d10 Stolen NPCs

All entries are stolen from some popular media and force-fantasied beyond recognition extra points if you know who they is:

1: Master Teeth. The scion of a long and respected line of tooth-pullers and sawbones, who has abandoned the family line of work for a life of adventuring and leisure. Sports golden teeth and dresses like a fop. Fancies himself a philosophizer and wordsmith, and composes odes of complete gobbledygook. Fights with a cane sword and derringer hidden up his sleeve.

2: Maria. A former courtesan. Appears to have come from money, but talks little of her past. Enjoys the easy life, and the splendors of nature. Penchant for speaking in non-sequitors which gives her a reputation for dim-mindedness, when the truth is just the opposite. Fights with a long-hafted axe.

3: Zott. A ragged alcoholic and hashish addict, who is often found unawares, unconscious, or confused. Retained by Master Teeth for his preternatural talent with the flute, and his friendly nature. Avoids conflicted, but armed with a rusty knife if needs must.

4: The Sergeant. Master Teeth's right-hand-man, a disgraced veteran of the King's army. Distinguished by his tremendous mustachios and down-to-Earth attitude. Charged with caring for and restraining The Beast. Fights with a shield and war-pick.

5: The Beast. A wild man covered in a thick pelt of reddish hair and little else. Was abandoned as a child, and raised by a she-bear. Likes to shout and bite. Kept in chains when he's not in use. Fights with a colossal stick. 

6: Garme. A swamp-dwelling hermit, who was cursed by a witch to bear a froggish visage. An accomplished harpist, who sings beautifully of hope, love, and joy, all things lost to him in his exile. He is a noble spirit, and will always try to aid those in need.

7: Madam Orsson. A minor noble lady with large ambitions, and a fortune made in hog-farming. Uses a potent mixture of perfumes, expensive clothing, charm, and browbeating to get her way. Inexplicably in love with Garme, but the stars never seem to align. Surprisingly adept at wrestling and unarmed combat.

8: Fossier the Poet. A traveling bard and entertainer, who is so atrociously horrible at his art that he has been kicked out of every settlement he's ever performed in. Dresses in worn-out furs and felt hat crushed beyond recognition. Has only narrowly avoided being turned into bandit-meat due to his bear-like natural physique.

9: Sweet Tooth. A rare manner of ogre, still in possession of a human heart despite his horrifying appearance. Simple-minded and easily persuaded by offerings of fruit and candy, which has led him to become enslaved by a long line of charlatans, mercenary chiefs, and untrustworthy merchants. 

10: Weirding. A bluish goblin of sorts, mutated beyond the regular classifications of kin and kindred. Desires nothing more than the rush of a near-death experience. Surprisingly soft-spoken when he's not being shot out of a cannon, although his grasp on reality remains questionable. 

Deconstructing Bioshock

I played Prey (2017) and then Dishonored 1+2 and thought they were pretty swell so then I went and played the Bioshock series and it was fine, BUT then I was inspired so here's some ideas of how to steal stuff from "Shocklike Immersive Shooty Games" for TRPGs.

Ingredients in the Bioshock Soup

Retrofuturism. The games take place in a world that feature architecture/cultural practices from bygone areas, blended with as-of-yet uninvented technologies. Drawing inspiration from the past is always good, lots of visual resources, lots things readily made to steal.

The Lost City. There's a city that's shut off from the rest of the world, typically on purpose. It's fallen into anarchy and decay, and finding a way out of the shithole is one of your priorities. This makes Bioshock a Soulslike (which we all know is good for TRPGs), and ALSO the immediate objective of "find a way out" is a strong motivator for any dungeon/module/citycrawl.

Right Hand Gun, Left Hand Magic. You use a blend of conventional/technological and magical/super science/supernatural powers. The right hand tends to be more directly combat oriented, but there's still an arsenal of weapons that are each unique enough to be applied to different scenarios. The left hand ones tend to be provide possible solutions to a variety of open ended problems (OSR much???). 

I've long been looking for a good system to differentiate mundane weapons such that they gain an element of tactical puzzle-solving, without adding too much crunch. Might settle damage types/damage resistances as the easiest way out.

Vending Machines. Provide centralized trading stations that let you restock adventuring gear at regular intervals. IMO they make the games a bit too easy, things are more engaging when you're scrabbling for bullets and have to make do with what you have. 

Character-Based Environments. This is the good part. Each level. Each level tends to be centered around a particular character or cast of characters who a) Have had a major role in the backstory of the setting b) Typically end up being your main adversaries/allies for the level. You learn their stories by exploring the levels themselves.

I think many of the best-regarded dungeons/modules out there are actually character-based. My research? Nonexistent, I'm just vibin here whaddayawant from me.

Superscience/Supermagic. The city has stumbled upon a mean to work miracles through science/alchemy/genesplicing/whatever, but they've also encountered something far beyond their means to cope with, often as a consequence of the wanton use of technology they don't fully understand. That's some good architecture for disaster if I've ever seen it. 

Alignment Based Outcomes. You're presented with a variety of "morale" (?) choices to make throughout the story, that impact certain cutscenes and the ultimate ending of the game (good/bad karma). This is bad design. Everyone knows that your character's choices should have no impact on the story.

Audio Logs. Characters leave behind journal entries for you to discover, elaborating on the plot and environments, usually in the form of audio logs. Big think: the GM makes IRL audio logs and you can play and listen to them between sessions of you're like hella bored at the bus station or something. 

The Twist. There's always a big damn twist. You aren't who you thought you were, the villain isn't who you thought they were, etc. Doesn't pay to think too hard about it. Twists are good! In TRPGs often the open-ended nature makes its own twists, simply because their narratives tend to be harder to tell, and more opaque. 

"Philosophical" Backing. The founders of this nightmare city have a particular philosophy and point of view, which defines the world that they've created. The head honcho's a megolomaniac with a vision. This puts them in conflict with a minority population within the city. Frequently this results in civil war. Kind of an elaboration of "Character Based Environments." Whoever made the dungeon had a reason for it, and that reason results in choices, which have present-day consequences within the environment. 

Security Systems (Hackable). Another surprisingly good thing to steal. The environment is littered with autonomous security systems which provide substantial threats to you BUT if you can subvert them they fuck up the enemy instead. Do you kill the security turret right away so it isn't a problem for you later, or do you spend time and resources hacking it in order to gain an ally? Good dilemma. 

Planning to reconstruct a Shocklike setting/rules system (?) from future principals in the near future (unless I get distracted).