Re: Extras and Named Characters

From: Jeff <richaje_at_...>
Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2010 09:09:41 -0000

> I'm borrowing a trope from the FATE system, which makes a distinction between "Extras", which are your run-of-the-mill bad guys, and "Named Characters", who are scenario villains important enough to have unique stat blocks and... well... names ;-)

Of which Sartar and Sartar Companion have quite a few. Generally anyone in boxed text is important enough to care about.  

> I'm thinking that for "Extras" my game will use things like session base resistances and the pass / fail cycle, and draw on the critter descriptions from the wonderful Encounters section in the Sartar Companion (kudos to Jeff and the guys - the Encounters section gave me a warm fuzzy Griffin Mountain glow!) to colour the narrative. That'll cater for most mid-session conflicts.

Absolutely, that's how they are intended to be used.

> Then, for the big conflicts against the Major Villain, I'll follow the Named Character conceit and stat him almost like a PC. He'll probably still be subject to the pass / fail cycle, but it'll modify his abilities rather than the base resistance. That way I as GM get to chew the Zorak Zorani scenery too ;-)

Just keep in mind that those "stats" ought to be denoted in some way that changes as the heroes themselves do. Resistance levels (Moderate, Hard, Very Hard, Nearly Impossible) might be better than numbers as the resistance levels increase during play (so that King Blackmor remains a challenging Major Villain even as the players improve).

Jeff