does, she can be convinced to offer a more appropriate monetary reward, rather than a discount on future business.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Karhuu might be saddened or sore at the lack of help. If the trip went less than satisfactory (damaged/lost cargo, damage to the ship), Karhuu laments about being deeper in debt and wishes they had helped him out or had been able to do a better job. If the trip went very poorly, Karhuu and the crew of the Meriankka go missing, because they have been captured by pirates or trapped by a monster/environmental hazard -- because of his reputation and legend, this news spreads very quickly and disheartens the entire town of Cape Lafayette. This could cause reputation problems for the party, depending on how their interactions have gone.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Karhuu wants to buy his ship back from Clarissa Lapines to become financially independent. He loves to fly, but he wants to do so on his own terms. While Clarissa can be real task-master and buzzkill to how he approaches life, he still respects her (and probably would continue to work for her but with more equal standing). He cares very deeply for Ungi, Clarrisa, Poppy, Whiskers, and Duke Alfred and wants the best for them.
How do these affect your general personality? - He's not in a hurry to get to anywhere in life. He likes to be mellow and chill, unless his life or ship is threatened.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Southern drawl, Texan, country, Western. Think Baloo. "Little britches". Deploys skyship/nautical terminology. DOES NOT swear. Very polite and laid back in how he talks.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - He's a legend and has built up a solid reputation in Cape Lafayette as the best pilot, helping to make the town prosperous. Karhuu is a daredevil and maverick behind the helm. He has endeared himself to the town, and everyone loves and respects him. He certainly is all about having a good time and spends his free time at Alfie's.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Not owning the Meriankka and he is responsible for the upbringing of Ungi and raising this young navigator to one day take over the ship and be a good father figure to him.

Izrad

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Daniel Stewart randomly generated with my tables (Kurt uses a dice app and collaborates with Daniel).
What is this character’s name? - Izrad
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Quaggoth
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Shopkeeper in the Underdark. He runs a mining-goods store in a small community.
How old are you? - Elder
Describe your physical appearance. - Gray haired, older in appearance, milky eyes (nearly blind), whizened and bent over, not as muscular or quick as he used to be, but he has old man strength
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Cunning, Distrustful, Superstitious
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Izrad has an affinity with the local noble, Marro the Great. Marro is an illithid/mind flayer that left his colony and decided to form his community. Marro the Great then began to attract a sizeable population who benefit from his ruling over the area as a mastermind. Thus, Izrad benefits greatly by pledging his loyalty and heaping praise upon Marro the Great.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - To perform in the yearly town play that commemorates Marro the Great. Izrad has been recruited (begrudginly) to help find new actors (who possibly became a mind flayer meal).
What would be their reward for succeeding? - They ingratiate themselves with the town, and the community accepts them. They can use this community as a base of operations within the Underdark and do business with the townsfolk.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - They will remain outsider and not be welcome in town. Depending on their conduct/reputation with the town, the people of the community will become hostile with the player characters, possibly offering them up as a meal to Marro the Great.

Corvus

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Daniel Silver brought that we are making into an NPC. Notes compiled from Daniel Silver's answers and the interview.
What is this character’s name? - Corvus
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Kenku. The homebrew rule for Daniel's world is that they can speak normally and aren't limited to mimcry.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - The head cleric of the Raven Queen and arbiter of Order & Chaos.
How old are you? - Unknown, not even Corvus knows. He does appear to be physically old.
Describe your physical appearance. - He is an old kenku, as some of his feathers are molting with graying feather around his temples. He wears well-used vestments with a raven motif and leans on a heavy, wooden staff carved with arcane symbols.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Charismatic, Arrogant, Authoritative
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Corvus is the arbiter of the Accords, which are a series of agreements between the forces of Order and Chaos. They were agreed upon after the primordial war at the beginning of the world. He lives in Ravenshead, a barrow with a set of standing stones that serves as neutral ground for the forces of Order and Chaos to amend the Accords when needed.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Hunt down those have violated the Accord and enforce the Accord: a clan of goblins who worship Maglubiyet have taken over an old temple to the Raven Queen and consecrated it for Maglubiyet. Corvus asks you to drive them out and reclaim the temple for the Raven Queen.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Besides great material wealth, you would be able to call on Corvus and the Raven Queen for a "medium-sized" favor.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - The Accords could be sundered, and the forces of Order and Chaos would resume their war. Failure to clear out the goblins fully would further increase the tensions between the forces of Order and Chaos!

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Order above all else. Keep the war from starting again.
How do these affect your general personality? - He often comes off as uncaring or arbitrary, some even accuse him of supporting evil.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - He seeks to treat all fairly and wants NO ONE to see him as an enemy OR friend. With player characters, he is often condescening, saying they are messing with forces above their understanding. Corvus is TRULY neutral in all regards, he wants no conflicts of interest.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - He speaks very deliberately, he is often an arbiter between very powerful interests, and he must choose his words carefully. He speaks slowly with long pauses to prevent showing partiality or giving offense.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - He keeps small fights from getting out of control. Corvus provides a very necessary service to the world, bringing a general peace to the world.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Corvus' powers are tied to the Ravenshead barrow and the standing stones, so he has a very real geographical constraint. Corvus, therefore, has to rely on player characters to help enforce the Accords, or he has to wait and see how the forces of Order and Chaos will act. It also means if he ever left Ravenshead (either by choice, capture, death), Corvus would have no powers and the world would plunge into the apocalypse. If Corvus is harmed, the forces of Order and Chaos would view that action as breach of the Accords.

Xin

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a totally random NPC that is being generated by dice rolls and tables.
What is this character’s name? - Xin (pronounced "sin") would be her chosen name in Undercommon. Her given name is One-With-Pointed-Nose.
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Troglodyte
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Moat Digger
How old are you? - Ancient, thanks to the artifact/magic item in her possession
Describe your physical appearance. - Shorter, hunched over. Defined upper arms. Her claws and fingers are permanently blackened thanks to the physical labor she does. Her scales tend to remain mostly brackish colored, although she has the ability to change her coloration. She has a prounced nose and more snake-like tongue. She bears old scars and wounds from her younger days from her tribal life.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Angry, Foolhardy, Covetous
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - A simple, unassuming crown (iron band) that when worn grants the user immortality. It has room for two more magical jewels to be placed on the crown for enhanced powers. [Thinking more on this after the recording, so as to have consequences if player characters immediately wish to try to claim the item from Xin and wear it themselves, it is extremely CURSED. It feeds into those feelings of anger, foolhardiness, and covetousness. You will not wish to remove the crown and you will become Chaotic Evil. Violence will become your ready solution to most problems.]
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Retrieve the two missing jewels that can be inserted into the crown to improve its abilities and powers.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Xin offers to become a temporary ally and follower of your party while your are in the Underdark. She also would be willing to recruit the party for an additional sidequest to return to her tribe and kill the leaders so she can gain control of the tribe; eventually, this will spurn Xin to lead a siege against the Underdark city she was in, and start a campaign to gain control of the Underdark.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Xin will identify the most valuable shiny (metal and/or magic) items that the party possess. She will then fight the party and take those items for herself and flee. She will return to her tribe, kill the leaders, assume control, and then begin the siege of the Underdark city before she leads a campaign to gain control of the Underdark.

Lilly the Narwhalicorn

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 26 Aug 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a gaming avatar of Olivia Wilmsen that we are transforming into an NPC. Notes compiled from the interview.
What is this character’s name? - Lilly
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Narwhalicorn. Appears as a hybrid-unicorn with an additional dolphin-like tail and narwhal-like horn.
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Entertainer and helper.
How old are you? - 30
Describe your physical appearance. - White hair, rainbow-color mane, tail, and feathering over the hooves. Also has a dolphin-like tail and a narwhal-like horn.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Thoughtful, Outgoing, Inquisitive
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Lilly prefers to be in the water. Lilly can manifest a portal to the Feywild within the secret lagoon that she resides in. This portal can only be generated by summoning Lilly by solving the riddle from the stone tablet that the rainbow leads to within this secret lagoon.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Go into the Feywild and rescue her mate, Wicked the Narwhalicorn. Lilly has been bound to the secret lagoon and is unable to go find her mate herself.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Lilly will bestow on one person of the party the ability to cast the Fly spell innately once per day. The spell is cast and follows the rules of the Fly spell from 5E.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If they fail or refuse to help, Lilly will close the secret lagoon portal to the Feywild FOREVER.

Reg

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Brady Effler rolled up randomly with dice.
What is this character’s name? - Reg
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Appears to be a Tortle, but is secrelty a Changeling
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Forager in a swamp
How old are you? - At least 20 in Tortle years in appearance, an adult.
Describe your physical appearance. - As a Tortle, he appears to be a walking backpack. He has pots, bells, coins that clank and make noise that hang off the spikes and the natural rack that is made from his shell. He is covered in various furs. He moves slowly, but has a steady gait. His skin is a healthy blue-green hue, not many wrinkles. If he were to stand up straight, he would be 5'8", but he is constantly hunched over to only appear to be 5 feet tall.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Poignant, Cautious, Romantic
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Reg is secretly a Changeling in disguise. The current social and political climate that he lives in is not favorable for Changelings, but he remains in the area because he is love with a dark elf barmaid in the local tavern.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Follow the clues in a series of notes. There are a series of love letters that Reg has written to the dark elf barmaid, and a local authority figure/parent/scorned lover spins a tale in the town about these notes, saying that there are hidden messages from a Changeling assassin that is waiting to strike in the town. Really, Reg is trying to stay in touch with the person he loves, and he ultimately wants to run away with his love and live together happily everafter.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - For helping to unravel the mystery and unite him with his love (the dark elf barmaid), Reg will award the players with an item to help them in the main questline or an object that will help make their journeys through the swamps easier.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - It's possible that the main questline is made more difficult due to the players not taking advantage of helping Reg for an item to help them in their quest. It's possible that an innocent and/or important NPC is killed in town because of the paranoia and hysteria generated by these false rumors; an authority figure could use this for political gain. It's possible that Reg can be found at the gallows to be hanged in the town; he will then be discovered to be a Changeling if the players don't intervene, and this will only further the goals of the local authority figure or satisfy the revenge of the scorned lover. Perhaps they will find the distraught lover devestated by this violent outcome.

Mem Vargav

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Patrick Kolb brought that we are making into an NPC. Notes compiled from Patrick Kolb's answers and the interview.
What is this character’s name? - Mem Vargav
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Human
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Started his life as a blacksmith's apprentice before he was conscripted into an army. After soldiering, he joined the Talon Mercenary Company for a time, but he left that life to return to smithing and making armor.
How old are you? - 25
Describe your physical appearance. - Tall, a bit filled out (could be fat or muscle, depends on who you're talking to). Blond hair, calloused hands, his look fits the description of a classic blacksmith and armorer.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Compassionate, Stern, Loyal
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Mem values family more than anything else. Family is determined by his experience and bonds with people he has met, not necessarily blood-relations.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Rescue a member of his family who is being held hostage for ransom by the Talon Mercenary Company.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Mem Vargav will make them a unique, personalized weapon or piece of armor, free of charge to the players.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If the players fail to retrieve the hostage or ignore this sidequest, Mem Vargav will take matters into his own hands to go rescue this person by himself. If Mem is able to rescue the person on his own, then he will close his shop and go into hiding with this person, and will be unavailable as a blacksmith until Talon Mercenary Company is dealt with. The worse outcome would involve both the death of the hostage and of Mem Vargav, for he is not as highly skilled as the other members of the Talon Mercenary Company.

Lady Camilla Steading

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This character was voted for, and Kurt is creating this character
What is this character’s name? - Lady Camilla Steading
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Human
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - She was born into the aristocracy of her homeland, but she does not care nor rely heavily on her societal or political standing. She instead prides herself in being an archaeologist, explorer, and adventurer, just like her late father. Lady Steading is a multi-class fighter with levels in rogue.
How old are you? - Late 20’s to Early 30’s
Describe your physical appearance - She stands 5’6” with an athletic build. Her long brown hair is often braided into a single strand or tied up into a ponytail or bun. She has brown eyes and an overall elegant and beautiful appearance, whether she is donning leather armor or a flowing ball gown. Underneath the finery and armor, she bears her fair share of scars from the various dungeons she has delved into in search of treasure and great historical artifacts. She can always be found wearing an ancient jade pendant, her first archaeological find as a child with her father while they were exploring an ancient ruin on an expedition.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Survivor, Bibliophile, Intelligent
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - To aid her in exploration, she has a pair of enchanted dwarven war picks combined with ropes of climbing, which allow her to rapidly climb and descend throughout dungeons, caves, and ruins. She is further enhanced with a pair of Boots of Striding and Springing. She is well versed in ancient history cultures, both common and obscure. Secretly, she struggles with survivor’s guilt and her tendency toward violence when she is in danger or if she knows it would help solve her problems more easily, but she perseveres to take the least bloody path forward and she shows kindness to her friends, family, and to children.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Help her to clear out and map a nearby ruin to find a significant archaeological find (tomb/sarcophagus, cultural object, etc.)
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Credit in any discovery and an even share in the gold found. Lady Steading is more concerned about the artifact or significant cultural object.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Death of the player characters during the course of exploration. It’s possible the ruins collapse and they are unable to explore or recover any artifacts. If they refuse, then an order of knights arrive in the nearby town several days later and begin to question the people of the whereabouts of Lady Steading, silently killing anyone who opposes them. These are Knights of the Oracle, a secretive and heretical order within a major religion of the world who seek to discover the powerful relics, objects, and artifacts of the gods to bring the world to order under their ideology and control. Most peasants and common folk will only recognize their symbols in relation to the religion, and not to the cabal. These knights will interrogate the players if they are still within the town and get violent if need be. Their goal is locate Lady Steading, not to reveal their organization. Players who overcome these knights can then reveal their hidden agenda after successful investigative work.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Lady Steading is continuing on with the tradition of her father in archaeology and adventuring not only in honor and love of him, but to also clear his name. The Knights of the Oracle systematically dismantled the credibility of her father to the sovereign ultimately before the Knights murdered him when she was a young girl. She has been working to solve and uncover the mysteries her father was working on to restore his name (and thus her household), and also to reveal and defeat the Knights of the Oracle.
How do these affect your general personality? - She is determined in finding justice for her father. She is focused as she works very hard to decipher the research her father left, along with the deep love she has for reading about history and culture. She can be improper at times when it comes to matters of society or royalty, as she does not particularly care that she is part of the aristocracy; she has more important things to worry about. Circumstances have forced her to grow in confidence and ability when it comes to matters of the blade.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - She speaks with an air of authority in matters of history and archaeology. She treats her peers and employees with respect and cordiality. She is often snarky or quippy when it comes to dealing with enemies and rivals. She speaks with player characters skeptically at first (because she doesn’t know their skill levels and reputation or a lack of propriety or confidence); after she has gotten to learn more about them and bond, she will open up and treat them all with warmness and enthusiasm. She is an introvert at heart.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - You can clearly hear an aristocratic accent in her voice and mannerisms, though she doesn’t rely on her station in society. As a well-educated woman, she can speak, read, and write fluently in Dwarven, Elvish, and Halfling. She is also able to speak, write, and understand Undercommon and Draconic as a non-native speaker. Any other languages require time spent translating in a library or finding an object or spell that would allow her to understand a language for a short time.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Lady Steading has made it a point to undercover mysteries of the ancient world, and to share the knowledge with the world. Her first major discovery as a young adult was finding an ancient island in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by perpetual storms. A source of constant shipwrecks, a cult of worshippers trapped there sought to resurrect a cleric lich back into a mortal body to break the cycle of storms. Lady Camilla with aid was able to kill the lich and destroy the cult, all the while, working to recover long lost artifacts to be returned to the nations and temples of the world, shared in various museums, or returned to secured vaults to ensure those dark objects would never see the light of day again. She is something of a folk hero to the common people, as she helps to bring history and wonder back into the world. Her credibility among royalty or aristocracy is working on improving, but thanks to the subterfuge by the Knights of the Oracle, is sometimes stagnant. She is often traveling the world and can occasionally be found at Steading Manor, researching or planning her next expedition.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Her biggest problem is the secret war that is being conducted by the Knights of the Oracle to silence and stop Lady Steading from revealing their existence to the religious and royal authorities, as well as constantly working to acquire the powerful relics that they would use to assert dominance on the world. She is in a constant race and competition against this nefarious organization. Without the constant threat of death or politics, she would be free to explore the world in peace and bring honor back to her father and her family.

Mrs. Lilly

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Katie Ruvalcaba brought that we are making into an NPC. Notes compiled from Katie Ruvalcaba's answers and the interview.
What is this character’s name? - Mrs. Lilly
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Halfling
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Farmer's Wife and mother of five grown children: two daughters Sarah and Lucy who are mothers, two sons Jonathan and Damien who are farmers, and one son Sam who is a bookshop owner and the town intellecutal.
How old are you? - Late 40's or early 50's
Describe your physical appearance. - Curly blonde hair that is hard to control. Blue eyes. Freckled. She is slightly pudgy/chubby, but has a round, rosy happy face with a smile, even if she is mad at you.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Happy, Fierce, Principled
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - She values order, goodness, justice, and tradition. She is also wielder of a magical (some would say legendary) item called the Spoon of Justice. A matriachal artifact that has been passed down for several generations, this otherwise simple wooden spell compells naughty children (or people behaving as children) to return to proper behavior and do as the wielder commands. Think of a classic implement of childhood discipline.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Mrs. Lilly has had trouble with several of the neighborhood/area children: they are getting into the ale stores, they are tipping over canisters of cream, trampling through the gardens, etc. They need to be brought to Mrs. Lilly to face the Spoon of Justice!
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Mrs. Lilly will craft a one-time use version of the Spoon of Justice, imbued with her motherly magic. This particular spoon will allow you to force a nearby target(s) to make a Charisma saving throw to do your bidding in good and lawful behavior or to provide you the answer you seek; it could also be used to give the wielder an Advantage on a Persuasion or Intimidation check. After this Spoon of Justice has been used in this manner, the spoon becomes a regular wooden spoon.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Mrs. Lilly will use her Spoon of Justice on the adventurers, and now the player characters will be compelled to answer the call of the next quest or challenge presented to them, no matter what!

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Her goals are to put things back into right order, as is dictated by tradition and values and family. She wants to teach people manners, she wants to keep the farm running, and she makes sure everyone is well-fed.
How do these affect your general personality? - She is hospitable, kind, always seems happy. She knows the way to do things. If you aren't doing something the right way, she will distance herself from you, or she's going to be having a talk with you.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - She is always going to be polite and hospitable. To children or misbehaving adults, she will be much more stern in her speaking.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - An English accent, posh sounding.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Her grown children are pillars of society. You can rely on Mrs. Lilly to be planned for disasters, famines, bad harvests. She plans ahead and keeps her larder full. She is always willing to help out the community to provide for those who had bad fortune or did not prepare properly. She has been able to help out her community several times in this way.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - She is very much stuck to her home, she is a homemaker. She is not one to wander and go off on an adventures.

Ulfar Ragnbjörn

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character that Kevin Chenard brought that we are making into an NPC. Notes compiled from Kevin Chendard's answers and the interview.
What is this character’s name? - Ulfar Ragnbjörn
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Dwarf, from the nobility class
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Traveling blacksmith (metalwork, armor and weapon making) and experienced fighter. A member of the noble, dwarven warrior organization called the Guardians of the Iron Kings.
How old are you? - 85
Describe your physical appearance. - A rugged and stout dwarf, he stands at 4'5" and is 200 pounds of muscle. He has a long braided brown beard with the same style of hair. His hair and beard are adorned with dwarven runic beads that symbolize the god Muradin and the order of the Guardians of the Iron Kings. Studded leather and common, working man's clothes, though he does possess a set of chain and studded leather armor for combat. He bears battle scars, and his hands are usually covered in soot or some sort of forge dust like iron.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Proud, Fierce, and Respectful
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Ulfar carries the knowledge and teachings of his order, known as the Guardians of the Iron Kings. This group of dwarves who have sworn an oath to protect the dwarves of the realm from all evils. They are trained in a particular form of combat, and use the teachings of Muradin to bolster their warriors. The Guardians of the Iron Kings are mostly comprised of fighters, paladins, and clerics, with the odd druid in parties that venture to distant lands. They are more nomadic and have a duty to mobilize to any town or city that calls upon their protection, so they act like samurai in a way. Ulfar has a family heirloom, a pendant with a symbol of the Guardians of the Iron Kings, which was owned by both his father and grandfather.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Ulfar woud be willing to recruit and teach the ways of the Guardians of the Iron Kings (ESPECIALLY dwarves) in order to vanquish the evils of the land threatening the lives of others. Because of his nomadic nature, you are most likely to stumble upon Ulfar during your travels, and he will ask the party to help him deal with a threat.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Ulfar could offer what services he could provide, such as knowledge and wisdom through the Guardians; he might be willing to help initiate you into their ranks. If you operate on coin, he has some money he can provide as a reward. Alternatively, his blacksmithing skills could be called upon, and depending on the level of the relationship, offered at a discount. Perhaps a future favor provided by the Guardians of the Iron Kings might be valuable to the players.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Failure would lead to countless deaths, which is not acceptable in the eyes of the Guardians. However, Ulfar would not punish the players in failing, because at least they TRIED to do something. If instead the players ignore and refuse Ulfar, they will be put in the shadows of the Guardians (put on a list!); Ulfar and the Guardians would still help them if they were fighting evil/doing things in line with the organization, but if they asked him for blacksmithing services or free knowledge, he would give them the cold shoulder.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - His goals are to learn more about his order's ways and teach the younger generation the value of saving lives out of the good in their hearts, not in searching for a reward. His motivations are to see the good in others and what that good can flourish into.
How do these affect your general personality? - Ulfar's personality is one of an honorable dwarf, stout and strong. He keeps to himself, but will go out of his way to help someone he sees that is struggling. He trusts people maybe a little too much which can get him into trouble sometimes or swindled out of coin.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - Ulfar is cautious, and approaches situations tactically. Ulfar has an open heart towards others and straight-forward, especially toward those who wish to aid him in his cause. Those who willingly do harm to others for pleasure or gain is frowned upon and Ulfar will usually seek to interfere with such behaviors. He usually keeps to himself until he knows an individual a little more than early conversations, but tends to open up fairly quick after judging a character.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - He is rough with his speech and sometimes uses dwarven slang. Not a conversationalist, but speaks his mind when he wants to. Might be viewed as uptight by elves and humans. Primarily a Dwarven speaker, but speaks Common as well.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Ulfar views his accomplishment as part of the whole order of the Guardians of the Iron Kings. Ulfar fights against the undead, goblins, gnolls, and even orcs, and has kept neighboring cities and towns at peace, but there is always more threats looming that need addressing.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Ulfar's constant need to stay near to civilization to keep those he cares for safe prevents him from aiding the Guardians if they ever call for him. He is timid about adventuring off too far and to distant lands.

Tavish

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is Joseph Picard's player character that we are making into an NPC. Notes compiled from Joseph Picard's answers and the interview.
What is this character’s name? - Tavish
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Hill Dwarf from Ironstone in the world of Veridia
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Cleric of Eir and caretaker of an orphanage
How old are you? - 350, the equivalent of a 60 year old human
Describe your physical appearance. - Portly, bald on top, beard often braided into 3 braids which is snowy (PEPPERED!), wears chainmail, shiny pendant under his white robes which depict hills and trees, shield, warhammer (his holy symbol), and a pocket that never seems to run out of spoons.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Kind, Compassionate, Bumbling
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - His personal relationship that he has with Eir whom he loves. He associates his divine spells as being in Eir's direct prescene and talks to her as if she were an invisible but beloved wife with some mortal humility mixed in. His healing spells, when cast in the longer ritual form, take form as him telling tales about Eir's needs over the millennia as the healing takes place. He will cast Spirtual Weapon and believes Eir is there wielding the weapon and he tries to hold her hand. He casts Guardian of Faith and believes that they are warriors sent from Valhalla by Eir to help him.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - To either help the orphanage in some way or to help construct a canal from a lake to the ocean for the magical, intellligent boat named Bjoti McBjotface.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Money is a universal reward, but to the people he deems to be good, he's likely to also give them a spoon and a story about how a spoon can save your life (telling the tale of his mother and how she saved a dozen miners from a cave-in and now that spoon is on display in the chief's hall in Ironstone).
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Varying levels of conscience-eroding disappointment. Definitely will not appreciate someone being a jerk.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? How do these affect your general personality? - Help those who need it, especially orphans and to break up slavery rings. He also has formed a mentorship with Bjoti McBjotface. Tavish feels a great deal of responsibility and does what he can to help as many people as he can. This does not entirely keep him away from the darkest brews he can find.
Do you have a particular accent or language with each or in general? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Heavy Scottish accent, his religion is Norse based, and very stereotypical fantasy dwarf. He gets along with other Norse gods, but Tavish isn't too overly fond of Odin-serving paladins. He also learned Undercommon from a traveling companion. During battle, he delivers epic sermons while he fights.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Having struck the final blow to the local slaver boss, Tavish was a key player in driving the slavers' influence from the port city of Greenshores and the surrounding area. His contributions to a nearby sanctuary for dragons (which are animal-intelligent in Veridia) were helpful. Bjoti McBjotface wishes to become a cleric because of Tavish and the boat can cast Light. He worked closely with a NPC party member to help get them cured of a drug addiction. He platonically befriended a sex worker who converted to the worship of Eir and she helps out at the orphanage. The fact that he is so passionate about Eir and has done these heroic deeds has helped lead many people to faith and to the worship of Eir.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - Currently, Tavish is focused on taking care of the orphans and working with Bjoti.

Clocky Woodman

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character Dallas Miller has made and is sharing/improvising.
What is this character’s name? - Clocky Woodman
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Wood Elf
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Timesmith/tinkerer of the first clock ever.
How old are you? - 110
Describe your physical appearance. - 6'3", slender, dark skin, pointed nose, eyebrows that look like he is surprised to tell you something, Harry Potter-esque robes
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Precise, Stubborn, Mischevious
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - The master clock/time device
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Go speak with everyone in the community to help determine what knowledge they have on the study of time and bring the information back to him.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Their own pocket watches of his own design.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Incomplete knowledge if they fail. If they refuse, Clocky Woodman will stalk your party for a period of time, studying the party, noting your behavior, but not interfering with your group.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Be the inventor of this time-capturing device. He is dedicated to this task.
Do you have a particular accent or language with each or in general? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - No particular accent. He speaks boldly, upfront, crass, rude (since he doesn't have too many social skills).
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - He keeps to himself and is nearly finished with this device. Once the invention is complete, he can utilize the technology to help the world.

Anso Eresse

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 27 May 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This character was voted for, and Kurt is creating this character
What is this character’s name? - Anso Eresse
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Half-Elf
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Smuggler, sailor, urchin
How old are you? - 30
Describe your physical appearance - Sandy brown hair, half-elf length ears, very charismatic and full of swagger, Harrison Ford machismo, he has old gang tattoos from the Veridian Vipers under his clothes, flashy jewelry, a moon-crystal ring on a chain on his neck that he keeps hidden.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Charming, Lucky, Haunted
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - A note from his elven mother, the moon-crystal ring from his mother, his elven-made ship The Eon of Orthea, his first mate the bugbear Gnasharkk.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - To either fight or redirect an assassin/bounty hunter that is looking for Anso.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Will offer to help you travel to somewhere you need to go, whether it's in the prime material plane or extradimensional.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - The bounty hunter will capture Anso and Gnasharkk and deliver them to the Midnight Rise crime syndicate. If you do not agree to help, Anso will flee to another plane of existence and will remain on the run and out of contact (except by divine/magical means).

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? How do these affect your general personality? - He wants to find out who he is (since both elven and human society don't fully accept him), to survive, he wants to locate his parents. He keeps information close to the vest and is always trying to stay ahead of those who wish him harm. He is street smart and a smooth talker. Remains aloof and mysterious.
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters? - As an urchin and rogue, he is friendly to those kinds of characters. He can speak Thieves' Cant. Anso also speaks Goblin as well to his first mate and to goblinoid characters. He remains witty, snarky, and sarcastic to his enemies and rivals. He remains friendly to his crime boss, but he is trying to get out of the organization. To players, he is no-nonsense, how much money they have, what can they do for him. He appears standoffish. If they get to know him better, he will ease up and warm to the players.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - When he is in elven society, he tries to speak and act like an elf. When he is among humans, he hides his ears with his hair and tries to not draw attention to himself. Flirtacious with ladies. Speaks cooly, like a young Harrison Ford.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - The Imperial Navy tell tales of him as a deserter. The Veridian Vipers have stories about Anso as well. He is well known through the desert port of Amoa Crudashi as someone who works for the Midnight Rise. Recently, bounty hunters have begun looking and inquiring for Anso.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - His biggest problem is that the Midnight Rise have put out a bounty on him for failing too many times -- they want to bring him back alive for torture and death.

Brunklesbee Bonekeeper

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 20 May 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character Arielle McMahon has made and is sharing (one random dice roll)
What is this character’s name? - Brunklesbee Bonekeeper
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Dwarf
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Mortician/Gravedigger
How old are you? - 102
Describe your physical appearance. - He is an average-sized dwarf who is relatively unkempt and covered in dirt. His hands are calloused with dirt forever under his fingernails. His black beard and hair are so thick, bushy, and grubby, that you can barely see the rest of his face, but if you catch a glimpse of his eyes, they are light blue (with a Santa Claus twinkle).
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Productive, Bubbly, Literal
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - He knows about the goblins in the Redoak Woods, who are undead from their unholy burial grounds.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Deal with the undead goblins and their burial grounds within the Redoak Woods.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Brunklesbee is willing to become a follower/hireling to help "clean up" your messes along your adventures and study other cultures' death practices, since death is his subject of study.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - The players are harmed/killed in their pursuit against the undead goblins in the Redoak Woods. If they ignore the threat of the undead goblins, the undead will swarm all of the nearby towns and villages.

Roosevelt

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 06 May 2020 08:00:00 -0500

Joseph Anthony used an art prompt generator to list 10 words: bakery, caravan, a letter from afar, a medevial castle, eye-catching, melancoly, monochrome, optimism, out of the rolling ocean, and silver jewelry
What is this character’s name? - Roosevelt
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Triton
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Prince and Alchemist
How old are you? - Late 30s or early 40s
Describe your physical appearance. - Being wealthy but not posh in appreance, he wears gray and blue with silver accents in his tunics, nice shirts and pants. Signet ring and a tarnished silver amulet/necklace. Thin, tall, hunched over.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Melancoly, Helpful, Determined
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - There is a royal jewel from his mother the queen inside the amulet. He is also well versed in poison-making, toxins, and diseases (think a passive mad scientist).
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Hire adventurers to collect information on a hidden town and bring back knowledge if a cure for the disease was found there.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - A LOT of money or able to teach someone how to make one potion if they are proficient in alchemy/alchemist's supplies.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Something is about to happen in the town which Roosevelt is visting. If he is ignored, he will then journey to the next town, and a major illness will befall the town you met him in.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Figuring out exactly what this disease that killed his city and kingdom was.
How do these affect your general personality? - He has a one-track mind in finding out the truth of this illness, sometimes to a determinal flaw.
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak? - Speaks like a posh Eeyore.
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Like the Mothman, there are two rumors that surround him: either he will give your town a boon or you will be struck by disaster.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - His reputation and the surrounding rumors make information-gathering difficult, which is why he needs the adventurers to go check out the lead for him.

Niall

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This character was voted for, and Kurt is creating this character
What is this character’s name? - Niall
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Warforged
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Soldier turned Plague Doctor
How old are you? - 5, still fresh but has some wear and tear (and self-repair) from combat.
Describe your physical appearance. - 6'5", closer to 300 pounds, made of steel, wood, iron, gems, and magic. His eyes eminate an icy blue from the slits in the face. His armor has engravings that note he was a pikeman in the Steel Prince's army on the shoulders, and the chest plate has the crest of the Steel Prince. He wears the black robe costume and he has affixed the mask to his face.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Purposeful, Calculating, Empathetic
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Knowledge/proficiency with polearms, warforged, and their advanced fighting techniques.
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Rescue Niall from bandits who have taken him ransom from a nearby village/town/regent. Alternatively, he could ask for protection journeying and working in the next hostile town.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Advanced fighting techniques, knowledge about warforged. Also possible to obtain a cure from The Plague if a party member(s) has been affected.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - If Niall isn't rescued or unable to get to the next town, more people will continue to be affected and die from The Plague. Niall could be killed/dismantled and unable to repair and revive himself.

Elvi

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This character is based off of guest of the show, Elvia Garcia
What is this character’s name? - Elvi
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Human
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Schoolteacher/civilian and occassional adventurer
How old are you? - 30
Describe your physical appearance. - Medium/short height, long dark hair, glasses, eyes that sparkle
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Determined, Patient, Caring
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - The Enigma Violin, a magic instrument which is able to grant advantage on Wisdom and Intelligence ability checks for 10 minutes
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - To retrieve the Enigma Violin, which has recently been stolen. Told directly when speaking to her or through notices posted in the local pub.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Money or music lessons. If there is a Bard in the party, she is willing to teach the song from the Enigma Violin to be used during the 'Song of Rest' ability to grant advantage Wisdom and Intelligence ability checks for 10 minutes during the short rest.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - She would be sad. She will have to try and find time to go off on her own adventure to try and recover the instrument, which by then, could have been lost and escaped into legend once again.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - Promoting wisdom, camaraderie, and team-building
How have you shaped the local area? - Very encouraging of community in the town
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - She can't readily travel on adventures because she is a schoolteacher and runs a music program. She can only adventure during the summer or breaks from school.

Taco

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character Charles Basile randomly generated using my tables
What is this character’s name? - Taco
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Rakshasa
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Valet
How old are you? - Child age, a young fiendish figure
Describe your physical appearance. - Fez & vest, small in size, backwards hands, tiger-like in appearance
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Plucky, Ambitious, Scrappy
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Afraid of spiders
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Escort him to Hell's Bank with money from Lord Grubbub
What would be their reward for succeeding? - He will gift them a cursed item, like a monkey's paw.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - He will implicate the players of being on the take if Taco gets robbed going to the bank. If the players ignore him, he will pickpocket and rob the players.

Grunty

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character Elyse Basile randomly generated using my tables
What is this character’s name? - Grunty
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Zombie, once was human
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Necromancer
How old are you? - Appears to be a young boy, but is actually 50-60 years...he is UNDEAD
Describe your physical appearance. - Gray skinned, decaying, small child-size, decked out in necromancer robes
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Grumpy, Lethargic, Cynical/Bitter
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Justice
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Rescue his twin brother Snorty (who is 50-60 years old) from the jail of the local lord for the crime of necromancy for turning Grunty into a zombie.
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Grunty will finally be able to break his curse with the aid of his twin brother Snorty. The party gains the favor of a pair of necromancers, and what rewards may come with that.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Grunty will remain trapped in the tower, unable to leave due to the binding magic. His twin brother Snorty will eventually die in prison, and thus, Grunty's fate will be permanently sealed. Also, Grunty will probably refuse to speak to the heroes if they fail to retrieve his brother or if his brother dies. Perhaps the party earns Grunty's ire and has recurring encounters with undead minions sent from the tower seeking revenge until they find another way to break the curse or kill Grunty.

Dolly

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 11 Mar 2020 08:00:00 -0500

This is a character Michael Horsley randomly generated using my tables
What is this character’s name? - Dolly
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Treeant
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Cartographer
How old are you? - Immortal
Describe your physical appearance. - A feminine treeant, she looks similar to a massive, 100 ft. coastal redwood tree
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Slow, Wise, Rough/Gruff (she's seen it all)
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - A healing potion
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - To cause a distraction to help save her forest and her people
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Willing to provide a rare map or perhaps pass on her healing potion. Certainly, the heroes gain a valuable ally in an ancient being who has vast knowledge of the local area, a maker of maps, and her group of treeants would be much friendlier to them.
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - The forest is invaded by a foreign group and exploited/destroyed. Perhaps the heroes in their mission are captured or killed.

Ulrich Griffbeard

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 08:00:00 -0600

This is a character Elizabeth Horsley had made and is sharing
What is this character’s name? - Ulrich Griffbeard
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Dwarf
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Sophomore at Rosevale University. Recently switched his major from Fighter to Cleric.
How old are you? - "Young and idealistic" in age
Describe your physical appearance. - Strong, stout, religious tattoos related to balance/water, blonde beard braided down each side, shaved head, handsome and charismatic
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Persistent, Charismatic, Trustworthy
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - A religious symbol (amulet) of Elea, which looks like a four leaf clover made of teardrops that meet at a point in the middle
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Attend the weekly prayer group meeting
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Join the followers of Elea, learn secrets about the demigoddess, gain magical items that pertain to Elea
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - More followers of Elea will pressure you to attend the weekly prayer group meeting

Optional Questions - not required

Do you have a particular accent or language? - Goal was to have a Cockney accent, but ended up coming out Irish instead

Mr. Underhill

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Sun, 23 Feb 2020 08:00:00 -0600

Comes from Kurt's homebrew lore.
What is this character’s name? - Mr. Winston Underhill
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Halfling
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Tavern Clerk, runs the books and keys for the Levitating Platter. General Assistant to Randolph.
How old are you? - 40-50s, a middle aged halfling
Describe your physical appearance. - Spectacles on the end of his nose, smaller for his age, black curly hair on his head and feet, healthy and cheerful disposition
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Fastidious, Polite, Concerned
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - Knows the exact amount of debt incurred by certain peoples who have credit lines with the Leviatating Platter
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Collect money from somone who owes money to the Levitating Platter
What would be their reward for succeeding? - Improved or preferential treatment inside the Levitating Platter
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Mr. Underhill will not ask the PC's for help and might place them under prejudicial scrutiny and perhaps refuse to be polite to them.

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character? - To provide for his family by working hard for good pay
How do these affect your general personality? - Success of the business means he can do more for his wife and children.

Randolph

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 08:00:00 -0600

Comes from Kurt's homebrew lore.
What is this character’s name? - Randolph
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)? - Human
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)? - Archwizard of the Order of Words & Tavernkeeper of the Levitating Platter
How old are you? - 70s
Describe your physical appearance. - Similar to Sir Ian McKellen, long silver white beard and hair - well groomed and tied in a ponytail, wrinkles, left eye is blue, right eye is electric green and has a scar coming from it due to an old curse that was cured
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives. - Pragmatic, Financially-Oriented, Wise
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.) - A locket of his mother
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do? - Bring him a special delivery of goods or go hunt for a dangerous creature for components
What would be their reward for succeeding? - A large sum of coinage
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call? - Not asked to help OR death by their quarry

Optional Questions - not required

What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area? - Joined the Order of Words and was a successful adventurer. His tavern brings an enormous amount of wealth to Alcester.
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage? - He's enjoying his retirement years with various arcane equations.

The Questions!

sidekicksandsidequests@gmail.com — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 11:00:00 -0600

Questions to ask my guests

Pertaining to the guest themself

Who are you and what do you do?
Do you currently or have you ever played Dungeons & Dragons? If not, is it something that you have an interest in?
Do you have a favorite NPC (non-player character) from an RPG/video games? Why are they your favorite? If you are not a gamer, do you have a favorite sidekick or supporting character from literature, history, or film/TV etc.? Why are they your favorite?
Do you have a favorite sidequest from an RPG/video games? Why is it your favorite? If you are not a gamer, do you have a favorite B plot/minor plot from literature, film/TV, or particular minor event in history? Why is it your favorite?
What are you passionate about and why?

NPC Creation

Do you wish to make a character based on yourself, based on your favorite NPC, based off someone you know, improvise a character live on the air from scratch, or do you want to randomize a character using a table?
What is this character’s name?
What is their ancestry (i.e. human, elf, dwarf, halfling, etc)?
What is your job or role (i.e. farmer, hierling/mercenary, shopowner, bandit, etc)?
How old are you?
Describe your physical appearance.
Describe yourself with 3 adjectives.
What is a valuable item/piece of lore/secret that this character possesses? Or do they value an ideal/concept or particular person (i.e. family member, guild member, honor, justice, love etc.)
What is a particular quest you would be willing to recruit or hire the player characters to go do?
What would be their reward for succeeding?
What would be the consequence of failure or refusing the call?

Optional Questions - not required

What are the goals and motivations of your character?
How do these affect your general personality?
How do you normally interact with your family/friends/peers? With your enemies/rivals? With people who work for you/report to you? With player characters?
Do you have a particular accent or language? Any idiosyncrasies in how you act and speak?
What impact have you made on the world? How have you shaped the local area?
Do you have any current problems that prevent you from being a bigger player on the stage?