Best Use of the Femme Fatale NPC

[Liam Devlin]

Okay, I've seen the munchkin board and best glorious death (PC or NPC). I'm a GM who likes a good twisted convoluted plot to toss out amidst the carnage as well as the next. Hows about we hear from all out there in cyber space on the list of the BEST use of the Femme fatale NPC YOU experienced (or utilized)as player or ref (gentleman for those over the pond).

 

[GBoyett]

Originally posted by Liam Devlin:
Okay, I've seen the munchkin board and best glorious death (PC or NPC). I'm a GM who likes a good twisted convoluted plot to toss out amidst the carnage as well as the next. Hows about we hear from all out there in cyber space on the list of the BEST use of the Femme fatale NPC YOU experienced (or utilized)as player or ref (gentleman for those over the pond).

Funny you mention that. A female detached scout was used to seduce and help in kidnapping a PC because of a case of mistaken identity. After an evening of dining and night manuvers (heh heh

) a group of S3 imposters were to subdue him.

The imposters all had special psionics that can detect the psionic gifted agents of thier enemies. The PC's abilities both sensed and triggered the psionics of the imposter, which caused this group to assume he was an enemy agent.

Anyway. The team's approach wakes up the PC. He naturally gets up, grabs his swords (His best weapons skills), and prepares to meet the team. Meanwhile the female, who is radio linked with the team, is prepared to stun baton the PC. The plan is either she will stun him or the team will tranq. Either way they figure the two front attack will succeed.

The PC caught the female ready to stun him and knocks her out of the way. The team, monitoring the room with the scout's radio link, breaks in. The end result, two dead S3 imposters (one a suicide to prevent capture and the other from a sword thru the chest) and remaining S3 and scout tranqed.

 

[Liam Devlin]

Nice one! Reminds me of the song "Whiskey in the Jar" (no-

-not the Metallica horible remake, the Makem & Clancy version, thank ye very much!). Right down to the sword play in the boudoir!

Next!

 

[Liam Devlin]

Gee, guys, (& Lady, if LisaGB be about), I didnae think this would be a tough one! GMs's out there, is George the only one who's utilized this stereotypical NPC? C'Mon, I can recall a half dozen written adventures where the damsel in distress WASN"T! (Not that I played in all of them, but some of you have. I KNOW YOU'RE OUT there!)
Okay--I'll be fair and give you one of mine:

Two PC's want to get closer to this "lady" (very loose term here, ye must understand) pirate lass, in order to get at the secret of where the hidden Corsair hangout in the subsector is. Trouble is, she has Bodyguards, and isn't the "approachable" type in a crowded starport bar.
So they hatch this plan, buy rounds for the house, and start this fight ( a nasty row for those over the pond)with some plastered Scouts & ex-Navy types, and when asked "who started this" by some grizzled old Marine Gunny Sgt, point at her guards, who are throwing folks off their path as she's makin an exit.
The GySGt hollers the "Imperial Semper Fi", and begins to demolish these two blokes something terrible, and every Marine in the place past and present enlisted gloms on.(Mayhem and ruckus ensue!)
To make things more one sided, the one PC with a snub gun tranqs the biggest Thug, so the other one is really hemmed in. They Swoop thru over a few tables and"rescue" the Pirate gal, and hustle her out of there, to what they hope is safety, and a chance to get in good with her.
The bad news of it all was, the plan worked up until that point, and she Thanked them each by saying she needed a 'safe place to stay."
They took her back to their ship. She didn't mind sharing, and neither did the PCs...
They woke up the next day in the Landing pad, covered in backblasted dust, and their Scout ship as gone.
The femme fatale was Honshu of the Blue Moon gang, out of Pasdaruu. They discovered later she was a telepath too..

 

[GBoyett]

Originally posted by Liam Devlin:
Gee, guys, (& Lady, if LisaGB be about), I didnae think this would be a tough one! GMs's out there, is George the only one who's utilized this stereotypical NPC? C'Mon, I can recall a half dozen written adventures where the damsel in distress WASN"T! (Not that I played in all of them, but some of you have. I KNOW YOU'RE OUT there!)
Okay--I'll be fair and give you one of mine:

Two PC's want to get closer to this "lady" (very loose term here, ye must understand) pirate lass, in order to get at the secret of where the hidden Corsair hangout in the subsector is. Trouble is, she has Bodyguards, and isn't the "approachable" type in a crowded starport bar.
So they hatch this plan, buy rounds for the house, and start this fight ( a nasty row for those over the pond)with some plastered Scouts & ex-Navy types, and when asked "who started this" by some grizzled old Marine Gunny Sgt, point at her guards, who are throwing folks off their path as she's makin an exit.
The GySGt hollers the "Imperial Semper Fi", and begins to demolish these two blokes something terrible, and every Marine in the place past and present enlisted gloms on.(Mayhem and ruckus ensue!)
To make things more one sided, the one PC with a snub gun tranqs the biggest Thug, so the other one is really hemmed in. They Swoop thru over a few tables and"rescue" the Pirate gal, and hustle her out of there, to what they hope is safety, and a chance to get in good with her.
The bad news of it all was, the plan worked up until that point, and she Thanked them each by saying she needed a 'safe place to stay."
They took her back to their ship. She didn't mind sharing, and neither did the PCs...
They woke up the next day in the Landing pad, covered in backblasted dust, and their Scout ship as gone.
The femme fatale was Honshu of the Blue Moon gang, out of Pasdaruu. They discovered later she was a telepath too..

Thanks good. Which era was this adventure?

I'm quite surprised myself that no one has responded. I figure everyone has ran the Lady in White from 76 Patrons, which was used as an example in several box sets and gaming examples.

Then again I figure everyone has business (yard work, alumni days, DYI, etc) as the forum traffic seems low compared to weekdays.

Well I'm off to prepare for tonight's game. The group is going to help a taskforce of S3, Imperial Marines, and Daryen Special Arm to take out a rogue Scout Intel operation.

 

[lisagb]

NPC? I can tell ya all about PC femme fatale's!

Hey practically every character I play is to a greater or lesser extent..nothing like being stereotyped huh?

I remeber one time the GM used me to play an NPC femme. The characters were acting as a cadre for a commando company and were heading off to liberate this mine from rebel troops on a balkanised world, when they see an air/raft come crashing down.
They investigate to find my character still alive but unconcious the rest of the crew dead an the air/raft about to go phoom!

So they drag me out an head off on mission.
Big battle at the mine, the rebels were better than intelligence had given them to expect, and were using ex Imp merc's.
The Major in charge of the commando's send the PC's off on recon while he an his men secure the place.
When the PC's return they figure sommut aint right an sneak into the mine to find their former comrades lying in ambush an the Major gone compeletly nuts tryin to find sommut.
Big battle, PC's run away.
By now my character is awake an tells the PC's she works for an Imperial aid agency an that an aid station isnt to far away. So off they head to safety tryin to shake off their pursuers.
Arrive at aid station..safe!!
Wrong!
Full of very pissed off rebels.
PC's captured.
My character is a merc in employ of the rebels an she is very eager to learn where her air/raft crashed, there is something of importance on board an she wants it back the same thing the Major of the commando's was keen to find at the mine.
So off we trot to the crash site. The PC's are left under armed guard while she heads off to the wreckage.
PC's over power their guards an arrive on scene jus as a G-Carrier is lifting off.
One PC grabs a RPG and pops a rocket into the G-Carrier.
Boom!
Of my character or the item she was so keen to retrieve there is no sign. (she was a zho agent an managed to teleport out before the rocket hit..as to the item...who knows what it actualy was?!!)

 

[Uncle Bob]

Role-playing with a femme-fatale is a problem if your group is
a) All male
and b) homophobic.

"Roll playing" doesn't really have the same ... ambiance.

One guy did frequently play a female character, which always bothered me a little (think of a taller Sean Bean playing a Rebecca de Morney character), but it turned out the character was a lesbian...

 

[lisagb]

Bob funny you should say that cos I used to play with a guy who liked female characters, funny how they were always lesbians.
I started playing male characters, that scuppered him for a bit.
Then he played a straight female character, funny how she came onto my character. Very odd experience being the bloke in a relationship.(fictional or otherwise)
Ya can get used to anything mind.

 

[Liam Devlin]

George Boyett said-"Thanks good. Which era was this adventure?
________________________
FYI-That was part of "Hard Times", Honshu Praetoria, the mistress/ current wife of the infamous Indro "the Lightless" of Pasdaruu/Diaspora infamy (out of Campobello asteroid system).--Liam
___________________________

LisaGB said-"I remeber one time the GM used me to play an NPC femme. The characters were acting as a cadre for a commando company and were heading off to liberate this mine from rebel troops on a balkanised world, when they see an air/raft come crashing down.
They investigate to find my character still alive but unconcious the rest of the crew dead an the air/raft about to go phoom!

So they drag me out an head off on mission.
Big battle at the mine, the rebels were better than intelligence had given them to expect, and were using ex Imp merc's.
The Major in charge of the commando's send the PC's off on recon while he an his men secure the place.
When the PC's return they figure sommut aint right an sneak into the mine to find their former comrades lying in ambush an the Major gone compeletly nuts tryin to find sommut.
Big battle, PC's run away.
By now my character is awake an tells the PC's she works for an Imperial aid agency an that an aid station isnt to far away. So off they head to safety tryin to shake off their pursuers.
Arrive at aid station..safe!!
Wrong!
Full of very pissed off rebels.
PC's captured.
My character is a merc in employ of the rebels an she is very eager to learn where her air/raft crashed, there is something of importance on board an she wants it back the same thing the Major of the commando's was keen to find at the mine.
So off we trot to the crash site. The PC's are left under armed guard while she heads off to the wreckage.
PC's over power their guards an arrive on scene jus as a G-Carrier is lifting off.
One PC grabs a RPG and pops a rocket into the G-Carrier.
Boom!
Of my character or the item she was so keen to retrieve there is no sign. (she was a zho agent an managed to teleport out before the rocket hit..as to the item...who knows what it actualy was?!!) "
__________________________
That's worth a dozen roses from the "Wild Irish Rose" rogue, lass
Hugz N Kisses back atchya!
______________________________
George said-"One guy did frequently play a female character, which always bothered me a little (think of a taller Sean Bean playing a Rebecca de Morney character), but it turned out the character was a lesbian...
_____________________________________________
Met fellas who did that in AD & D.
______________________________________________
LisaGB said-"Bob funny you should say that cos I used to play with a guy who liked female characters, funny how they were always lesbians.
I started playing male characters, that scuppered him for a bit.
Then he played a straight female character, funny how she came onto my character. Very odd experience being the bloke in a relationship.(fictional or otherwise)
Ya can get used to anything mind."
______________________________________
Perhaps he felt more comfortable approaching you across the table "in character" than "in person".

 

[GBoyett]

Originally posted by Liam Devlin:
______________________________
George said-"One guy did frequently play a female character, which always bothered me a little (think of a taller Sean Bean playing a Rebecca de Morney character), but it turned out the character was a lesbian...

Actually Uncle Bob said that one.

Though guy in a group had a female PC/NPC, that was a sexy, but deadly mechwarrior. We're talking about major paranoia including sleeping on the floor behind a sofa.

One time while driving thru a desert, the character met a road warrior gang. She killed the leader and several gang member while wearing this cute yellow sundress and the purse with a heavy sidearm.

The only problem she had was how to the blood out of the dress. Fortunately the rest stop had the real lemon juice that took care of the problem.

 

[Liam Devlin]

My bad George. Gotta shoot my Vilani editor in chief again(left kneecap this time!)

 

[phydaux]

For my Merc campaigns, I usually run this all-female merc company called the Death's Head Battalion, aka the Stygian Bitches or the Death's Head Dykes.

I use these "guys" as the major rival for my PC's merc company. I try and intro the Bitches to the PCs by suckering one of them into a bare knuckles boxing match with the company HtH combat instructor.

I'll usually have one NPC merc who isn't so "dedicated" to "company life." I'll hold her out as a possible love interest for one of the PCs (I try to pick the best role player in the group for the part).

it works well, because then there's a conduit for information to flow between the two groups, lots of built in conflict ("Hey, is this MAN bothering you?") and if the two groups do go at it together, the PCs have incentive to hold back.

"Great shot, Harry. I hope you didn't just kill my girlfriend..."

So far the Bitches have shown up in three campaigns, I've goaded players into boxing matches twice and managed to hook up a PC all of ONCE.

I guess I'm not a good of a GM as I thought.

 

[Liam Devlin]

george wrote:"Though guy in a group had a female PC/NPC, that was a sexy, but deadly mechwarrior. We're talking about major paranoia including sleeping on the floor behind a sofa.

One time while driving thru a desert, the character met a road warrior gang. She killed the leader and several gang member while wearing this cute yellow sundress and the purse with a heavy sidearm.

The only problem she had was how to the blood out of the dress. Fortunately the rest stop had the real lemon juice that took care of the problem.
______________________________________
AHa, a LisaGB no nonsense gal PC. Kills baddies, and can get the stains out of her dress. Luv it!
_______________________________________
Phydaux wrote-" For my Merc campaigns, I usually run this all-female merc company called the Death's Head Battalion, aka the Stygian Bitches or the Death's Head Dykes.

I use these "guys" as the major rival for my PC's merc company. I try and intro the Bitches to the PCs by suckering one of them into a bare knuckles boxing match with the company HtH combat instructor.

I'll usually have one NPC merc who isn't so "dedicated" to "company life." I'll hold her out as a possible love interest for one of the PCs (I try to pick the best role player in the group for the part).

it works well, because then there's a conduit for information to flow between the two groups, lots of built in conflict ("Hey, is this MAN bothering you?") and if the two groups do go at it together, the PCs have incentive to hold back.

"Great shot, Harry. I hope you didn't just kill my girlfriend..."

So far the Bitches have shown up in three campaigns, I've goaded players into boxing matches twice and managed to hook up a PC all of ONCE.

I guess I'm not a good of a GM as I thought."
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Thats an interesting twist, the all female Merc group, as rivals of your Pcs. Good example, phydaux!
I did something similar with a Solomani Far Trader ship, with the surviving letters of the former name The BIg Rock Candy Mountain as SS TeBiRoCaMon, with an all female crew-of various sophonts: A pair of Invitro twins (The Skipper and ChiefEngineer--one red haired (skipper) and one ash blonde (CHief engineer); four Aslan Ladies (two merchants, one astrogator, one sensors officer);4 Aquan-Scanians-a minor human race of Gushmege(the gunners); a Tapmazali-human Steward/Dr.; 2 Vargr "ladies",(1 mechanic, one merchant); and a Dolphin(female) Chief astrogator-Co-pilot.
It was a Free Trader ship, with the tradition of an all female crew. Men could be passengers only (bio-freight).

 

[PapaGolfWhiskey]

Femme Fatale..

hm.. 20 years ago I had NPC atagonist who was a Zho Spy seducing one of the PC's. What was funny is they actualy rescued her from the Gaesh. AFTER they learned who she really was.

Does anyone remember the supplement 'Startown Encounters?' -- I had a PC decide to hook with well a hooker only to learn (as a result of an honest die roll) that she was an undercover Vice Officer.

That's about it for my Femme Fatale list. Not a lot of real females in my group and... I donno having a guy who looks more like Phil Foglio's 'Buck Godot' Trying to be a delicate 'elf maiden' (or whatever) never seems to work long term.

 

[Liam Devlin]

Garf wrote-"hm.. 20 years ago I had NPC atagonist who was a Zho Spy seducing one of the PC's. What was funny is they actualy rescued her from the Gaesh. AFTER they learned who she really was.

Does anyone remember the supplement 'Startown Encounters?' -- I had a PC decide to hook with well a hooker only to learn (as a result of an honest die roll) that she was an undercover Vice Officer."
________________________
Those are two great examples Garf. Thanks for sharing. These are precisely what I was looking for when I placed the topic!

 

[Uncle Bob]

Originally posted by George Boyett:

The only problem she had was how to the blood out of the dress. Fortunately the rest stop had the real lemon juice that took care of the problem.

It wasn't Traveller, but in a Flashing Blades (Three Musketeers era) game I was running a female player determined to seduce and murder a Spanish Grandee. She did it but she missed the attack roll and he took a minute or two to die. There was a lot of blood. Maybe I overdid the description, because she never killed anyone else.

[Liam, this may not mean much to anybody else, but among the ten or so players in that game I had
A Count
A Viscount
Two knights
Two Masters of the Pelican
Two Masters of the Laurel
A Mistress of the Laurel
Three Barons
and Five White Scarfs
oh, and a PhD, a LLD, and at least two M.A.s in History.
(OK, one of the Barony's and one MA was mine.)

Somehow I kept them all happy in a historical 17th century France. I am still proud of that.

 

[Liam Devlin]

Uncle Bob, I KNOW what a task THAT alone musta been! (bows). Sirrah, thou hast out done me yet again. May I aspire to such accuracy in the future (besides misquoting you and george Boyett in transposition!).

(Oh well, back to the salt mines!)
And I didnae say to the rest of you Lurking out there, it had to be traveller (though UB's example isn't, its still top notch stuff!)
Thanks UB.

Next??

 

[Uncle Bob]

Liam, I assume yoyu meant no disrespect, but "sirrah" is a form of address used for a child or a social inferior.

So smile when you say that.

That game was the most fun I ever ran, but it was a challenge. Getting the setting right with real NPCs were bad enough, but I had fighters who had been swordfighting together for real for up to twenty years. Even with honestly rolled characters they were unstoppable.

 

[Liam Devlin]

UB sez-"Liam, I assume yoyu meant no disrespect, but "sirrah" is a form of address used for a child or a social inferior.

So smile when you say that. "

______________________________________

Your Excellency knows I meant none

, nor shall I ever try to give offense in any manner, in anything resembling less than complete civility. Switching from period speech to Trav is a bit sticky for me. I shall endeavour not to demean goode King's Englishe onward.
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"That game was the most fun I ever ran, but it was a challenge. Getting the setting right with real NPCs were bad enough, but I had fighters who had been swordfighting together for real for up to twenty years. Even with honestly rolled characters they were unstoppable. '
_____________________________
Having two Army Rangers in my FTCampbell gamers made for interesting debates on tactics, etc. Not wuite the caliber you had to remain on par with, but the devil, I agree is in the details. The gamers liked that I fleshed out stuff both in Trav & AD & D. (Had to, when the pernicous readers THOUGHT they could read a module and i not know it. But thats a topic for another time

 

[Liam Devlin]

Now where were we? Ah yes, the femme fatale. C'mon guys, you've been snookered/bamboozled/seduced/ taken to the cleaners by em, or GM's you've utilized these ladies in plots before. george already mentioned 76 Patrons..Wheres the CT crowd?GT vets? ANyone else from MT? TNE?