Welcome to the Dog Days of Podcasting, 2022 season. This year we’re taking part by creating 30 NPCs to use with table top gaming, writing projects, or other creative endeavors. These NPCs are system agnostic, but may include minor suggestions for how to run the characters with a party of adventures and explorers. They are written with a specific genre in mind, but will include notation for how to use them within at least two other realms.
That said, let’s get started.
Today, we’re visiting The Spectral Frequency, an NPC designed for a little light Sci-fi mixed with Fantasy campaigns.
The Spectral Frequency
XIX
Organic life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. There’s danger, there’s food needs, there’s weather, there’s, well there’s a lot. But here? On the other side of the glass? No, it’s safe. Just the warm glow to keep my hearty and healthy. Look at these cheeks? Perfect and ready to go on air. Wouldn’t trade it back for a second. Yeah, I know I only see you lot and maybe a few dozen others who can see what I really am, but I’m fine.
Really.
They might have had a life before their airwave conversion, but they don’t want to talk about it. They’re happy now, that’s the point. Sure, the shows they step into treat them like guest stars, but they’re mostly a wanderer, exploring the various airwaves of television, radio, and beyond once the world starts dabbling into more varied way of showing media. And they like it this way, a digital wayfarer, adrift on the Television dream.
The Spectral Light can glean information from any screen, scope, or viewer that can see the magical world of television. While they spend time as a tourist in the realm of visual fantasy, they still care about what’s going on out there, as that often informs what goes on inside of the realms. They’ll want to communicate to willing friends, especially if the viewer has some good show ideas.
In modern sci-fi, they’re the digital dreamer, Mike Teavee with a bit of influence, whimsey, and odd powers in their shows.
In the far future they’re the living hologram, a specter of the virtual dancing through the world. Here they can manifest, create light illusions, and participate in both realms.
In fantasy, they’re the dream talker, slipping into the imaginations of slumber and seeing what others yearn for.
A voice calls out from the snow of a dead channel. It seeks more than mere witness. Like a performer at the globe, audience participation is not only desired, it’s required.
The audio portion of this episode is shared on a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Sounds and music are provided by Syrinscape’s Casino Soundset. Please see the website for individual song and sound usage. The text for this episode is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Have a good time with the character, and let me know if you use them for something.
Until tomorrow.