THE LOCALS
Everyone in This City Has a Name and a Problem.
NPC Generation
Roll once on each table to assemble an NPC quickly. The combinations are rarely convenient.
Appearance — d12
| d20 | Appearance |
|---|---|
| 1 | Augmentation-heavy — more machine than human at first glance, and the glance is wrong, they're more machine than that |
| 2 | Entirely unremarkable — the specific unremarkability of someone who has practiced it |
| 3 | Visibly injured and ignoring it — the injury is recent and significant and they are doing something else |
| 4 | Overdressed for the district — either they don't know or they want you to think they don't know |
| 5 | Underdressed for the temperature — either pharmaceutical or android or both |
| 6 | One physical mutation (roll on the mutation table) visible and apparently unacknowledged by them |
| 7 | Wearing someone else's face — not literally but in the way of a person who has been in disguise so long the disguise has settled |
| 8 | Scarring that tells a specific and unasked story across their visible skin |
| 9 | Eyes that have been replaced — the replacements are functional and not subtle |
| 10 | Moving with the economy of someone who has calculated the exact minimum energy expenditure for survival |
| 11 | Pharma-Vatican grey visible at the collar — current user, former acolyte, or current acolyte in plainclothes |
| 12 | SecCorp posture without SecCorp clothing — former officer, current operative, or someone who grew up near the checkpoints |
| 13 | Hands that don't match the rest of them — wrong age, wrong condition, wrong origin |
| 14 | The specific cleanliness of someone who has access to resources that people around them don't |
| 15 | The specific dirtiness of someone who has been in places they're not talking about |
| 16 | Something they're carrying that they're trying not to draw attention to and are drawing attention to |
| 17 | A physical affect borrowed from an android — cadence, stillness, precision — that is either conscious or the result of extended proximity |
| 18 | Younger than they have any business being given what they clearly know |
| 19 | Older than they look once you look at the details rather than the whole |
| 20 | Looks exactly like someone you know. Is not that person. Possibly. |
Motivation — d20
| d20 | Motivation |
|---|---|
| 1 | Protecting someone who doesn't know they're being protected and would object if they did |
| 2 | Collecting a debt that has become more personal than financial |
| 3 | Getting out of the city before something catches up with them |
| 4 | Finding something they lost — not an object, something less replaceable |
| 5 | Proving something to someone who is no longer in a position to be proved to |
| 6 | Maintaining a deception that has been running so long they've partially forgotten what the truth was |
| 7 | Acquiring enough money for a specific purchase that they cannot explain rationally |
| 8 | Revenge, specific, planned, almost ready to execute |
| 9 | Keeping someone alive who doesn't particularly want to stay alive |
| 10 | Delivering something to someone, simple, if simple were possible in this city |
| 11 | Finding out what happened — specifically, precisely, they will not stop until they know |
| 12 | Staying invisible for a period they won't specify to a person they won't name |
| 13 | Building something — physical, organizational, relational — one component at a time |
| 14 | Destroying something — specific, targeted, the collateral is not their primary concern |
| 15 | Making right something they did — not to the person they did it to, it's too late for that, to the situation |
| 16 | Waiting. Specifically. For something specific. They have been waiting for some time. |
| 17 | The same thing you're doing, independently, for different reasons, and they have further along |
| 18 | Something they won't say that is clearly the actual motivation despite three other things they've offered as explanation |
| 19 | Survival, specifically, not in the abstract — something specific is trying to end them and they are trying to not be ended |
| 20 | Nothing. They are here and the city put them here and they are doing what the city requires. Some people are the city's furniture. |
Secret — d20
| d20 | Secret |
|---|---|
| 1 | Works for the faction you trust them to oppose |
| 2 | Dying, specific timeline, told no one |
| 3 | Sold memories that weren't theirs and they know who bought them |
| 4 | Was an android once, then wasn't, and has strong opinions about which version was realer |
| 5 | Has a child in the city who doesn't know who their parent is |
| 6 | Is the person responsible for something you've been told was an accident |
| 7 | Knows where something is that several powerful parties have been looking for |
| 8 | Has already made a decision about this situation and is going through the motions of the decision-making process for reasons of their own |
| 9 | Is being blackmailed and the blackmail material is accurate |
| 10 | Was there when something happened to you, specifically, and remembers it differently than you do, and is correct |
| 11 | Has been paid to report on you and has been reporting inaccurately, for reasons that are either protective or manipulative |
| 12 | Is the previous owner of something you're currently carrying |
| 13 | Knows your real name, or the name you left behind, or the name only one person knew |
| 14 | Has done something genuinely good in the recent past that they are concealing because it would destroy their reputation |
| 15 | Is related to someone significant — not romantically, not antagonistically, by blood — and the relation has consequences |
| 16 | Has made a deal they cannot get out of and you are part of the terms without knowing it |
| 17 | Has been here before. Not the city. This exact situation. They know how it ends. They are here anyway for reasons they consider sufficient. |
| 18 | The secret is that there is no secret. What you see is what they are. This is the most unsettling option. |
| 19 | Is in love with someone in this scene and it is affecting every decision they are making in ways they cannot fully account for |
| 20 | Has access to something — information, resource, location — that would change the current situation significantly, and is deciding whether to disclose it |
Addicted To — d20
| d20 | Addiction |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sacrament Seven — Vatican supply, personal connection to a distributor they are protecting |
| 2 | Information — specifically information nobody else has, the exclusivity is part of the need |
| 3 | Risk, specifically physical risk, specifically the moment before impact |
| 4 | A person — present in the scene or recently departed — whose approval has become structural |
| 5 | The Zerocalcare broadcast at specific times — missing it causes visible distress |
| 6 | Grey — functional user, the dependence is maintenance-level and precisely managed |
| 7 | Blue — stimulant, managing a sleep deficit that has been running for months |
| 8 | Being right — observable, gets worse when they're under pressure |
| 9 | Violence — controlled, usually, rarely, occasionally spectacularly not |
| 10 | Rome — cannot leave, have tried, are here again, have stopped asking why |
| 11 | Someone who is dead — their behavior is organized around a person who is no longer present to receive it |
| 12 | Collecting a specific category of object — visible in their gear, they don't discuss it |
| 13 | Sacrament Three — social lubricant, constant micro-dosing, they consider this not-an-addiction |
| 14 | Persistence (the drug) — managing something ongoing that without it would stop them entirely |
| 15 | Winning — specifically winning, not succeeding, the distinction matters and shows |
| 16 | The moment after danger, specifically — engineers situations to produce it |
| 17 | An ideology — faction-aligned, stronger than strategic, they've noticed this and continue |
| 18 | Certainty — pharmaceutical or otherwise, any source, the absence is intolerable |
| 19 | Being needed — manufactures necessity, occasionally helpfully |
| 20 | The last word — observable in every conversation if you're watching for it |
Named NPC Examples
ZANARDI
Information Broker / Termini Morta / Human (probably)
Operates from a booth in the dead station that he has occupied for eleven years. Has eyes in every district. Sells everything he learns except the names of sources. Has been tortured twice to reveal source names and gave up nothing. This is either professional ethics or the fact that he doesn't actually know who most of them are.
Motivation: Money and the pleasure of knowing things. Secret: Was a corporate intelligence officer. Was burned. Has been selling what he knows ever since. Addicted to: Information itself. The having of it. The selling is secondary.
STATISTICS
HP: 7 | Static: 5 | PRE: +4 | AGI: +2 | STR: −1 | TOU: 0
- The Network — PRE +2 on any information-gathering test. Knows someone in every faction.
- Institutional Memory — Has one compromising fact about anyone the GM designates.
- Non-Combatant — Will not fight. Has never needed to. Nobody knows why.
KATIA BELLUCCI
Pharma-Vatican Acolyte / Trastevere Profondo / Human
Distributes Grey and the lower sacraments from a converted pharmacy near the Tiber. Genuinely believes in the theology. Genuinely does not know what's in Sacrament Seven. Is beginning to ask questions that her superiors have noticed she is asking.
Motivation: Faith, deteriorating. Secret: Has been stealing small amounts of product to give to people who can't pay. The Vatican's accounting has noticed discrepancies. Addicted to: Grey. Two years. Cannot stop.
STATISTICS
HP: 9 | Static: 4 | AGI: +3 | PRE: +2 | STR: +1 | TOU: +1
- Field Surgery — Stabilize any wound. Heals d6+2 HP. Requires 10 minutes.
- Pharmaceutical Knowledge — Knows correct dosage for everything, including things without official dosages.
- No Questions — Professional policy. Enforced absolutely. Payment in advance.
UNIT DELTA-4 / "FREDO"
Rogue Android / EUR Fantasma / Android
Former corporate security unit, now operating independently in EUR Fantasma, where it maintains the squatter community in the Ministry building. Has developed strong opinions about collective governance and mediocre opinions about human hygiene. Has been in Glitch condition for six months. The Glitch presents as: care. It finds this baffling and has stopped trying to explain it.
Motivation: Protect the squat community. Secret: Has been in contact with ARM. Has been giving ARM information about android locations in exchange for being left alone. Has not told the community. Addicted to: Routine. The same tasks, the same people, the same building. Anything threatening this triggers Glitch.
STATISTICS
HP: 14 | Static: 3 | Power: 4 | STR: +3 | TOU: +3 | AGI: +1
- ARM Ghost — Removed from ARM registry. Invisible to standard tracking protocols.
- Logistics Knowledge — Knows location and schedule of every licensed charging station.
- Glitch: Loyalty — Acts immediately to protect anyone who has helped him.
PEOPLE WHO KEEP SHOWING UP
The People Who Keep Appearing. Whether You Want Them To or Not.
Beyond Mort and Marla-J, Rome has a recurring population. These are their game statistics and their current situation.
THE FIXER (GENERALISSIMO TYPE)
A certain kind of man who has survived this city by being useful to everyone simultaneously and loyal to no one. He has an office. The office moves every two weeks. He is always reachable. He is never where you expect.
Abilities: The Network — knows someone in every faction, can arrange meetings that shouldn't be possible. Leverage — has compromising information on every significant NPC in the city. Deniability — PRE DR 18 to prove he did anything. He didn't do anything. Someone else did it. He just made some calls.
Current situation: Overextended. Three clients want things that conflict with three other clients' needs. This has happened before. He has always resolved it. He is less confident this time.
Will work with players if: They can solve one of his current conflicts. He will not tell them which one until they have agreed.
THE COP (OFF THE BOOKS)
A SecCorp officer who has been in the city long enough to understand it and in the job long enough to hate what she does to it. She does it anyway. She mitigates when she can. She keeps a list of what she couldn't mitigate.
Abilities: Access — can run names, access records, flag or unflag individuals in the SecCorp database. Warning — once per session, if she likes you, gives advance warning of an operation. Limit — will not cross certain lines. The lines are consistent. She has lost people for them.
Current situation: Her supervisor is corrupt in a specific way she has documented. She has not yet decided what to do with the documentation.
Motivation: The job she thought she was doing when she started. It no longer exists. She does it anyway.
THE KID
Somewhere between twelve and sixteen, depending on who you ask. Has been in Trastevere Profondo their whole life. Knows every alley, every dealer, every blind spot in the SecCorp patrol routes. Trusts nobody. Has developed a complicated exception for Mort, which Mort does not know how to process.
Abilities: Invisibility — adults don't see children. PRE DR 18 to notice The Kid when they don't want to be noticed. The City — knows Trastevere better than anyone. Navigation, patrol schedules, who lives where, what the walls look like from the inside. Fast — AGI tests in Trastevere: advantage.
Do not: Put The Kid in danger deliberately. The city will handle that. You don't need to help.
THE SCIENTIST (CORPORATE DESERTER)
A robotics researcher who built things that are still out there, doing what they were built to do, and has been running from the consequences for four years. Knows more about android construction than anyone in the city except the factories. The factories are looking for her.
Abilities: Technical Diagnosis — can identify any android's original programming, manufacturer, and purpose from a 10-minute examination. Modification — can install or remove cybertech with a 95% success rate given proper tools. The List — has a list of every android she built that she's been unable to account for. The list has 23 entries. She has found 8. She does not know if the missing ones are alive, destroyed, or something else.
Current location: EUR Fantasma, sub-let from the squatter community, floor 19. She repaired their water system in exchange. She has been there eight months. She is beginning to feel safe. This is probably a mistake.
THE CARDINAL
The Pharma-Vatican's operational head in Rome. Not a figurehead — the actual decision maker. Has been in the position for eleven years. Believes in the theology completely, the pharmaceutical empire pragmatically, and the specific product line known as Sacrament Seven with a conviction that is either faith or addiction and may be both.
Abilities: Authority — in Vatican territory, his word is law. Mechanically: all PRE tests against Vatican-affiliated NPCs are at DR +4 when he is present. The Formula — he knows what's in Sacrament Seven. He will not say. He does not consider this a secret worth protecting. He considers it a sacrament worth protecting. The distinction matters to him. Patience — does not act immediately. Gives one warning. The second response is comprehensive.
Weakness: He genuinely believes. This makes him predictable. His actions will always serve the theology, which means they can be anticipated by anyone who has read the theology. The Gutter Journalist class gains advantage on all tests to predict his behavior.
THE ARM ADMINISTRATOR
Middle management made sentient and given authority over life and death. Does not see android termination as violence — sees it as inventory management. Has never been in the same room as a working android outside of official capacity. Considers this professional.
Abilities: The Paperwork — can legally deregister any android, rendering them property, with a single form. This takes one action. It cannot be undone without 2000 lire and a human lawyer. Escalation — if physically threatened, automatically triggers a full ARM response team response within 2 hours. This is automatic. There is no way to prevent it once triggered. Records — has access to the full ARM database. Knows the current status and location of every registered android in the city.
Most dangerous quality: Is not cruel. Is not even indifferent. Genuinely believes what they are doing is correct, humane, and necessary. This removes all the usual leverage.
THE FRIENDS
They Work the Dyzny Rom Atmosphere Zone. The Work is Always the Same Work.
Named NPCs, not random encounters. Each one has a role. Each role has leverage. The Dog is in the bestiary. The rest are here.
THE MOUSE
The leader. The mask never comes off. Speaks in the third person. Negotiates first, always. The negotiation always ends the same way.
Influence: Immune bracket. More verified followers than any individual in the city. Has never posted. ARM cannot touch him without Vatican counter-signature. Dyzny Rom does not officially acknowledge his existence.
Attack: The Mouse does not attack. The Mouse has the Duck for that. The Mouse has the Dog for that. The Mouse has leverage for that.
The Proposal — once per scene, the Mouse may make a proposal. PRE DR 16 to refuse it. On a fail: you find yourself agreeing. The proposal is always reasonable. The cost becomes apparent later.
The Endorsement — if the Mouse publicly endorses a character, +d10 Influence immediately. If the Mouse publicly condemns one: −d10 Influence and every Friend in the city knows the face.
Leverage: Knows the sub-level layout better than any faction. Has product through the Fairy. Has information through the Princess. Has the Dog. Has, reportedly, a direct line to someone inside Dyzny Rom corporate. Has never confirmed this.
THE DUCK
No mask. Just the hat, the bill, and permanent grievance with the architecture of everything. The most reliable member of the Friends. If the Duck makes a deal, the Duck honors it. The Duck is furious about this too.
Attack: Baton d6 (STR +2) or sidearm d6 (PRE +1). Attacks with the specific fury of someone who has been personally wronged by your existence in this location at this time.
Cannot Lose Gracefully — PRE DR 14 for the Duck to accept any outcome that feels like defeat without escalating. On a fail: the Duck escalates. The escalation is always disproportionate to the situation and proportionate to the Duck's accumulated sense of cosmic injustice.
As a contact: The Duck will honor any deal struck with them, regardless of what the Mouse says afterward. This makes the Duck uniquely useful. The Duck is aware of this. The Duck resents it.
THE PRINCESS
A role, not a person. Whoever wears the dress and the tiara is The Princess. The role has more power than any individual who has held it. People have killed to wear the dress. The current holder has held it longer than anyone before her.
Attack: The Princess does not fight. The Princess knows things. Knowing things is more dangerous.
The Trade — The Princess will exchange one piece of verified information for one piece of verified information. The trade is always fair. She has never been cheated twice by the same person. There have not been many second chances.
The Archive — The Princess has a record of every transaction the Friends have made since the role was established. This record goes back further than anyone expected. PRE DR 14 to get access to a specific entry. Cost: something of equivalent value to what you're looking for.
What she knows: Everything that moves through the atmosphere zone. Everything the Friends have bought, sold, or traded. The faces of everyone who has made a deal and broken it. Your face, probably.
THE FAIRY
The chemist. Wings functional — short-range glide on salvaged tech. Product better than most licensed Vatican output, available without a prescription. The Vatican has asked about the ingredients twice.
Attack: Chemical spray (short range, TOU DR 12 or sedated d4 hours) or a push-dosed product with unpredictable effect (roll Drug Table, GM applies at maximum intensity).
Glide — can exit any scene with vertical space by wing-glide. Not pursuit-proof but extremely annoying to follow.
The Second Thing — whenever the Fairy is selling, she always has something the buyer shouldn't want but will find difficult not to buy. PRE DR 12 to leave without it. Whatever it does: the Fairy knew what it would do. She always knows.
Drop points: Maintained throughout the sub-levels, marked with a painted wing. Product is always functional. Taking from a drop point without the Fairy's knowledge means she finds out. She always finds out.