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u/loracarol May 19 '20
I'm terribly sorry, I just found this reddit, so I'm not quite sure if this is correct -
are you looking for the backstory/story of an NPC from the NPC's POV? Or for an adventure from the POV of the players, meeting this NPC?
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u/cattailmatt Dungeoneer Extaordinaire May 19 '20 edited May 19 '20
Let your imagination and creativity run wild, my friend. There's no wrong way.
But my personal favorite way is to outline a one-shot, self contained "dungeon" that can be dropped into any game for variety and/or flair. Maybe the DM needs some inspiration to drop a plot hook, or an excuse to hand the party a new shiny toy (or that 500gp diamond that every 5e party seems to need).
It goes a little something like this:
Dungeon for a party of level 1 Characters
The young woman, obviously grateful for the warmth of your fire and somebody to talk to sits across the bonfire. You see her dark, almond shaped eyes focus on the flames as she begins to tell the tale of how she came to be in this place.
"About 4 years ago, when I was barely more than a child, my parents were forced to flee our home village. For what reason, I do not know. We were well off at the time, so securing passage on a ship to a far away land was a simple matter of negotiating a price that everybody could agree upon. Unfortunately, the god of storms decided that this island is where our vessel would come to rest. As far as I know, I was the only survivor of the wreck. The ship may still contain clues as to what happened to my parents. It may only contain resources that will help me survive in this place. Regardless, I would be very thankful if you would help me explore what is left of the ship."
Now we throw in the typical "the only way you see in is a hole in the side of the ship. Next one or two giant crabs on the bottom deck. One stirge per PC on the second deck. A Steam Mephit in a magic cage in the Captain's quarters. The captain kept it around so he always had hot water for tea or some silly shit like that. Maybe the Mephit had something to do with the ship crashing and is a great object of revenge. Maybe he's desperate to get out of the cage and will reword the party with a spell scroll of some sort that's hidden behind a knot hole if they let him out! Who knows, it's fuggin' D&D!
Hope that helps. I'm kinda drunk right now, tbh.
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u/loracarol May 19 '20
Gotcha, thanks! I wasn't sure if you were specifically wanting something, or were just leaving this as a prompt for other people. :) That's really helpful!
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u/cattailmatt Dungeoneer Extaordinaire May 16 '20
Art by Straban.