In a new 3.x campaign I'm running with so far only 1 newbie female player, I'm using an NPC that is an awakened cat that was a former wizard's familiar. I've named the cat Mischal Greymalkin, given it the personality of Michelle Malkin, and have it sound like a bad Sean Connery impersonation. I chose this because I wanted an information source for the player that wouldn't eclipse her in combat or other adventuring tasks. Plus making it a cat allowed me to use my own cats as props during the game.

At the End of All Things Campaign Summary

So here's the question: Have you ever created deliberately cutesie NPCs for your games and if so, why?

Quote from: jeff37923;250788So here's the question: Have you ever created deliberately cutesie NPCs for your games and if so, why?

Oh yes. So many in fact that the players labeled them SIPs (Short Irratating Person). They are often fey related, and tend to be short.

The primary reason is identical to one of yours: "an information source for the player that wouldn't eclipse her in combat or other adventuring tasks".

Other reasons is that they are just plain fun, and can highlight the personalities of the PCs as they respond to these rather odd people. They also give me a consistent way of interacting with those PCs.

I'm currently using a lisping lizard/man teenager as an NPC/macguffin in the Encounter Critical game I'm running (think sleestack crossed with Milhaus).  Not exactly cutesie, he's more of a scrawny nerd with dreams of being a mighty warrior.  

He was created out of a player's description of a bit of bathroom graffiti about "Darryl's HAWT Mom."  It was an off-hand comment, but it got me thinking just who this Darryl was.

Long ago, in a fantasy world far, far, away, I had an NPC called Pesky. It was during my Warhammer campaign that I introduced the character, a small (Snotling-sized) goblin that the PCs had captured. They kept Pesky as a "pet" - and a source of information while combating a band of orcs - for a number of game sessions before freeing him. That's about as close as I have ever come to having an overtly "cutesy" NPC in any of my campaigns.

I had a recurring gnome NPC in DnD who was a nearsighted absent minded artificer with a cast iron frying pan for a bludgeoning weapon.  Actually he started out as my own PC for a Pools of Radiance game, and early in the adventure I realized I'd forgotten to purchase a melee weapon.  We went into a generic room described as a kitchen type area and I ended up snagging an iron pan to club things with.

Ended up coming in handy.  At one point I walked out in front of 4 or 5 cultist guards ranting on and on about needing fresher eggs and meat if I'm to make my "world famous omelets."  They stared at me dumbfounded for a fraction of a second which allowed my party to get the drop on them.  We needed to kill them before they raised an alarm.

From that point on Crowley Blackrock has always been my favorite PC/NPC.  He shows up from time to time to invite PCs to join his camp.  In the morning he cooks them breakfast raving about his world class cooking skills.  In truth he's quite possibly the world's worst cook.

I think I've created more obnoxious PCs than NPCs.

The closest to "cutesie" I can recall is the alcoholic homeless guy in my Rifts game, who was being questioned by the PCs and gave rambling, circular answers (many of which involved the time the guy they were looking for gave him a biscuit).

A mouse-sized, trilobite-like golden robot named Sleipnir who talks in this tiny little high-pitched voice.

Mushroom rat, a dead rat with a glowing mushroom growing out of it. Actually part of a hyperintelligent fungal hive mind merely using the rat's body as a vehicle.

An entire race of chibi Mi-Go Vikings complete with horned helmets and goofy dialogue.

...who fight armies of vaguely orc-like chibi Cthulhu-spawn.

Enemy cupcake soldiers.

A tree summoned during the cupcake battle that was the only large living thing standing after a Magic Missile botch launched an enchanted ICBM from somewhere. In the final tally it won the most points of any combatant.

Of course, much of this is in the context of a group that traditionally used Pokemon as staple enemy mooks, so arguably it's a step up in seriousness.

My players love adopting NPCs.
They love it. It gets weird.

One player started a mercenary army, but would often flake out of his own missions. In one, the 5th level party member appointed a random 1st level Warrior NPC without a name to guard his spot for him. Caught on the fly, the only name I could think of was Guardsman Bong. He inexplicably survived the ensuing fight thanks to good equipment and better rolls (instead of just tragically killing him off, I just rolled for it for the hell of it). He didn't just survive, he beat off an opponent several levels his better and went on to gain two levels on the spot.

Lt. Bong became the parties go-to NPC. The only thing better then his survival is the joy the players took in having their characters address him.

In the same game, much earlier, there were a pair of surly drug peddlers near a abandoned local in the Warehouse District of the city. One, a thin, hyper-active guy with long hair was accompanied by another, a silent, hulking Shield Golem wearing a massive longcoat as if to disguise it. Jay and Silent Bot.

The PCs enlisted as mercenaries in the army of a noble family. While at the castle, they ran into an English Bulldog that followed them everywhere. The dog's name was "Meatlips". They soon adopted Meatlips as their sidekick, though the dog is more intelligent than most suspect, as the faithful canine spent years as a guardian familiar (a wizard's buddy), The dog has human intelligence, but a canine outlook. Every session, one of my players would be saying, "I love that dog!"

In one adventure, the PCs were the recipients of bizarre mutations, and the mutation that Meatlips received, granted him the ability to speak. This eventually became a little game. The dog would speak when nobody was looking at him, and people would be like:

Character 1: "What?! Did you say that?"
Character 2: "What are you talking about? I didn't say anything."

Eventually, it was confirmed that the dog was talking to the characters, but tried to be sneaky about it. Meatlips is still a valued member of the group.

Not really cutesie but in my modern day horror campaigns I have these recurring characters based on the Mr. Kidd & Mr. Wint characters from Diamonds Are Forever called Mr. Schaden & Mr. Freude. And of course there's WFRP.....(then again I base many NPCs on characters from Coen Brother movies...so maybe cutesie is appropriate)

Regards,
David R

We once had The Astrigs.  See, there was this crazed bad guy who had a similicrum maker for no particular reason, and he was served by an army of clones of this guy Astrig, and each and every one was convinced - in a non-violent "no sir I'm afraid you are mistaken" sort of way - that he was, in fact, The Real Astrig.  They were all a little childlike, all very egotistical, and all pretty damn stupid.

Now, this sounds funny, I'm sure.  But you have to understand that this was one of those crazy marathon sessions people who aren't as young as they used to be get together to have to convince themselves that they are as young as they used to be.  So we're in our 40th hour of game, we're all burned out, we're staring blankly at each other - and the GM is one of those freaks who never sleeps, so he's as cheerful and Astrig-like as you could possibly imagine.

This was one of the most painful things.  I don't know if I can really explain just how traumatic this was.  It damaged me deep inside in places that will never heal.

Frankly I was pretty impressed.