YOU'VE BEEN PLACES - BUILD YOUR CHARACTER'S LORE THROUGH NPCS

Decades of comics have given the characters found within the countless pages extensive backgrounds, each a rogues gallery of friends, allies, and enemies. These, of course, were developed with time and successive layers of story, something we seldom get to have in tabletop games. To this end, it can be worthwhile to not only create your hero but a few other characters from their background.

Many games assume that a character is starting at the beginning of their heroing career, however this is not always explicitly stated. Many systems allow for starting power levels that are on par with well-established comics characters and so it would be completely reasonable to decide that your character has been adventuring for some time before the start of play. As such, there is plenty of room to create a few secondary characters to fill in that time. They don’t have to be enemies or anything spectacular but a few nicely thought out NPCs can really round out a character.

At minimum it is worth your time writing up any every day NPCs that your character interacts with, unless they are interacting with established characters from the universe. Think of what family members, work associates, and other people in the neighborhood your character might have interacted with. If you are running a street-level campaign these characters might be a local grocer, a street kid, or even a homeless person that your character interacts with on a regular basis. If you're playing a character with a strong connection to their home life, like Spider-Man these could be immediate family or close relations, perhaps even dependants. Alternatively, they could be people that your character knows from their alter eog’s professional life, fellow scientists, engineers, social workers, etc. They needn’t be friendly to the character either, as designing rivals, nosey neighbors, or low-level bad guys can add texture to your characters. You can even design employees, if your character is the sort to have them.

In addition to everyday NPCs, a player can and should think of at least a couple of villains from their past. Not only is this a nice gift for your GM who can then use them against your character later (as you wrote them or otherwise), but these sorts of NPCs can help your GM establish the sorts of themes and tone you want to explore with your character. Darker themed NPC villains will establish your character as the sort who fights those sorts of enemies while a bunch of mystic ninjas tells you GM of a very different sort of feel. If at all possible, you should at least write up any enemies who have appeared in your hero's origin or background as such characters have a tendency to resurface later in a hero’s career. Again, you are trying to flesh out your character to enrich your play by inspiring your GM with some personalized content for your character.

Besides everyday and enemy NPCs there is also room for creating other heroes your character might have worked with in their past. This is especially useful if the campaign is taking place in a place other than where the character established themself. These sorts of characters might have been partners, sidekicks, mentors, even friendly rivals or teammates. If they are from another location than the character’s current stomping ground, they can be a handy off-camera backup, rescuer, or source of plots and stories for your hero. An old ally seeking help or bringing news from your character’s old patrol makes for a great introduction to a new adventure. These sorts of characters can be used by the GM to great effect but also provide handy backup characters for players who have a character with a reason to look in on their main character should something happen to them.

One last form of NPC to consider creating for your character is an entire organization. This may seem daunting at first but when you consider that new characters in comics often have ties to existing organizations or even invent new ones, it’s definitely a route to go. The famous Weapon X program, later named Weapon Plus, wasn’t in comics until 1974 when it was mentioned in The incredible Hulk #180. Organizations can be big or small and give you the opportunity to play with something that could very much add to your campaign’s universe. Organizations are a topic that warrants its own post but they can definitely be a fun project.

In the end, lore goes beyond just NPCs but I find that the NPCs are key to the lore of a hero. These characters you create, whether enemies, rivals or supporting cast, will generate ideas and stories that give your character the feel of having come from somewhere, with several issues under their belt before the start of play. A little thought and time spent will slingshot your character into a campaign with more definition than a freshly rolled set of stats.