Campaigns built around Protecting an NPC?

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

I've pitched a kinda-sorta similar idea with one key difference to two groups, but it never got off the ground for life reasons the time I was taken up on it, so I don't have any real experience to report (yet). That said, the key difference is that the NPC the PCs have to babysit is powerful, physically and socially, and most of their job is to protect him from himself. It's basically an Action! campaign set in a Supers world, with the party desperately trying to keep a vain, tempermental, hard-partying corporate spokeshero safe, happy, and free of bad press.

If I ran it now, I would just use the templates from Action! for the PCs; IIRC the ones I almost ran it with were a Facewoman (The corporate lawyer / PR rep), a Wheelman (Chauffeur / Pilot), a Fast Guy (Physical Security Chief / Crowd Control), a Wire Rat (Electronic Security Chief / Secondary Archivist), and a very patient and dedicated Medic. Their ward, Captain Coke, is not indestructible, but you wouldn't know it from the way he acts. He may be named for the kind of coke that comes in a can, but a lot of his behavior traces directly back to the self-administration of the kind that comes in a small plastic baggie, taken to the logical conclusion of doses that would kill a hippopotamus.

I love it!

For best results, make sure that the NPC is someone they love to hate, but, also someone that they hate to love. That is, make him witty, charismatic and genuinely someone the players want to help, even as they recognize that his behaviour is destructive.

Fortunately, pop culture is full of examples. There's Tony Stark, of course. Really, the proper way to look at Sherlock Holmes is as one of these heroes. Some of the more sympathetic moments from Tony Montana. His vices are laziness, vanity and gluttony, not cocaine and ill-advised shenanigans, but Nero Wolfe is a very lovable hero who needs sensible friends to take care of him. I personally like Eliot, from The Magicians.

[Anaraxes]

I have a similar note in my "maybe one day" file. Supers world, where the NPC is an eccentric billionaire whose eccentricity is, of course, that he uses his wealth to fight crime at night as a costumed vigilante. Except he's not very good at it. The PCs are his domestic staff (butler, chauffeur, gardener, maid, whatever - pitch me a concept) who have to save him from himself as well as the crooks. Naturally, they all just happen to have their own superpowers, so they're the ones actually defeating the supervillains while the handsome billionaire hero gets all the press and credit.

[dcarson]

I have a similar idea im my someday file based on the movie Fitzwilly. A rich old lady and her staff. Except her father died almost broke and thy haven't wanted to tell her. So she owns the townhouse and such but no income to pay bills, staff etc. and they cover that by stealing and cons. So a caper campaign.

[Gold & Appel Inc]

Originally Posted by Icelander

I love it!

Thanks! I intended Captain Coke to be a lot like the product whose logo he is contractually obligated to always wear: Kind of superficial and maybe sort of bad for you in the long run, but really sweet, innocuous, fun, and holy cow rock star popular without ostentation or pretense. Until you put a lot of cocaine in it.

His powers were mostly your standard tough super stuff, with a few key omissions. #1: No flying. Getting him around is key. #2: No regeneration. When he's hurt, he's hurt. He also had a very slight Quirk-level vulnerability to cold (plus a slightly higher temperature comfort zone) that made him very uncomfortable eating or drinking anything cold. This meant, among other things, that one of his crew's less-glamorous tasks was to keep him constantly supplied with room-temperature Coca-Cola so he can be seen drinking it without wincing from tooth pain and brain freeze at all times.

[namada]

Originally Posted by PTTG

I'm curious what sort of player response you've gotten from campaigns built around protecting one specific NPC -- and a weak one at that.

Perhaps the prototype for this sort of campaign might be the first half of most Harry Potter books, seen from the perspective of his teachers. The PCs have responsibilities and adventures outside of the NPC, but things tend to revolve around it, and it might make trouble.

This partywide Dependent (or small group of Dependents, I suppose,) probably should be played with a careful hand, in order to avoid making them annoyingly weak or passive -- or, for that matter, too powerful or proactive.

Has it worked out? Was the story able to work interestingly? Did the players enjoy the structure? Any thoughts going into it?

Back in my 3E days, I ran a campaign in Caithness, where the PC's were the closest protectors of the prince during the civil war. My inspiration mostly came from the movie Red Sonja - if you've seen that.

I let the players know the basic premise of the campaign before they decided to join in or not, which IMHO is the only way to run a campaign. So they were on board from the get-go. I ensured there was a wide variety of activity, from basic intrigue & character interaction, to assassination attempts, to mass combats, to assigned missions, etc.

Variety & buy-in are the keys to keeping ANY campaign going.

[dcarson]

In a Yrth game I played in there was a arc where we smuggled the Sultan of Al-Wazif out of the country. We dressed him in cheap theatrical versions of a Sultan's clothing. Lots of comments of how the announcer/master of ceremonies of our traveling show looked like the Sultan except happier.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by dcarson

In a Yrth game I played in there was a arc where we smuggled the Sultan of Al-Wazif out of the country. We dressed him in cheap theatrical versions of a Sultan's clothing. Lots of comments of how the announcer/master of ceremonies of our traveling show looked like the Sultan except happier.

Seems like I've seen that somewhere: disguising someone as a poor imitation of himself.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

I have a similar note in my "maybe one day" file. Supers world, where the NPC is an eccentric billionaire whose eccentricity is, of course, that he uses his wealth to fight crime at night as a costumed vigilante. Except he's not very good at it. The PCs are his domestic staff (butler, chauffeur, gardener, maid, whatever - pitch me a concept) who have to save him from himself as well as the crooks. Naturally, they all just happen to have their own superpowers, so they're the ones actually defeating the supervillains while the handsome billionaire hero gets all the press and credit.

So... the 2011 version of The Green Hornet.

[Dalin]

Originally Posted by PTTG

I'm curious what sort of player response you've gotten from campaigns built around protecting one specific NPC -- and a weak one at that.

This reminds me of a great plot seed in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Setting: Caverntown:

Originally Posted by Caverntown, p. 12

Rich tourists see delvers as trained animals (albeit dangerous ones), and offer money for insane dares. Others want to be escorted through a dungeon, which is madness of another kind.

We had a fun discussion about this in the Caverntown announcement thread (starting with post 18 and then sprinkled throughout the following pages). Lots of great material there from Kromm and others.

I have not built a campaign on this premise, though I've certainly had excellent adventures that featured rescuing or protecting relatively helpless NPCs. A DF game I'm playing in right now was going to feature this, with the PCs acting as bodyguards for a relatively helpless royal on a foreign mission. As players, we were excited about the premise. Things changed, however, when a new player joined the group and ended up playing the royal. The backstory was handwaved a bit and she's now a full 250-point character who is no longer, by any stretch, "helpless."

I agree with you and other posters that the trick is finding the right balance of charm and annoyance. (Charm could be replaced with "utility" or "importance.") So an entirely obnoxious elderly sage might be a pompous boor, but his unique knowledge may be of use to the delvers (or the kingdom, world, universe, etc.), thus providing incentive to continue protecting him.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

So... the 2011 version of The Green Hornet.

I didn't see that one, actually. Though I did have Bruce Lee's Kato in mind when I put "chauffeur" in the list of positions. (The butler would be more like Gotham's ex-SAS Alfred Pennyworth than the 60's TV version.) But I'm not surprised that someone else would have thought of it first.

Given that it's a goofy premise, probably no one is wondering too much about how all these servants just happen to have superhuman abilities. But you could always skew the NPC more into an Iron Man expy than Batman, so that he can at least have a lab accident and irradiate everyone together. (Hey, it's good enough for the origin of the Fantastic Four...)