NPC Index

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Band2
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NPC Index

Post by Band2 »

I am looking for an index of NPC's by domain? Preferably one that has canon and the main non-canon (the Books of S_, Undead Seas Scrolls, Quote the Raven), but one that has just canon would work fine.
I have not found one on the site. The mistipedia is hit or miss. As most of the domains do not have a section set up yet for inhabitants. Does any one know of such an index?
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Re: NPC Index

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Mistipedia is the probably the closest you're going to get. No, it's not complete, but we're working on it. I assume you've seen this category:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Cat ... nhabitants

Eventually, that will be what you want.

You could also try this, which is similar, but not the same:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Cat ... ationality

But yes, there are some that won't show up there because no one has categorized them yet. You might have some luck picking up those like this:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Spe ... re/Barovia
(replacing Barovia with the Domain or city of your choice)

There's also Joel's list:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/Mausoleu ... enloft.xls
but it's not sorted as you'd like
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Re: NPC Index

Post by vipera aspis »

If there are any specific domains as well: by all means speak up!

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Re: NPC Index

Post by The Giamarga »

The Mordent Cartographic Society has one, alas it's not very much up to date and has no fanon NPCs from the netbooks.

The Mistipedia will be your best bet or Joel's Excel sheet if you add in a column for home domain.
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Re: NPC Index

Post by Band2 »

Thanks for the replies.
Joel's list looks to be the closest to what I was looking for. Most of the NPCs have a note on which domain they are in, so I can modify it for my purposes. Add a column for the domains and update it for the last few issues of Quote the Raven.
I did not have any specific questions on the NPCs. I was just looking for a tool to use as needed if I need some interesting NPCs quickly that are not party of the current adventure. If I am running a party that has to travel from Barovia through Nova Vaasa to Tepest who is someone interesting they may the meet on the way.
Or if they are at a noble's dinner party in Darkon, who else might be invited.
The list may also be useful if I am trying to write an adventure in a domain just to get some ideas.
If anyone else is interested I can post the list on here, or maybe the Fraternity could add it to the Vault.
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Re: NPC Index

Post by The Giamarga »

After you're done why not send it to Joel and upload it here?
Last edited by The Giamarga on Sun Sep 29, 2013 4:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: NPC Index

Post by Joël of the FoS »

Indeed! :)
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Re: NPC Index

Post by Band2 »

Ok, I started working on the NPC list. I am starting with Joel's list and adding to it. Joel's list was of articles about NPCs, so I am going back through each of the products and looking for each interesting NPC mentioned. I am not putting everyone in, just those I think would be interesting. That includes any monsters/ opponents the PCs would face, people in authority, famous artists, and scholars. From what I have looked through so far, probably the biggest group I would not be including would be tavern owners. I also plan on excluding all fiction, both fan-fiction and the novels. And I am excluding all new fan-made domains, and focusing only on those domains that are canon.

One thing I thought I would get some opinions on before I get to far in. When someone has an alias would it be helpful to have both listed separately or on the same line. For instance, from the Nocturnal Sea Gazetteer, is it more helpful to have one line:

Tavelia, vampire, masquerading as Liae Tva Kolsson, wife of Baron Kolsson.

Or 2 lines:
Tavelia, vampire, masquerading as Liae Tva Kolsson.
Liae Tva Kolsson, wife of Baron Kolsson, actually Tavelia in disguised.
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Re: NPC Index

Post by Zilfer »

Personally that would be great to have on the Wiki. Though if we had more description on the wiki that would be great as well. Though I have a feeling the wiki is mostly used as a browsing and I end up clicking an endless trail of links and finding things I've never found before.

Too bad each NPC didn't have a paragraph of 5 sentences.... xD

Btw I'll add that Gonzoron could use help with removing the Wiki Seeds!
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Re: NPC Index

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Zilfer wrote:Btw I'll add that Gonzoron could use help with removing the Wiki Seeds!
Thanks for the plug, Zilf. :)


Yeah, that's kinda precisely what the catalogue was, (at least the NPC part) which got rolled into the wiki as wikiseeds, and has slowly been massaged into real wiki pages. The goal of the "inhabitants" lists is exactly your goal. Your PC's roll into Skald, you pull up: http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Cat ... s_of_Skald and you get a list of who's who in town, with links to click on to learn more about each (With references to the books to find out everything known about them.) And the point of "removing the wikiseeds" is to try to revisit each character (and place, and item, etc.) and get a nice few sentence blurb about them, as Zilfer wished for, and put them in the right categories.


In any case, if you prefer a different format, I don't want to discourage you. Do what works for you. But I would request, if possible, a format that's as machine-readable as possible. My goal was to eventually convert Joel's list into more WIKISEEDS, but the format wasn't made with that in mind, so it's very tricky to figure out which line goes on which page. If you're doing an excel list, (or anything with columns, really), it would be ideal to have something like:

Name | Hometown | Homedomain | Domain of Origin | Sex | Race | Class | Alignment | Other relevant Stats | Sources | Aliases | Occupation | Group memberships | other info (like wife of...)


Then I could write a script to suck it into the wiki as wikiseeds. This would have the added benefit of being able to sort your table easily to look for people from a certain town, or of a certain class, etc..


As for the alias issue, I'd rather use one line, but either way works.
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Re: NPC Index

Post by Band2 »

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:
Name | Hometown | Homedomain | Domain of Origin | Sex | Race | Class | Alignment | Other relevant Stats | Sources | Aliases | Occupation | Group memberships | other info (like wife of...)

That is a lot more information that I have been collecting.
I was doing in separate columns:
Product reference | Name | description including profession and race but only if not human, alias | Current Domain | Domain 2, which could be domain or origin or some other significant event or tie to that domain.

I can change it a little and compile the list this way to closer match your suggestion:
Product reference | Name | profession | race | Alias | description |Current Domain | Domain 2,

I have already noted a couple of things for domain. The largest group for domain so far I have listed as "Wanders" because they have not current domain. There is also a large group of people that are not given a specific domain, but only general information so a DM can drop them in anywhere. Not sure how that is going to affect what you are trying to do for the wiki.

A couple of other types of people I am not going to include on the list are those who are no longer alive, or undead. If some one dies during an adventure or in a later product, so as van Ritchen, I am still including them. But if van Ritchen mentions a lich he has already killed, then I am not adding the lich.
Also anyone who does not have a name, or nickname of some sort, given are not going to be on the list. For example, van Ritchen mentions a wererat that was part of the city council in port-a-lucine that he chased but did not catch. But he never mentions the wererat's name, so the wererat will not be on the list.
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Re: NPC Index

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Band2 wrote:That is a lot more information that I have been collecting.
Like I said, that would be ideal, but I recognize it would also be a big pain. (As one of the original Ravenloft Catalogue editors, I know just how deceptively tedious stuff like this is. Which is why the wiki is ideal for that sort of thing, because one person working alone on it will go nuts. It's best done collaboratively, IMHO.)
I can change it a little and compile the list this way to closer match your suggestion:
Product reference | Name | profession | race | Alias | description |Current Domain | Domain 2,
Whatever works for you. More information is always better, but the key to importing to the wiki is a standard format, any standard format will do.
I have already noted a couple of things for domain. The largest group for domain so far I have listed as "Wanders" because they have not current domain. There is also a large group of people that are not given a specific domain, but only general information so a DM can drop them in anywhere. Not sure how that is going to affect what you are trying to do for the wiki.
Yup, we've hit similar issues:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Category:Wanderer
http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Cat ... d_Location

As long as there's a standard way to reference it, it's fine.
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Re: NPC Index

Post by Band2 »

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote: Yup, we've hit similar issues:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Category:Wanderer
http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Cat ... d_Location

As long as there's a standard way to reference it, it's fine.
Standards. Ok.
I am using Wanders for wanderers.
I have left Current Domain blank so far for the unplaced locations, and made notes in the Domain 2. I can use "Unplaced Location" as the tag going forward.

As an update, so far there are over 1470 NPCs on the list.

Non-canon sources covers so far:
QTR issues 1-19
USS issues 1-3
The Ashen
The five Books of S_
Nocturnal Sea FOS Report
Zherisia FOS Report

I am working on the Sourgane FOS report now.
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Re: NPC Index

Post by Band2 »

I have finally finished going through all of my Ravenloft products for this project. Now I am cleaning it up and trying to resolve some open questions. Anything I cannot answer on my own, I am going to ask about here on the boards. Hopefully I get a lot of help on these. Here are a few:

In Champions of the Mists, Morgoth, is described as the most powerful being ever absorbed by the tapestry of dark souls. That is the only reference to him in the products I have (I do not have the novel). What is Morgoth? Some type of fiend?

Burogmiester Borganov (no first name is even given) of Tidemore is mentioned in Children of the Night:Werebeasts and the Fraternity report on the Nocturnal Sea. His wife is a wereray, but I could not find a reference whether he is a wereray or still human. What does the community think he is? Wereray infected by his wife? Still human to maintain the masquerade of normalcy on the village?

There are a number of people who are talked about but no name is given for them. Some of these I have tried to name as best I could, even if it is just a nickname. For example, in Children of the Night: Created, the creator of the transient golem is never named. But it is stated that he was a wizard, and the characters may need to find his laboratory to research the golem. So far I refer to him as only, “Creator of the Transient Golem.” How is that? Any other suggestions for a name? Should he be removed because he is never identified? I will have more of these nicknamed ones I will post to get feedback on as I go through the list.
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Re: NPC Index

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Morgoth was in the ToDS book. I don't remember much more than that.

According to Mistipedia, the Burgomeister is infected, by his wife. I assume that's supported by the CotN text somewhere.
http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Bur ... r_Borganov

Sorry, I don't have time to look either up right now.

I think "Creator of the Transient Golem" and the like are fine placeholders.
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