To all DM's (and Players) during a campaign have your players ever fixated on a random background NPC? Making your come up with a name, traits, class, backstory and more on the spot? If so describe the suddenly very interesting NPC and his instantly created backstory to meet the players high expectations of this character....

In my case I was running a Mutants and Masterminds 2E campaign. The party was looking for some information about a Assassin NPC that was hired to kill them.. who was he, what were his powers, who hired him etc.. So after some failed attempts and dead ends they decided to look for a seedy bar where they assumed criminals would hang out. No problem, we were using theater of the mind and i described what they were looking for a hole in the wall bar, flickering bar sign, busted and boarded up windows, a dirty and sticky bar and floor, shards of glass and broken bottle on the floor.

I explained that there was a bartender behind the bar ( ready to make up a name and history of the bartender because.. well the bartender will certainly need a name because they will obviously talk to him!). I also mentioned that there were several tough looking criminal types in the bar... and a slovenly man wearing dress pants and a semi stained shirt a little overweight and with a small black book. upon investigation i told the party that from what the investigating player could see there seemed to be names, $ numbers . i explained that from what they could see this person was a Bookie..

Well now that person was the most important NPC ever... so one player stole his wallet, upon learning his name and current address as far as they knew they went to said apartment. unable to unlock the multiple locks this seedy criminal bookie needed on his door they tore the door off the hinges, searched his unkempt apartment and decided to lay in wait for him... after they re-installed his door (poorly).

When the Bookie returned home i decided that because they re-installed the door poorly the door fell to the ground as soon as the Bookie tried to unlock it. they chased him down ( which was easy as he was mid 40's overweight, drank and smoked). they grilled him for information... which he didn't have..

In the end one player decided to work for the bookie as a body guard, hoping to work his way up the criminal ladder until he met a mob/crime boss who would know more about the Assassin that was hired to kill them.