Backstory: One of the games I am currently running is a D&D campaign, and I was becoming increasingly frustrated with how much time it took to write up NPCs - it often took more time than designing the entire rest of the adventure! Thinking that I was not the only GM who had this problem, I set up the d20 NPCs Wiki, a central repository where d20 GMs can submit their own NPC creations (without even needing an account - all that's required is some knowledge of the basic Wiki formatting rules!) and in turn use the creations of others.

And it has grown very nicely indeed since I founded it earlier this months - it has more than 200 entries already! This gave me the idea of expanding the basic concept to other game systems - such as Shadowrun. While, sadly, I am not involved in a Shadowrun campaign right now, I have been involved with Shadowrun since 1st edition, and I remember wishing that it took me less time to write up NPCs.

Thus I have set up a Shadowrun NPCs Wiki as well - if enough people contribute, it can save game masters using it a lot of time during adventure preparation. I've made a start - I have submitted a Human Security Guard to show the basic formatting - but I hope more contribution will follow...


Your thoughts?

Not only is this a great idea, but my players and I have been debating setting up a wiki for our entire campaign, cross listing NPCs with relevant companies, plotlines, etc. This will serve as an excellent template.

*nods* Great idea with that. I may have to add a couple NPCs to that list along with my current PC runner.

Any thoughts on NSRCG support? Allow people to upload NSRCG files and download them for later use? Maybe a small description of said file.

For instance: Nicholas Brandt, Human Shadowrunner, Jack of All Trades, Well Connected Leader of a Seattle Based Team. (My current PC). Then have the link underneath to download the NSRCG file.

The Wiki is text only, and I'm afraid I can't change that. That being said, if you are able to store such files on other sites, then linking to them would certainly be appropriate...

And we have a new entry by a second contributor!

Say hello to Chuck-Chuck.

Yeah, I added Chuck-Chuck. He's an NPC from the campaign I'm currently running. A semi-retired street sam, he's a good acquaintance of the PCs and occasionally joins them when they feel they need a little extra muscle.

Anybody want to port over the characters from Blackjack's Webpage?

Wouldn't that be kind of... uncool without permission?

I sent Blackjack an email about this yesterday, but haven't heard back yet. (In all likelihood, he no longer checks that email address very much, since he doesn't do SR anymore.)

I removed the last edit from the Main Page, because it really messed that page up visually. If anyone from here did this, could you please explain what you intended to do so that I can do it properly?

The security guard NPC's initiative score is incorrect. With his quickness of 4 and intelligence of 3, and subsequent reaction of 3, his initiative would be 3(+2d6) with his boosted reflexes cyberware, rather than the 2(+2d6) that is currently listed. I corrected the entry to list this, and added an AZ-150 Super Stun Baton to his gear list so that he has something with which to employ his existing clubs skill of 4.

Thanks - I guess I goofed up there...

Three NPCs so far. Any others?

Dammit, this is a good idea.

I'll see if I can post something later, but today I'm flooded with work (deadlines... *sigh*).

EDIT: Jürgen, you also post at RPG.net, right?

I have a good number of NPC's-

A pair of 'Star detectives, a slumming griffin shaman and ameteur burger flipper, a grossly obese dwarf Mr J, and his Ork bodyguard who hates his job but loves the pay, a UCAS CIA field agent, A Troll hash slinger who charges extra for plates, and of course, more runners than we can shake a stick at, among others...

Does the Wiki software allow for us to add our own entries, in addition to editing them?

How do I submit stuff to there? Been playing with Arcady's lifepath tool, and got some fairly nice NPCs out of it.

Go to one of the index pages. Click on the "Edit" Function. You will notice a couple of names within double brackets - those are links. Enter a name for your own NPC in the appropriate category - also in double brackets. Save the change.

Now you will see the new link - in red. Click on the link, and an "edit" page for a brand new entry with the name you have chosen will appear. Enter the text, save it, and you are done (though you should enter another link on any other appropriate index pages)

If you want to know how to format your entry properly, there is a template for entries linked from the main pages. Just take a look at it and click on the "edit" function again. Copy and paste the code to your own entry, and fill in the blanks.

Does this help you?

Added a human fixer by the name of Teeg, check him out, let me know what you guys think.

I've got a few other contacts we're using in our current campaign that come to mind I'll post after getting some feed back and once I have time again.

Okay, some of my contacts posted; all of these fallout of my experimenting with Arcady's lifepath generator.

I added one, with four to follow.
Problem:
People are not following the standard formatting.
ie:
http://shadowrunnpcs.wikicities.com/wiki/Chuck-Chuck
http://shadowrunnpcs.wikicities.com/wiki/E...f_Escort_Gunman

Yeah, I prefer the formatting I used for Chuck-Chuck: it's clearer and easier to read.

To be honest, I see the template more as a guideline than a rule. Sure, it would be great if everyone follows it, but this isn't supposed to be a professional publication, after all. And each GM has his own format for writing down NPCs anyway.

The way I see it, if you have a couple of NPCs in electronic lying around and don't have the time to format them, then simply add them as they are. I'd rather see as many submissions as possible rather than limiting artificially...

EDIT: So if you have other templates you think might be useful, don't hesitate to enter them in the "templates" section...

hey its a wiki, if the original creator cant take the time to format them the way chuck-chuck is formated then someone else can take the time.

hell, maybe ill do that...

but i want the ok from the creators first before i go ahead so im not steping on someone toes...

You could ask for permission in the relevant discussion page - either of the entry, or of the user (if he has registered).

Speaking of which, while registering is absolutely not required to use the Wiki, it does help giving the proper credit to the original creators of the entries - and if someone uses your characters, other users can then tell you all about it...

Hmmm.. how do I go about regestiring? I don't see a link on the page.

I added Ski to the Wiki. Good idea!!!

Jürgen,
What about adding a links section to the site as well?

That would be a good way to get around issues like blackjack's and there are also some great NPC's on wiredreflexes.

Ideally most of the NPC's would be located on the wiki .... but there are some other sites with mass NPC's that should not go to waste.

I have several I can post from my games, but a few I'm not entirely certain fit into the categories. So, where should a troll armorer or elderly swordsman (personality more or less stolen from Pai Mei in Kill Bill 2) go in, or should I add a heading for other contacts? Or just list them under race?

It's going nicely so far - we have 11 NPCs up already.

But who entered the NPC links that go nowhere?

There we are... Blitz is finally fixed up in the Graveyard, including his final post...

Jürgen: I did. I entered a description too, in fact, but it was deleted (or went AWOL somehow). I can try and resubmit them.

How is this project going?

from the looks of it NPC Wiki is dead, I posted a dead PC on there, but no one has posted anythiing on there for ages

I might post some stuff but I have to actually make the NPCs first

I had an NPC to enter, but was having a tough time adding him. Part of the issue no doubt is i've never actually added to Wiki before. I didn't stick with it long enough to figure out why it wasn't working. There is a help link i noticed later, but the NPC is right now stored on a computer i haven't worked on in a while. I guess i'll try to get it in sometime in the next week.

I actually have like 12 different generic NPC's, but most are from the different books and could easily just be read up, might add them anywase though

Is there a template for SR4 characters that you would like to see? We are 2/2 on the wiki now (2 different formats for 2 npcs) but they are similar.

i am planning to add some 4ed npcs. i have been doing it for my campaign, might as well do it for everybody!