Our next section covers individuals that aren’t attached to specific factions but will make a big impact on the setting anyway.
Wild Cards and Important Citizens
“I don’t care which way the wind blows — only that I get to feel the breeze.” – The Reformer of Reputations, Fallen London
Here are some independent NPCs that may involve themselves in the campaign’s events on their initiative and maybe randomly.
“Sweet Tea” Marcus Freeman
True Crime Podcaster and Youtuber, age 25.
A local e-celebrity of Whisteleaf and semi-popular entertainer, “Sweet Tea” Freeman has made a tidy career of making videos and podcast episodes on the internet about infamous crimes and criminals. His usual angle is travelling all over the city and the surrounding region to gather information and report on mysterious happenings and illegal misdeeds. In Whistleleaf, this has caused him to rub up against both mundane bad guys, police annoyed by his poking around and plotting occultists of The Scene. He can turn up in the campaign as a background extra (reporting on the recent shenanigans of the players), someone who could expose The Scene (thus requiring the PCs to step in and stop his efforts), approaching the PCs for an interview, asking the PCs for help with an investigation (launching an adventure), or being pursued as a target by hostile elements (and thus needing the PCs to protect him).
Marcus is a lucky young African-American man with a bright mind, an easy charm and a hunger for digging up dirt. He carries around his recording equipment in a neat but colourful satchel while on a hunt for content. He has a full media recording and editing rig at home.
Harold Cage
Head of the Loggers Union, age 47.
Harold Cage is the leader of the logging company workers’ union, representing the people working at the logging camps and the offices against the company executives. He often butts heads against the wealthy owners over matters of workplace safety, conditions, pay rates and HR decisions. If he becomes too much of a pain in the side of the logging company executives, they may decide to try something underhanded or even illegal to force him out. They won’t resort to murder even after some failures or if the threat to their bottom line is extreme, but they won’t shirk from blackmail, frame-ups or having thugs beat him into the hospital. If any of them knows about The Scene, using magic to oust Harold Cage would seem an optimal solution.
Cage is a middle-aged and weathered but canny man of unremarkable appearance. He may be involved in any number of corrupt dealings or trying to expose the criminal activities of his rivals/bosses. His most likely introduction into the campaign’s plot will follow something dramatic and horrific happening to the workers at the logging camps. Alternatively, he may be a monster in disguise, manipulating the union for his own sinister purpose.
Relevant Traits (if he’s just what he appears to be): Sense of Duty (Loggers’ Union); Wealth (Comfortable); Ally Group (Blue Collar Workers); Charisma 2; Administration-15; Law (Labor)-14; Politics-14; Diplomacy-14; Public Speaking-14; Detect Lies-14; Psychology-14; Streetwise-12. Quirks: Decisive, Overestimates his skill at poker, Bad posture, Thinks middle management types are untrustworthy.
Sally Kincaid
Local Radio Host, age 33.
Sally Kincaid is the host of “What’s Happening?”, a popular commercial radio station show based in Whistleleaf City, broadcast via the KBCL station on 104.7 FM. The show covers local news, takes calls from listeners, plays music, advertises local businesses and entertains with colour commentary and guest interviews. She often sends the call out for people who have witnessed notable events to give their personal accounts on air, which can help put the pieces together on a mystery (sometimes, dangerously so) and co-ordinate local community efforts. If the PCs are involved in candestine schemes, Kincaid will be an unwelcome intrusion as she and her assistants gather information, pry into records and generally dig up what the PCs hope to bury. And the PCs can’t just eliminate her, she’s too famous. Trying to discredit her or put her on a wild goose chase will be harder than it first appears, too.
Sally Kincaid is a charming and intelligent woman whose plain appearance is mostly seen in bland promotional images, but her voice is much better known and loved by Whistleleaf citizens. She lives in a well-regarded gated community suburb with her husband and works at a high-end downtown radio station. She is a hard woman to get to, in other words.
Relevant Traits: Reputation (beloved show-woman, +3, in Whistleleaf, recognized on 10 or less); Charisma 2; Voice; Research-13; Public Speaking-15; Area Knowledge (City)-15; Current Affairs (Headlines)-15; Writing-13. Quirks: Favorite brand of specific fancy perfume, Shopaholic when it comes to fine chocolates, Territorial about her spouse, Dislikes being called a liar.
“Violet Malone”
Amnesiac Alchemist, age unknown (early 30s?).
This woman woke up in an abandoned cabin a few hours from Whistleleaf, covered with blood (not her own) and with no memory of her past or her identity. She does retain her mastery of alchemy, but she does not know where or how she learned such things. She does know quite a bit of general supernatural lore and the ways of The Scene, but no-one she has encountered knows her personally. She is not yet sure if she wants to find out about her past and cure her amnesia. She has not gone to the police for answers or even hired a private investigator, she suspects that she wants to avoid attracting attention from the proper authorities, especially in her current vulnerable state. She has built up a shallow cover identity as “Violet Malone” and has carved out a living space off the grid, working as an alchemist. Trouble has a way of finding her, especially magical and monstrous trouble.
The woman calling herself Violent Malone is a tanned woman with red hair and blue eyes. She has an excellent (+2 bonus) alchemy laboratory set up in a hideout.
Here are 3 possibilities (not counting what a given GM may decide on their own) of her true identity (none of which is reflected on her character sheet as they are effectively secret Traits); she’s an alchemist who discovered a magical method of agelessness but it was flawed and wiped most of her memory in exchange for sustaining her youth, she was “born from a wish” and is a completely artificial lifeform created by magic just a few days before she “woke up” in that abandoned house, she’s actually the long-lost bastard daughter of an incredibly important old money aristocrat who wiped her memories in order to discard her after she outlived her usefulness.
Brad West
Bus Driver, age 40.
An overlooked everyman at first glance, Brad West has a boring day-job driving a public transportation bus around on a city-wide route. Few people ever discover that he is more than meets the eye; he’s Clued-In to The Scene, he is skilled at all sorts of underhanded tasks, he knows the basics of all kinds of forbidden knowledge. He often butts into other people’s business, especially if it’s right in the middle of the action. He really likes to get involved in The Scene and cause havoc with a timely interference. This is quite foolish. He may help or hinder the PCs on a whim, probably without the PCs even seeing him coming. Tracking him down and confronting him may be unexpectedly hard, even dangerous. (Brad West knows where the monsters are lurking and where jealous occultists are feuding, it is child’s play to lure pursuers into a trap or a crossfire.)
Brad West is a dull-looking middle-aged pale man with brown hair and eyes, in a standard light blue-grey public bus driver uniform.
TO BE CONTINUED
Three Hundred and Thirty-Three 