[whswhs]

I'm currently getting set up to start a campaign in Worminghall: first session scheduled for Saturday, July 14. Of course, I've done some of the prep work in the course of writing the supplement, which has 42 establishments, 10 major npcs, and shorter accounts of 30 more—but no character sheets. I've also already drawn a map (several versions of it, which are now with the artist). But I'm working on drawing up character sheets—so far I've done 10 masters, 9 NPC students, 7 townsfolk, and half a dozen generic character types.

I haven't drawn a map of England, or Europe—I'm using the real medieval landscape. One of the players asked me a lot of questions about which nobles were affiliated with which factions; I gave him a sketch of the general political scene and invited him to make up his family's history.

What's primarily important to me is to define the individuals that the PCs are likely to run into—with some element of "the players will roll dice or roleplay to determine what sort of teachers and fellow students they get, and I'll start by giving them someone appropriate from the ones I've made up, and fill in a few blanks as needed." The more offstage NPCs don't need to be defined as individuals; I just need to know the factions (English royalists, English marcher lords who want to hang onto independence, and Welsh folk unhappy with the conquest; town and gown factions in Worminghall) and to treat major figures such as the Abbot or the Lieutenant of the tower as Patrons or Enemies or Contacts.

In fact, I recommend that to you as a way to handle many NPCs: define what level of Patron, Enemy, or Contact they would be, their characteristics as each of these (for example, what skill they could supply as a Contact), and a quick sketch of their personality and alliances, and don't worry about character sheets.

Bill Stoddard