Sages and Their Petty Rivalries in Fellhold

Noisms/David McGrogan has done some really fantastic stuff with generating player characters' social circles in more urban games - most notably in Yoon-Suin, and in development for his new setting/game "There is Therefore a Strange Land", as shown in this post. In that post, he provides a table for generating a fence (not a physical barrier around a yard, but a person who buys dubiously acquired merchandise), and I have found it tremendously inspirational for Fellhold.

So, I have been creating tables for "specialist NPCs" that fulfill various key roles for PCs, including fences to buy their stuff. Additionally, though, I am detailing out Patrons (people with influence in certain social circles), Merchants (people who will sell you stuff), and my current favorite, Sages (people who can provide information). Every kind of NPC gets their own table that provides what they focus on, some relevant info to their specialty (like how much they charge/pay for merchants and fences), and some "spice" meant to create game hooks. Each kind of NPC also has a circle of contacts that can be generated as needed, and a table of jobs that they can hire the PCs for. The goal is for a handful of these specialist NPCs to serve as nodes for fractal adventure and intrigue generation that meshes smoothly with the other urbancrawl adventure generation stuff like Lairs and rumors and factions and such.

Below is the current draft of my sage rules. The part I'm most proud of is the "petty rivalry" column, as it both seems fitting for academics/artists, but also because I think it creates a lot of room for motivating adventure in a very sage-y way. I'm less keen on the jobs - they don't feel as flavorful, I may have to revisit.

Sages

Sages are specialist academics or artists who can be invaluable consultants in their area of specialty and are largely useless outside of it. They are primarily useful for the information they provide, and are surprisingly connected to other NPCs. There is about a half and half chance that any given sage has any practical skills or experience in their area of interest - but all are extremely knowledgeable. Sages are especially useful for shedding light on potential clues and giving a less biased opinion on the value of found objects than a fence. Many sages are also collectors of items related to their area of interest and may be customers of fences. Roll on the table below to generate - gender may be decided by looking at the die rolled for race (or any other) - odd indicates male, even female.

Roll	Area of Interest	Race	Look	Demeanor	Petty Rivalry	Spice
1	Paintings	Human	Crookedly Elderly	Nervous	Not taken seriously by others in area of interest - resents it mightily	Avid collector of items relevant to area of interest, will pay well for examples
2	Sculpture	Human	Vigorously Young	Agitated	Considered an expert in field - subject of intense jealousy	Massive alcoholic - can only provide useful information while carousing
3	Language	Human	Nerdishly Hot	Smug	Locked in ongoing rhetorical war with prominent member of another field	Well read - knows d3 extra areas of interest equally well as first
4	History	Human	Powerfully Disheveled	Condescending	Accuses anyone writing on any related topic of plagiarism	Massively in debt to a random patron
5	Dwarven Culture	Crabman	Pretentiously Fancy	Manic	Kicked out of library with best resources for arguing loudly in the stacks	Espouses theories or creates art considered dangerous by one or more factions
6	Witch Kingdom Culture	Crabman	Intensely Staring	Passionate	Convinced that all other approaches to topic are amateurish and wrong	Currently juggling three lovers from three different, antagonistic factions
7	Faction Politics	Crabman	Bluntly Strong	Creepy	Believes that other methods of analysis/criticism are degenerating society	Wants  to use area of interest to become fabulously wealthy, hasn't figured out how yet
8	Crime	Crabman	Distractingly Ugly	Cheerful	Fancies self a "hands on" practitioner, scoffed at by others in field	Actually a little bit famous - treat them as a minor patron, as well as a sage
9	Rune Magic	Crabman	Shabbily dirty	Crazed	Still bitter over award going to rival years ago	Works for a merchant to pay the bills, merchant doesn't like their area of interest
10	Soul Economics	Crabman	Hilariously out of fashion	Crackpot	Feels that valuable patron was stolen due to rival's shoddy crowd-pleasing work	Outrageously racist, uses area of interest to justify/explain it
11	Demons	Crabman	Surprisingly sexy	Depressed	Cares only for subject matter related to own factional interests	Mostly just uses area of interest to meet and hit on young men or women
12	Undead	Crabman	Pleasantly plump	Monotonous	Affections for another prominent sage in field spurned	Theories/art/criticism is wildly outside the accepted norms of the field, but it’s not obviously hokum
13	Weapons	Ratman	Wildly Coiffed	Tedious	Formerly popular with laymen - surpassed by new rival	Came out of nowhere recently, people wonder how they became so knowledgeable/talented outside the usual circles
14	Technology	Ratman	Palely Thin	Cavalier	Intimately involved in political squabbles within one of the great libraries	Affects the look, mannerisms, and outlooks of a race or culture besides their own
15	Business	Ratman	Awkwardly Bepimpled	Careful	Looked down on by field for making money off of knowledge	Loves the sound of their own voice, and never uses one word when three will do - but almost always says something actually useful if you let them ramble
16	Animals/Beasts	Ratman	Delightfully Eccentric	Reckless	Rumored to have unhealthy obsession with subject matter of field	An insufferable gossip - always knows d3 random rumors from random sources
17	Plants/Herbs	Ratman	Boringly Drab	Laconic	Disdained for always teaching and never producing	Extremely well connected - knows an additional D6 random NPCs
18	Healing & Disease	Ratman	Overpoweringly Tweedy	Soft Spoken	Disdained for always producing and never teaching	Bookworm - the library they are connected to is one size larger than rolled
19	Architecture	Tiefling	Aggressively Chalk-Covered	Timid	Unpopular in wealthy circles	Never without a pipe, always smoking, seeks out exotic tobaccos
20	Food	Troll	Colorfully Pierced and Tattooed	Menacing	Passed over for tenure at one of the great libraries, has sworn revenge	Concealing a terrible secret - wherever they live is also a lair

District  & Faction Relationships

As with other NPCs, a sage should be a member of a faction and should have a district to live in, which can be determined randomly or chosen based on relevant factors (area of interest, faction, and so forth). When generating a sage's contacts, be sure to keep these factors in mind to suggest relationships and locations for these contacts.

Sage’s Contacts

A Library tagged to their area of interest

D6 Other Sages of diverse interests (consider rolling additional petty rivalries as desired)

A Fence related to their area of interest

A Patron that enjoys their area of interest

A merchant that sells something essential to their area of interest

Jobs from Sages

Roll	Job
1	A rival is gaining in popularity - figure out a way to discredit them.
2	That belongs in a museum! Or in their private collection, anyway. Retrieve an item related to their area of interest
3	They have a theory that requires some in-person research somewhere dangerous. Protect them while they conduct it.
4	If only they would listen! Bring the sage’s work to the attention of a patron they think can help them
5	The King's Library is refusing them access to a particular work - figure out how they can read it
6	Their supplies are so expensive. Find them a lot of money, and you can keep half, plus they’ll owe you a favor
7	They are hopelessly lost in courting the object of their affection - help them figure out how to approach them
8	They want to set up a new studio or salon and need help finding and securing the right place
9	Word has come in that there’s a terribly rare and valuable find across/deep under town - get them to it before a rival gets there!
10	There’s a certain beast that they need for their work - bring it back alive
11	Their landlord is getting tetchy about late rent payments - can you help them out?
12	A rival has shameless copied their work and is receiving all kinds of praise for it - help them take their rightful place in the spotlight
13	They need some subjects for their work - it shouldn’t be that dangerous
14	That Fence sold them a bunch of shoddy fakes at a high price - they want their money back
15	They’ve developed something that they think will sell like hotcakes - find a merchant willing to sell it
16	They’re bored - go carousing with them for a week or two
17	They owe a gambling debt to some shady characters - they’re good for the money, they swear, but buy them some time
18	There are a lot of cryptic references to a potentially significant book - scour libraries for it and bring it to them
19	Their research has somehow uncovered clues to a hidden organization of some kind - investigate this conspiracy and see if it’s real
20	Their faction has grown suspicious of them, and they are thinking of jumping ship to another - help them make contact and smooth over initial tensions