I'm running Gathering Storm tomorrow night, and as I do my usual last minute panic reading and preparing - it's like studying for a bloody exam - it does strike me that the book has quite a lot of characters detailed, but hardly any of them have any effect on the plot whatsoever. Has anyone managed to get some good mileage out of all these wonderful characters that are mentioned once at the start and then completely forgotten for the rest of the book?

hi

I use them extensively. One good way of introducing the stromdorf characters is to use the examples "getting the Heroes involved". For instance my group`s partysheet (Mercenary infamous), got them the rumour "Witch hiding in town" Hildette Krass, and that there is a bounty on a doctor Shcneider last known whereabouts Stromdorf.

And any GM worth their salt will grind as much information about the town as possible for use in their adventures. and the inn has a small list of patrons, use them for what their worth.

but you should make a list of every major npc in town, like the one they had in "eye for an eye". And some of the characters will be introduced through the events of the adventure itself, like the professor and his articulate skeleton.

good gaming

Is Brenner the only listed town elder, by the way? the books a bit unclear on this point.

There's a few of them listed, but it's buried in their descriptions, IIRC, rather than a list of them under Town Elders...

It is a lot of detail for a location that really (in the scope of the actual adventure as written) serves as a waystation for the adventures. Only the trial and the last act take place in town, the rest all have the players nowhere in town (beastmen/undead/orcs). I found my players were laser-focused on the carrot that got them to the town in the first place and now that they've recovered the merchant's ring from the beastmen they're less inclined to do much with the townsfolk.

It's great if you can incorporate the town more into your campaign/style as the personalities are entertaining and engaging. It's a shame the town is so far south of anything of importance, once the players leave there'll be little reason for them to ever return or pass through, at least my play group won't find many reasons to.

Some NPCs that are only mentioned once can be used as allies. Also, I am going to use a trick I read while reading the 1st edition adventure 'Fear the Worst'.

I am going to make a pile of stick-it notes, each one containing the name and details of one npc. Then I am going to seperate them depending on how the npcs are viewing the characters. Also, this way I will know which NPCs have been introduced to PCs and which are going to in the near future.

This is exactly what I'm doing with Strange Eon's - I'm making talent sized cards for each NPC. A brief description on one side along with the name and social bracket - then on the flip side other information notes. I'm trying to do the same for locations - with a mention on one side what NPC's are 'involved' with each location.

It is my hope to have some minor adventures in between all the going on's of the campaign adventures. I thought the cards would make it easier to track it all - and it got the idea from Edge of Night as that is how they handle it there [talent sized cards that is]