Introducing Luna Moonshadow, the AI Generated Witch

At my day job, my work is increasingly trying to adapt to AI generative techniques. I am not going to go into any details here about that. Suffice it to say that about 20% of my day is given over to AI now. 

I am coming into today's post with about four+ months of doing nothing but deep diving into all sorts of AI tools.  I decided to turn these powerful tools over to what is essentially one of my bread-and-butter topics here; creating new witch characters.

Now before I go on here, I want to state this unequivocally. I have no desire to use AI-generated text in any future blog posts unless it is clearly stated (like this one), and NO desire to put any generated text into my books. 

It's not that I have issues with AI or on moral grounds. I just believe that people like to buy my stuff because it is my stuff; written by me. Having used these tools, you all can go out and do this on your own. You don't need me for that.

But today's post is about seeing just what these powerful tools can do.

For today's post, I am using the tools ChatGPT, Google Bard, and MidJourney. I choose these three because they are right now the most powerful at what they do. Let's see if they can replace me.

Today's experiment. Can these tools create a new witch character with a background, art, and, better still, D&D stats?

I asked both Chat GPT and Bard to generate a legendary witch on par with Circe, Medea, Morgan LeFey, and other mytho-historical witches. I also asked the same of Bard.  Once I got these, I then copied and pasted text into MidJourney to produce an image of this witch. 

Here are the results.

Luna Moonshadow

From ChatGPT:

Born during the Dark Ages in a small village nestled deep in the woods, Luna was known for her mysterious aura and captivating beauty.

From a young age, Luna exhibited a natural talent for magic, drawing power from the moon and the stars. She honed her skills in secret, practicing ancient and forbidden spells that she discovered in ancient tomes hidden in the depths of the forest. As she grew older, her powers grew stronger, and she became known for her ability to control the elements and manipulate time itself.

Luna's reputation as a witch spread far and wide, and many sought her counsel and assistance. She was revered by some as a wise and benevolent witch, using her powers to heal the sick and protect the innocent. However, others feared her power and saw her as a threat to their beliefs and way of life.

In history, Luna Moonshadow played a pivotal role in a conflict known as the "War of the Witches." This was a dark period in history when witches and sorcerers were hunted down and persecuted by the ruling powers. Luna was a staunch advocate for the rights of witches, leading a rebellion against the oppression they faced. Her mastery of magic and strategic prowess led her to become a formidable leader in the battle against the witch hunters.

Despite facing numerous challenges and betrayals, Luna's unwavering determination and bravery inspired others to join her cause. She used her magical abilities to defend her fellow witches and fight for their freedom. Her legend grew as tales of her exploits spread, and she became a symbol of resistance against tyranny.

Ultimately, Luna Moonshadow's efforts led to a turning point in history, as the tide of the war shifted in favor of the witches. Her leadership and sacrifices paved the way for a new era of acceptance and tolerance towards witches and their magical abilities. Luna's legacy endured, and she became a revered figure in history, celebrated as a powerful and influential witch who fought for justice and equality for her fellow witches, leaving a lasting impact on the world of magic.

Not bad. Maybe a bit clichéd. So I asked it to generate "Dungeons & Dragons stats" for her.

Again, ChatGPT: 

Character Name: Luna Moonshadow
Race: Elf
Class: Sorcerer
Background: Folk Hero
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Ability Scores:
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 16
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 18
Proficiencies:

Saving Throws: Constitution, Charisma
Skills: Arcana, Persuasion, Medicine, Nature
Armor: None
Weapons: Daggers, Quarterstaffs, Darts, Slings
Features and Abilities:

Sorcerer's Spellcasting: Luna can cast spells using Charisma as her spellcasting ability, and she knows a number of spells from the Sorcerer spell list.

Font of Magic: Luna has access to sorcery points, which she can use to fuel her metamagic abilities or to convert into additional spell slots.

Metamagic: Luna can use her sorcery points to manipulate her spells, choosing from options such as Twin Spell, Quickened Spell, or Subtle Spell, among others.

Fey Ancestry: Being an Elf, Luna has advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and she can't be put to sleep by magical means.

Folk Hero Background: Luna is well-respected among her fellow witches and is seen as a hero for her role in the War of the Witches. She has proficiency in Animal Handling and gains a set of artisan's tools.

Equipment:
Quarterstaff
Component pouch
Explorer's pack
Common clothes
A pouch containing 15 gold pieces

Spells Known:
Cantrips: Eldritch Blast, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, Ray of Frost
1st Level Spells: Shield, Sleep, Charm Person, Thunderwave
2nd Level Spells: Invisibility, Misty Step, Scorching Ray
3rd Level Spells: Fireball, Counterspell, Fly

Luna Moonshadow is a powerful sorcerer with a keen understanding of magic and a reputation as a folk hero. Her abilities as a sorcerer and her determination to fight for the rights of witches make her a formidable and respected character in any Dungeons & Dragons campaign.

Well...not exactly right, but not bad for an AI. It defaulted to some strange version of D&D 5e. I ran the same thing in Google's Bard:

Race: Human
Class: Warlock
Background: Sage
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Strength: 8 (+0)
Dexterity: 14 (+2)
Constitution: 12 (+1)
Intelligence: 16 (+3)
Wisdom: 14 (+2)
Charisma: 18 (+4)

Hit Points: 12 (1d8 + 2)
Armor Class: 12 (studded leather)
Speed: 30 ft.

Skills: Arcana +6, Deception +8, History +6, Insight +6, Investigation +6, Nature +6, Perception +6, Persuasion +8, Prestidigitation +6, Stealth +4

Senses: darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16

Languages: Common, Elvish

Equipment: a dagger, a component pouch, a book of spells, a set of common clothes, and a traveler's clothes

Spellcasting: Morrigan is a 1st-level warlock. She knows the following warlock spells:
Cantrips (0-level): light, mage hand, prestidigitation
1st level (4 slots): hex, magic missile, shield

Luna's Other Abilities:
Shapechanger. Luna can use her action to polymorph into a crow or raven, or back into her true form. She can remain in her alternate form for up to 1 hour. Any equipment she is wearing or carrying melds into her new form. She reverts to her true form if she dies, falls unconscious, or chooses to do so (no action required).

Witch Sight. Luna can see innately into the Ethereal Plane. She can see invisible creatures on the Ethereal Plane, and she can see into the Border Ethereal as if it were lightly obscured.

Fey Presence. Luna has advantage on Charisma (Deception, Intimidation, Performance, Persuasion) checks against humanoids. She can use her action to frighten humanoids that can see her within 30 feet of her. Each frightened humanoid must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC 14) or be frightened of Morrigan for 1 minute. A frightened creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Not too dissimilar, but I like it a bit better. Again, D&D 5e and Bard told me it grabbed all this data from the 5e d20 SRD. So that was a nice touch, really. 

My next test was can it do the same thing if I specified AD&D 1st Edition.  The results were pretty interesting and surprising.

Certainly! Here's a character sheet for Luna Moonshadow in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition:

Name: Luna Moonshadow
Class: Witch
Race: Elf
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Level: 10

Ability Scores:
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 16
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 10
Charisma: 18

Saving Throws:
Paralyzation/Poison/Death Magic: 10
Rod/Staff/Wand: 12
Petrification/Polymorph: 11
Breath Weapon: 13
Spell: 14

Hit Points: 55
Armor Class: 6 (Leather Armor)

Weapons:
Quarterstaff: 1d6
Dagger: 1d4

Equipment:
Quarterstaff
Dagger
Component pouch
Backpack
10 torches
Bedroll
Rations (1 week)
Waterskin
Healing potions (2)
Spellbook

Spells:
1st Level: Charm Person, Detect Magic, Light, Sleep, Magic Missile
2nd Level: Invisibility, Levitate, Web, Mirror Image, Scorching Ray
3rd Level: Fireball, Lightning Bolt, Fly, Counterspell, Dispel Magic

Special Abilities:
Familiar: Luna has a familiar in the form of a black raven named Shadow, who aids her in her spellcasting and grants her additional abilities.
Witchcraft: Luna has access to various witchcraft abilities, such as brewing potions, divination, and the ability to curse or bless others.

Luna Moonshadow is a skilled and experienced witch who has honed her craft through years of study and practice. Her expertise in spellcasting, combined with her wit and resourcefulness, make her a formidable ally in any AD&D 1st Edition campaign. Her reputation as a folk hero and her dedication to fighting for the rights of witches further add depth and intrigue to her character.

OK! It's not a perfect write-up by any means, BUT it is surprisingly close. 

I then dumped all of this into MidJourney and had it render out a witch for me based on the descriptions.  That is the art you see here.

What To Do With This?

I am sure of one thing here. I am not out of a job just yet. Luna is a lot of fun, but there is not much to her. Well, not yet anyway.

Since I generated every aspect of her via AI tools, I am releasing her into the public domain. Not that I have to, she already was there by means of how she was made, but this particular combination of all of this text and imagery is unique. So I am releasing that. 

What does this mean? It means you are all free to take her and use her as you like. 

Put her into your games. Make her an NPC. Hell put her in a book and publish it and make a lot of money. You don't even need to tell me about it, but I would like to hear about it, though. If you kill her out of spite in your games because you don't like AI, well, I'd rather not hear about it, but you do you.

I'll tweak her myself later using my own witch rules. Based on both versions, I would make her half-elf and, given some of the other material generated, make her Patron the Morrigan. I do love that "War of the Witches" bit above too. I'll have to work that in.

I can see a lot with her now that I have been doing this. AI may have been the ground she grew in, but the seed was mine, and how I take it from here on out will be mine as well. 

Or yours.

I'll put this at the end again for the good serial position effect.

I will not use any AI generative text in any published book. Also, I will not use any AI generative text in any blog post unless I clearly mark it.

You see the "AI" label below? That is how you will know, BUT I will also clearly indicate it.

100 Days of Halloween: Witches and Bats

Halloween is coming...in a couple of months, but you are going to need to be ready and here is something to help with that.

Witches and Bats

These papercraft minis to print and cut out.  You get 6 wicked witches, 4 giant bats and 1 small bat swarm. There is a preview on the DriveThruRPG page.

I do not own a Silhouette/Craftrobo cutter, I just printed them out on a laser printer and made little stands for them.  I use them as part of a village of witches.  My kids have learned that "paper minis" are NPCs that don't interact much while "plastic minis" are main NPCs.  So of course they want to talk to all the paper minis!  At least these ones are interesting. 

One page at $2.95 but that is fine really, I don't think art has to follow the same rules I use for reviewing other materials.

Do I use these with my War of the Witch Queens?  Absolutely. I need a lot of witches to populate the Tredicim (the gathering of Witches) and these are great to fill out the ranks.

I mix them with Ghostly Spirits, Demons, Devils and Imps, Scarecrows and Jack-O-Lanterns (a favorite), Evil Cultists, and Gothic Statues for a full-on Halloween Village feel.

100 Days of Halloween: 1,000,000 Witches

 Two different products from two different publishers that aim to do similar things. But combined?  Oh I may have found something rather amazing here.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

100 Witches

PDF. 19 pages. Color cover and pages. Black & white art.  $1.99.

This book has 100 different witches with names and a paragraph for their background.  Need a quick NPC witch? Roll a d100 and you will have one. There are no stat blocks, just the names and backgrounds.  But that is exactly what they adveritse, so we are in great shape really.

10,000 Witches

PDF, 1 page, no art. $1.50.

Another one of Lee's Lists products. This one features two d100 tables, one of names and the other of titles or honorifics.  So a roll of 23 and 85 produces "Isadora the Bald."

What it lacks in length it makes up for in versatility.  You can in fact create 10,000 different witches here. 

--

Now how can I get 1,000,000 witches? Take both products and run your generation methods; a 3d100. The first d100 gives you the name, the second d100 gives you the title honorific, and the last d100 you use to get the backstory.  100x100x100 or 100³ or 1,000,000 witches.

Combine this with a product like Build a Witch and you can create a nearly endless supply of witches.

100 Days of Halloween: Build A Witch

If you are starting to think I went on to Itch.io and bought everything witch-related...well you would be mostly right.  I didn't buy everything...just a lot.  Today's item was from that.

Build a Witch

This product says exactly what I am planning to use it for; not as a game in and of itself, but as an aid for building witch characters for any RPG.  

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

The PDF is 21 pages, comes with a color (ish) and a printable version.  There is also a file on just the character section.  All for $3.00.  That's about 14 cents a page, but there is a bit of blank space due to layout. One title page, one table of contents page and one font attribution page leave 18 pages of content, 8 of which are pregenerated characters.  There is no art other than the cauldron pictured above.

The file is landscape, so shows up better on your screen, but if you want to use in on an iPad you'll need to turn of rotation.  

The pdf covers various questions that can be asked or random answers used (1d8, 1d12 and 1d30 are most common). 

You start out by choosing a name and gender for the witch.  Couple of things. I often like to choose their name last, once I get a feel for who they are.  Sometime the names jump out other times they don't.  This list is nice, but hardly long enough.

Gender is next.  I like the idea that Gender could be something like "The sound of waves crashing on the beach" yeah great! I can work with that. But I am unsure how to play that. Also, there are genders listed here and there genders mentioned in the sample characters. None of these lists match.  The sample characters are the pretty traditional "male", "female", and "non-binary."  Don't dangle "Wrath and revenge" and "The void" and not follow up with it.

There are some tables. Great. Everyone loves a random table. There are Traits (1-8) *Note: at no point does the author say "roll a 1d8" that is my interpretation of the rules.  Backgrounds (1-12), Quirks and Knacks (1-12), Special Items and Trinkets (1-12), and some question prompts (30 of these).

Ok. I like all of that.  Every bit. I would scribble all of these on a character sheet whether I am playing D&D or Buffy or Mage.  A few little nitpicks though.

Layout.  I understand the desire to use landscape, but the layout used does not favor it.  Also, tables are broken by pages, which often can't be helped, but start the next table on the next page, not in the middle of the page.  I had flashbacks of trying to print papers on a dot-matrix printer and seeing a sentence print right on the tear line. 

Reading over the sample characters though is a bit confusing. Not that they confuse me, but I am not sure what they were made with.  Not following? Ok. Let's take an example.

Let's look at Hemlock.  Hemlock (he/his) is a genderfluid witch with Satyr ancestry.  Ok I already mentioned gender, so let's move past that now. Ancestry? No tables for that.  Ok. No big deal I am sure that ancestry is and has to be 100% dependent on the game you are playing. A Satyr witch would work fine in D&D, not as well in say C.J. Carella's WitchCraft or the American Witch.  But, oddly enough would be right at home in Mage.  (Someone will get that.) Moving on.

Appearance. Ok, fine no need for a table for that. Expertise.  Ah. wait. When was this discussed? Lifestyle. Again, this is brand new.  Favorite Things. I like it but not detailed above.  What isn't there are all those tables mentioned above. What are his Traits? What about his Background? His Quirks & Knacks?

I get the feeling that the author loves to make witch characters and I get that. I really, really do.  I love their obvious enthusiasm here too. It's just the product doesn't feel finished to me. 

How about this. I try this out on one of my own witches.  I'll choose a D&D 5th edition one since that has the most familiarity with readers.  So Taryn my fey-pack warlock. Look, I have the name and gender already. Taryn, she/her.  Since this is an established character I won't roll, but choose.

Traits: Calculating.  Taryn never does anything she doesn't think out a 100 different ways.
Background: You made a bargain with a fae being... Sort of. It was her mother, Larina, and Taryn was raised by her, no joking, fairy godmother, her first 13 years of life.   
Quirks and Knacks: You will only make potions that need to be stirred clockwise. Actually, this IS a habit I have for her. Her mother has the same one and it was something they noticed about each other when getting reacquainted. Though the once about crows is also cool. 
Special Items and Trinkets:  A spell bag to comfort and ease anxiety. She keeps a small black velvet bag. Among other things is a ring from her mother and a tooth of a small dragon.

The Prompts are also fun but with 30 of them no need to go into them all. A couple though.

2. She loves her witch hat. She wears it all the time to "embrace the stereotype."
5. Yes she uses a broom and loves to go fast on it. If she were a modern witch she would own a motorcycle. 
7. Her favorite season is Fall of course.
9. Her familiar is a black cat named Mojo.
22. She always has her deck of Tarot cards on her.
28. Uses tea in her craft? No self-respecting witch EVER goes without tea. 

So yeah.  The prompts are fun and should really help you get in the mindset for your witch character.  

Will I use this product? Yes. I will. In fact, I might use it to help define the more important NPCs in my War of the Witch Queens campaign.

Character Creation Challenge: Mutants & Masterminds

Mutants & Masterminds from Green Ronin might feel like a stretch from all the other systems I have done, but really it is quite appropriate given the playstyle I like.  And if I am doing a multi-verse of witches here, then it behooves me to throw some supers into the mix. 

The Game: Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition

M&M 2nd Ed was one of my favorite superhero RPGs, so it made sense for me to upgrade to the 3rd Edition when it came out.  Also given that the same system was being used in the DC Adventures RPG, I just really could not say no.

I have talked a lot about M&M 3 and DC Adventures here. And it is no surprise with my Zatanna postings that I am more of DC fan than a Marvel fan. 

I am happy to see the M&M is still going strong.  One of the true success stories of the OGL experiment. 
Green Ronin even has a Pateron for Mutants and Masterminds at https://www.patreon.com/MutantsAndMasterminds

From the very start of War of the Witch Queens, I knew there was going to be some influences from other games and other universes.  Mutants & Masterminds, which already embraces the Multiverse, was an early obvious choice for me.   But something that no one knows is that my Come Endless Darkness also had an origin point in M&M.  Back then it was going to be Dracula trying to take over the world.  I really could not pass up the chance of Dracula fighting someone named Summers.  While I moved the whole thing over to D&D (and Dracula to Strahd) I can still see some of the old DNA of M&M in it.  Some of the rest moved on to WotWQ.  One idea, in particular, was an anti-hero Scáthach.

Now before I get into the character of Scáthach, I do want to address that this is neither the Ulster cycle character Scáthach, nor is the Red Sonja character of Scáthach, The Red Goddess, though in true comic book fashion, both are inspirations.  Since she is supposed to be a witch of sorts I am going all the way back to one of my first WitchCraft RPG games that took place at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Plus I wanted a character I could port back over to D&D if I wanted.

The Character: Scáthach the Shadow Witch

Professor Moria Stewart, Ph.D. was a lecturer on classic Irish and Scot Mythology at the University of St. Andrews.  She was busy sketching pictures of Dunscaith Castle in Scotland while working on a new paper about Cú Chulainn when she noticed that all her sketches featured the same shadowy figure.  She did not remember drawing it, nor even seeing it.  She compared it photos she took but nothing was uncovered.  She returned to the castle site and was confronted by a Shadow.  She fell and hit her head on some rocks below the castle. She was certain to die but the figure came to her saying it would give her power if it could bond to her.  Not wanting to die Dr. Stewart agreed and became a creature of shadow herself.

While during the day she goes about her life and teaches her classes to bored undergrads by night (or when she needs too) she can veil herself in shadows and she becomes Scáthach the Shadow Witch!

Scáthach, The Shadow Witch - PL 10
Realm Name: Moria Stewart

Strength 1, Stamina 1, Agility 1, Dexterity 1, Fighting 7, Intellect 3, Awareness 2, Presence 1

Advantages
Contacts, Languages 3, Well-informed

Skills
Athletics 2 (+3), Deception 2 (+3), Expertise: History 8 (+11), Insight 2 (+4), Intimidation 2 (+3), Perception 4 (+6), Ranged Combat: Shadow Blast: Cone Area Damage 10 8 (+9), Stealth 8 (+9), Technology 4 (+7)

Powers
Blend in Shadows: Concealment 2 (Sense - Sight; Blending)
Faerie Fire: Cumulative Affliction 5 (1st degree: Impaired, 2nd degree: Disabled, 3rd degree: Unaware, Resisted by: Will, DC 15; Cumulative, Increased Range 2: perception; Limited: One sense (Sight))
Shadow Blast: Cone Area Damage 10 (shadow, DC 25; Cone Area: 60 feet cone, DC 20, Increased Range: ranged)
Shadow Form (Activation: Standard Action)
   Alternate Form (Shadow) (Activation: Standard Action)
      Concealment: Concealment 5 (All Visual Senses, Sense - Hearing; Limited 2: Darkness and Shadow)
      Insubstantial: Insubstantial 4 (Incorporeal)
      Movement: Movement 3 (Safe Fall, Trackless: Choose Sense 1, Water Walking 1: you sink if you are prone)
   Flight: Flight 6 (Speed: 120 miles/hour, 1800 feet/round)
   Ríastrad: Enhanced Fighting 6 (+6 FGT)
      Strength Effect
   Shadow Aura: Protection 6 (+6 Toughness; Sustained; Noticeable: Visible effects)
Shadow Magic: Illusion 5 (Affects: Two Sense Types - Sight, Hearling, Area: 30 cft., DC 15)
Shadow Sense: Remote Sensing 5 (Affects: Visual Senses, Range: 900 feet)
Shadow Sight: Senses 3 (shadow, Darkvision, Low-light Vision)

Offense
Initiative +1
Faerie Fire: Cumulative Affliction 5 (DC Will 15)
Grab, +7 (DC Spec 11)
Shadow Blast: Cone Area Damage 10 (DC 25)
Throw, +1 (DC 16)
Unarmed, +7 (DC 16)

Complications
Identity: Shadow Witch is different than Moria
Mythic Weakness: Can't touch any metal while in Shadow form

Languages
English, French, Greek, Latin, Scots Gaelic

Defense
Dodge 3, Parry 7, Fortitude 2, Toughness 7, Will 4

Gender: Female
Age: 35
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 145#
Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue

Power Points
Abilities 22 + Powers 98 + Advantages 5 + Skills 20 (40 ranks) + Defenses 5 = 150

Hero Lab and the Hero Lab logo are Registered Trademarks of LWD Technology, Inc. Free download at https://www.wolflair.com Mutants & Masterminds, Third Edition is ©2010-2017 Green Ronin Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.

This character could be a lot of fun!  I can see her working in either the DC Universe or the M&M Universe.

Character Creation Challenge: Mage 20th Anniversary Edition

I want to end this week the same way I started it; with Mage.  Only this time I am focusing on the massive tome that is the Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition.

The Game: Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition

I remember picking up a copy of Vampire the Masquerade back in the early 90s and thinking it looked interesting, but nothing I was going to play really.  Though my thought did go to moving the whole thing over to Ravenloft.  It wasn't later until I had moved to Chicago to work on my Ph.D. that I found Mage.  

The ground floor of the commuter train station had a bookstore in it.  One of the pure joys of my daily commute. I picked up a copy of Mage: The Ascension (Revised) and thought that it was fantastic.  While I would ultimately stick with WitchCraft, Mage continued to have a fascination for me. Moving back and forth between the systems I ultimately landed on the idea that a "Mage" was an evolved form of a "Witch."  I did some refinements, mostly after Mage the Awakening was released, so eventually came to the idea of an "Imbolc Mage" the term borrowed from a friend that wrote about "Ascended witches."  IT worked for me.  Even in my D&D 3.0 days, an Imbolc Mage was a witch prestige class.  My Imbolc Mage is even tied back to Amy and Megan.  In one universe Amy is a good friend, in another Megan is her grandmother. In Scáthach/Moria Stewart's universe, she is the superhero Witchfire (but more on that tomorrow).

While Mage the Ascension grabbed my attention, it was Mage the Awakening that I created the more material for.  I soon figured out why, it was that it was very close in feel to WitchCraft.  I wanted to do something that took the best aspects, or more to the point my favorite aspects, of both games and use them together.  I grabbed the Mage Translation Guide with great glee, but I never really did anything with it.  With the release of Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition (and its nearly 700 pages) I just dropped all the work I was doing with Mage the Awakening. 

This brings me to Bri.

Brianna was really my first character specifically for Mage the Awakening.  I knew she was going to me an Imbolc Mage according to the myths of my game worlds so stating her up in Mage first made the most amount of sense.  Given that her character birthday is coming up (February 1) I think she needs to be stated up for Mage: The Ascension.  

The Character: Brianna

Of the members of this week's coven, Bri is the youngest and the most powerful.  She is also one of the oldest characters I have made and have detailed this month.  In my first Generation HEX game she was born February 1st, 2005, since that game was set in 2022 she would have been 17.  Well, she will be 16 in a couple of days, so let's see how she looks for Mage.  

One of the big changes right away is shifting her from a Verbena to a Sister of Hippolyta.  While the game even mentions that these two should have merged a long time ago they are separate still.  Given that Brianna is part of the Daughters of the Flame, the sisters feel like a much better fit really.  This is also apparent in her Avatar and Destiny Backgrounds.  She is going to do Big Things someday. But right now she is just a kid.

Brianna

Nature: Activist
Demeanor: Idealist
Essence: Primordial

Affiliation: Sisters of Hippolyta
Sect: Daughters of the Flame
Concept: Guardian

Attributes
Physical
Strength 2
Dexterity 3
Stamina 3

Social
Charisma 2
Manipulation 1
Appearance 3

Mental
Perception 4
Intelligence 3
Wits 3

Abilities
Talents
Alertness 2, Athletics 1, Awareness 1, Empathy 1, Intimidation 2, Leadership 1

Skills
Martial Arts 1, Melee 1, Research 1, Survival 1, Technology 1

Knowledge
Academics 2, Computers 1, Enigmas 2, Esoterica 2, Investigation 1, Occult 3, Science 2

Spheres

Life (Affinity) 2, Mind 2, Forces 1, Prime 1, Spirit 1

Backgrounds
Avatar 3, Destiny 3, Mentor 1

Arete 3
Willpower 5
Quintessence 5

Gender: Female (she/her)
Age: 16 (DOB Feb 1, 2005)
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 120 lbs.

Yeah. This makes me want to play Mage again!

Character Creation Challenge: The Great American Witch

Last year I supported the Kickstarter for Christopher Grey's The Great American Witch. It is based on a variant of the Apocalypse World Engine but has a lot of neat features of its own. I thought it might be fun to try a character for this game now.

The Game: The Great American Witch

The Great American Witch (GAW) was released last year to much excitement (well on my part certainly).  The game is quite a lot of fun, though I have not had the chance to play it as much as I would like, it has become a great resource for some of my other games.

I reviewed the game here, and interviewed the designer Christopher Grey here. 

While I continue to be mostly unimpressed by Powered by the Apocalypse games, this one deviates enough from that standard to make it more interesting to me. Plus I do like the character, craft, and coven building material within the book.  The coven building, in particular, has been very helpful for my Basic-era War of the Witch Queens game. I can also see it working great for WitchCraft and maybe even WITCH: Fated Souls.  The Crafts of GAW could also work out well enough, narratively, as different "Crafts" of the Wicce in WitchCraft. 

Still, I see a lot of potential for this game and I am happy I picked it for today's challenge.

The Character: Amy Nakamura

Amy is a character I have used as an NPC in my WitchCraft/Buffy games before but never stated her out.  I thought it might be fun to detail her a little more here.  Though in previous versions she was a follower of Brigit.   This Amy did not become "Brigh daughter of Brigit" instead she became something of a solitary witch looking to protect others on her own.  Since my War of the Witch Queens spans the multiverse I am going to say that "Amy" was needed, but instead of Brigh they got this Amy.  Or maybe in this world, she is the one that has that needed multiversal connection. 

For a lot of reasons that make sense mostly to me, she is a "Craft of Tara" witch, "Coven of the Storm".

Character creation in GAW actually begins with Coven Creation.  For this coven I am going to choose the witches I have been featuring this week, Megan, Fiona, Alexandria, and Amy, each pulled from their timelines. 

Coven of the Storm

Oath: Use force to enact change
Holy Day: Samhain
Hearth: A hidden building
Connections & Resources: A hideout that cannot be located by natural or supernatural means.

Coven Resources: Few. Witches operate in the mundane world
Staus: Well thought of by those that know.
Mainstream? Witches need to come together.
Mundane? Has value, but not important
Influence: Not well known
Members: Only these characters

Photo by Joy Marino from Pexels

Amy Nakamura
Craft of Tara

Mercy -1
Wisdom -1
Severity +2

Maiden: Tara Swift and Heroic
Mother: Blue Tara
Crone: Black Tara

Refuge: Personal Shrine
Background: Family has always practiced the craft
Lifestyle: Spritual activist
Personality: Optimistic and supportive

Relationships
Who helps you keep peace in the coven? Megan
Who is the most volatile and needs the most management? Fiona
Who gives you the strength to confront challenges? Megan and Alexandria
Who confronts challenges for you? Alexandria
Who brings balance to the coven? Megan and Amy
Who brings the coven out of balance: Fiona

Ok! So I have a character here that works great for this game.  

Character Creation Challenge: WITCH Fated Souls

We are getting near the end of this challenge and I find I am sad to see it go.  I am going to revisit these characters all at a later date I am sure.  Maybe reunite them under one system.  Today though I want to go back to a system I really like but rarely get to do anything with.  Elizabeth Chaipraditkul's WITCH: Fated Souls.

The Game: WITCH: Fated Souls

WITCH: Fated Souls was part of a very successful Kickstarter and later sales on DriveThruRPG. It shares many of the background features of WitchCraft but in a different way.  That will be a theme all this week. WITCH:FS also has "witches" and how they use magic to affect the worlds around them. It is a different take on some of the same ideas and I always find it a joy to read.

I did a lengthy review of the game a while back, and it was part of another Character Challenge where I stated up Thomasin from "The VVitch" in different systems.  

The system is pretty easy to learn and is flexible.  I prefer WitchCraft in many ways, but that is hardly a fair comparison.  There is a lot that WITCH:FS does very well and I do wish I spent more time with it. It is a game that rewards your investment of time to it with the characters becoming more and more interesting as they progress.  There is every bit of the same sort of world-building here that happens in WitchCraft or The World of Darkness games.  It just needs a GM that will give it the time that it deserves.

The Character: Alexandria

Alexandria has been with me in idea form for a little while.  Her concept writ large is a "Tireless Social Justice Witch."  She is not afraid to fight for what she believes is right and she doesn't back down.  

Also, I always imagined her as looking like Cuban singer Camila Cabello. Why? Because I adore her and I listened to a lot of her music to get the right vibe for this character.

Alexandria
Fate: Djinn
Familiar: Appears as a small bluebird

Attributes
Intelligence: 3
Wisdom: 2
Perception: 3
Charisma: 3
Manipulation: 3
Dexterity: 3
Strength: 3
Stamina: 3

Skills
Athletics 1, Brawl 2, Craft 2, Deception 2, Dodge 2, Empathy 1, Expression 1, Intimidation 1, Perform 2, Spot 1, Stealth 1, Survival 2, Thievery 1, Wits 1

Hit Points
Hurt: 12, Injured 12, Mauled 7, Unconcious 3
Soak: 0
Initiative Mod: 3

CD to Hit: 12

Pursuits: Property 3, Contacts 1, Funds 1

Spell Level: 1

Talents: Casting 2, Potions 1, Occult 1

Spells: Emneya
Cantrips (Tether), Canto I, II

This is a fun character. I can't wait to see what she has in store. 

Character Creation Challenge: C. J. Carella's WitchCraft RPG

We are in the last week of this Character Creation Challenge.  I wanted to spend this last week on modern games. That is games that take place in modern times. Yesterday was Chill, today I am going to go with what might the game I love more than D&D. C. J. Carella's WitchCraft RPG.

The Game: C. J. Carella's WitchCraft RPG

Mere words can't express my love for this game. Though I have tried many, many times. This is the game I come back to. This is the game that hold up as my Gold Standard of Games.  Not that it isn't without it's own issues of course, but nothing I can't work around or even with.  I have often said I wrote Ghosts of Albion as nothing but a giant love letter to the WitchCraft RPG.

WitchCraft was the game that pulled me back into RPGs. I was ready to give up until I found this game. I have never looked back. 

Not only is it a great game with some great supplements, but it is also supremely flexible. There is really nothing I can't do with this game.  Add on some of the other "Classic" Unisystem games like All Flesh Must Be Eaten (Zombie survival horror), Armageddon the End Times (Post-apocalypse reckoning), and Conspiracy X 2.0 (Aliens and Government conspiracies) you have an entire world of options.  But honestly, the game is perfect as it is.

If you don't believe me, grab the PDF for free from Eden Studios on DriveThruRPG. 

The Character: Fiona

Fiona is, or is based on, the character from the opening fiction and she is the "Cover girl" of core rule book.  "Head Zombie" George Vasilakos, the CEO of Eden painted that. It is seriously one of the best pieces of art for any gamebook ever.  

Fiona is a young witch and maybe, just maybe she is a bit of a stereotype, and she maybe is based a little on Fiona Apple circa 1999. 

Fiona
Gifted Wicce Wierd One

Attributes
Strength 2
Dexterity 2
Constitution 3
Intelligence 3
Willpower 3
Perception 2

Life Points 36
Endurance Points 29
Speed 10
Essence Pool 20

Channeling Level 1

Qualities / Drawbacks
Gifted (5)
Attractive 2
Hard to Kill 2
Humorless -1
Obsession -2
Photographic Memory 2
Recurring Nightmares -1

Essence Channeling 1 (2)
Increased Essence Pool 1

Skills
Computer 2, Craft (Herbal) 3, Dodge 3, Fine Arts (Painting) 2, Humanities (History) 2, Language (French 2), Magic Theory 3, Occult Knowledge 3, Research 2, Rituals (Wicce) 2, Streetwise 1 

Metaphysics
Farsight 2, Insight 2, Lesser Healing 2, Soulfire 2, Shielding 2

I have likely seen hundreds of Unisystem characters over the years. Fiona here is pretty much everyone's starting character.  Gifted, Wicce. Weird One is a fun concept and one most gamers can relate to. Marginally better mental stats than physical.  Hard to Kill is most often taken.  So is Situational Awareness, but I ran out of points in favor of Photographic Memory.  Skills are predictable with some point variances here and there.  Metaphysics include a couple of utilities, healing, an attack, and a defense. She has French as a language instead of the more "Occulty" Latin, Hebrew or Greek because she is a Wicce, not a Rosicrucian.  She seems more like the "spooky goth" witch and not the "crunchy earth child" witch.

Still, she would be fun to play.  Let the Chronicler play on those Nightmares. Maybe it is her Farsight while she is sleeping. 

Character Creation Challenge: Chill 3rd Edition

Jumping WAY ahead to the future today; at least in terms of the Dark Ages, to the magic time of the 1970s!  All my campaigns share a link in one way or another.  Adventures like "All Souls Night" may start with D&D or other FRPG, they eventually make their way to "Blight" (Ghosts of Albion) and "The Dark Druid" (Buffy).  Spirit of '76 is another good example.  It begins, oddly enough, in 1976 and with Chill.

The Game: Chill 3rd Edition

Spend any time here and you know I am very fond of Chill.  The first edition from Pacesetter came out of Minnesota. Second Edition from Mayfair was right here in the Chicago burbs.  Chill is Midwestern horror.  Not East Coast horror with it's ancient houses and older bloodlines. Not West Coast horror with new-wave vampires. Nor is it Southern Gothic, while very enjoyable, is not the same. 

No Chill is backwoods horror. Old decrepit house horror. Horror found on darkened roads between small towns. The horror I grew up with.  

My campaign for Chill was/is my Spirit of '76 game.  It was designed as a Chill mini-campaign over 4 days.  It was built up while I was playing a lot of WitchCraft and Buffy.  The idea was that supernatural occurrences, once rare, were picking up in intensity and frequency the closer we got to the new Millennium. This would later change to 2012 and then 2018 as real-time overtook these "future" events.  You can see some of that in my "Generation HEX" Nightworld in NIGHT SHIFT.   Originally this was going to be for Chill 2nd Edition, but even that time got away from me so now it is for 3rd Edition.  Thankfully the narrative in the new game follows the one I was creating.

The Character: Megan O'Kelly

"Megan" began as "Stephanie" in an older game back when "Spirit of '76" was "Summer of Love" and taking place in 1968.  I wanted to keep Stephanie where she was but I wanted to do the Summer of 1976 instead, so Megan was "born."   She is a young grad student at UC-Berkeley. I imagined her with long straight hair and wearing bell-bottoms.  Something of a post-hippie 70s girl.  She called herself a "Craft worker" or a "cleanser" but never a "witch."  Her inspirations come from the Eric Clapton song "Bellbottom Blues" and Eliza Roberts from Animal House.  I changed the character because I wanted to bring in an older Stephanie at some point but I never did.

Megan is assigned to SAVE in 1976 to help a small band of operatives investigating the rise of supernatural occurrences in the South West to the Deep South.

Megan O'Kelly 
SAVE Operative

Attributes (80 pt build)
Agility AGL 50
Strength STR 40
Stamina STA 45

Focus FOC 60
Personality PSY 50
Willpower WRP 55

Dexterity DEX 40
Perception PCN 70
Reflexes REF 55

Sensing the Unknown STU 14

Skills (Specializations)
Movement (T) 50, Long Distance (E)
Prowess (T) 40
Close Quarters Combat 23

Research (T) 60, Academic (E), Occult (B)
Communication (T) 50
Interview 28

Fieldcraft 20
Investigation 35
Ranged Weapons 28

Edges and Drawbacks
Attractive (2), Highly Attuned (1), Naïve (-2)

The Art
Protective School
Disrupt
Sphere of Protection (E), Mental Shield (B)

Sensing School
Clairvoyant (E)

Drive
To Know the Truth

So Megan is a recent UC Berkeley grad.  She is a clairvoyant and specializes in seeing ghosts and putting spirits to rest.  Her background is psych grad student so her academics are already at Expert (but not yet Master) and she ran track in High School, so she has some athletics, but not a lot. She is still a bit naïve about the world around her but she is not stupid. 

Third Edition Chill is really better at PCs learning "The Art" (magic) than previous editions, so I think this version really works out much better than previous incarnations of Megan/Stephanie.

Character Creation Challenge: Dark Ages Mage

Ah! World of Darkness. 

We have had some great times together. And some not so great.  But I never grow tired of picking up a WoD book (new, old, Chronicle, whatever) and seeing what is going on.  As you can imagine Mage was a particular favorite of mine. I loved all the lines but Mage: Sorcerer's Crusade was my favorite.  Dark Ages: Mage though has a lot going for it though too.

The Game: Dark Ages Mage

As it turns out, Dark Ages: Mage requires you to have Dark Ages: Vampire as opposed to Mage: The Ascension or Mage The Sorcerer's Crusade.  That is of course fine, but not what I was expecting for character creation.

Still. This gives the Dark Ages line a sort of continuity that would be both a blessing and curse that the "modern" line did not have and would not have until we get the "New Wolrd of Darkness" in the start of this century.   The year is 1230 AD and stuff is bad all over.  Dark Ages of the World of Darkness. That's like double dark.   

If you have played any of the World of Darkness games then you know what to expect. There are not as many "Traditions" as we will see in Mage, but it does give us a good idea of how they all got here. 

Since we are still in the Dark Ages let's do one of the descendants of Lars and Siân.

The Character: Lowis Larsdottir

Lowis is a reincarnation, future incarnation, past-life or something weird and magical in relation to my Larina. I was playing in a WitchCraft game with her and then I also started a Mage: The Ascension game and wanted to play the same character.  I decided they were the same, but parallel worlds.  This got me on a path where there are many versions of my witch out there and all are more or less aware of the others. 

Lowis here has a Welsh first name and a Nordic last name, and I suspect she lives on the continent somewhere.  Maybe Italy or Austria. 

Lowis Larsdottir
Initiate

Nature: Pedagogue
Demeanor: Fanatic
Fellowship: The Old Faith

Cabal: Followers of Aradia
Mentor: Gezzie

Physical
Strength 1
Dexterity 2
Stamina 3

Social
Charisma 3
Manipulation 2
Appearance 3

Mental
Perception 3
Intelligence 3
Wits 4

Talents
Alertness 1, Awareness 2, Empathy 2

Skills
Animal Ken 2, Crafts 3, Herbalism 3, Survival 1

Knowledges
Academics 2, Cosmology 1, Enigmas 2, Hearth Wisdom 3, Linguistics 2, Medicine 1, Occult 3, Theology 1

Backgrounds
Mentor 1, Chantry 2, Familiar 2, Library 3

Foundation (Spontaneity) 2

Pillars
Autumn 3, Spring 1, Summer 2

Lowis is new to the Old Faith.  She knows the faith has been handed down over the generations and now she has been awaked to it. As a merchant's daughter, she is afforded some luxuries and can read. She is also a steadfast member of her faith and wants to see it spread.  She is not quite "run naked through the woods" but she is getting there. 

Character Creation Challenge: Fantasy Wargaming

We have all had this one on our shelves at one point or saw it in the book stores and thought to ourselves, "wow I should REALLY do something with that one day."

Today is that day.  I am going to make a character for Bruce Galloway's Fantasy Wargaming. 

The Game: Fantasy Wargaming

There is a lot to unpack here. Not just in terms of the game itself, but the history of the game.  There is no way I could provide a good review of it for this particular post.  I am not even sure I want to try.  For starters, there is such a disdain for RPGs in this book and for D&D in particular.  I would call it a Fantasy Heartbreaker, but it never lets you get close enough to it to break your heart.  

So instead I am going to defer to the experts here.  They have spent more time on this that I will or ever will.  Plus my copy is so musty it is giving me a headache and it is still four feet away from me as I type this.

• Grognardia Retrospective: Fantasy Wargaming
• Swords & Dorkery: Bruce Galloway’s Fantasy Wargaming (the best overview)
• David Trimboli's Character creation guidelines
• G.L. Dearman’s RPG Site, Fantasy Wargaming

Again, given the musty state of my book, I am going to refer to these sites often in my character creation. G.L. Dearman's site in particular has some good character sheets.

The game does cover witches and witchcraft, all be it in a roundabout manner.

Few questions in anthropology have raised as much controversy as the nature of witchcraft. There are three quite separate views of the witch-the peasant magician, the pagan, and the devil worshipper. Fantasy Wargaming accepts all three as valid. Witches clearly exercised magic. and not just Supernatural powers by appeal Equally, the theory of a surviving pre-Christian Celtic fertility cult bas some force. Some ritual elements, notably the sacred dance and orgy, appear at the very beginning of the period, before diabolism bad really taken root. There are echoes of Bacchic revels, and of Diana's Wild Hunt.
Some medieval witches strenuously asserted their worship of a "different" god. Yet equally, the evidence for devil worship among medieval covens is overwhelming. (FW p. 24)

Well, that works for me. I can use this. 

For the character, I was hoping to make a Satanic witch.  Would have been great for the Satanic Panic call-back to when was made.  But I opted for today's date as her birthday and that made her Aquarius.  And I have a perfect Aquarian Witch. 

The Character: Marie Capet

Marie is another quasi-mythical character from my games.  I know that she was most active in the year 1012 AD.  Marie is also an Aquarian Tradition witch from my first Basic-era book of witches which, in a few thousand years, will become the Sisterhood of the Aquarian Order.   In later years she would have been called a neo-pagan. Margaret Murry would have embraced her.  As my prototype Aquarian, Marie sees no problem with grabbing what ever bits of esoteric knowledge comes her way.   To the Church, this makes her little better than a heretic and at worst, a follower of Lucifer.  She actually feels that Lucifer has been mischaracterized by the Church and that as "The Light Bringer" he is more of a Promethean-like figure.  She is doing what she can to bring on the next Age of Mankind.  This would not be known as the Aquarian Age, or the New Age, until much later on.

Given the rolls, I figure she was the 2nd daughter of a poor noble. She was going to go into the nunery but instead ended up marrying the Baron that her sister was supposed to marry.  She was married at age 14, so she has a couple of children (that survived) now by age 21. She has a level in Religious and a level in Magic as a Witch.  I assume she is discovering witchcraft from an Italian ladies' maid who knows of the "old ways."

Marie Capet
Female Frankish Witch

Star Sign: Aquarius

Ability Scores (adjusted for Star Sign)
Physique: 1110
Agility: 12
Endurance: 10

Intelligence: 18
Faith: 1416

Charisma: 1213
Greed: 89
Selfishness: 13
Lust: 12
Bravery: 12

Social Class: 17

Height: 5'3"  Weight: 110lbs
Current Agility: 12

Literate: Yes
Speaks: Frankish, Latin, German
Chance to Speak Language: 60%

Leadership: 15

Birthrank: Second Daughter
Father's Social Position: Poor Baron (16)
Husband's Social Position: Rich Baron (17)

Misc. Traits: Paranoia

It is the Paranoia that helped me figure out she was learning her witchcraft on the sly.  Given the time and the culture, I thought an Italian Strega might be the best bet.  Maybe someone with a direct connection to Aradia. 

I did not pick and spells or rituals.  This game is crazy.  But there are a few ideas I want to use from it. 

Character Creation Challenge: Yggdrasill

Today is part 2 of my two-part character creation.  Yesterday I re-introduced you all to Siân ferch Modron and the game Keltia.  Today is her soon-to-be husband, if they don't kill each other first, Lars son of Nicholas from the RPG Yggdrasill.

The Game: Yggdrasill

Like Keltia, Yggdrasill is from the French publisher Le 7ème Cercle (The 7th Circle) and was published in English first by Cubicle 7.  Now it is published in English exclusively by Le 7ème Cercle.  The games have a lot of similarities in rules and in tone, so using them together is expected really. The production values for Yggdrasill are higher, with full-color pages and a stylized character sheet, and it leads me to believe it was the newer game. However, the publication date of it is 2009 and Keltia is 2012.

Yggdrasill is, as you might imagine, a game of the Epic Sagas of the Vikings and Norsemen.  I do have to point out that "Viking" is not a group of people but rather describes what they do.  It is handy for describing the era though, 800 AD to 1100AD or so.  Already we are talking about a time period later than what we see in Keltia which is usually depicted in the 100AD to 500AD era.  This works out well for me since I would want to play in a time that is an overlap of the eras; the end of the Druids and the rise of the Saxons, Angles, Jutes, and, well yes, the Vikings. Maybe there was a time when Northmen raiders came ashore to Ireland or Wales and encountered Druids. Maybe not.  That is why we have games.  

Also like Keltia, there is a TON here that I could use with Troll Lords' Codex Nordica and visa versa. All four books combined? Now there is a campaign worth playing! 

I have to admit one of the reasons I was drawn to both of these games was that the art for the Volva (witch) archetype, reminded me so much of Larina.

The Character: Lars son of Nicholas

Lars got his start a little bit before Siân did.  Lars' name of course was easy, I knew my witch Larina was named after her father because of the red hair they both share. Nicholas, or sometimes Nichols, was named for a professor I had at the beginning of my Ph.D. studies.  I imagined him as a traveling scholar, from somewhere far away, maybe in the North.  His travels brought him to a new land where everything was the most verdant green as far as the eyes could see. He was born a Northman, but he was an Irishman in his heart.  The rest came easy.

In this version, Lars came to Cymru (Wales) while traveling on a ship. He was to sole survivor of a shipwreck.  He was to be sacrificed but his ability to play the harp showing he was a Bard (Skald in his world) saved him.

Lars son of Nichols

Lars Nicholason
Archetype: Sage
Profession: Skald
Kingdom: Denmark

Runes: Ansuz+, Perth+, Mathr-
Gifts: Initiate (Galdr), Scholar
Weakness: Curious

BODY
Strength: 2
Vigor: 2
Agility: 2

MIND
Intellect: 2
Perception: 2
Tenacity: 2

SOUL
Charisma: 2 
Instinct: 3
Communication: 2

Reaction: 6
Physical Defense: 6
Mental Defense: 7
Move: 4
Enc: 4

HP: 37

Furor Pool: 6

Skills
Art (Skaldic) 7, Eloquence 7, Languages (Norse, Brythonic) 2, Sagas 7
Galdr 7
Long Weapons 3

Incantations
Illusion: Hearing (3), Sight (6)
Charms: Sleep (3)

Like Keltia there is a LOT to go with here.

While reading over this I just HAVE to make a Finnish Volva/Witch of Tasha/Iggwilv. That would be a lot of fun.

Character Creation Challenge: Keltia

First of a two-parter today!  I delve into a game I REALLY wanted to play more of, but is now out of print from it's English publisher.  The games are Keltia and Yggdrasill, two games that really capture the feel of the Post-Roman Celtic and Norse worlds.  Both use the same base system and both really grab my attention. Today for part one I will focus on Keltia.

The Game: Keltia

Keltia, or Keltia, the Chronicles of Arthur Pendraeg, is from the French publisher Le 7ème Cercle (The 7th Circle) and was published in English first by my good friends at Cubicle 7.  The game is set roughly in the years following the exit of the Romans from Britain.  There are mentions of Roman civilization and Christianity, but this is a purely Celtic world.  Or rather, it is a world of the Celts of Myth, Legend, and Folklore.

It is the Dark Ages, but this isn't the one you read about in history books. This is a game-world; so not Britain exactly, but Ynys Prydein.  It uses a lot of Welsh so already it has my undivided attention.

This game is quite good and character creation was pretty fast.  Again, there are a lot of options and I really must come back to this one in the future.  I can see using this in conjunction with Troll Lord's Codex Celtarum for Castles & Crusades.  Both cover similar ground and one would easily work as a background and as a supplement for the other.

I am rather fond of the Mind/Body/Soul stat groups.  I was working on something similar a long time ago, but that work eventually became NIGHT SHIFT.

The Character: Siân ferch Sinéad

In a lot of ways Siân is not just the main reason I wanted to try out Keltia, she is also the reason I wanted to do this challenge.   Siân ferch Sinéad is the mother of my iconic witch Larina.  Tomorrow I will feature her father Lars. If you have been a long time reader here you will recognize her as also being one of my playtest characters for The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition for Old-School Essentials.

Siân (along with Lars) was featured with her "Irish" name, Siân nic Stefon.  She is the daughter of Stefon and Sinéad; nic and ferch being the Irish and Welsh (respectively) way of meaning "daughter."

These though are Siân's and Lars earliest days.

Siân is the daughter of a Druid and High Priestess, so she follows in her mother's footsteps and will become a high priestess as well. She is a bit haughty and this comes out in her Arrogance weakness.  She certainly feels her culture is superior to all others.  It is not until she meets Lars, a "Gogleddwr" (Northman), that her ideas begin to change.

Siân

Siân ferch Sinéad
Archetype: Wise One
Profession: Priestess of Avalon
Kingdom: Cymru

Gifts: Blood of the Ancients, Scholar
Weakness: Arrogant

BODY
Strength: 1
Vigor: 2
Agility: 2

MIND
Intellect: 2
Perception: 3
Tenacity: 2

SOUL
Charisma: 3
Instinct: 2
Communication: 2

Reaction: 7
Physical Defense: 6
Mental Defense: 6

HP: 26

Furor Pool: 6

Skills
Art (song) 3, Knowledge (Ritual) 7, Languages (Brythonic), Ogham 7, Traditions 6
Awen 7
Short Weapons 3

Spells (Priestess of Avalon)
Sense Awen 1, Blessing of the Gods 1, Read Omens 1, In the Arms of Dôn 1

I like how this character is shaping up.  I would use Keltia and the Codex Celtarum to inform how she would be played in Old-School Essentials.

Looking forward to seeing how her future husband turns out tomorrow!