I'm doing a tabletop campaign based in Arabel right now, I don't use alot of the canon NPCs (mostly because I know a few of them). I use the excuse that the crime/monster/whatnot problems are getting so bad that they need adventurers to help. My first adventure was a major thieves' gang had a stranglehold on the town.
If you guys need story ideas, I'm your man...if you can excuse my weirdness.