Monstrous Mondays: DMGR4 Monster Mythology (2e)

 I want to pick back up my reviews of my collection of Forgotten Realms books, I also want to keep up my exploration of various monsters that have appeared in past versions of the *D&D game. With the lack of "playable humanoids" in the current Monster Manual, I returned to my collection and found a book that fits my needs.  While this means I am skipping over a couple of books in my chronological order, they are all connected to each other, so I can justify it. 

Of note, this is another book I obtained from the Grenda collection. So that is also a good reason to feature it. It can also stand-in as an entry to my "One Man's God" series. 

DMGR4 Monster Mythology (2e)

1992, by Carl Sargent. Art by John Lakey, Laura Lakey, Keith Parkinson, Terry Dykstra. Softcover, blue&white and full color art. 128 Pages.

This book was the fourth in the DMGR, or Dungeon Master's Guide Rules, series for AD&D 2nd edition. I did not purchase many of these when they were new. At this point, most, if not all, of my gaming money went to Ravenloft-themed products. 

This book covers, not monsters really, but their gods, demigods, and heroes. The format is simialr to that of new Legends & Lore book for 2nd Edition, and it would be a prequel of sorts to various Forgotten Realms "Faiths & Avatars" books, with Demihuman Deities being its direct descendant. 

Now to be fair, Monster Mythology is not a Realms book per se. A lot of what goes on in this book will later get adopted to the Realms. Author Carl Sargent, also know for his Greyhawk From the Ashes boxed set, makes many mentions of various Greyhawk secific gods. It seems that he felt these two products would work together. And they do, quite well in fact, but the Forgotten Realms are also explicitly mentioned. 

What does this book actually have in it?

There are gods for the Elves (including sea elves), Dwarves, Gnomes, and Halflings, specifically for the Forgotten Realms, though we have seen these before in one form or another. There are "Goblinoid Deities" of the orcs, goblins, bugbears, kobolds, and others.  

There are the Gods of the Underdark: For Drow, Underdark Dwarves, Illithids, Beholders, Myconids, and Deep Gnomes. 

Gods for the Giants, for other monsters, and many more are also mentioned. This includes the Elder Elemental God, aka the Elder Elemental Eye. This book does nothin to clear up that confusion, but that is fine. I like my gods messy. Case in point, the Demon Lord Juiblex is listed as a Lesser God here. Indeed, one man's god is another man's demon.

In addition to Juiblex, other demons are mentioned and get deity-level treatment. This includes Demogogn, Yeenoghu, Kostchtchie, Baphomet, and Lolth (naturally). Additionally, other "monsters" get god-like treatments, such as Bahamut and Tiamat. 

Vampires, liches, and even hags get gods. Though I am not sure I'd ever use them as gods and more as "powerful examples" of each type. 

It is an interesting mix, especially rereading it with 2025 eyes. Some gods were ported over from the various Gods of the Demihumans articles from Dragon magazine, and others from previous Realms-based books and earlier as well. The Underdark gets more detail. It's no surprise; the early 1990s were all about the Underdark and Drow in particular.

All gods get mentions of their Specialty Priests. So in general, this book has more value to the game than does the Legends & Lore book proper. 

A couple of thoughts, though, of my own.

I'm not sure what happens with the gods of the Kobolds as they became less "goblin" and more "dragon."  I am likely to say that these gods were once powerful kobold heroes that fell into a sort of ancestor worship. 

I also can't see the Illithids or the Beholders having gods. For the Illithids, I say that their two gods, Ilsensine and Maanzecorian, are not real beings but rather constructs of the Illithid shared mindscape, something akin to a Tulpa. The beholders, on the other hand, have their "Great Mother," who I say is not so much a divine figure, but actually the mother of all beholders. So in a way she is more akin to Vlaakith of the Githyanki. 

The book is flexible enough to be used in any campaign setting, and it mentions just about every campaign setting from that time. 

While the book has been superseded by newer AD&D 2nd Ed books in the Forgotten Realms and by shifts in the pantheons in different editions, this is still a solid book.

The details on specialty priests alone makes it worthwhile.  

Review: The Forgotten Realms Atlas

 Last month I presented a few characters from Grenda's collection of Forgotten Realms material. It got me thinking I needed to continue my exploration of the Realms.  Among the books in his collection is the amazing The Forgotten Realms Atlas. Under normal circumstances at this point in my exploration of a new world I would go right to a publication like this. The fact that it is the next book in chronological order and it was part of my friend's collection makes it an even better choice. 

The Forgotten Realms Atlas (2e)

1990. By Karen Wynn Fonstad. Forewords by Ed Greenwood and Jeff Grubb. 178 pages.

Before I get into this book, I have a few words about Karen Wynn Fonstad. She is not a name usually associated with the Realms, but she is a "name." Prior to this book, she had given us the equally extensive Atlas of the Dragonlance World. She came to these via her work on The Atlas of Middle-Earth, The Atlas of Pern, and the Atlas of The Land from "Chronicles of Thomas Covenant." All epic works of cartography and staples of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club during the 1980s.  All her books have a similar feel to them, and all are meticulously well-researched. She had been the Director of Cartographic Services at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh and had fallen in love with Tolkien's world back in 1975.  I don't know if she felt the same love for Toril, Krynn or Pern, but her work in all three was top-notch. She passed in 2005 at the young age of 59. She was remembered fondly in the New York Times this past January, nearly 20 years after her death.

The Atlas itself is a massive work. The book itself is 178 pages, with 3-color art. The only illustrations in the book are Fonstad's maps and there is nearly a map per page. These are not just geographical maps of places, there are maps of towns, homes, castles, even standing stones on the Moonshae islands. Everything is footnoted and cross referenced. 

It covers all the Forgotten Realms products, novels and RPG sources, up that point. So it is pretty comprehensive. 

The atlas is divided into four major sections.

Part One: Regions

This covers the large regions of the known world of the Forgotten Realms circa 1990. It includes large area maps of the Western Realms (most familiar) north and south, the Hordelands, and the Eastern Realms where Kara-Tur had been newly re-set. 

Part Two: The Moonshae Isles

This covers the Moonshaes and the places (and events) of the Darkwater Trilogy novels. I should probably read those at some point. The level of detail here is rather amazing, to be honest, and you do get the feel that this is a living, breathing world. 

Part Three: The North and West

Again, the areas most familiar even to the most casual Realms fan. Though, while I admit that now I am likely more than a casual fan, the amount of detail here is staggering to me. There is so much I don't know here. Reading it makes me feel like I have missed a lot since there are many references to the novels. I know I am never going to ever read everything Forgotten Realms, but this does make me appreciate the in-world and real-world history here.

Part Four: The Western Heartlands

This is the bulk of the book and is just packed. Here, I am further outside of the areas I know. Hell, even the areas I know I know I don't know well. But I think I am going to come back to this book very often.

Honestly. This book is a treasure. I had flipped through a copy of Fonstad's Atlas of Middle of Earth years ago and was blown away by it. I have the same feeling here. It is almost too much to take in at once.

Her References alone would be the basis of a great adventure, academically speaking, to read up on the Realms from 35 years ago. It is more than I could ever hope to read and still manage to get all my other reading in! But it also gives me ideas of other products to review, beyond what I already have. 

 

Character Creation Challenge 2025

 A few days late to report this, I completed TARDIS Captain's 2025 Character Creation Challenge with 40+ characters. I am mentioning it today because last night, I finally got all of Grenda's characters added to protective sleeves and put into a three-ring binder.

No idea how many this is, upwards of 250 characters. Most have multiple sheets. The binder itself can hold close to 1000 pages. The characters are predominantly AD&D 1st Edition with an odd GURPS, AD&D 2nd Edition, and D&D Basic Edition character here or there. 

If I ever need an NPC, I'll have one, or a score, ready to go.

It was a bittersweet exercise and I admit I really pushed the limit on the spirit of the Challenge. Not exactly new characters, all the same system. But I was really happy to do this. These characters were important once upon a time, and I wanted to make sure that, if just for a month, they were important again. 

31 Day Character Creation Challenge

Follow Timothy's board 31 Day Character Creation Challenge on Pinterest.

Character Creation Challenge by Aurora Stark

Looking forward to next year, though I don't know what I'll be doing yet.

Character Creation Challenge: Rhiannon

Well, here we are at the end of another Character Creation Challenge, and I found a little treat. And I just counted and this will be my 40th character this month. Not too bad really.

Grenda and I shared a love of computers, bad horror and fantasy movies, Dungeons & Dragons, and music. ALL my D&D games had a lot of music associated with them, something my oldest has also picked up. Now, I don't play a lot of music while gaming these days (I get distracted) I used to. So it is no surprise really that we all had characters based on songs or bands (looking at you, "Molley Hachit").  Today's character is no exception.

I have one rule for witch characters in my games. If you play a witch, you are allowed one "Rhiannon." I did mine, this one is Grenda's. 

I know very little about this character. I think she was pre-gen for some game. There are a dozen characters just like her on notebook paper. 

She is AD&D 1st Ee. I do not recognize her god or land, but others I do as his big "rebuild" of all of his lands and gods to divorce them from Greyhawk, Greek and Norse gods. She has "Spell Points" so I am going to say this puts her between the time of 1988 and 1994 or so. Another character in this group is a Dwarven Wayfinder, which was an AD&D 2nd Ed kit, but the character is also an AD&D 1st ed character.

Rhiannon

Class: Witch
Level: 8
Species: Human
Alignment: Evil Twilight
Background: Scholar

Abilities
Strength: 11 (+0) 
Agility: 16 (+2) 
Toughness: 15 (+1) 
Intelligence: 17 (+2) A
Wits: 17 (+2) N
Persona: 14 (+1) N

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 36
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +1 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Saves: +5 vs spells and magical effects (witch and scholar)

Arcane Abilities
Beguile, Precognition, Shadow Walking

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic

Spells
First Level (4): Black Flames, Chill Ray, Mystical Senses, Read Languages
Second Level (3): Eternal Flame, Invisibility, See Invisible
Third Level (3): Clairvoyance, Dark Lightning, Globe of Darkness
Fourth Level (2): Black Tentacles, Kiss of the Succubus

Gear
Bracers of defense, dagger of venom

If my Rhiannon is based on Stevie Nicks (and maybe then Arnell is my Lindsey Buckingham), then this Rhiannon is someone different. 

I have to admit, I kinda want her as a rival to Larina. They had the same spiritual mentor, my original Rhiannon. When she died, this Rhiannon took her mentor's name. 

I like it and unlike my other characters, Larina never really had a proper antagonist, and Grenda LOVED creating antagonists for my characters. I still can't say the name "Kirkroy" without saying "Fucking Kirkroy!" all the time. 

Wow. That is it. 

I still have another 100 or so more characters in his stack here. I might pull some out for a special occasion or if I need a quick NPC.  I also think I am going to come back to Rhiannon here more often. I think it is a good thing to do more with her. It would have been fun to have had some input on her from Grenda himself.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: KRONA the Caped Killer

Ok. There is no good reason to do this character. He isn't part of the current Forgotten Realms characters. He isn't odd in sort of way. He doesn't help test my Dungeons & Dragons translations to Wasted Lands.

He is just kinda cool really.

So, I know nothing about this character at all. He predates the time I was gaming with Grenda and he looks really old. The date on the sheet is 4/4/82. Again, nothing special about him, but I do dig the art. He has a solid Grey Mouser look about him.

In Wasted Lands species and races are largely just flavor. But our classic ones do get some benefits. Dwarves are one of those.

Oh. And it is important (to me) that his name is in all caps. 

KRONA (the Caped Killer)

Class: Renegade (from Wasted Lands)
Level: 12
Species: Dwarf
Alignment: Twilight Neutral
Background: Dwarf (Wasted Lands) 

Abilities
Strength: 17 (+2) N
Agility: 18 (+3) A
Toughness: 18 (+3) N
Intelligence: 18 (+3) 
Wits: 17 (+2) 
Persona: 16 (+2) 

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 2
Vitality: 67 
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +4 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Saves: +4 vs Death effects

Dwarf Abilities
Night Shighted, detect construction

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-4 d6), Perception, Vital Strike x4, Read Languages, Stealth Skills

Divine Touchstones
First Level: Psychic Power, Bio-feedback
Third Level: Supernatural Power, Mesmerize

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Thief/Thug

Gear
Rapier, hand axe, battle axe, arrows, darts, hammer

These have been a lot of fun really. I am going to miss doing them and remembering my friend. I hostly have another 100 or so characters to go. I am going to have to hand pick something special for the last one.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Voyages of the USS Challenger

 I have mentioned a few times this Character Creation Challenge that there are a few characters in Grenda's stack here that are homages to or inspired by my own characters. That was a two-way street. I already talked about how I used his Yoln as the Big Bad in my Buffy games. Today, I wanted to talk about a character that wasn't lifted but was certainly inspired. That would be John Adnerg, Captain of the USS Challenger. 

I figured then that today, the anniversary of the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger, would make for a good time to talk about it. And of course a nod to the Character Creation Challenge's founder, Carl Stark the TARDIS Captain himself. 

My original USS Challenger was a Galaxy-class starship for FASA's Star Trek game using the Next Generation Officer's Manual. I gave it the registry NCC-62901, placing it a couple of years after the launch of the USS Galaxy and USS Enterprise-D.  The registry comes from the zip code of the city where I went to university.

In these games, John Adnerg had been promoted from Captain to Admiral and was handing the ship over to his former first officer, Johan Werner. That is until disaster struck and sent the ship to the Andromeda Galaxy (2.5 mly away). Yeah, a little like Voyager, but I had this idea in 1989.  Of these games, I only ran "The Ship on the Edge of Forever" and "Ghost Ship." These games obviously informed me of what I wanted out of Thirteen Parsecs. 

I don't know if the USS Challenger ever got home. I might need to revisit that someday. 

Adm. John "The Wizard" Adnerg

Class: Diplomat
Level: 14
Species: Human
Alignment: Light Good
Background: Scholar 

Abilities
Strength: 14 (+1) 
Agility: 15 (+1) N
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 14 (+1) N
Wits: 15 (+0)
Persona: 17 (+2) A

Fate Points: 1d
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 7
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+2/+1
Melee Bonus: +4 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Saves: +9 to Mental (Diplomat and Scholar background)

Diplomat Abilities
Contacts, Languages, Lore, Mesmerize Others, Suggestion, Slicer Skills (Sneak, Open Locks, Bypass Traps, Sleight of Hand, Fast Talk, Disguise), Read Languages.

John Adnerg was the Captain of the Galaxy Class Starship Challenger until he was promoted to Admiral. Nick named "The Wizard" for his ability to find ways out of nearly impossible situations and come out on top.

Yeah. I like this version of him.

This is not the only USS Challenger I have in my collection. I also finished building an NX refit from the 2150s that I am calling NX-03 Challenger. Though when the Federation formed in 2161, the NX-refit was renamed the Explorer Class, and the Challenger became NCC-099, the retroactive "first" of the class of Explorer class scientific research ships with the USS Beagle NCC-100, USS Endurance NCC-101, USS Roebuck NCC-102, and the USS Victoria NCC 103, all named for ships of exploration in Earth's past. 

My other Challenger, NCC 2032, is an Excelsior-class ship I am working on. That one was in service from 2278 on.

You can get the Thirteen Parsecs RPG, the  Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Corvell "Ice" Multane

Heading into the home stretch and have a stack of Forgotten Realms characters here. I am certainly going to use them in my own games in the Realms. 

"Corvell Multane" is a quintessential Grenda character name.  He comes from the same time period as does the HIVE. And much like the HIVE was influenced by my Spyder Society, this Ice seems (on the surface) to have been influenced by my "Ice" from three years prior. Was he trying to recreate some of my characters for his own game? I don't think so. I have found character sheets of some of my characters in his collection. If he wanted them in his game, he just used them. These characters are inspired by, but not the same as. 

Since I am translating these characters to the Wasted Lands, I think I am going to try to keep them as "Realms accurate" as I can. So that means classes RAW and little to no Heroic Touchstones. 

Corvell "Ice" Multane

Class: Warrior
Level: 1
Species: Human
Alignment: Light Neutral
Background: Warrior 

Abilities
Strength: 15 (+1) A
Agility: 16 (+2)
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) N
Wits: 9 (+0)
Persona: 17 (+2) N

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 7
Degeneracy: 0*
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +2/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +1 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Saves: +1 to all Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background)

Warrior Abilities
Combat Expertise, Improved Defence, Melee Combat, Master of Battle, Ranged Combat, Supernatural Attacks (Melee), Spell Resistance, Tracking

Wow. Ok, I like that. I mean, there are no surprises here, but that is a clean-cut character and would do well in the Wasted Lands or Forgotten Realms. 

I will likely drop Degeneracy and Corruption if I continue these for the Forgotten Realms. Though, one could argue that Szass Tam is the model for both of these. 

This is going to be fun.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Amok Silvertyne

 Amok Silvertyne is another Cheysuli Beastmaster. I know that needs translating. I have mentioned Cheysuli here before with Finn Danis, Vale Warmark, and my own Absom Sark. They are a race of shape-shifting warriors with animal companions known as Lyr (or Lir, I forget).  I have also talked about Beastmasters before. Beastmasters were one of the "Riddlemaster" classes that Grenda created along with Starmasters, Shadowmasters, and Riddlemasters proper. 

In this month of character postings I have found good substitutes for these classes in the Wasted Lands rules, or by dipping into the other O.G.R.E.S. classes. This has not been the case yet for Beastmasters. This is no fault of the Wasted Lands rules, more akin to the nature of the classes Grenda created. For my own Absom Sark I used the Beastmaster from the Complete B/X Adventurer. It works, but Amok here feels closer to the Riddlemasters than he does to the Beastmasters.

In Wasted Lands I think the best way to do this guy is make him a Psychic Warrior (Class from Thirteen Parsecs), give him the Animistic Background, make his species Supernatural (Lycanthrope), and round out the edges with some Heroic Touchstones. Granted, the Beastmaster, like all the Riddlemaster classes, are grossly overpowered, so I am not going to match him up power for power. But I want to get close to his concept.

Amok Silvertyne

Class: Mystic Warrior (from Thirteen Parsecs)
Level: 6
Species: Supernatural, Lycanthrope (from NIGHT SHIFT)
Alignment: Twilight Good
Background: Animistic 

Abilities
Strength: 16 (+2) N
Agility: 19 (+3) N
Toughness: 19 (+3) 
Intelligence: 19 (+3)  
Wits: 17 (+2) A
Persona: 17 (+2) 

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 0
Vitality: 45 
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+2/+1
Melee Bonus: +3 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base) 
Number of Attacks: 2
Saves: +1 vs saves

Mystic Warrior Abilities
Combat Mastery, Impossibly Agile, Mysticism, Lightning Fast, Survivor Skills, Free Running, Favored Weapon: Sword

Mystic Powers
Enhanced Senese, Danger Sense, Supernatural Attacks

Lycanthrope Powers
Shapechange into a wolf.

Heroic Touchstones
Level 1: Psychic Ability: Telepathy (animals)
Level 3: Spirit Guide: Direwolf ("Lorn")
Level 5: +1 to melee attacks

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Nature

Gear
Longsword, Dagger, Mace, Spear, Bow

This is rather good, to be honest. I was worried I would not be able to capture what this character was in Wasted Lands, but I never should have doubted. 

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG, the NIGHT SHIFT RPG, and Thirteen Parsecs RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Enter the HIVE!

 I wanted to spend a week doing evil characters, but my week got away from me. I was supposed to do these yesterday. Plus I also have another reason for doing these. My oldest is building a bunch of NPC adventuring parties. In his current game these adventuring guilds are akin to the social media celebrities of his world. They are all ranked, with the ones with the highest ranks getting the best sponsorship deals and merchandising deals. Groups with signature-named weapons do better since the weapons can be sold separately for their action figures.  

The Hive here are not highly ranked. But that is fine since he needs a few of them.

I am not 100% sure about the origin of these guys, but the timing and the names of the characters remind me of my own "Spyder Society" I had made a couple years before them.  I don't think they were made to be NPCs, these look like characters he was going to play at some point. Plus a few have what look like "play notes" on them.

What REALLY stands out about these characters though is they were made for the Forgotten Realms. This is interesting because I didn't even know Grenda, a hard core Greyhawk guy, was doing anything at all with the Realms. But they all worship evil gods from the Realms. He also has his city, Rivendell (not the Tolkien one), placed in the Realms somewhere. If I use them, I'll change that to Waterdeep. Though I would have liked to have known where he put his city on Faerûn.

There is a nice variety here, but all are 1st level (or so) and all are fairly standard AD&D classes. So translating them into Wasted Lands is pretty easy.

Cobra

Class: Renegade
Level: 1
Species: Human
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Warrior

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) N
Agility: 18 (+3) A
Toughness: 18 (+3) N 
Intelligence: 15 (+1) 
Wits: 16 (+1)
Persona: 18 (+3) 

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 10
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +2/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +1 (base), 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Saves: +3 to Death Saves
Number of Attacks: 1

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-3 d6)

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: +1 to melee attacks

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Thug

Gear
Longsword, dagger, crossbow

Widow

Class: Renegade
Level: 1
Species: Dökkálfar
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Warrior

Abilities
Strength: 17 (+2) 
Agility: 18 (+3) A
Toughness: 17 (+2) N 
Intelligence: 18 (+3) N
Wits: 15 (+1)
Persona: 16 (+2) 

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 3
Vitality: 6
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +2/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +1 (base), 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Saves: +3 to Death Saves
Number of Attacks: 1

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-3 d6)

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: 1 Level of Sorcerer

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Trickster

Gear
Longsword, dagger, dart

Pi

Class: Renegade/Necromancer
Level: 1/1
Species: Half-Ljósálfar
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Cult

Abilities
Strength: 17 (+2) 
Agility: 18 (+3) A
Toughness: 16 (+2)  
Intelligence: 16 (+2) N
Wits: 17 (+2) N
Persona: 15 (+2) 

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 7
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +2/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +1 (base), 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Saves: +3 to Death Saves
Number of Attacks: 1

Necromancer Abilities
Channel the Dead, See Dead people, Turn Undead, Protection from the Dead

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-3 d6)

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Psychic Power: Telekinesis 

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Speaker to the Dead

Gear
Shortsword, mace, dagger

Wasp

Class: Renegade/Sorcerer
Level: 3/3
Species: Deep Gnome
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Cult

Abilities
Strength: 17 (+2) 
Agility: 18 (+3) A
Toughness: 16 (+2)  
Intelligence: 17 (+2) A
Wits: 16 (+2) N
Persona: 15 (+2) 

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 4
Vitality: 13
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +3/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +1 (base), 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Saves: +3 to Death Saves
Number of Attacks: 1

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-3 d6), Vital Strike

Sorcerer Abilities
Spell casting, Aracna (Enhanced Senses, Psychic Power Suggestion)

Sorcerer Spells
First Level: Chill Ray, Extinguish Light
Second Level: Invisibility

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Psychic Power: Bio-feedback 
3rd Level: Luck Benefit

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Trickster

Gear
Shortsword, mace, dagger

Cottonmouth

Class: Renegade/Necromancer
Level: 1/1
Species: Half-orc
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Cult

Abilities
Strength: 17 (+2) 
Agility: 18 (+3) A
Toughness: 17 (+2)  
Intelligence: 16 (+2) N
Wits: 17 (+2) N
Persona: 10 (+0) 

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 8
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +2/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +1 (base), 
Ranged Bonus: +1 (base)
Saves: +3 to Death Saves
Number of Attacks: 1

Necromancer Abilities
Channel the Dead, See Dead people, Turn Undead, Protection from the Dead

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-3 d6)

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: +1 to melee attacks

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Assassin

Gear
Bastardsword, morningstar, dagger

"The Shadow"

No idea who this is. "He" appears to be their boss or handler.  His name appears on all their sheets under Patron. It is likely that one of his own characters relocated to the Realms.

I must admit. I am tempted to reuse these characters for my own Forgotten Realms expropriations. A great set of antagonists for my Sinéad.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Eno Nosrep

 I don't know who this character is ("One Person"), but I do know what he is supposed to be. His class is Adept of the Spirit, which was our attempts to bring the Riddlemaster back down to a reasonable class, and use a name that wasn't going to get us into trouble if we had ever decided to publish it. 

We never got it to that point. I had bugged Grenda about it over the years and then again when the OSR scene first started going strong, but he was not interested in doing it then. It was always, "Yeah, I should do that soon." Well. That "soon" never came. I do admit some hesitation in releasing it now; I really don't, to be honest. But intellectually, I wonder how it would work for, say, Old School Essentials or one of the AD&D 1st clones.

For Wasted Lands, though, this is a perfect time for me to try him out as a Mystic Warrior from Thirteen Parsecs.

Eno Nosrep

Class: Mystic Warrior (from Thirteen Parsecs)
Level: 13
Species: Human
Alignment: Neutral
Background: Scholar

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) A
Agility: 17 (+2) 
Toughness: 18 (+3) N 
Intelligence: 17 (+2) 
Wits: 14 (+1)
Persona: 16 (+2) N

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 104
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +5 (base), +3 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +5 (base)
Saves: +5 to all Toughness Saves
Number of Attacks: 3

Mystic Warrior Abilities
Combat Mastery, Impossibly Agile, Mysticism, Lightning Fast, Survivor Skills, Free Running, Iron Will, Favored Weapon (+1 damage die), Mind over Body, Instant Kill

Powers
Danger Sense, Enhanced Senses, Supernatural Attacks

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: +1 to melee attacks
3rd Level: +1 to Wits Saves
5th Level:  Luck Benefit
7th Level: Psychic Ability: Telepathy
9th Level: +1 level of Sorcerer
11th Level: +1 level of Sorcerer
13th Level: +1 level of Sorcerer

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Mental Discipline

Gear
Longsword, dagger, short bow

Yes. This works quite nicely, to be honest. Mystic Warriors do make for a good stand-in for Riddlemasters. I am just sad that Grenda didn't get a chance to see this.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Crystal the Psychic

 I was going to do a week of all evil characters, but Grenda did not have a lot of them. The ones he did have were fun, but they were the exception rather than the rule. Today's character could have been one of mine, but she isn't. Crystal is a Lawful Good Psionist, and she is giving me New Age hippie vibes. 

I mentioned before that Grenda and I made a lot of character classes. Lots. The Psionist was one of his. I hope there is still some more here to find on it because I would love to read a good psionic/psychic-based class. Especially one Grenda created, he was into psychics the same way I was/am into witches. 

Sadly, there is not a lot to tell here about Crystal. She is a teen (so I think some Teen Titans and X-Men influences are at play here), and she is a short (4'11") blonde girl with green eyes, so I also think she is modeled on a girlfriend I had around then. Kinda weird to see her here, to be honest. 

All of the O.G.R.E.S. games (Wasted Lands, NIGHT SHIFT, Thirteen Parsecs) have psychic classes. So, my cup is full of choices.

Crystal the Psychic

Class: Psychic
Level: 8
Species: Human
Alignment: Light Good
Background: Scholarly

Abilities
Strength: 8 (-1) 
Agility: 16 (+2) 
Toughness: 11 (+0) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2)
Wits: 17 (+2)
Persona: 15 (+1)

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 5
Vitality: 49
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +3 (base), -1 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Saves: +3 to all Wits Saves

Psychic Abilities
Psychic powers (3), Supernatural Attacks, Sixth Sense, Supernatural power.

Powers
Bio-feedback, ESP, Telepathy, Precognition (S), 

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Psychic power: Empathy
3rd Level: +1 to Persona saves
5th Level: Spirit Guide: Kyri (hawk)
7th Level: Psychic Power: Telemagery

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Mind

Gear
Dagger, bracers of protection

Ok. I like this version. Feels more like a psychic and less like a cleric pretending to be psychic (which is what I think Grenda was doing mechanically). She reminds me of the Psychic Healer class languishing on my "To Do" pile for AGES. I don't think she is in that class, but I am sure that the conversations we had sent me down the path of the class and Grenda to this character. 

Yeah. I would use this class and this character a lot. 

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Savalon Blade

Now, here is an interesting one. Savalon Blade was a "failed" Riddlemaster. That is, he did not meet the base requirements (Psionics) to join. He would have been a Shadowmaster, but it didn't work out. If I remember right, he initially started out as a hunter of Riddlemasters, but when I used him in my games, he was something different. He hunted Mind Flayers. I based him loosely on Abslom Daak the Dalek Hunter from Doctor Who Weekly.

Neither are "good" characters and they are not around to be liked. I think "Asshole" was used more than once to describe Savalon. But he was good at doing what he wanted to do, and that was to kill Illithids/Mind Flayers.

Savalon Blade in the Wasted Lands

There are no Illithids in the Wasted Lands. There are, however, the Cthulim and other servants of the Deeper Dark. In this world, he would hunt them down for similar reasons. Also his AD&D stats were designed to help him stand up to a similar level of Riddlemaster; so a multiclass of fighter/mage/thief.  That is fine for Wasted Lands, but I think we can do better. 

I was discussing the Shadowmaster yesterday with Jason Vey. He reminded me there was a class perfect for it concept-wise. It is the web-freebie, The Shade. I think this will do rather nicely.

Savalon Blade

Class: Shade
Level: 13
Species: Half-elf
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Background: Hunter/Gatherer

Abilities
Strength: 17 (+2) N
Agility: 18 (+3) A
Toughness: 17 (+2) 
Intelligence: 19 (+3) N
Wits: 19 (+3)
Persona: 16 (+2)

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 2
Vitality: 89
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +2 (base), +2 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Saves: +3 to all Agility Saves

Shade Abilities

Assassination, Improved Defense, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Tactical Awareness (1d10), Natural Alchemy, Perception, Skilled (4 skills), Subterfuge, Vital Strike x4 (supernatural)

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: +1 to melee attacks 
3rd Level: +1 to Wits saves
5th Level: Unique Defence Mode: Psychic Attacks
7th Level: Boost to Defence Mode
9th Level: Luck benefit
11th Level: Reroll
13th Level: Aspect of Sphere: Skilled hunter

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Hunter

Gear
Longsword, dagger, short bow

Not at all bad. He's not too crazy overpowered compared to his AD&D counterpart. I'll have to play around with this on a bit more.

I can also see this guy moving through time (maybe a subtle nod to his origins) and have him show up in NIGHT SHIFT and Thirteen Parsecs as well.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Ander

Let's continue with the evil characters today with another of the Riddlemasters, this time a neutral evil "Shadowmaster." 

I don't know much about Ander. He was one of the Post "Dragon War" characters Grenda created. I don't think I ever saw this one in play, and I am sure I never DMed him. Shadowmasters, though, I do know. This class took features from other classes to make them the ultimate thief-assassin type. Thief skills, assassination abilities, magic to aid them, and, of course, a lot of psionics/psychic powers. Grossly overpowered to the point of silliness. 

Still. They were fun to play.

In a Wasted Lands game, they would be some sort of adept or mystic. A character dedicated to ascetic pursuits of mind and body. Again, with the various Riddlemasters I could rebuild them using the point buy system found in NIGHT SHIFT's Night Companion, or via multiclassing, I do have two other options.

The Mystic Martial Artist from the Night Companion is a good fit here, especially for Shadowmasters. The Mystic Warrior from Thirteen Parsecs is also a great fit, but maybe better for Riddlemasters proper. Mind you, this is the great strength of all the O.G.R.E.S. games; their inter-compatibility.  

After going over both classes I am convinced that Mystical Martial Artists are a perfect, and far more reasonable substitute for Shadowmasters. Sorry Grenda.

You will have to excuse the all "18s" in his abilities. I wasn't there when he rolled this guy up, but I am sure those numbers are legit.

Ander the Shadowmaster

Class: Mystic Martial Artist
Level: 3
Species: Human
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Background: Warrior 

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) N
Agility: 18 (+3) A
Toughness: 18 (+3) 
Intelligence: 18 (+3) N
Wits: 18 (+3)
Persona: 18 (+3)

Fate Points: 1d6
Defense Value: 2
Vitality: 24
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +3/+1/+0
Melee Bonus: +2 (base), +3 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Saves: +1 to all Agility and Toughness Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background)

Mystic Martial Artist Abilities
Impossibly Agil, Martial Arts, Martial Arts Mysticism, Lightning Fast, Survivor Skills, 

Mysticism
Enhanced Senses, Innate Magic (Invisibility), Supernatural Attacks (melee)

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Psychic Ability: Bio-feedback
3rd Level: +1 to melee attacks 

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Shadow

Gear
Longsword, dagger, short bow

Damn. I like this. I want to go back and redo ALL my Riddlemasters and Shadowmasters now. I should poke around and see if there are some more Riddlemasters in this stack and stat them as Mystic Warriors.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: Queen Talason

Evil ruler? Sure why not. I have to admit this sheet jumped out at me for a number of reasons. First, it is a rare evil woman in Grenda's collection. Secondly, she is a Queen, and finally, this sheet looks OLD. I don't know anything about Queen Talason here. She is a fighter, but she also can turn undead and has some spells. She has psionics, like a lot of Grenda's characters. 

Also, I love her character sketch. Grenda was always a good artist, and this one is just fun.

I am not 100% sure what is going on with her. She looks like an anti-paladin but has no thief or assassin abilities. Plus, anti-paladins were all chaotic evil, and she is lawful evil. Her spells are from the Magic-user list and not the Cleric one. I checked the old "Plethora of Paladins" article from Dragon #106. The Lawful Evil "Illrigger" and they do use Magic-user spells, but her spell progression and XP progression do not match our Queen here. 

This sheet is also much older than Dragon #106's Feb 1986 date. This one looks a lot closer to his sheets from the early 1980s; as in 1981-82.

I think re-crafting her as an Anti-Paladin, or at least an evil Divine Warrior, is a fun idea.

Queen Talason

Class: Divine Warrior
Level: 8
Species: Human
Alignment: Dark Evil*
Background: Warrior 

Abilities
Strength: 17 (+2) N
Agility: 18 (+3) 
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 16 (0) 
Wits: 17 (+2) N
Persona: 17 (+2) P

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: -2
Vitality: 53 
Degeneracy: 5
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +3 (base), +2 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Saves: +3 to all Wits and Persona Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background)

Divine Warrior Abilities
Sixth Sense, Heal Injury and Illness (8d6), Supernatural Attacks, Protection from Evil, Spot Hidden (1-3 on d6).

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Psychic Ability: Telekinesis
3rd Level: +1 to melee attacks 
5th Level: Favored Weapon, Sword
7th Level: 1 level of Sorcerer

Spells
First Level: Arcane Dart

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Death

Gear
Longsword, Mace, Battle Axe, Spear, Crossbow, Full plate armor, Holy symbol

I imagine that Queen Talason here was a warrior princess, cleaving a bloody path between herself and her goal, the throne. As a Queen, she was no less bloody. In Grenda's games, she worshipped Hades, the god of the Dead. In my revised Wasted Lands games, Hüter is not really the same deadly god. No, in my new campaign, she would worship Helga, the Ghost goddess in her aspect as the Battle Crone. This would also explain her level of Sorcerer as a Heroic/Divine Touchstone. 

I think as a nod to her history and her near miss as an Illrigger, I'll make her birthday February 14th. 

Again, I am loving the Divine Warrior class.

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

Character Creation Challenge: The Ravenloft Weekend

Back in 1991, Grenda and I ran a weekend-long game of Ravenloft. We ran it as the "Dreams of Barovia" variant that combined adventure modules I6 and I10. He was the DM for I6 Ravenloft and I was the DM for I11 Ravenloft II: House on Gryphon Hill. It was a lot of fun to be honest, the problem was I forgot to tell my roommates and girlfriend where I was! When I crawled back to my apartment at 2D Lewis Park, I got an earful. The game was fun, but kind of a hazy memory to be honest. We played from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening straight. I remember sleeping in my chair and eating a lot of Quatros pizza. 

I am presenting all the characters now to cover my next few days (1/17 to 1/21). But more importantly to me, can I use Wasted Lands with NIGHT SHIFT to play a Ravenloft-style game? 

The answer is, absolutely.

Ravenloft is quasi-Gothic horror. As I have mentioned in the past, it is not true Gothic Horror because the characters are still hero types. They have power, they have agency. The heroes of Gothic Horror typically do not have the same level of power D&D characters do. Out Hunters in Dracula only succeed because they have each other and make use of the "technology" of the time. The PCs can go toe to toe with most Gothic literature monsters.

Wasted Lands is Post-Apocalyptic Cosmic Horror. NIGHT SHIFT is Urban survival Horror. BUT that is just what they are on the surface. They are both toolkit games to add or subtract what you want or need from them. 

I would still give the characters some power, but make the setting "Gritty."

That means no Heroic Touchstones. 

Heroic Touchstones are a key feature of the Wasted Lands and will be part of Night Shift 2nd Edition. But for a game like Ravenloft? I would take them out. Well...maybe one at first level. I'll work on the characters to see. Thankfully, none of these characters have psionics or other "kewl powerz," and all the classes are normal ones. 

I would use all the fear and terror effects from NIGHT SHIFT. I'd use Degeneracy and Corruption rules from Wasted Lands. That might feel like I am stacking things against the characters. I am.

Unlike D&D (esp. post 2000+ D&D) Gothic Horror is not about balance, it is exactly the opposite of that. The Big Bad Guy has all the power. 

The Characters

I only have vague recollections of these characters. I was spending a lot of time trying to get into grad school, and my focus then was largely on that. Plus, these are really just one-shot characters. So while they do have some good background attached, they were only used (to my knowledge) for this adventure.

Sir Beyrn Silverhelm

Class: Divine Warrior (from Night Companion)
Level: 13
Species: Human
Alignment: Light Good
Background: Warrior

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) N
Agility: 12 (0) 
Toughness: 18 (+3) 
Intelligence: 12 (0) 
Wits: 15 (+1) N
Persona: 17 (+2) A

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 0
Vitality: 98 
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +5 (base), +3 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +5 (base)
Saves: +5 to all Wits and Persona Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background)

Divine Warrior Abilities
Sixth Sense, Heal Injury and Illness (13d6), Supernatural Attacks, Protection from Evil

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Protection

Gear
Longsword, Field plate armor, Holy symbol

Sir Beyrn is a quintessential Diving Warrior. His stats on his AD&D sheet look like they might have been cribbed from Johan II to be honest! Which makes sense. Looks like Grenda created all these characters in a couple of weeks while working and going to school.

Hile Augarin

Class: Archer (from Wasted Lands)
Level: 12
Species: Half-elf
Alignment: Twilight Good
Background: Elf (Wasted Lands) 

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) N
Agility: 16 (+2) A
Toughness: 16 (+2) N
Intelligence: 11 (0) 
Wits: 15 (+1) 
Persona: 12 (0) 

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 2
Vitality: 92 
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +5 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +5 (base)
Saves: +6 to agility-based saves

Elf Abilities
Night Shifted

Archer Abilities
Improved Defense, Master Archer, Ranged Combat, Supernatural Attack, Improved Range Damage, Eagle Eye, Incapacitating Shot, Multi Attack x4, Careful Aim, Trick Shot

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: hunter

Gear
Longsword, Longbow, elven chain

I have used Renegades and Warriors in the past for Rangers, in this case Archer is the better choice.

Finneous Sevinhand

Class: Renegade (from Wasted Lands)
Level: 12
Species: Half-elf
Alignment: Twilight Good
Background: Elf (Wasted Lands) 

Abilities
Strength: 15 (+1) N
Agility: 17 (+2) A
Toughness: 16 (+2) N
Intelligence: 13 (+1) 
Wits: 11 (0) 
Persona: 10 (0) 

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 3
Vitality: 87 
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +4 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Saves: +4 vs Death effects

Elf Abilities
Night Shifted

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-4 d6), Perception, Vital Strike x4, Read Languages, Stealth Skills

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Thief

Gear
Shortsword, dagger, throwing knife, crossbow

Renegades have a different feel to me than survivors, though both can be used as thieves. 

Meroc Trothgard

Class: Survivor (from NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 12
Species: Human
Alignment: Night Good
Background: Hunter/Gatherer

Abilities
Strength: 15 (+1) N
Agility: 17 (+2) A
Toughness: 17 (+2) N
Intelligence: 12 (0) 
Wits: 14 (+1) 
Persona: 13 (+1) 

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 2
Vitality: 90
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +4 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Saves: +4 vs Death effects

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-4 d6), Perception, Vital Strike x4, Read Languages, Stealth Skills

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Hunter

Gear
Longsword ("Trollslayer"), dagger, longbow

Mechanically, the Renegade and the Survivor are the same. But in this case, I add in the backgrounds to give them a different feel. With Meroc here, I also decided not to go with their multi-class Ranger/Thief and stuck with the Survivor.

Aristobulous Declan

Class: Sorcerer (from Wasted Lands)
Level: 13
Species: Half-elf
Alignment: Night Good
Background: Scholar

Abilities
Strength: 11 (0) 
Agility: 16 (+2) N
Toughness: 15 (+1) 
Intelligence: 17 (+2) A
Wits: 10 (0) 
Persona: 13 (+1) N

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 3
Vitality: 72
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +4 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Saves: +4 vs Magic

Elf Abilities
Night Shifted

Sorcerer Abilities
Beguile, Enhanced Senses, Exorcist, Subtle Influence, Telekinesis

Spells
First Level (5): Arcane Darts, Chill Ray, Gout of Flame, Mystical Senses, Sleep, 
Second Level (4): Conjure Flame, Invisibility, Lesser Renewal, See Invisible
Third Level (4): Concussive Blast, Dark Lightning, Dispel Magic, Remove Curse 
Fourth  Level (4): Conjure Fire, Improved Invisibility, Paralyze Undead, Renewal
Fifth Level (3): Banishment, Shadow Armor, Teleport
Sixth Level (2): Destroy Undead, Dispel Evil
Seventh Level (1): Ball of Sunshine

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic

Gear
Quarterstaff, Dagger, dart

Mages are Sorcerers. This one has a lot spells to help survive Castle Ravenloft.

Father Ercon Valeran

Class: Theosophist (from NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 12
Species: Human
Alignment: Light Good
Background: Warrior

Abilities
Strength: 15 (+1) N
Agility: 18 (+3) 
Toughness: 16 (+1) N
Intelligence: 16 (+2) 
Wits: 20 (+4) A 
Persona: 19 (+3) 

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 3
Vitality: 87
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +6/+4/+2
Melee Bonus: +2 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Saves: +5 vs Wits 

Theosophist Abilities
See Dead people, Turn Undead x2, Summon Dead, Channel Dead, Death Knell, Suggestion, Command the Dead

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Hunter of the Dead

Gear
Mace ("Skullcrusher"), Quarterstaff, shortbow, holy symbol.

I can't help but notice that Father Ercon's Patron Deity is St. Werper. Nice touch Grenda!

I should stat up Strahd sometime as well. But I think he deserves his own post really. 

You can get the Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.