From Software's new home.

Full Story at CVG

So I just got wind that the Japanese publisher Kadokawa just bought From Software of my beloved Souls series fame. In a way this seems as though it will be a huge boon to From's dev team and definitely for the future publicity of their titles, but the one part of the CVG article that really concerns me is the mention of a new IP, aimed at the west. 
What good has ever come from Japan aiming anything at us. Especially titles?? Remember how Final Fantasy used to be really good and then they remolded the entire series to appeal to an imaginary western and action oreinted audience once they got wind of how popular the series was getting/had gotten in the states? Or for a more apt example remember how Japanese games like Lollypop Chainsaw and Killer is Dead basically flopped in the US? Both examples of new Japanese character action games that were in my opinion, focused on a western audience and coincidentally both also published by, you guessed it Kadokawa. Now, maybe I'm worrying too much to fast. It's possible, I'm by no means an industry expert but I'm not of the belief that you need to be in order to notice negative patterns like this forming. I suppose, however that if they could somehow get Miyazaki back to direct the next Souls game I could be persuaded to forgive any and all misbegotten JCA games they produce during this partnership. You hear that From? I need my deep and fascinating worlds and lore back.

On NPC development

Skells & Skells

The second session of D&D with most of my first group came to a close last week. We've got Human Bard,

Fruhorn Songsteele, Dwarf Monk, Kroger Rubylumps, Half-Elf Druid, Breora Moonsbane and Half-Orc Fighter, Gorzah Lambug-Salinger. Unlike last time I've refrained from letting myself get caught up in a flurry of world-building in favor of a somewhat more improvised style of play that my group seems to prefer.

The party's first strike out into the world led them to an old abandoned underground structure full of traps and secret doors and treasure. There they met their first co-op NPC, a Tiefling Rogue called "Grumplump".

An uneasy truce was established between Grumplump and our Druid and together they navigated to the end of the dungeon and revealed Grumplump's tragic back story. It turned out GL had only infiltrated the cave to find his older brother who turned out to be one of the bandits waiting in ambush!

When asked later the group mentioned that they really enjoyed playing with  Grumplump and finding out more about who he was and it occured to me that even in all the last session I'd never done anything to set the people of the worlds I was creating that would make them feel alive to the party. It's an easy mistake to make as a novice DM, when you're writing them they feel alive and tangible enough but reminding the players of that isn't something that had occurred to me. Which got me thinking about how many other brief and interesting NPC bios I could make so here's a few myself and my girlfriend came up with last night. Feel free to borrow any and all if you'd like.

Kipsey Crumtoe:

A talented Gnomish sorcerer who turned himself bright purple trying to transmute stone into gold. Learned his magic at Shadowhill Acadamy of the Mystic Arts.

Czere "GrumpLump" Djonenz: (Mentioned Above)

Tiefling rogue, young, dutiful, sincere. He and his older brother Hzor have spent years looking out for a band of orphans knowing the pain first hand. Lately though Hzor has been running with criminals and bandits and it's up to Czere to find him and bring him back into the light.

Rose Vilhiem: (Inspired wholly by Joe Abercrombie's "Best Served Cold")

A talented human sellsword and fighter betrayed by the band of mercenaries she used to captain. The killed her brother, gravely injured her and mistakenly left her for dead. A shell of her former self she now roams the world seeking revenge.

Miriam Littleroot:

Gnomish explosives expert, specializing in explosive traps and general demolitions. Miriam is generally very open about her sexuality and likes tall tough looking fellas.

Grennoc Grob:

An Orcish tribal shaman spreading a message of Orcish racial purity. Grennoc is insistent that the modern Orc's problems stem entirely from trying to integrate into a society where they have no place and proposes all Orcs return to their tribal mountainous roots. 

Turs Cohle: (Inspired by True Detective)

A battle hardened ex-soldier, now part of Winterhaven's city guard. Hot on the trail of a serial killer who goes by the name of the Yellow Lord and seems to be associated with all manner of dark magics.

Doctor Simmeon Rendek:

Elderly human doctor. By day a mild mannered medicine man, by night he employs a select few "assistants" to kidnap the prostitutes of the city's pillow houses and dissects them to learn more about human anatomy. Heinous but as a consequence he is far better able to take care of the city's sick and broken. He keeps record of these gruesome medical advances in countless books in his secret laboratory under the floor boards of his clinic. 

Breka Burzug:

Female Half-Orc in Doctor Simmeon's employ. Uninterested in Orc anatomy Simmeon never asks her to kill or kidnap her brethren but even a sellsword has her limits and the weight of these murders is beginning to become too heavy even for her. 

Peter Hainsworth/Olivia Montgomery: (My favorite of the night):

Raised and educated in the magic arts by Castle Mongomery's own court wizard. One day Peter becomes smitten with the king's beautiful daughter Olivia but knowing he could never properly be with her he devised an plan and cast a love spell on her which worked and together they hatched a plan to run away together. Alas they were caught leaving the castle and Peter was imprisoned and sentenced to beheading. That night, still madly in love Olivia snuck out for one last goodbye and visited Peter. Peter, vainly focused on survival remembered a dire spell he'd once read about and cast it on Olivia, thereby switching bodies with her but sacrificing all of his magic power in the process. That night he ran from the castle and now he adventures far and wide, seeking a way to restore his magic power and trying to outrun those who are looking to find Princess Olivia and return her to her father and Montgomery castle.

What cool NPC ideas do you have? Let me know if you any of these or if they inspire you to try anything in your own campaigns!