Showing posts with label NewYearNewCharacter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NewYearNewCharacter. Show all posts

Sunday, January 24, 2021

Character Creation Challenge: Dark Ages Mage

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
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. 


Saturday, January 23, 2021

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.

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. 

Fantasy Wargaming RPG

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."

11th Century Frankish Noblewoman
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. 

Friday, January 22, 2021

Character Creation Challenge: Yggdrasill

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.

Volva

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 Nicholasson
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.

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Character Creation Challenge: Keltia

Keltia, the Chronicles of Arthur Pendraeg
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.

Lars and Siân

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 ferch Modron
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!

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Character Creation Challenge: The Dark Eye

The Dark Eye
This is my week to tackle games I have always wanted to play, or play more of.  Today is the day I take on one I have had sitting on my shelf since 2017 or so, The Dark Eye.  

The Game: The Dark Eye

I have known about this game for a while, both The Dark Eye and the original German Das Schwarze Auge. I always wanted to own the original German, having taken German in both high school and college, but not using a language for, well longer than I care to admit, you lose it. Das tut mir leid.

The Dark Eye always attracted me as a sort of a darker fantasy RPG.  A game where Mirkwood is replaced by the Black Forest.  

I picked the 2nd Printing of the English edition at my local game auction.  I grabbed the core rules and a bunch of add ons that I suspect came from the Kickstarter. There is a lot and it all looks so good. There is even a basic QuickStart.

The game is very moody, but also surprisingly, well, bright.  The art is fantastic and the design and layout are great. A really gorgeous game.  Can't wait to do something more with it.  And there is just so much material to be had, both to buy and for free

I went through the character creation and poured over the book.  I am overjoyed AND overwhelmed with all the options.  I can easily see why this game is so popular here and in Germany.  It is a game I would love to do more with and there is even a Community Content section for fan-produced works.

This could become a new obsession if I allowed it.

The Dark Eye RPG

The Character: Katherina

Katherina is a character I would have likely created in German class.  I will say this, the Dark Eye character sheets are among the nicest I have ever used.  Though now I also want to make a Dwarven Witch and maybe a version of my Larina.  I might do them as part of a larger review.

I might be missing some of the details here, but I think I have her set. 

Art by Ramona von Brasch
Character art by Ramona von Brasch
Katherina
Female Human Middenrealmer Raven Witch

COU 12
SGC 13
INT 14
CHA 15
DEX 12
AGI 12
CON 13
STR 9

Life Points 32
Arcane Energy 40
Spirit 2
Toughness 1
Dodge 6

Experience Level: Experienced (1,100 AP)

Advantages
Spellcaster, Hidden Aura, Increased Arcane Energy (V), Increased Life Points (I), Difficult to Enchant

Disadvantages
Negative Trait (Obessesed with Magic)

Special Abilities
Tradition (Witch), Languages (4 when I know more of the languages), Curses (4), Flying Balm, Connection to Familiar, Mimicry

Skills
Physical: Flying 6, Gaukelei 4, Stealth 2
Social: Empathy 6, Fast-Talk 4, Persuasion 4
Nature: Animal Lore 4, Plant Lore 4, Survival 3
Knowledge: Astronomy 4, Geography 4, Magical Lore 3, Myths & Legends 5, Religions 4
Craft: Alchemy 4, Treat Disease 2, Treat Soul 4

Combat Techniques
Brawling 8, Pole Weapons 8

Familiar
Krähe (Raven)
SA: First Among Equals

Spells
Fighting Stick 5
Witch's Bile 4

Age: 18
Birthday: Nameless 5
Social Status: Free
Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'5"

I am sure I need to pick out more spells and more rituals. Again, there is just SO MUCH here.

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Character Creation Challenge: DragonQuest 1st Edition

DragonQuest, 1st Edition
I am actually quite thankful for this challenge right now.  I feel my creative batteries are in need of a recharge and this has been a help.  

The Game: Dragonquest

Everyone has that "one game" the game they admire from afar, want to learn it or more about it, and maybe, just maybe get to play it one day.  For the early 1980s that game for me was DragonQuest.  I can recall looking over the 2nd Edition book sitting prominently out front of Belobrajdic's Bookstore in my hometown.  I'd flip through it and marvel how "Not D&D" it was.  I always wanted to buy it but since my gaming budget was limited to what I could make on my paper route it was a fascinating game that no one I knew played OR the next AD&D hardcover.  Not a question of who was going to win really. 

Thankfully I am at a point in my life now where my RPG budget is several orders of magnitude greater and even expensive aftermarket books are within my grasp.  So I was quite pleased to have picked up DragonQuest 1st Edition boxed set a while back.  It confirmed everything I had thought at the time.
The game is wonderful in it's "Not D&D"-ness, it is wonderful to read and a joyful look back into the past of our hobby.  And I also know that no one I gamed with at the time would have played beyond one session.  Ah well.  I have today.

I do recall reading more about DragonQuest in the page of Dragon Magazine and I remember when TSR bought SPI (DragonQuest's publisher) that a new 3rd Edition was going to come out. I even held out hopes that the dual systemed D&D/DragonQuest adventures would lead to more crossovers.  But sadly that never occurred.   


At some point, I will need to do a deep dive into this game. But for now, let's make a character.

The Character: Phygor

In my games Phygor was one of the greatest wizards to have ever lived.  He was a well to do student in Glantri's Magic School. He was smart, well-liked, and had a very rich family. He was sitting in the courtyard of the school one day when just decided that he could not learn anything else here. So he got up left his books, belonging, and half-eaten lunch and he walked.  He kept walking until he had gone all over the world learning esoteric magics from hundreds of different spell casters.  He was something of a magic "Batman" in my games, only with no tragic backstory.  When he returned to Glantri he was able to quickly and decisively put down a rebellion of other wizards; having no defense against his new and strange magics.  While he was in the D&D sense a Lawful Good Wizard, he has the respect of almost all the magic-users, wizards, witches, and warlocks of my world. Even the evil ones since Phygor believed in the crazy notion that magic should be for all so he made all of his discoveries public.   

He was never really a character.  Just a name and a myth. I would then claim that my wizard character Phygora was named for him and of course he would also go on to learn a lot of strange magics.  Sort of like how Harry Houdini named himself after his idol Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin. 

So let's go back in time. To a point before Phygor at age 25 got up and left his life to learn different magics.  This is 18-year-old Phygor just getting started at his school. Not discontent, but bright-eyed and eager to learn.

Phygor
Phygor
Human Male, 18 years

Primary Characteristics
Physical Strength 12
Agility 10
Magical Aptitude 21
Manual Dexterity 16
Endurance 16
Willpower 18
Appearance 13

Secondary Characteristics
Fatigue 20
Perception 5
Action Points 9

Starting XP 140

Adept, College of Ensorcerlments and Enchantments
Talents: Witchsight
Spells: Spell of Telekinesis
Rituals: Ritual of Enchantment

Skills
None yet

He looks like a likable chap. He would have to be, he is going to travel the world and seek out all the masters of esoteric and occult knowledge.  

There is an absolute ton to like about this game.  Frankly, I'd love to get some more XP and see what skills I could start with this guy.  Maybe even advance him far enough to even start his big world-spanning journey.

I could even see a future feature here where I try to stat him up in other FRPGs but each time have him a little more advanced.  Maybe even ending with his BECMI stats at 36th level.

Phygor

What are your memories of DragonQuest?  I'd love to hear them.

Monday, January 18, 2021

Character Creation Challenge: 7th Sea, 2nd Edition

7th Sea RPG
Today is something new for me. All the games I have done so far and have planned have been games on my shelf.  This weekend I have been playing around with this idea of a Sea Witch character.  The idea of this has been floating around in the back of my mind since the 2nd Ed days when we ran a short-lived campaign sea-based campaign.  So I went out bought 7th Sea, 2nd Edition.

The Game: 7th Sea, 2nd Edition

7th Sea was always an interesting game to me. I picked up the 1st edition a couple of times at my FLGS to buy but never bought it.  When I was at the Ennies a few years ago when 7th Sea, 2nd Ed won a bunch of awards and I thought about picking it up then too. 

The setting is an alt-Europe during the Age of Sail. I have to admit the idea, and the setting is a very intriguing one.  Reading through the game I am overwhelmed with ideas.  Not just for this game, but also to add to various other games.  

One day I should really do a Blue Rose / 7th Sea / Mage the Sorceror's Crusade mash-up.  I also could see all three of those games adding more depth to my D&D games, in particular to Glantri. 

Really there is so much here I will need to come back to this one. Might have to pick up the hardcover. It really looks like a great game.

The Character: Gwenhwyfar

For this character, I went with very familiar territory or as familiar as I can get here.  Really it was the fact that characters can be Pagans that sold me on the character idea here.  Also, the thinly-veiled version of Ireland in Inismore grabbed my attention. 

Circe Invidiosa 1892 oil on canvas
Gwenhwyfar
Concept: Sea Witch
Nation: Inismore
Religion: Pagan

Traits
Brawn ••
Finesse ••
Resolve ••••
Wits •••
Panache ••

Skills
Aim •
Athletics •
Brawl ••
Convince •
Empathy ••
Hide •
Intimidate
Notice ••
Perform ••
Ride
Sailing ••
Scholarship •
Tempt •••
Theft •
Warfare
Weaponry •

Background
Saoi (Wise one), Sailor

Advantages
Bar Fighter
Able Drinker
Direction Sense
Disarming Smile
Eagle Eyes
Linguist
Sea Legs
Team Player

Sorcery: Glamour

So I don't know about this character, or this system, yet.  But I am looking forward to learning more about both.  I am not sure if Gwenhwyfar and Seren would get along (my stand-ins for Irish and Welsh respectively). 

Sunday, January 17, 2021

Character Creation Challenge: Blue Rose1st Edition, AGE Edition

Blue Rose
Yesterday I featured Blue Rose, the True20 Edition.  I am moving further afield now from the d20 base I started with, but there is still a lot recognizable here. Blue Rose 2nd Edition uses the new AGE system from Green Ronin.  Both systems, AGE and True20, have their benefits and suit the stories well.

The Game: Blue Rose, 2nd Edition

Like its predecessor edition, I have talked a lot about Blue Rose AGE edition.

In particular, I have been using it as a main feature in my recent "Plays Well With Others" posts. I have even considered it as one of the base systems to use for my "War of the Witch Queens" campaign.  In fact, one of the adventures morphed and has made its way to an official Blue Rose adventure anthology, the upcoming Six of Cups.  I have to say that working with Green Ronin on official Blue Rose material was a delight.

I have not played a campaign in BR yet, but I have played a number of one-shots that could be loosely defined as a campaign.  I have even played a few times at Gen Con with some really fantastic GMs. 

Again I spent a lot of time reviewing this game when it came out.

And I have to admit I am REALLY looking forward to the Blue Rose Adventurer's Guide for 5e when it comes out.

The game is an absolute joy and I hope to continue with it for a long time to come.

Blue Rose

The Character: Seren

Seren is a new character based on a character I have in Six of Cups.  That character, Celeste Vocolio, is considered to be one of the greatest heroes of the Aldean Navy.  She stowed away on a ship at age 8 because she wanted to see the world and she became the greatest Admiral of the Navy in Aldis, Kingdom of the Blue Rose.  I described her as "Pippy Longstockings growing up to become Honor Harrington."

Seren is not part of the Aldean Navy, nor is she a great hero. Yet.  She grew up hearing stories of Adm. Vocolio her whole life like many children growing up in Garnet. She would sit near to the Garnet Beacon lighthouse and watch the ships come in and go out.  

Seren though is not a sailor, she is a Sea-folk witch who now lives in Garnet.

Miranda
Seren
Female Sea Folk Seer (Adept) 1st level

Accuracy 1 (Prime)
Communication 1
Constitution 1 [Swiming 3]
Dexterity 1
Fighting 1
Intelligence 2 (Prime) [Nautical Lore 4]
Perception 4 (Prime) [Searching 7]
Strength 0
Willpower (Prime) 2

Speed 11
Defense 11
Armor 0
Health 25

Powers, Talents and Specializations
Sea Folk (Dark sight, swimming)
Adept (Arcane training, Arcane channeling)

Observation Talent
Seer

Languages (Aldin, Lar'ttan)

Arcana
Healing (Novice) Cure, Psychic Shield, Second Sight
Visionary (Novice) Visions, Scry, Nature Reading

Calling: The World (Exploration & Discovery)
Destiny: Ace of Swords - Courage
Fate: Ace of Rods - Overzealous

Seren is a baby Sea Witch.  My goal for her would be get her on a boat with some crew that become her adopted family of choice and have merry adventures.  Likely I see her becoming a powerful, and hopefully scary, sea witch; I see her in a Miyazaki film to be honest.

Working with her Calling, Destiny and Fate, I see her as someone that wants to see the world, to be the one standing on the front of her ship and telling the crew where to go and what to do.  But that is a long way off yet and she has to first build up the courage to get there.

Saturday, January 16, 2021

Character Creation Challenge: Blue Rose1st Edition, True20

Blue Rose, 1st Edition

One of the games I really enjoyed playing back in the early days of the new Millenium was Green Ronin's Blue Rose, True20 edition

The Game: Blue Rose, 1st Edition

Blue Rose is a great game.  It takes fantasy and instead of drawing from the heroic Pulp tradition it instead draws from the Romantic fantasy traditions.  The characters are every bit as heroic, but their actions are guided by different principles.

I have spent a lot of time talking about Blue Rose here so instead of converting that ground again, I will direct you to some relevant posts.



The Character: Marissia

Marissia (and yeah that is the spelling I am going with here) has the distinction of being the very first NPC witch I ever created.  Or at least the first one that I still have notes for. She makes her appearance in module B1: In Search of the Unknown where I call her the "Daughter of Zelligar."

She is an evil witch, or at least she will be when she gets higher in level.  Given my big Black Rose deal for this version of the game, I thought I might as well bring her in.  

Hero Forge picture of Marissia
Marissa
1st level Human Adept (Arcanist)

Strength: +0
Dexterity: +1
Constitution: +2
Intelligence: +3
Wisdom: +3
Charisma: +4

Intiative: +1
Defence: +2
BAB: 0, Melee Attack: +0, Ranged Attack: +1

Toughness: +0
Fortitude: +0
Reflex: +0
Will: +2

Conviction: 3
Corruption: 0
Alignment: Shadow
Calling: Adept - Mastery of Arcane
Light Nature: 8 of Pentacles - Dedicated
Shadow Nature: 10 of rods - Obsessive

Skills: Heal, Intimidate, Notice, Concentration, Craft (potions), Knowledge (Arcane), Sleight of Hand, Search

Feats and Powers: Arcane Focus, Brew Elixir, Visionary Arcana.
Arcana: Scrying, Battle Dance

I'd have to go over her again to make sure this fits my eventual idea of her, but it is a good place to start.

Friday, January 15, 2021

Character Creation Challenge: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea
Another favorite game that came out of the Old-school push was Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.  A game that took us back to the pulp-fantasy roots of the RPG hobby. 

The Game: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

I am very, very fond of this game. There is just so much potential here that I become overwhelmed with ideas.  Do I want to do the dawn-time of humanity when the Old Ones have left the Earth?  Do I want to do an older, colder Earth of the far future under a dying sun?  Or just smoosh it into my current games? I want to do it all, to be honest!!

I have mentioned in the past that I see AS&SH as a good combination of B/X and AD&D rules.  Essentially it is what we were playing back in the early 80s.  Where I grew up it was not uncommon to come to a game where people would have an AD&D Monster Manual, a Holmes Basic book, and a Cook/Marsh Expert Book.  The rules we played by were also an equally eclectic mix.

AS&SH is like that. It favors the AD&D side more, but there are enough B/X influences that I smile to myself when I see them.

For me, it is another example of striking the perfect balance between B/X D&D and AD&D1.  This one leans more towards the AD&D side of the spectrum, but the power level, the grit, the overall vibe is far more B/X.  THEN you add in material from Lovecraft, Howard, and Clark Ashton Smith? Well, that is the perfect icing on the cake really.

Of course, it is nearly perfect out of the box, but it can also lend itself to so much more than what is given us to use between the covers.  I have run Zothique games and Pellucidar style ones as well where all of Hyperborea was either one continent in the far future or underground, inside hollow earth (respectively).

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

The Character: Xaltana

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea has its own witch class and it really is quite excellent.

Ok, admittedly this one is a bit of a cheat since she is not only not my character, she is a pastiche of other characters.  Xaltana appears in the adventure HS4 The Lost Caverns of Acheron which I talk about here.  She is an evil witch/vampire lord found in the central part of the adventure.  She combines various characters including Drelzna and Iggwilv as well as any number of evil witch and evil vampire type characters found in Conan.  In the adventure, her stats are for 3.x edition. AS&SH is a much better fit for her really.

While I have a number of other Witch-y Vampire Queens, this one is a bit different in that she is designed to be a one and done sort of bud guy.

Xaltana, the Witch-Queen of Acheron
Xaltana, the Witch-Queen of Acheron
Female Witch, 12th level, Chaotic Evil

Race: Human(Common, but could be Hyperborean) Vampire 
Secondary Skill: Scribe

Abilities
Strength: 16
Dexterity: 20
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 20

Casting Ability: 12
Fighting Ability: 5

Hit Points:  36
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
AC: 5 

Powers
1st level: Brew Potions, Familiar
3rd level: Brew Philtre
5th level: Dance of Beguilement, Effigy
7th level: Animate Broom
9th level: Witch's Apprentice

Vampire Powers

Spells
First: (5) Burning Hands, Charm Person, Locate the Dead, Shocking Grasp, Sleep
Second: (5) Cause Blindness, Ghoul Touch, Hold Person, Infernal Tongues, Ray of Enfeeblement
Third: (4) Black Cloud, Explosive Runes, Phantasm, Witch Fire
Fourth: (4) Black Tentacles, Charm Monster, Mirror Mirror, Sorcerer Eye
Fifth: (3) Control Winds, Magic Jar, Sleep Everlasting
Sixth: (2) Disintegrate, See

Magic Items
Bracers AC1


Xaltana, the Witch-Queen of Acheron
Xaltana, the Witch-Queen of Acheron
Female Witch, Malefic Tradition 13th level, Chaotic

Abilities
Strength: 16
Dexterity: 20
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 20

Hit Points: 29
AC: 1 (Bracers)

Occult Powers
Familiar: Bat
7th level:  
13th level: 

Spells 
Cantrips: Alarm Ward, Black Flame, Daze, Detect Curse, Object Reading, Open
First: Cause Fear, Everlasting Candle, Ghostly Slashing, Increase Sex Appeal, Minor Curse
Second: Bewitch II, Burning Gaze, Enthrall, Evil Eye
Third: Feral Spirit, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Tongues
Fourth: Dance Macabre, Intangible Cloak of Shadows, Phantom Lacerations
Fifth: Death Curse, Dreadful Bloodletting
Sixth: Death Blade, Mass Agony
Seventh:  Wave of Mutilation

Magic Items
Bracers AC 1

Both versions are good. I might rethink my plan to make her a one-shot villain!

Character Creation Challenge

Tardis Captain is the originator of this idea and he is keeping a list of places participating.  When posting to Social Media don't forget the #CharacterCreationChallenge hashtag. 

RPG Blog Carnival

This month's RPG Blog Carnival is being hosted by Plastic Polyhedra. They are doing Characters, Stories, and Worlds, so that fits right in with everything we are posting this month.

Check out all the posts going on this month at both of these sources.


Thursday, January 14, 2021

Character Creation Challenge: Spellcraft & Swordplay

Spellcraft & Swordplay cover
Spellcraft & Swordplay was one of the very first retro-clones or near-clones on the market.  In my mind, it was always much closer to original D&D than say Swords & Wizardry was mostly because the core mechanic of S&S was a 2d6 like the original combat of Chainmail.  It was the "Alternate Combat" method in OD&D that gave us the d20.  I enjoyed the game so much in playtesting that I had to do a witch class for it. I also did a warlock, one of my first ever.

The Game: Spellcraft & Swordplay

Spellcraft & Swordplay was released in 2009 and it became one of my favorite games. Super easy to learn, and very fast to play it captured that "Oldest school D&D" feel better for me better than some of the clones on the market at the time.  S&S is powered by O.R.C.S. (Optimized Roleplaying Core System) which is the forerunner to the O.G.R.E.S. (Oldschool Generic Roleplaying Engine System) we use in NIGHT SHIFT. There is something like 90% compatibility between the two, but that 10% is a bit different. 

After I played the game I went to Jason and asked to do a witch book for it.  The result was Eldritch Witchery, which presented the witch and warlock as "Elite Paths" to the Cleric and Wizard respectively.

It remains one of my favorite books.

Spellcraft & Swordplay book

The Characters: Runu and Urnu

Runu and Urnu are characters in my game with a bit of history.  They began as drow elves, then shadow elves, and then Shadar-kai elves.  They are twins and I modeled them to be the "evil Wonder Twins."  In 3e they had drow working with my big bad necromancer Magnus.  I know they killed their parents and they are/were pariahs in drow society.  They might be half-drow, half-shadow elf or something.  In any case they are fairly evil and are steeped in the darkest necromancies.

For Spellcraft & Swordplay, they are elite paths. Runu is a warlock (wizard) and Urnu is the witch (cleric). In an inversion of drow norms, Runu is the warlock/wizard and her brother Urnu is the witch/cleric.   Since Spellcraft & Swordplay features a native Necromancer class (wizard elite path) in the core rules, S&S has a good number of Necromancer spells to choose from.

Runu
ePic character by Overhead Games
Runu
Female Dark Elf 1st level Warlock (Wizard), Fraternity of Bones Lodge
Alignment: Evil

S: 11
D: 12
C: 13
I: 17
W: 15
Ch: 17

HP: 4
AC: 7 (leather)
Attacks: 1

Familiar: Bat

Powers: Hexes, Arcane Blast, Occult Powers

Spells
1st: Bane

Runu considers herself the oldest, though the two twins were born so close together that no one knows for sure who was first. Since they caused their mother's death in childbirth no one can ask her.

Runu, like her brother, invert the norms of their society, so she is a warlock (wizard).  Her coven is small, only her, her brother, and their leader.

Urnu
ePic character by Overhead Games
Urnu
Male Dark Elf 1st level Witch (Cleric), Demonic Tradition
Alignment: Evil

S: 12
D: 11
C: 13
I: 15
W: 17
Ch: 17

HP: 5
AC: 7 (leather)
Attacks: 1

Familiar: Rat

Powers: Read Magic, Occult Powers, Coven Spells, Herbal Healing

Spells
1st: Ghostly Slashing

Urnu follows his twin sister, and like her, considers her the oldest.  He is a witch (cleric) dedicated to the Demon Lord of the Undead.  This makes them doubly rejected by their people.  Their devotion to undeath also makes them outcasts among other witches.

He is part of a small coven dedicated to the Demon Prince Orcus.  They dedicate kills to him and when they are higher level they will also create undead for him. 

Since S&S has a good number of necromancer spells I allow them to dip into those as well.

I like the way she turned out to be honest.  It's a shame that I think she might be dead! 

Character Creation Challenge

Tardis Captain is the originator of this idea and he is keeping a list of places participating.  When posting to Social Media don't forget the #CharacterCreationChallenge hashtag. 

RPG Blog Carnival

This month's RPG Blog Carnival is being hosted by Plastic Polyhedra. They are doing Characters, Stories, and Worlds, so that fits right in with everything we are posting this month.

Check out all the posts going on this month at both of these sources.

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Character Creation Challenge: Castles & Crusades

Castles & Crusades Players Handbook
I continue with the D&D descendants with what might be one of my favorite RPGs.  Castles & Crusades. It has the feel of the best of 1st Ed. AD&D and the best mechanics of 3rd Ed.D&D.  It is is no surprise really that some of the ideas from this game made their way to D&D 5.

The Game: Castles & Crusades

Moreso than Pathfinder or any other retro-clone, Castles & Crusades feels like classic D&D.  If you ever played any version of D&D then you can pick up C&C with ease.  So much so that I have converted games back forth from C&C to AD&D and back with ease. D&D5 might be the successor to AD&D, but C&C is the spiritual successor. 

For whatever reason this happened there is a strong Celtic vibe to many of the C&C books I buy. The Codex Celtarum (1st and 2nd Printings), the Haunted Highlands, and more might give me this impression, but it is one I gladly stick with. So naturally, the character for today has to fit this.

I have written so much over the years on Castles & Crusades it is hard to put anything new here.  So check out all my C&C posts.

The Character: Fear Dorich

Fear Dorich is "The Dark Druid" of my campaign worlds.  He is a notorious bad guy and evil druid. He wants to become truly immortal and not this half-life he has now.  

Long time readers might recognize this guy as the enemy of Fion MacCumhail.  I featured him in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer adventure naturally titled "The Dark Druid."  Later he made another appearance in the "prequel" adventure "Blight" for Ghosts of Albion.  Here he was known as "The Necromancer" so I could make it either part of my Dark Druid Cycle or as part of the official Ghosts of Albion line.  Eventually, I wanted to make yet another prequel to all of those set in Celtic Ireland where Fionn and his band of heroes first fight the Dark Druid. I was calling it "All Souls Night" but I never quite got it into the shape I wanted. There have been a couple of good adventures to give me ideas like Robert J. Kuntz's Dark Druids and Night of the Sprits for Castles & Crusades.  It was these two adventures along with my two Dark Druid ones that gave me the idea for War of the Witch Queens.

If I ever finish All Souls Night I might redo the Dark Druid Cycle to use Castles & Crusades.  Replace Ghosts of Albion with Victorious and Buffy with Amazing Adventures.

Fear Dorich
Fear Dorich
Fear Dorich
Human 1st level Druid, Neutral (Evil)

STR: 10 (0)
DEX: 11 (0)
CON: 14 (+1) P
INT: 14 (+1) P
WIS: 18 (+3) P
CHA: 11 (0) 

AC: 13, Leather Armor
HP: 7 (d8)
BtH: +0

Staff +0, 1d6
Scimitar +0, 1d6

Druidic Language, Nature Lore
Druid Spells
0 (3): Create Water, First Aid, Know Direction
1st (1+1): Entangle, Magic Stones

This is Fear Dorich at the start of his career. He is already showing signs of being evil too.

For this character, I would let him take spells from the Codex Celtarum and also the Black Libram of Naratus.

Castles & Crusades books


Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Character Creation Challenge: Pathfinder 2nd Edition

Pathfinder 2nd Edition
Of all the RPGs I have looked at so far it is this one I know the least.  Part of the issue is that Pathfinder 2nd Edition is so new, only published in 2019, and I have not had the chance to play it really at all.  Indeed I wasn't even going to pick up but my oldest expressed an interest in playing it so we got it.   He would later return to his true love, D&D 5, but I found I rather liked the books myself.

The problem I am running into here, for today, is I do have so little knowledge about it.  So little in fact that my plan for today was to update a character I had played in PF1 but I only now discovered that the class I wanted, Cavalier, has not been updated to PF2 yet! Though other options are open to me.

The Game: Pathfinder 2nd Edition

As I mentioned Pathfinder 2nd Edition was released back in 2019.  I recall the Paizo "booth" (more like "block") staked full of shiny new Pathfinder books.  I am sure they expected them all to sell out, but I get the feeling that the sales were not as high as they wanted.  Not a huge surprise really.  Pathfinder 1st Edition's success was built on their success with the D&D 3.5 products they had made and no small amount due to the failures of D&D 4th Edition.  Today, or at least in 2019, D&D 5 is a huge success and some gamers have gone from Pathfinder back to D&D.   

Also as I said I was not originally going to pick this game up, but I changed my mind after going over the playtest materials and my son wanting to get it.  There are a lot of really cool ideas here and some I think would work well in D&D 5. For example, Ancestry would be better in D&D 5 over the very outmoded "race" or even the awkward "species."

Much like a software development fork, Pathfinder represents one development off of the D&D 3.x line where D&D 5e is a different fork.  To be fair, Pathfinder is closer to its OGC roots than D&D 5 is, but looking at the games in 2021 you see similar parentage and DNA.  This means that someone could in theory bring the best of both worlds back together into one game.  An interesting thought experiment to say the least.  

One thing I will say for Pathfinder 2nd Edition.  It is designed from the ground up to show new players how to play and give them enough to keep them for a long time.  I think it would be fun to play a character in this from 1st to 20th level in a well-crafted adventure path.  I can see how that would be great.

The Character: Oisín

Character creation in Pathfinder 2 is a more modern process than the games in its, well, ancestry.  While you could easily roll up a character here just like you did in AD&D or D&D 3.x, it behooves me to follow the process here.

Oisín was a character I played in Pathfinder 1st Edition. In the game he was the youngest son of this powerful lord and a witch.  In reality, I decided he was the son of a Paladin/Warrior named Fionn and my witch Labhraín.  In the game, he was searching for who killed his mother and who his true father was. 

In Pathfinder 2nd Ed. we have a variety of character customization options that recreating that character is no longer as interesting as rebuilding him from the ground up.

For this character, I am going to use the Pathfinder 2nd Edition Core Rules and the Advanced Player's Guide which features the witch class.  Also for this character, I am going to start him at 1st level, but advance him to 2nd.  Also, just because, I am going to limit my 1st level choices to the Core Rules, and then 2nd level choices to the Advanced Player's Guide. I have my reasons.

Oisín

Niamh and Oisín

Lawful Neutral half-elf*
Bard 1

Ability Scores
Strength +0 (10)
Dexterity +1 (12)
Constitution +0 (10)
Intelligence +3 (16)
Wisdom +1 (12)
Charisma +4 (18)

Reserves
Hit Points 16/16
Hero Points 1/3
Focus Points 1/1

Defenses
AC 15 (Leather)
Fort +3
Ref +4
Will +6

Senses
Perception (Wis) +6 (E)
Low-light Vision

Tactical
Speed 25ft
Size Medium
Space 5 ft.
Reach 5 ft.

Other
Wealth 2 gp; 80 sp
Bulk 4/10

Attacks (1st/2nd/3rd Strike)

Dagger
Melee +4 / +0 / -4 1d4 Pier
Ranged +4 / +0 / -4 1d4 Pier

Fist
Melee +4 / +0 / -4 1d4 Blud

Longsword
Melee +3 / -2 / -7 1d8 Slsh

Hand crossbow
Ranged +4 / -1 / -6 1d6 Pier

Sling
Ranged +4 / -1 / -6 1d6 Blud

Skills
+6 Academia Lore T
+1 Acrobatics U
+6 Arcana T
+0 Athletics U
+6 Bardic Lore T
+6 Crafting T
+7 Deception T
+7 Diplomacy T
+4 Intimidation U
+4 Medicine T
+4 Nature T
+6 Occultism T
+7 Performance T
+4 Religion T
+6 Society T
+1 Stealth U
+4 Survival T
+1 Thievery U

Feats
Half-elf (Heritage)
Otherworldly magic (Elf, Ancestry)
Assurance - Arcana (Background)
Bardic Lore - Egnima (Bardic Feature)
Composition Spell (Bardic Feature)

Spells

Bard Cantrips
Chill Touch (DC 17) Unlimited +7
Daze (DC 17) Unlimited +7
Light Unlimited +7
Mage Hand Unlimited +7
Shield Unlimited +7

Bard 1st-level Spells
Magic Missile 2/2 +7
Magic Weapon 2/2 +7
True Strike 2/2 +7

I will be honest, this one took me a lot longer to do than expected.

I choose "Half-elf" as both a nod to the original myths of Oisín and to reflect there is something otherworldly about him.  He would not really be a traditional "AD&D Half-elf" more of a human with fey or sidhe blood in him from his father.

At 2nd Level instead of a Bard class feat I am going to take a multi-classed witch feat, Witch Dedication.    Multiclassing in Pathfinder 2nd Ed is a little bit like multiclassing in D&D 4 where you take a feat to gain some of the abilities of that class. This feat gives Oisín access to witch spells and feats as well as a Patron (including skills), and a familiar. 

Since Oisín has Engima as part of his Bard training I am going to choose a Fate Patron. Though there is some overlap here. He would get training in Occultism skill and the True Strike spell, both of which he already has.  I am going to leave this since the Egnima he is following is Fate; they are the same.

This is of course not optimized, but it fits better with my concept of the character, so I'll take the hit. In building this I realized I had unintentionally built the Pathfinder version of the Ghosts of Albion Occult Poet.  I am not unhappy with that.

Again, this is a good character idea, I might try to replicate it in D&D5 with a Bard/Warlock mix, I think it might actually work out a little better there.

Maybe I can even work out his Niamh one day.

Pathfinder 2nd Edition

Character Creation Challenge

Tardis Captain is the originator of this idea and he is keeping a list of places participating.  When posting to Social Media don't forget the #CharacterCreationChallenge hashtag. 

RPG Blog Carnival

This month's RPG Blog Carnival is being hosted by Plastic Polyhedra. They are doing Characters, Stories, and Worlds, so that fits right in with everything we are posting this month.

Check out all the posts going on this month at both of these sources.