Best Supporting Actors (Old-School Essentials)
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In the pages of the book¸ find 172 ready-to-play characters built as individuals. Each has a brief story¸ describing something of their past¸ motivations¸ and salient details.
Not all are combat monsters: Some must resort to duplicity¸ cunning¸ seduction¸ and guile to get by. Others prefer to handle things with blunt heavy objects. Some bring extra tools to otherwise-mundane professions.
There are enough that you'll likely find one to fit your needs¸ as an adversary¸ ally¸ person encountered in a tavern¸ or as a pre-generated PC to get a game going fast. It's likely that there are sufficient numbers that you won't need to use the same character twice!
Roughly half are level 1-4 delvers just getting started - rookies as it were Around 40% are presented as potentially dangerous bandits or outlaws...including a breakaway unit of a dozen fighters from a defeated military company. Most have lives independent from "adventurer" and perhaps 25% don't fit neatly into a single class concept (fortunately¸ the OSE Advanced Fantasy Player's Tome easily accommodates this through multi-classing). About 1/3 are spellcasters of some stripe or another; sample spell lists are provided. New spells that go well with a particular character's role are provided where it's flavorful.
A quick "tab line" descriptor allows the GM to roleplay these as NPCs without even referring to the stats...but keep the writeups at hand in case the party wants to enter into a contract or a combat with them!
How to use them?
Grab a few to make wandering parties of pilgrims or adventurers. Deal out a half-dozen or a dozen to answer the question of "who's in the inn?" Choose randomly or with malice aforethought to see who shows up when the PCs post want-ads for hirelings¸ henchmen¸ and allies. Random party generator tables are provided for a few classes of encounter¸ for use and inspiration.