Today is the first day of my Adventure Calendar. For 24 days, up until Christmas, I plan to release a lil bit of RPG content. Want to join as well? Join the jam!
Image: Unsplash in combination with Heroforge
So, you’re stocking your town: you got a blacksmith, tavern for drinks and rumors, lodging, healing, shop, guards. Let’s look at some other interesting NPC types you could add to this. Today: the Scribe.
Contracts & Papers
Are your PCs making too much money? Need to add a little money sink? Or want to entwine them into contracts and legal consequences without summoning a devil?
Scribes are likely to oversee official documents in the settlement they’ve set up shop in. This could be:
- Official documents such as identification, weapon- and adventuring permits
- Employment contracts for mercenary bands
- Officiating quest contracts (stipulations, rewards)
- Deeds of ownership of land, real estate
Information
In their official capacity, they are likely aware of a lot of the comings-and-goings of the town. They would know about all aforementioned documents that don’t involve the party, and also serve as archivists. I would place books of lore and such at a local librarian, but if you are tracking the elusive necromancer Hieraldus Blackfoot, who is now living under the alias of Herbert Straw, and want to know when someone with that name moved into town, the Scribe is the place to be.
Spell Transcription
Scribes might be the only ones who can transcribe spells into your spellbook, having specialized tools and skills.
Cartography
Scribes could be tasked with documenting the local lord’s lands, and might pay for explorers willing to make sketches from atop a local peak.
Forgery
For a price, a scribe could falsify papers for the party.
Last Will & Testament
For both player characters and NPCs, scribes can officiate what should happen with belongings upon death.
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