Copyright © 1986-1998 Andy Slack. All Rights Reserved.
| Isabelle Chan | Ian Harris | Tanya Hyde | Neil Stanford | To Let | Extras |
| Corridor | |||||
| Major J.B. Allen | Barry Couder | Demon | Anne Eifel | Lu | Phil T. McCraker |
The cabin crew will shortly be serving blood plasma and endorphin tablets. - Stanford
This is a motley collection of NPCs who at various times have been part of the PC parties. They were initially intended to fill out the party, providing necessary skills or advice, but as the PCs grew more experienced they were not needed, and struck out on their own. Several of them were mentioned in the teasers for 2300 AD articles in Challenge.
Elite Field Agent. Motivations: Spade King (deceit), Spade Jack (arrogant).
A Eurasian troubleshooter with a vicious streak. Your classic femme fatale.
Looks a lot like: Charlotte Lewis in The Golden Child.
Theme tune: Cocaine by Eric Clapton
Callsign: "Winter" (Director: A literary reference - to Milady de Winter in the Three Musketeers.)
A quote: "Men! Are you born stupid, or is there some secret boy school where you learn it?"
Elite Ground Military. Motivations: Club Ace (war leader), Diamond Queen (lust).
An ex-Legion weapons instructor known to do freelance work, providing tuition or backup. Independent, self-confident, both physically and mentally tough, he prefers to work as part of a team of similar people. He has an aptitude for languages and exceptional dress sense, both of which he uses in his pursuit of beautiful women. However, he is incapable of forming lasting relationships - he loves chasing girls, but isn't sure what to do with one if he catches her.
Director: Harris has been unkindly compared by some of my players to the Cat in Red Dwarf, although that was not his inspiration. He was originally intended as a way of providing tactical advice to the party without it being obvious as a referee intervention. He regularly tried to chat up female PCs, and was always told to 'Get lost, creep!'.
Looks a lot like: Bruce Willis.
Theme tune: Black Velvet by Alannah Miles
Callsign: Snow Dog (Director: A reference to an early Rush song that sums him up for me.)
Veteran Ground Military. Motivations: High Club (warrior), Minor Joker (eccentric).
An Australian mercenary who has been fighting the kafers for as long as they've been around. The consensus is that Hyde has a software problem; most of the time she's a competent fighter, but sometimes she goes ballistic and doesn't seem to care whether she lives or dies. No-one who likes fighting kafers that much can be wholly sane.
Director: Hyde was brought in to bulk out the party for raids against the Kafers. Her main role in play is to force the issue if the party are pussy-footing around, by opening fire on whoever she thinks is the enemy.
Looks a lot like: Vasquez in Aliens.
Theme tune: Berlin by Marillion.
Callsign: "Psycho" (Director: This is just plain descriptive - it's what she is.)
A quote (shouted over sustained automatic weapons fire): "Die! Die! Die! Aaaargh!!!!"
Elite Ship Crew. Motivations: Spade Jack (arrogant), High Club (warrior).
An ace pilot. Short, with pale blue eyes and black hair, he is alert, determined, aggressive and self-disciplined; he has good co-ordination and fast reflexes. Stanford likes to log as many flying hours as possible, and therefore dislikes landing - he would prefer to hover and drop the party off or pick them up. He has a tendency to get into fights he could have avoided, and a penchant for overkill when called on for fire support.
Director: Stanford was introduced into the party so that there would be an NPC who could be left in charge of the party's ship, aircraft, or whatever, so that all the PCs could go wandering off together and get into trouble. Normally a Ship Crew NPC could only be Experienced, but what's the point of being the Director if you can't bend the rules?
Looks a lot like: Tom Cruise in Top Gun.
Theme tune: The Gold Bug, by the Alan Parsons Project.
Callsign: "Snakebite" (Director: This is early rocket engineer slang for an accident.)
A quote: "Thank you for flying White Knuckle Airways. The LZ temperature is 'far too hot', as usual, and the local time is 'almost too late'. The cabin crew will shortly be serving blood plasma and endorphin tablets. Please ensure that you have all your body parts with you when boarding the X-wing, as mistakes cannot be rectified after take-off."
Then of course there are the extras: Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb. These characters are monosyllabic, pessimistic, and short-lived.
Look a lot like: Security guards from Star Trek - The Original Series.
Theme tune: Another One Bites the Dust by Queen.
Quotes: "I have a bad feeling about this," "Oh, man, and I was getting short, too!" and "Look out, Captain - aaarrrgh!".
These are the NPCs who commission the players to perform heroic tasks, or who are the masterminds behind the nefarious schemes they must stop.
Veteran Field Agent. Motivations: Diamond King (miser), Spade Queen (ruthless).
A former case officer for the French Deuxieme Bureau, who is rumoured to have resigned following allegations of corruption in the service. He has a reputation for ruthlessness and greed. Tall, with piercing green eyes, Allen knows where the bodies are buried and makes good use of that knowledge to persuade people to see things his way.
Director: Major Allen is the former case officer of the party's Field Agents in my campaign, who started off as a patron, but became a recurring villain when the party decided he had double-crossed them (he hadn't) and tried to kill him.
Looks a lot like: Alan Rickman in Die Hard.
Theme tune: The Uninvited Guest by Marillion.
A quote: "Please reconsider. I would hate to see my efficient young friend here damage your pride. Or your fingernails."
Veteran Smuggler/Pirate. Motivations: Spade Queen (ruthless), Low Heart (amiable).
A free trader rumoured to engage in smuggling and piracy, Couder can acquire most things for the right price. Cheerfully amoral, but prone to violent fits of rage if thwarted, he sees government as a conspiracy to prevent honest traders like himself making a living. He is fond of drawing the parallels between taxation and extortion. He is accompanied everywhere by his bodyguard, a disfigured thug called Claude Baddeley.
Director: This is the obligatory underworld contact, who has by turns been patron, contact, ally and enemy. He shifts freely from one role to the other - "It's nothing personal. It's just business."
A quote: "Hey, if I was a government you'd call this taxes, and you'd pay without all this fuss."
Experienced NPC. Motivations: Middle Club (aggressive), Low Diamond (frugal). Special notes: Demolitions-10.
A demolitions expert, blinded by an underworld leader when explosives he supplied failed to do the job, Demon now works entirely by touch and smell. He lives in a dark, deserted warehouse; he doesn't need the light, and it puts intruders at a disadvantage.
Experienced Academic. Motivations: Heart Ace (justice), Middle Heart (loyal).
Serious, honest, and beautiful; station head of the Beanstalk orbital complex.
Director: Your classic patron, a former girlfriend of one of the main PCs.
Looks a lot like: Sandra Bullock.
Theme tune: Wonderful Tonight by Eric Clapton.
Elite NPC. Motivations: Spade Ace (leader), Minor Joker (eccentric).
An immensely wealthy collector of curios, given to extravagant parties and crackpot theories. She sometimes hires troubleshooters for missions; those so employed are either close-mouthed or tell tall tales, obviously false. Lu is normally accompanied by her bodyguard, a tough ex-spacer who carries an ornately-carved knife in her boot top.
Director: Lu is in fact an exile from the far future, who is the main patron for time-travel adventures as she attempts to manipulate the timelines to improve her position back home. She is also an occasional source of weird artifacts - things that are too cool not to have in the campaign, but way beyond the science of 2300 AD.
Theme tune: Altair by Hawkwind.
A quote: "No, wait a minute; that hasn't happened yet. Actually, if the plan works, it won't ever happen."
Experienced Journalist. Motivations: Heart Ace (justice), Low Club (steady).
A freelance investigative journalist, McCraker will stop at nothing in his search for a good story, particularly one exposing corruption.
Director: McCraker is an intermittent patron and ally, who occasionally approaches the PCs for help in one of his investigations of the powerful and corrupt. He can also be counted on to help the party if there is a good story in the offing.