So what sorts of NPCs might come aboard? This is a thread for talking about what we’d like to see.
Every trucker needs a tagalong junior character so he can play Papa Bear. For Cortex, this might be a former popsicle, or one of Lincoln’s poor prisoners, who wants to see the stars, is easily impressed, and has some kind of spunk or spark.
What are some NPC roles that might be neat to fill?
Quartermaster/Purser, someone in charge of our cargo and supplies, who can get on our case when we dip too hard into our stuff
Cook or Entertainer, someone we interact with during group downtime
The geeky scientist who can interact with our blue-collar spacers
The military type who thinks they can tell us what to do
Bearing in mind Mike’s note during the post-game discussion about Connections not being shipmates, and our paucity of in-game resources to acquire Companions, I’ve been reluctant to put too much thought into this.
On the other hand, the Wayfinder is large enough to hold, well, passengers. So there can be NPCs (possibly even occasionally encountered shipmates) to a degree. As long as we don’t get into an Avenue 5 sort of situation.
Of course, passengers aren’t explorers. So that potentially limits / channels our activity some. A bureaucrat from the CCC (or from Astrid, for that matter), wanting to control where we go … someone wanting to spec out new trade routes … a Seeker wanting to piggy-back off of Bleys’ success / opened opportunities …
I’d been thinking, originally, of one of the Shackleton folk, someone who really wants to see what’s out there, perhaps inspired by something Bleys said (a nice blow-back from his miracle speech last time). I’m trying think of how that fits into the game mechanics in a way that’s not window dressing.
