Experiences NPC/Side Characters That Steal Your Heart

[ashwynne]

It happens to the best of us. You decide to throw in a side character or engage with an NPC in order to further the plotline or maybe explain some interesting element of your character's backstory. And then it happens. That twinkle in this unimportant character's eye, a glimmer of some untold phenomenal backstory glittering mysteriously behind them, a seductive siren's call to use them just a liiiiiittttttllllleeee bit more. Suddenly, you're madly in love. But they were never supposed to be important to you.

I'm sure I'm not alone in this so I want to hear everyone's NPC or Side Character related story. Not just in RP's, I know there are tons of side or background characters in films/books/games that manage to steal the limelight and people's hearts. It's actually sort of a neat phenomenon. So... tell me all about it. Especially when it comes to character's you've written: What happened? Did you end up making them full characters? Did they become an integral part of the story somehow? Did you stay strong and lovingly relegate them to a special place in your heart and nothing more? Spill the details!

By all means also feel free to go on completely unrelated tangents to these particular questions, I'm dying to know people's thoughts on all things related to NPC/Side Characters.

 

[ashwynne]

I'll go first just to kick things off.

I like really robust backstories filled with characters so I always tend to get very attached to my side characters in general, but I've had two pop up in the last six months that completely won me over. And both of them are deceased IC so I have nothing to console myself with except for AU's (that tend to make me even more sad) or else head canons/backstory stuff that just make me love them more and ALSO increase my sadness at their deaths.

The first is big brother Phillip. He was the loving older brother of my character Avelina (who is featured in my avatar). A fairly irreverent character with a heart of gold who doted on his little sister (not that he ever tolerated her turning into a "prissy princess") and is largely responsible for her issues remembering proper etiquette. I'm not sure what it was about him specifically, but he really grew in my mind and developed such a rich identity that his death in the story feels like I legitimately lost someone I really cared about. Granted, it doesn't help that his death was pretty tragic and that neither Avelina nor I will ever get proper closure since she had to flee to avoid facing the same fate. No funeral, no goodbyes, no burial, just suddenly gone.

The second I was not even going to name. He was just going to be referenced offhandedly, on occasion, as the late husband of another character of mine: Miyako. I became kind of curious about what sort of man he was so I decided to do some backstory work about the two of them and what a mistake. Turns out he's incredibly shy with women (like PAINFULLY shy) but fell head over heels with Miyako after watching her from afar. Naturally, his shyness prevented him from communicating any of this to her so Miyako never knew anything about him except for the fact that he never seemed to be interested in speaking with her and seemed to marry her for nothing more than her looks. Annnnnd he got to die with her still being under that misconception so now he gets regularly slandered by her IC which breaks my heart because I know the truth. Also have head canons (although I'd say they're sort of confirmed) that he watches over her from the afterlife and wants only for her to be happy--doesn't begrudge her falling in love at all, is honestly just happy that there's someone out there who can care for her properly. Just this biggest ray of sweet sunshine that I didn't realize existed in this story. Now I'm mildly obsessed with him and will blubber on for days if you let me.

 

[MothSav]

The second I get caught in the 'lets do some backstory' trap, I never return from it. I fall in love with so many side characters and want them all to have their own little plotlines and adventures!

 

[Malozing]

Right now, I think my favorite character that I am not playing is an NPC from The Lotus Blossoms! , an Exalted 3e game I am in.

Backstory
Kelam was a wannabe hero in a corrupt city too used to screams and dead bodies. She ended up bleeding out in a dark alley with no chance of help coming to her. However, the Deathlord Bodhisattva Anointed by Dark Waters

As she put it, “It would have been better if the rats found me first.” She ended up becoming one of the Bodhisattva's deathknight. Due to her attachments to her old life and disinterest in spreading death across Creation, the Bodhisattva punished Kelam by killing her family. He then had their souls forged into soulsteel and created the sword Mourning Blade for her.

In-Game Introduction
She meets the PC party at a secret martial arts tournament where she fights and loses to Brown Leaf. Leaf offers to find a way to help Kelam release the souls in the sword back to the normal cycle of reincarnation, which starts off their slightly awkward friendship. (None of us knew at the time that the souls were her family's at the time.)

Mind you, the Storyteller meant for Kelam to be a one-off NPC. Still, the players have fully incorporated her into the group. The organic relationships between our characters and Kelam really helped us develop our characters and the plot further.

Our Storyteller has done a great job adapting to having Kelam in the group. He's done an excellent job shifting the main focus of the plot around each of our characters.

All of the information I wrote about Kelam's backstory, the ST sprinkled that throughout the posts as our characters began to get to know her and gain her trust. I don't think he knew all of the information at the start of the game, but he sure did a thorough job writing it up and not info-dumping it suddenly.


(I am in the middle of drawing our party. Once I am done drawing Kelam, I will edit this post to include it. )

Kelam is a relationship with one player’s character. My character looks at her as a little sister they never had.

 

[Simon_Hawk]

For two years I was part of Pathfinder gaming group. We played a massive campaign and I came to really enjoy a lot of the NPC's in that world. I would lay in bed after a game session and just daydream about all kinds of scenarios and conversations that would be possible between my character and the NPC's. Those were some fun times.

 

[Melpomene]

Oooh

I should be asleep right now but I will answer this instead.

So I have two characters so far that has caused that to happen. In the novel series I am writing, I have a main character who adopted a girl. This girl is his half sister. He grew up feeling unloved and rather abandoned by his family for what he was, as well as the people around him. He had only found acceptance from one person (of course he ended up with a little found family with the other characters in the novels). But she ended up being the most special. This little girl gave his life new meaning. Found in a church where she was admonished for what she was, often having to go without food and punished for simply being a child, he swept her up and out, showing her love as she had never seen before. Of course she grew quite attached and demanded to go wherever he went. Even when he would not allow it, she would find a way to sneak. She went from a side character to a main character later on, being the witty and sassy young woman she is, often a troublemaker, but always wanting to make her half-brother/adoptive father proud no matter what. As well as growing quite protective of him as she grows older, having to learn to stop being so impulsive over minor insults and attacks. While he was not a perfect father, he was pretty darn good (especially compared to others...) And they took care of each other. Until the bitter end.

The other is actually the father of a main character. Funnily enough, he is also an adoptive father but there is no blood relation. He started off as just being the designated parent in her back story. Just someone for me to refer to. Someone for her to have a connection to. But then I began exploring his backstory. Exploring how he came to adopt her. Where he came from. How he was raised. He exploded. I wrote countless stories on how he came to meet her mother, came to fall in love and let his rough exterior drop to know a touch of tenderness for once and to hold a woman close and let her touch his heart only to have her violently ripped away, burned alive, leaving him only with a baby that was not even of his blood. But, he would not allow the child to suffer the same fate and took her as his own. Ever since he has been harsh and downright mean as a parent all in the name of making her strong so that the world doesn't have a chance to tear down the only golden light he has. He doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeve but his emotions run strong and deep. Deeper than he would like. In some cases he is impulsive despite his attempts to be clear headed. And he us filled with love and willing to do anything to support what he has left.

 

[Onmyoji]

I had a rp with VRMMORPG setting and dungeon crawling. In one of the episodes the characters were fighting a dungeon boss. They defeated it but the boss escaped. That boss ended up as a recurring character in the roleplay. Not a main one, and mostly used for comic effect, but still, a character that was supposed to be used in basically one scene returned as a more important one! It was still treated as NPC though, but got more personality and story.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

So I have this bone-maniac/necromancer that lugs around a coffin everywhere. Inside the coffin are 13 mini-skeletons that ready to do any of the necromancer's order, and they do the orders with such enthusiasm that they usually fight each other to prove themself as the most useful. The only time they cooperate was when they made a portable throne with their body for their evil overlord. I haven't play the necromancer again since I joined RPN but these litte guys make appearance in some of my other OCs' background.

Other than that, I also have a vampirism professor named Attenborough, first appearing as one of the main character's underling. He's passionate about making vampire's life easier and specialize in making misc items for vampires like a somewhat tasty wooden stick to grinds vampire's fangs or various utensils to cooks blood. I actually never think much about him until recently when I partner him with a grumpy little vampire named Jenna, which acts as his guardian, research assisstant and also the tester for his products. Now the professor has someone to discuss his ideas with and the vampire has someone she thinks worth protecting, I can imagine their everyday interaction better. They're main character material now.

 

[Daisie]

So I have this bone-maniac/necromancer that lugs around a coffin everywhere. Inside the coffin are 13 mini-skeletons that ready to do any of the necromancer's order, and they do the orders with such enthusiasm that they usually fight each other to prove themself as the most useful. The only time they cooperate was when they made a portable throne with their body for their evil overlord. I haven't play the necromancer again since I joined RPN but these litte guys make appearance in some of my other OCs' background.

Other than that, I also have a vampirism professor named Attenborough, first appearing as one of the main character's underling. He's passionate about making vampire's life easier and specialize in making misc items for vampires like a somewhat tasty wooden stick to grinds vampire's fangs or various utensils to cooks blood. I actually never think much about him until recently when I partner him with a grumpy little vampire named Jenna, which acts as his guardian, research assisstant and also the tester for his products. Now the professor has someone to discuss his ideas with and the vampire has someone she thinks worth protecting, I can imagine their everyday interaction better. They're main character material now.

I actually have a necromancer character that I fell in love with, too! He was only supposed to be a background character, but ended up having huge emotional depth and involvement in the story. Interesting stuff.

 

[SpectreN7]

In a Star Wars tabletop game I played, my group hijacked Darth Vader's ship. And my character may have taken a pot shot at him. How are we alive, you ask? For once, the dice were with us, and we ran like no tomorrow. xD

Anyways, after the grand theft spacecraft, we took two Storm Troopers hostage instead of outright killing them. Our face convinced them to fight for us, get room and board, and avoid a big, angry metal man.

They became part of the crew, named Ed and Eddy. They were idiots, but they grew on us. Like mold.

 

[Crayons]

I love it when this happens, and have had it many times, but at the moment I feel like I can't explain who the NPCs were or why I liked them so much. But I appreciate the thread!

One of my characters seemed to collect these kinds of NPCs, and ended up with: a low-powered but vindictive antagonist, a drinking buddy, an adopted son, and a pet duck.

 

[Corrosion]

RP that was basically an action movie on steroids and set in a world seen through the eyes of the internet.

So, anyway, main characters travel to Washington D.C. to fend off an invasion by Illuminazis (genetically engineered perfect Aryan Nazi clones who made a pact with the Illuminati and fled to the moon after WW2) who have returned returned to take their revenge (don't fuckin ask). Main characters riding in an Osprey with a bunch of US Marines.

One of them is the literal epitome of the guy who dies first in every movie. And I mean literally. His introduction has him looking at a picture of his family, while musing over the fact that he's just three days away from retirement. He's also black, and his name is Private Redd Shirts.

As you can probably tell by the other generic soldier characters with names such as Private Canon Foder and Captain X. Pendable, the Osprey they're in is shot down by enemy anti-aircraft fire, and it crashes into a building. Everyone inside dies from the impact, except the main characters, because plot armour and the fact that they're basically supersoldiers.

The characters fight through a bunch of Illuminazis, but one is taken off-guard by an assassin. However, she is suddenly saved by Private Shirts, who managed to survive the crash via black magic. He then goes on to fight alongside the main characters until he rejoins the rest of his unit, and that's the last we ever see of him.

I actually really liked RPing as him, since he's pretty much an average CoD protagonist, and I brought him back several times in various other RPs.

Another one is good old Monkee Buttes (yes, that's his name), who started off as a background character whose only purpose was to get killed in various ways and then respawn a while later in his every appearance. Basically Kenny from South Park. However, I liked his overly optimistic personality, and eventually made him the protagonist of his own RP. Which he is completely aware of, given the heavily self-aware nature of the setting. The RP in question is pretty much an parody isekai based on anime cliches and tropes, and Monkee wakes up in that world after getting hit by a truck.

He now is the leader of his own adventuring party and is on his way to becoming a true hero. Similarly the rest of his team are also background characters, but the same RP has a secondary plot that has his teammates trying to open a portal to this other world. They're all fleshed out more in this RP.

 

[Can Helsing]

In this particular rp, my character (Can) was a Hammock Witch who could teleport between worlds. She had a gigantic Hammock made of rock and water-resistant metals filled with water and her house floated on it: It was a little sentient cottage with duck legs. She named her cottage "Cotta" and she took as good care of it as it took care of her. Cotta was also special in being able to use a special and intricate door that was installed on a wall to give access to another doorway of Cotta's choosing. For example, Can will ask to go to "X" Location. Cotta opens its intricately carved door and the doorway leads to "X" Location, with the other side of the Intricate Door being the Location's door. Once closed, if the Location door is opened, it leads into its normal room.

Her neighbor (and later boyfriend) lived underwater at the bottom of Lake Hammock. He got high and he transformed another character with nanites to look like my character, who he was infatuated with. The Nanite-infested Not-Can explored Cotta, Cotta was at first pleased to have Can home, but slowly realized that this person did not act like Can, nor acknowledge Cotta like Can normally does. Little did they know that whatever Not-Can was eating was spreading the Nanites, which then slowly infected Cotta and transformed her into a child with duck legs.

Cotta was originally planned to be a short-lived character. A fun adventure of Can being able to actually hear the mind of her house voiced to her. Cotta as a house communicated only in opening and closing drawers and doors within. Now Cotta could speak and hug Can.

Can was away when Cotta transformed. One of her friends went out into the lake and retrieved Cotta, thinking she was a child unable to swim instead of just floating on the lake and splashing playfully. Can's friend was immediately recognized by Cotta and Cotta gave them the name "Glam-Glam" because that character was particularly glamorous and fun.

Unable to find Can's neighbor (Gustav), Cotta asks "Goosey Loosey?"

We all had to have a meeting OOC and discuss Can's permanent living arrangements. We couldn't turn her back into a house.

Now Cotta is an adorable duck-legged girl who is parented by Can and Gustav. Shares her mother's messy red hair, has powers to link worlds between doors or access the drawers/cupboards that were in her house form via linking the openings with the openings of a drawer or cupboard. For a knife, she would open a random drawer to show the current contents in the drawer, close it, then open it again and the contents would not be the original contents, but the contents in her intended drawer that was within her house form.

She also had a door installed on her wall, with nothing but wall behind it, opened and closed said door for two weeks, each closing of the door would make a very small wood chip fall off the door. Once it met the intricacy of the door that was within her House form, she was able to resume her transporting Doorway abilities. Jokes were often made about how the child would just open and close this door leading to nowhere for hours day.

When the house Cotta and her family were living in was infested with world-dominating-minded gelatin doppelgangers, any who happened upon Cotta became docile playmates in a Tea Party.

 

[monxmiracle]

Note, I have a horrible migraine but I still wanna write this
I actually do have several characters like that, that I have become personally invested in. Which to be fair can't be good as they are only meant to be side characters for a reason. Though, I do have two side OCs and two canon characters that I adore. Mainly because, I really was a sucker for them personality wise and I truly enjoyed the opportunity to write and roleplay as them. Plus I have a thing for these kinda misunderstood asshole characters, and awkward beans. That aside, the first OC I kinda fell for was a character of mine named Winston Coulson. He was made in the spark of the moment.

He’s a gay teen male, struggling with his masculinity and self image. While also trying to find love. Now Winston (or Winnie as I affectionately call him) was just meant to be this sorta one off character. Meaning he was supposed to be in the RP for a short time before I had to kill him off. I did plan on killing him off, but however, my friends and RP partners happened to like this cute sarcastic little bean so I kept him around. Only to grow extremely attached and protective of him. What I like about him is that one he is one of my only closeted gay characters, and two he is definitely contradictory. I like to think of him as a sourpatch kid, first he’s kinda sour at first, then he’s sweet and gone. lol .

The second OC of mine I adore is Ashton King. Ashton is the guy everyone likes to hate. He is a total asshole, and is a jerk who isn’t afraid to step on people’s hearts. Ashton’s purpose was to serve as Winston’s toxic ex. Nothing more than just a story, until I made him into an actual character. I don’t know, but I jist really like playing him and his Machievillian mindset. He’s the type of person who would rather be feared than loved. While I usually don’t like Villian characters Ashton is an exception. He was meant to be working in the RP as a side correspondent to the main villian, however essentially nearing the end of the RP he became a villian in his own right. For Ashton I would say that he is an example of the Apple not falling far from the tree seeing as his father also had some darkness, and Ashton idolized him it is not hard to see where it came from.

OCs aside now onto canons probably one of my favorite side characters on a show would be Foggy Nelson from Daredevil. I know everybody loves Matthew Murdock, I do too. But Foggy, I don’t know what it is I adore him. And I love his friendship with Matt, how even though he doesn’t particularly approve of what Matt does he still looks out for him. Plus, despite being just a side to Matt Foggy does have his amazingly badass moments like when he was talking about Ms. Cardenaz or backtalking Marci. Those moments, just got to adore him even more. Like I know, the show ain’t about Foggy but if Netflix or Marvel made one I wouldn’t mind. What makes me glad as well, as that we also got a sneak peak into Foggy’s family life. And I can only just imagine what Foggy’s life is like and it gives me so many ideas.

And last but not least we have Leopold Fitz. Now, I’m not exactly sure if Leo is a side character or a main character in Agents of SHIELD, but I do know he does appear reoccuring besides, I think the main characters on SHIELD are Coulson, Daisy, and May, but that’s just me anyways what I like about Leo is all his development throughout the seasons. In the first season he’s kinda this geeky socially awkward science kid, but by the end of six seasons he’s been damaged. Hurt, and turned into not only a man but also a monster. I just find in interesting how as the seasons progressed Leo’s character got progressively darker, showing how even the best of us have a dark side. Even those you might not expect.

Besides Leo if he doesn’t count I also really like Lance and Bobbi. I feel like a lot more could’ve been explored with those two and it’s a shame they weren’t in more episodes. I just love Bobbi and Lance’s banter, and how they just keep getting drawn back to each other. Plus I would’ve liked to see more of Bobbi, Lance and the team. There’s so much more to them, and I just am really keen on more of their story. Plus Bobbi to me is definitely interesting, as the show didn’t dive much into her story. And in the comics they just have her as Clint’s wife. Though to me, she is more than that. Which is what drew me into her. And with that, there are the side characters that I fell for^^
sorry I wrote a lot lol

 

[River Rose]

I swear, this happens to me so often. I'm really glad I'm not the only one. Anyway, I fall in love with tons of background characters. There's just something about their simple yet complex personalities that draws me to them and makes me wish that we had so much more than just a cameo or an episode here and there.

I watch Doctor Who and have been an avid fan for years, so I'm not surprised that most of the background characters I love are from Doctor Who. I personally love Strax, with his angry yet caring demeanor and tendency to make a fool of himself. To me, he's a main character, but in reality we only see him for a few full episodes. We see him grow and progress a little, turning from a character that is hateful towards humans into an almost kind sidekick. His relationship with the Doctor and his companions wasn't thoroughly explored in my opinion.

I know I joined the fandom eight years late, but the best side characters are in Merlin. I was particularly fond of Gwen's father in the few short episodes we had him in. He's very loving towards his daughter and does his best to make her happy. I wish we got more plot and storyline for his interactions with Gwen, but sadly we did not. But, while he was around, he was a very stable, easy-to-love character.

I don't have anymore right now and I feel like I'm starting to ramble. Crawling back to the cave I dragged myself out of, goodbye.

 

[Araellion]

My favourite side character has to be Rob Christian from one of my favourite RPs ever.

He's a middle aged cowboy that works in a library and always tells (probably made up) stories of his time as cowboy growing up on a ranch. He is just so kind, but gives the most horribly worded, cryptic advice.

Sadly didn't get to flesh him out a lot.

 

[ashwynne]

I know I joined the fandom eight years late, but the best side characters are in Merlin. I was particularly fond of Gwen's father in the few short episodes we had him in. He's very loving towards his daughter and does his best to make her happy. I wish we got more plot and storyline for his interactions with Gwen, but sadly we did not. But, while he was around, he was a very stable, easy-to-love character.

I don't have anymore right now and I feel like I'm starting to ramble. Crawling back to the cave I dragged myself out of, goodbye.

I have been obsessed with Merlin for so long. Having someone mention the side characters from there just makes me so happy
Gwen's father was definitely completely fantastic. Honestly, all of the Knights really gripped my heart in a special way. Some of them we really didn't get to see much of but even during their brief tenure on the show they made an impact. Hugely adored Sir Percival. And oh my gosh, Sir Elyan? He shouldn't be considered a minor character imo but he is. Still, I adore him.... I adore them all.

 

[River Rose]

I have been obsessed with Merlin for so long. Having someone mention the side characters from there just makes me so happy
Gwen's father was definitely completely fantastic. Honestly, all of the Knights really gripped my heart in a special way. Some of them we really didn't get to see much of but even during their brief tenure on the show they made an impact. Hugely adored Sir Percival. And oh my gosh, Sir Elyan? He shouldn't be considered a minor character imo but he is. Still, I adore him.... I adore them all.

I adore them all as well! I’m so glad to find someone else on here who loves Merlin and appreciates the knights. I mean, look at Sir Gwaine. He’s such a good friend to Merlin and he only got one episode to himself. One episode! I believe all the knights should get their own episodes. All of them. Well, not all of them since technically there’s hundreds, but you get what I’m saying. Like, no one even notices how much the knights do. They keep the city safe, whether they’re guarding against intruders or fighting against invaders. I am all for #KnightAppreciation. In fact, Imma make that a thing. Who’s with me?!

 

[First Rose]

Man....I'm that person who pisses off the GM by making convocation with side chars XD. I can't help it.

"You walk into the bar and find Francis, the bartender your suppossed to confront about the buried treasure. Amidst the small gossip, card duels, and (GM makes up something random) -uuh- a one-eyed magician. The bar is pretty still."

Nobody:
Me: "I want to talk to the one-eyed magician."

 

[Jannah]

I have a series of ongoing Hunger Games RP's that I have been writing with the same partner since 2014. In that time we have literally created hundreds of our own NPC's, tributes, stylists, and pretty much everyone else who would have a presence in Panem. We've had some pretty memorable ones.

Among my favourites is the little half-deaf girl from District 12 whom everyone assumed was weak, only to have her turn into a complete badass. She placed third in the games after being impaled by a career tribute. Before dying she ended up nearly decapitating her killer, killing the girl almost instantly.

Another favourite were the District 1 brothers who subsequently volunteered in back to back games. They were bloodthirsty, sadistic, and determined to do literally anything to win the games, which is precisely why I think they made such great villain characters. The first brother, Flint, even turned on his own partner and delivered her a rather gruesome death. The second, Blaze, ironically was killed the next year in a blazing inferno set alight by my own character. My character came out the victor that year(my partner and I alternate on that) and the fire incident set the stage for her lifelong pyrophobia.

There's a bunch of others too. I could honestly fill an entire thread with stories about these RP's, haha.

 

[Crayons]

I played in a really long Vampire the Masquerade game, with me having the Player Character and my partner running the story. My character Elizabeth moved to a new city, and went on a date with a male vampire who was supposed to be showing her the ropes. A female vampire, Persephone, turned up and tried to pick a fight with her because she was also dating this guy. Instead of Persephone becoming a foil for Elizabeth and a thorn in her side as the GM intended, my character persuaded her that it was the male vampire's fault for cheating on both of them, and that they should get revenge on him.

In the end my character threw Persephone into the competition for Prince of the City as a complete wild card, which no-one expected, and after a lot of hard teamwork and dirty tricks, they won. So the petty antagonist became not only the best friend but also the ruler of the city, with my character as the power behind the throne.

It was a pretty epic story all round and she was a really fun NPC!

Gotta say that my SO has made a lot of great NPCs for our games.

 

[Alexis Sparks]

I have a series of ongoing Hunger Games RP's that I have been writing with the same partner since 2014. In that time we have literally created hundreds of our own NPC's, tributes, stylists, and pretty much everyone else who would have a presence in Panem. We've had some pretty memorable ones.

Among my favourites is the little half-deaf girl from District 12 whom everyone assumed was weak, only to have her turn into a complete badass. She placed third in the games after being impaled by a career tribute. Before dying she ended up nearly decapitating her killer, killing the girl almost instantly.

Another favourite were the District 1 brothers who subsequently volunteered in back to back games. They were bloodthirsty, sadistic, and determined to do literally anything to win the games, which is precisely why I think they made such great villain characters. The first brother, Flint, even turned on his own partner and delivered her a rather gruesome death. The second, Blaze, ironically was killed the next year in a blazing inferno set alight by my own character. My character came out the victor that year(my partner and I alternate on that) and the fire incident set the stage for her lifelong pyrophobia.

There's a bunch of others too. I could honestly fill an entire thread with stories about these RP's, haha.

Have you ever tried letting random people give you characters with a complete personality and history for the Hunger Games?