What good are GROSS NPCs?

From: ian (i.) gorlick <"ian>
Date: Wed, 1 May 1996 17:38:00 -0400


Listening to the ongoing Onslaught debate, I've decided I have to put in a comment or two.

About Onslaught directly: The anti-critical armour is completely over the top. Nothing like that is ever going to get into any game of mine, and I won't be staying long in any game where it shows up. No matter how gross the opposition gets, the players should always have a chance to get lucky.

About publishing stats for guys like Onslaught: please spare the bandwidth. Give me a description of his attitudes, his history, what made him what he is, what he does. If I like that, then I can probably fake up whatever stats I need. Stats are boring. Super magic items are boring. People are interesting.

About grossly tough NPCs in general: I can't find much use for them in my campaign. I have made the mistake of introducing them in the past, or a guest GM has introduced them, and they become a headache. The PCs can't fight against them without getting slaughtered, (I don't like slaughtering PCs, it's too easy). The PCs can fight alongside them, but the gross NPC doesn't really need their help so they feel about as useful as tits on a bull. So, all the players can really do is sit back while the NPC does stuff, basically watching the GM playing with himself. No Fun!!


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