#RPGaDAY2026: Day 30 Pride

 Today is Pride.

I am proud of Jackson, West Haven, Yog, and Advanced Witches & Warlocks. But for this prompt, Pride means something more specific.

With Jackson and Carbon Vale I draw heavily on Monsterhearts. Not so much the mechanics as the emotional core of it. Teenagers are a mess. So is desire. So is figuring out who you are. The horror and the magic lie in who you love and want, who makes you afraid, and who is watching you become something new.

Take Larina in Jackson: she is bisexual in this version and not particularly fazed by this. She has made out with Grant, Stephanie’s older brother, and with Candy. Faye is a lesbian, but there is more confusion and conflict about it; after all, it is 1985-6 in the Midwest. Candy and Denise are probably what we would call poly now, but that still does not quite explain them (and let's be honest, what DOES explain them??). But Denise does not like anyone touching her, and yet she and Candy are in love in ways that are both platonic and romantic. They do figure it out, after a couple of failed marriages, spectacularly bad divorces, and some ex-husbands they no longer talk to. They finally get married to each other when they are 50. But they belonged to each other long before that.

Vera Rook is what you could term "hetero-flexible," simply because Vera does as she wants and is happy to put someone on edge if the occasion calls for it. Roderick Morgan appears to have little interest in anyone. Andy and Rowan are soulmates, and the model Jackson Public High Couple. They are also an interracial couple, not a big deal today, but in 1985 small-town Midwest, this was still rare.  

You find a supporting cast all over the spectrum around them, just like you would in real life. And they all are not confined to the student body.

Teacher Thomas Avery knows the perils of a rumor in a small-town high school in the mid-80s. He is cautious, and he listens for what is left unsaid. Elaine Bellweather is no front-line warrior; she teaches her music and keeps an open eye, allowing the students some space to breathe.

It is important.

You do not have to be swinging a sword or working a spell to be heroic in a horror game. There is heroism in making sure a kid has a room where he is safe for five minutes.

Queer characters in horror should not be reduced to subtext, a joke, or some kind of cautionary tale. Yes. That is exactly what often happened in horror movies in the 1980s but I can do better. They can be witches, scholars, jerks, saints, monsters, parents, teachers and everything in between. In short, people. And in a game of witches, those on the fringes of society are exactly where they ought to be: in the middle of the action.

Jackson NPC

We are at Day 30, Sunday, Emotion and Blessed. 

Andrea Thompson is Andy and Rowan’s future daughter, blessed because Andy and Rowan never thought they would be able to have children after so many failed attempts. Why am I talking about her even though she isn't born until the 2000s? She makes an appearance in my games where she is also Jackson's Spirit Rider. In a town where everyone says they want Andy and Rowan to succeed but wishes they would fail behind their backs, Andrea was wonderful proof that they make it and do well. 

Jackson Soundtrack

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#RPGaDAY2026: Day 29 Labor

Magic is labor.

One can be forgiven for forgetting that magic is work. In many games, a spell goes off simply because the character sheet has a box for it. Yet for a witch it ought to be felt as labor, as work. The genuine article, with all the time and attention and repetition it entails, not to mention the sweat and the errors and the practice.

Consider what a witch does. She is copying spells, mixing oils, gathering herbs and learning names. There is cleaning of ritual tools and study of the moon. She prepares charms, sits with those who are ill, makes tea, and keeps her notes. If something does not go to plan, she starts over. She will listen to the dead or watch a candle burn itself out.

For Advanced Witches & Warlocks, this is significant.

A witch is more than a pointy hat and a list of spells. She is one who puts in the work. It may be mystical or emotional in nature, but there is also the physical side to it. Carrying books, hauling water, digging where others would not, or just staying up when one wants to sleep.

In Jackson, IL, such labor could mean a bit of research at the library, a dark walk home, or seeing to a friend. Or perhaps dragging someone from an abandoned building before whatever is in the basement has a chance to wake up. Or it could be bartering bits of your soul for knowledge so dangerous that there is no other way.

Again, it is Saturday, and Zatanna is still a good example. In the comics, she speaks backward, and the magic happens. But as an example, try reading this sentence backward...while you are getting someone to try to hit you. Not that easy now. She puts in the work to practice this. 

Magic is built on the labor.

People tend to notice the magic. But it is the labor that makes it possible.

Jackson and Carbon Vale NPC

Today is Day 29, Saturday, Emotion and Works Hard. And I have the perfect NPC.

Lars Nichols: Larina's father, trying to hold a family together while pretending he does not see all the impossible things. Trying to be both father and mother to a teenage girl is hard enough; trying to do that for a teenage witch? While still grieving your recently passed wife? One would be forgiven for thinking I hate Lars.

Jackson Soundtrack

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Fantasy Fridays: The Dying Earth

 Today marks the 110th anniversary of Jack Vance's birth. Back in May, I covered his Dying Earth books for my Witches of Appendix N. Today I want to look at the RPGs of the Dying Earth. There are essentially two published ones, Pelgrane Press' and Goodman Games for Dungeon Crawl Classics. I will consider both today.

Games at The End of the World

I have been spending quite a lot of time lately thinking about dying worlds.

Not post-apocalyptic worlds necessarily. That is something different. I mean worlds that are simply old. Very old. Ancient. Worlds where civilizations have risen, fallen, been forgotten, and had new civilizations built on top of their ruins. And those have fallen and been forgotten as well. Worlds where the sun itself is old, and everyone knows, at least somewhere in the back of their minds, that eventually it is going to go out.

Such is the world of Jack Vance's The Dying Earth.

Vance began the series with The Dying Earth in 1950, followed by The Eyes of the Overworld, Cugel's Saga, and Rhialto the Marvellous. These stories helped give a name to the entire "Dying Earth" genre, although Clark Ashton Smith had already been exploring similar territory with his tales of Zothique in the pages of Weird Tales. (I'll get back to this...)

For gamers, though, Vance is particularly important because his fingerprints are all over Dungeons & Dragons.

The most obvious is magic.

The classic D&D Magic-User studies spells, holds a limited number of them in memory, casts one, and then loses it from memory. That system comes directly from Vance. Gary Gygax openly acknowledged the influence, and The Dying Earth and The Eyes of the Overworld appeared in the famous Appendix N of the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide. Even things such as the Prismatic Spray and Ioun Stones have Vancian ancestors.

But reducing Vance's influence to "Vancian magic" misses a lot.

The Dying Earth is full of dangerous ruins, forgotten technologies that might as well be magic, bizarre monsters, petty magicians, decadent city-states, amoral adventurers, strange customs, ancient artifacts, and people willing to undertake extraordinarily dangerous journeys because someone told them there might be something valuable at the other end.

Sound familiar? It should. 

Plus, there is the feeling of overwhelming dread that the sun could go out tomorrow or next week or in a thousand or a million years. The people, though, are not letting that stop them. Party like it is 1,999,999,999. 

That mixture of wonder, decadence, fatalism, absurdity, and danger makes the Dying Earth a fantastic place for gaming. It also makes it surprisingly difficult to get right.

There are currently two major licensed attempts to bring Vance's world directly to the gaming table. One comes from Pelgrane Press. The other comes from Goodman Games.  Both have their merits and take remarkably different approaches.

And I think both approaches tell us something useful about the Dying Earth.

Pelgrane Press - The Dying Earth

When Pelgrane Press put out The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game in 2001, they were putting the first officially sanctioned version of Vance’s world into print. And this one is nearly as legendary as the stories it is based on. Robin D. Laws was the chief designer on the 192-page core book, with John Snead and Peter Freeman.

Laws was quick to see that a straightforward adaptation of D&D would not do for his game. There is no denying the debt D&D has to Vance, but for all that, a D&D character does not act like one of Vance’s creations. That was the problem Laws intended to put right.

Combat is there, of course, but so are Persuade and Rebuff, and they are just as vital. An argument is made into a mechanical contest; with the right style of persuasion or resistance, you can be as effective at talking an opponent into some folly as you would be with a sword. It has the right feel.

The mechanics are built around a d6 and point-rated abilities, which can be spent to tip the odds, giving the narrative play a light touch of resource management. One should not confuse this with GUMSHOE, even if Pelgrane has become synonymous with that system in later years. The Dying Earth RPG has its own rules and predates GUMSHOE entirely.

Then there is the matter of power levels, perhaps the most interesting thing about the design. A campaign is broken down into three tiers. You have the Cugel level, where you are an adventurer or a rogue, and survival is as much about a well-told lie as it is about your fighting prowess. Move up to Turjan, and the characters are magicians of note, delving into ancient places and wielding serious spells. At the Rhialto level, you are dealing with the likes of the sandestins and commanding extraordinary power.

It is a fine way to handle the source material. Cugel and Rhialto may share a world, but they are hardly of the same genre or power level, and Pelgrane makes no pretense that one evolves into the other by the ordinary process of advancement. They are simply different ways to play.

Pelgrane has also been thorough in their treatment of Vance’s world, from the oddities of Kaiin to lost civilizations and the more eccentric corners of the Dying Earth. They have backed the game with a good number of supplements and The Excellent Prismatic Spray magazine over the years.

There is an obvious weakness to it all, however. This is a game keen on staying true to Vancian behavior, and the player has to come to terms with that. The long list of abilities is a telltale sign of the late 90s/early 2000s design school, and even some adherents of the game wish it were shorter (the Revivification Folio has since put some order to the rules).

But the basic aim is met. If the players start quibbling over armor class and marching order when a monster turns up, they are missing the point. But when one player declares that character must go in first by virtue of his education, and the player is hard put to make the case for another’s superior qualifications, then we are on to something.

Pelgrane is not after D&D’s take on Vance. They are after Vance himself. There is a difference. Understanding that is the key to playing this game.

Dungeon Crawl Classics - Dying Earth

Then there is Goodman Games, which takes almost the opposite approach.

With Dungeon Crawl Classics Dying Earth, you are not put to the task of learning some new game built for the express purpose of emulating Vance or a Vancian world. The question posed here is far more intriguing: what if we were to take Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC), with its Appendix N pedigree, and shove it headlong into one of its own source materials?

As it happens, quite a bit comes of it, and the results are quite fun.

The 2023 release from Goodman is a substantial boxed set for the DCC RPG. You will find a 64-page Player’s Libram, the 104-page Primer of Practical Magic, a bestiary, and other resources in the set. It is an expansion and a setting, not a stand-in for the core game; the regular rules are still required.

Four new classes make up the bulk of the mechanical changes: the Magician, Wayfarer, Witch, and Vat-Thing. You already know this has my attention.

Take the Wayfarer. He is your Cugel type, a rogue and opportunist, a confidence man who is as much a survivor as a traveler. Since Luck is already a defining feature of DCC, Goodman has made much of it. A Wayfarer’s Luck can be wonderfully volatile, and the class has the rhetorical tools for the verbal manipulation a Vancian scoundrel requires. In a way it is a clever solution to the problem Pelgrane noted, that Cugel is apt to talk someone else into having his problems for him. Only here it is done in DCC fashion.

The Magician is another matter. DCC wizards have always been something of a risk; spell checks are unpredictable and dabbling in the supernatural leaves its mark. The Dying Earth version of the class goes further. The designers have made for an exceptional offensive caster where spells are not so much a curriculum as fragments of lost knowledge handed down by some eccentric sorcerer. Very Vancian.

Then you have the Witch and the Vat-Thing, which move things away from standard DCC fantasy. The latter, in particular, is well suited to a world where magicians will putter about making life in vats with little more than a vague notion of what they are at. It underlines the fine line between magic, old science, and monstrosity.

New rules, patrons, and creatures are in order, as well as grudge tokens, which I like. There are rules for grudges because this is Jack Vance. The petty feuds and betrayals get some mechanical heft. And with fresh treatments of rhetoric and Luck, the DCC mechanics acquire a Dying Earth edge.

You could make a case for criticism. After all, it is still DCC.

Someone on the RPG subreddit put it well: with Pelgrane, you have the Cugel stories where everyone is out to swindle each other, whereas DCC is more like the early Dying Earth where the world wants to eat or deceive you. Another felt Goodman was simply forcing the setting into DCC rather than making a system for Vance. That is certainly the mission statement of the original Dying Earth RPG.

I would say both are fair points. But I don’t see the second as a flaw. DCC is already in the neighborhood with its desperate tomb robbers, its inexplicable artifacts, and its wizards playing with forces they do not comprehend. There is no need to force the fit. DCC was already halfway there on its own. It is largely one of tone and personal choices.  

Pelgrane has you playing Vancian characters. Goodman provides the Vancian adventure. They are not the same, but they are close enough that I could see myself drawing on either for a campaign.

In fact, the best Dying Earth experience likely lies somewhere where these two games intersect. Either is fine on its own, really, but together they provide a truer picture.

No. I am not going to attempt conversion notes. 

The Ash Witch

Since I first read Clark Ashton Smith's "Zothique," I have had this image of a witch walking out of the desert where no one should have survived. She has a staff with a skull on top and covered in ash. I'll also admit the idea of her walking out of the desert and into a city-state was largely influenced by Black Sabbath's "The Wizard."

Jack Vance's "Dying Earth" has done nothing to dissuade me from this vision.

Eventually, the Ash Witch became someone important in my Yog setting, even if just as a tale or legend, but that legend starts somewhere. So here she is, for the DCC Dying Earth (fits her the best).

This is very much a "Dying Earth" version of this character; I even have The Murthe, the Sorceress Llorio, as her Patron. 

Larina, the Ash Witch

Larina Eschata, the Ash Witch
10th-level Neutral Witch
Pact Entity: The Murthe, Llorio the Sorceress
Occupation: Scholar of forgotten religions
Alignment: Neutral

Str 10 (+0)
Agi 15 (+1)
Sta 14 (+1)
Per 18 (+3)
Int 17 (+2)
Luck 16 (+2)

HP: 38
AC: 13

Init: +1
Speed: 30'
Attack: +5
Action Dice: 1d20 + 1d20
Crit: 1d20/II

Saves: Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +7

Spell Check: +13
Maximum Spell Level: 5

Ritual Weapon: Dagger
Birth Augur: Survived beneath the Dying Sun.
Birth Gift: Second Sight.
Known Squalms: 14.
Demonic Taint: 3

Starting Animus: Syncretic Heretic

Larina has publicly denied the divine authority of the Priest-Kings and incorporated forbidden rites, dead gods, and the teachings of Llorio the Murthe into her witchcraft. Priests, inquisitors, and agents of the Priest-Kings regard her as a particularly dangerous heretic.

Ensqualm: Curse

First level: Charm person*, comprehend languages, detect magic, demon summoning, magic missile, ropework, sleep, ward portal.
Second level: Detect invisible, ESP*, forget*, invisibility, levitate, scorching ray.
Third level: Consult spirit, dispel magic, fireball, paralysis*, write magic.
Fourth level: Control fire, polymorph, wizard sense.
Fifth level: Magic bulwark.

* The Murthe's Favor

Transfer Vitality: d20 + Personality modifier + class level check.

#RPGaDAY2026: Day 28 Devotion

Devotion is more than just belief. 

It is a distinction I make with my religious characters, the witches in particular. Take Stephanie and Faye; they are witches in every sense of practice. They put in the work, they learn their craft, they take their place in the circle as required. But Larina is not so simple. While she is a witch by trade and practice like Steph and Faye, you will find her more often in the role of a Wiccan priestess. For Larina, it is not simply an activity but the lens through which she views the world. She is as devout as any cleric or paladin I have played (and I have played a lot of clerics and paladins).

Étaín Moonshadow takes that even further. Her commitment to the Threefold Goddess is absolute. The Maiden, Mother and Crone represent mystery and unity in equal measure, and Étaín’s whole existence revolves around that. It is in her scholarship and her discipline, in her strength and even her blind spots. To Étaín there is no grater mystery, and no better way to live, than this.

Consider also Kyra Bellamy in Jackson. As a preacher’s kid, faith was something done to her, explained and enforced, at times like a cage. Yet what Kyra has is not her father’s faith. She believes with all of herself, only to also believe that God and Jesus have more to offer her than her father can put into words. In time, she demonstrates as much, putting down roots as a minister with a congregation and a calling of her own. Her faith is even stronger than that of her father's, which is saying something.

This is what I mean by devotion in a game. It is not a matter of alignment or some box to be ticked on a character sheet. A character gives herself to it, and it demands a price in return.

They are devoted to what they believe is true. It colors everything they see and everything they do. And it can produce surprises. Kyra is a Jackson girl, and she knows her cross can protect her from various monsters. What she doesn't understand is why Larina's triple moon pendant works the same way.

So sometimes the greatest act of magic in Jackson is saying "I believe."

Iriandor and West Haven NPC

Day 28, Friday, Emotion and Loving & Giving. 

Aurelian "Auri" Starling. A seraph-born child of an angel and a witch, moving between Iriandor and West Haven with a devotion so gentle it looks like kindness until someone threatens the people under their protection. 

Jackson Soundtrack

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#RPGaDAY2026: Day 27 Hunger

 Hunger is not always about food.

In the realms of horror and fantasy, it is usually the subtext, the want that remains once the polite explanations have been put aside. The thing under the thing.

Roderick Morgan is driven by a need for order. He has no use for justice or peace in the abstract; he wants a Jackson that will behave, a town in its place, and a world where the dead are left in their graves, and the witches do not make needless noise. Nothing supernatural is to be allowed to encroach on what is his.

Then there is Larina and her voracious appetite for knowledge. She is after the book, the hidden name, the story behind the lie. It is what makes her brilliant, but also puts her in the way of trouble since some truths have a way of biting back. If there is knowledge to be gained, she will leap long before she looks.

Veyra Shadowraven hungers for vengeance, which is easy enough to fathom on Yog. Perhaps too easy. Vengeance will keep one going when grief would have you rooted to the spot, but it is a poor meal and never quite fills the void. 

Amaranth in West Haven is another matter. Being a half-succubus, hunger is inherent to her, yet it is not the sum of who she is.  That distinction is what makes a character like Amaranth compelling; the hunger is as real as the person who has to live with it. Even when she is trying to hide it or deny it, but it is always there. If Amaranth were in NIGHT SHIFT or Wasted Lands, she would have a "Feed" option. 

Over on the other side of the spectrum, you have Étaín Moonshadow with a hunger for truth. It can be a noble pursuit, even holy, but it is ruthless as well. Étaín has no other attachments, especially no other romantic ones that would keep her from her mission and goal. Everything else isn't secondary. They don't even make her list.

Hunger is a handy tool in a game for that reason. Get to the bottom of what a character is hungry for, and you will have your answer as to which door they will open.

Jackson and West Haven NPC

Another special one today for Day 27. Though she has been more than just an NPC. It is Thursday, so Emotion and Far to Go. 

Taryn Nichols is Larina’s daughter, always between worlds, always further from home than anyone would like. In this version, Taryn is sent back in time by her mother (or maybe one of her mother's Shards) to help out Larina, Faye, and Stephanie in 1986.

Jackson Soundtrack

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#RPGaDAY2026: Day 26 Regret

Every witch has some form of regret and her own way of bearing it.

It is Witchcraft Wednesday as well, so the word regret seems apt.

Ash Witch died with regret on her lips. In the course of leading refugees from Yog to West Haven, she had done much, but at the end what was of any consequence were the ones she failed to save. Her dying words were an apology. "I'm sorry."

Veyra Shadowraven’s regret is of a different order. She chafes at not being as great as the Ash Witch, or perhaps kind enough. One could say she is simply not enough. Such feelings have a way of sharpening a person, though they can leave you hollow if you allow them to. Veyra is very nearly hollow now.

And in Jackson, there is Larina, who for years has been defined by the fact that she did not save her mother. Even if there was really no way for her to have known. It made her brilliant and driven, angry and impossible to deal with at times. But that sort of emotional intensity has a way of crossing over into other universes. When she spoke to her "shard" in Carbon Vale of how things had gone, she found a version of herself there who had been able to see her mother survive.

Larina of Carbon Vale has no such regrets. Or at least none of that.

You find that in a multiverse, regret is a curious matter. 

In one place it is a wound, in another a warning, and in some cases it is what keeps a person alive. For a witch, it is perilous because it puts the same question before you: what would you do differently? And then you are left to wonder whether you would come to regret the change, or the fact you did not make it sooner.

Jackson NPC

It is Witchcraft Wednesday, so let's do someone special for Day 26, Wednesday, Emotion and Full of Woe. 

Mai Voss: Faye Thorne's (original name "Fiona Voss") mother, a ghost of grief, love, regret, and everything stolen too soon. Her husband, Arthur Voss, traded them to the Blackthorne Hags for power, but they killed him and Mai and kept baby Fiona instead. Renamed her Faye Thorne and raised her as their "niece."  Faye does not discover this for many years. 

Jackson Soundtrack

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#RPGaDAY2026: Day 24 Distance

I have two modern horror campaigns. They let me play with similar ideas under different assumptions and even different rules. My oldest calls this "save scumming." It is from video games: if you don't like a particular outcome, you go back to your previous save and start back from there. For me, I think it is more about having two separate but equally enjoyable outcomes.

Jackson, IL, and Carbon Vale, IL, are about 220 miles apart. That is their physical Distance.

That is not nothing, but it is not exactly the other side of the world either. You could drive it in an afternoon. Different roads, different towns, different exits, but still Illinois. Still the Midwest. Still close enough to feel familiar, but still far enough to be different. I know, I drove to and from their real-world counterparts many times. 

Except they are not in the same world.

For me, Jackson and Carbon Vale are separate universes. They even use different game systems, which makes the distance between them feel larger than any map can show. They are not just separated by miles. They are separated by rules, histories, assumptions, and the kinds of monsters waiting in the dark.

And yet magic makes them closer.

A mirror, a spell, a book, a dream, or the right impossible moment can cross a distance no highway can. That is what I like about using both settings. They are far enough apart to be different worlds, but close enough that one girl can still reach for the other.

In this case, it is a battered-up copy of "A Wrinkle in Time." Notes left in the pages are transported to a similar book 220 miles and a universe away. I talked a little about this back on Day 12.

So what is the difference between Jackson and Carbon Vale?

More than distance, honestly. But also less than distance.

Jackson, IL and Carbon Vale, IL NPC

Today is Emotion and Fair of Face.

Siân Nichols is Larina’s mother in the worlds where she lives, beautiful, warm, and emotionally central in ways Larina does not always admit. Siân died in the Jackson, IL campaign, but thanks to Nix and Creepy communicating via "A Wrinkle in Time," she is alive in the Carbon Vale, IL campaign.

There will likely be some repercussions to this act, but I am not sure what they are going to be yet. But I know they will happen.

Jackson Soundtrack

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Tales of Jackson, IL: Val and Ami

 I have not done any NPC profiles in a long time. I wanted to do this because at EGG CON I had a player play Val, and he did such a great job bringing my "dumb jock" to life. I just had to revisit him. 

Ok, calling Valentino "Val" Michele Moreno a dumb jock in not fair. He is not the smartest guy in the room, but he has a lot of things going for him besides being on the football and baseball teams. I also want to talk about his other best friend Ami. It takes Val a bit, but he realizes that Ami is in love with him. 

Both Val and Ami are here for the "High School Jock" stereotypes, and honestly, if this were a horror movie, they would be among the first to die. But this is a game, and they both are really good kids and a lot of fun, so far they have lived and even taken some serious hits. Well...every hit is serious in this game.

Valentino "Val" Michele Moreno

Val has been Andy Thompson's best friend since 1974, when Val brought a Nerf football to preschool, and they played with it all recess. Val's family never had the money the Thompsons did, but Andy LOVED staying with Val because of his huge family. It is Val and his four younger sisters. Val was almost sent to St. Michael's Catholic School, but he convinced his parents that his chances at a football or baseball scholarship would be better at Jackson Public High School. He was right, of course. 

At the start of the game, Val is dating Stephanie Vale. Naturally, the captain of the football team is dating the head cheerleader. They break up when Stephanie discovers all the supernatural dealings in town. Plus, Stephanie can see that Ami is the one who loves Val. 

Val is a Divine Warrior, from the NIGHT SHIFT: Night Companion. He was originally just going to be a survivor, but something in him awakened when the Bell rang in Jackson. He was already a fairly devout Catholic boy with very strong opinions. Also, the idea of a monster preying on girls in his town was deeply offensive to him. Yes, this is me being political. So when he discovered that his ex-girlfriend and her friends were fighting monsters at night, Val did what Val always does; he grabbed a baseball bat and went to help, whether they wanted him to or not. Turns out that Val's moral compass is so true his bat actually damages supernautral creatures.

Valentino "Val" Michele Moreno
2nd-level Divine Warrior, Human

Background: Jock

Base Abilities

Strength: 16 (+2) A
Agility: 17 (+2) n
Toughness: 15 (+1) n
Intelligence: 11 (+0) 
Wits: 12 (+0) 
Persona: 14 (+1) 

Vit: 10 (2d6)
DV: 8
Fate Points: 1d6

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +2/+1/+0
Attack bonus (base): +2
Melee bonus: +4  Ranged bonus: +2

Saves: +1 to Wits and Persona-based saves, +1 to Toughness-based (Jock)

Languages: English
Skills: 

Divine Warrior Abilities
Danger Sense 1 (1d8), Heal injury 1d6 ("walk it off"), Supernatural Attack +1

Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6'1"
DOB: 1/12/1969

Archetype: The Jock
Quote: "It's not trash-talk if I am right."
Quirks: Is a lot more observant than he lets on.
Theme song: "Centerfield" by John Fogerty

His middle name "Michele" is a variant of "Michael," his patron Saint. St. Michael the patron saint of those who hunt demons. He wears a Saint Michael medallion, and Larina swears it glows when he is fighting. She is not a fan of Val, but knows he is good in a fight. She also knows that whatever makes his medallion glow doesn't particularly care for witches.

One day at school, Valentino was walking down the hall when someone shouted, "Hey Val!"  Both Valentino and Valerie Beaumont said "What?" at the same time, and both laughed. The next day, she said, "Hey Val!" to him, and he said, "Hey Val!" back. It became their thing until graduation and long after. The Assistant Principal, Glenn Daniels, wanted it stopped, but Valerie told him to pull the stick out of his ass. 

Spoilers: Val goes on to the U of I with Ami on that scholarship. He played ball for the minor-league Cardinals for a couple of years but injured his elbow. He ends up teaching at St. Michael's Catholic School and serving as its football coach. 

In 2019, Andy (head football coach at JPHS) and Val decided to do a charity game at the end of their seasons between JPHS and St. Mike's to raise money for local charities. They called the "Crosstown Classic," and it became a weekend-long celebration before the Thanksgiving break. 

Typically, the Hope Center, a place for women and children seeking assistance built by social worker Denise Carver, gets its funds. 

Ami Beth Reed

Ami Beth Reed is on the track team, the girls' basketball team, but most importantly (to her), the girls' softball team. Ami is tough, a little loud, and easy to spot. She stands nearly 6' tall and has short cropped black hair. She is attractive, but her rough exterior tends to intimidate most high school kids. She drives a beat-up '79 Chevy C/K truck that constantly blares Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and the Scorpions.

Also, everyone thinks Ami is gay. Everyone is wrong. Despite her rough exterior, Ami doesn't really know how to talk to guys. That is, except for Val. Val and Ami have a natural chemistry that people find "odd."  Val was known as the guy who was dating Stephanie Vale, and now he hangs out with Ami all the time. Val tells people that Ami is a great workout partner; they go running every morning. Plus Val will proudly say, "Hey, I am maturing. I have a girl as a best friend."

Ami is hopelessly in love with Val.

Well...not hopeless. In an early playtest adventure, Ami gets hurt when a monster claws her stomach, leaving deep wounds. This established a few things. First, Ami has this cool scar on her side. Secondly, it solidified Candy as my go-to medic, but most of all, it awakened Val's inner Divine Warrior. Ami got hurt, and Val went psycho on the monster. 

Ami Reed
1st level Survivor, Human

Background: Jock

Base Abilities

Strength: 14 (+1)
Agility: 13 (+1) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) n
Intelligence: 13 (+1) 
Wits: 16 (+2) A
Persona: 15 (+4) n

Vit: 5 (1d4)
DV: 8
Fate Points: 1d6

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +2/+1/+0
Attack bonus (base): +0
Melee bonus: +0  Ranged bonus: +0

Languages: English
Skills: 

Saves: +3 to death saves, +1 to Toughness-based (Jock)

Survivor Abilities
Improved defense -1, Open Locks 20%, Bypass traps 15%, Sleight of hand 25%, Move silently 25%, Hide in shadows 25%, Climb 55%, Danger Sense 1-2 (1d6), Perception 40%, Sneak attack +4

Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue
Height: 6'0"
DOB: 2/14/1969

Archetype: The Tough Girl
Quote: Rolls shoulder and points with her bat, "Dibs on the big one."
Quirks: Likes to think she is invincible and takes the hits the "little witches" can't. There is truth in this, but she is not indestructible. 
Theme song: "Invincible" by Pat Benatar

 Ami is from the "bad side" of town on the northeast side. She is not a bad kid, quite the opposite, really, but she has had to learn how to hold herself. She has been in some fights, but has learned that intimidation often stops most fights before they start. Consequently, she always has one of her bats handy. 

In truth, Ami doesn't really care for basketball, but as the tallest girl in the school, she felt kind of obligated to join. She does, however, really enjoy softball and often teases Val that she can outhit him. They spend a lot of time together at the batting cages. Only much later in life will they agree that those nights were in fact dates.

Much like Val, supernatural monsters preying on the helpless offend her sensibilities of right and wrong. 

Spoilers: Ami and Val did get together at the Senior Prom. They then went to the U of I together. Where they stayed together (minus a dramatic "break" their junior year that was short-lived) the whole time. 

Ami got her degree in physical therapy and does weekend sports casts on the local radio station (minor in Radio and Television Media). 

Years later, as married couples, Andy and Rowan, along with Val and Ami, get together on Sunday to watch whatever game is on. Rowan asks questions about what is going on, often just to get a rise out of everyone. 

She had gotten so much grief for her height and jock appearance in high school that when Playboy came around U of I for one of their college girls specials, she submitted pictures. She made the issue representing the University of Illinois. Later, when she shows the issue to Denise and Candy, Candy is pissed off that they airbrushed out her scars. But otherwise, they are thrilled to be friends with a certified "Fucking Amazon Goddess." Val is also pretty thrilled with the issue as well. 

Real-world influence: I went to college with Jenny McCarthy. No, I did not know her well. Her younger sister, Joanne, was one of my students, though. Interestingly enough, that was two different universities on opposite ends of the state. 

Night Shift^® is a registered trademark of Elf Lair, LLC.

#RPGaDAY2026: Day 17 Intensity

 Witches are intense.

That is fairly obvious at this point. Whether it is my Jackson, IL setting, my Yog setting or even (especially) my Advanced Witches & Warlocks.

 A witch does not take the things of consequence casually. She has a tendency to believe and see and feel and remember far more than most. There is an intensity to her that is the source of her power.

And her danger as well.

You will not find that kind of intensity in Jackson, IL, in the form of parlor tricks with candles or dramatic pronouncements made under the moon. It is more likely to be a young girl holding someone’s gaze in a school corridor. Or Larina, who will not let a matter rest because she can tell something is amiss even if the rest of them are content to feign ignorance.

Such intensity is capable of saving people. Of frightening them too.

This is what I look for in my Advanced Witches & Warlocks class. I do not want a student to come across as some sort of dispassionate technician of magic, merely ticking off a spell from a list. The witch brings her whole self to the circle: her will and devotion, yes, but also her anger, fear, and desire.

Intensity is focus with a certain heat to it. And when a witch puts her mind to something, heavens help anything that gets in her path.

Jackson NPC

Back to Monday, so Instinct and Fair of Face. Dana Marlowe is a beautiful Jackson Public High senior with a dangerous talent for knowing who is lying, who is lonely, and who is about to make a terrible mistake. She doesn't know, but suspects, that she might have fae background. Her grandmother used to have stories about how her own grandmother once spent an "evening" that turned out to be many years with an unearthly handsome "Gentleman Caller."

Jackson Soundtrack

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Tales of Jackson, IL: Jenny, Jenny Who Can I Turn To?

 Today is Jenny Everywhere Day!

I make no excuses for it. I love Jenny Everywhere. 

I love the character, I love the concept, and I love how and why she was created, and just all of it really. Today is the day we celebrate Jenny in all her multitudes. And we celebrate by contributing to her lore.

First and foremost, I must include her license. I don't do this because I have too, I do because it is also part of what I love about her.

"The character of Jenny Everywhere is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Jenny Everywhere, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed."

I felt like it was also a great day to finally introduce Jenny, the Shifter, to NIGHT SHIFT. I mean, really. A multi-genre game system needs equally multi-genre NPCs. Jenny can be in every Night World, every Solar Frontier, and by both her own logic and the logic of the Dreaming Age, Jenny was found in the Wasted Lands.

Jenny in Jackson, IL

Jenny: "This town is so weird, and so much more dangerous than any of you know. Seriously, you should all move out, like, now. You are all absolutely bonkers for staying here. But I can’t help it. I love it here."

Larina: "That...is not very reassuring."

Of course, Jenny would end up here eventually. Her "eventually" and our "eventually" are not really the same thing at all, but that is fine. I imagine the characters see her reflection in the glass of Paula's Bookstore one day. She is waving at them, but they can't see her standing inside the store or behind them. She walks through the glass and stands out on the sidewalk. She knows the characters and some of their details, but they are also out of order. Some details are from the future; others may deal with other versions of the characters. So questions like "wow, when did you start wearing glasses?" to characters who have always worn glasses, and so on.

She will exclaim with much pride that today is her birthday and that she was born on this day in 2002. Or will be. Hard to keep timelines straight when you are a Shifter.

Here is how I am planning to use her. Jenny is not a fighter. She is not a harbinger. She is not a warning or even a cautionary tale. Jenny is just fun. Now that doesn't mean something weird isn't happening. But her appearance should feel like the first episode after Sweeps Week or a slightly silly Monster of the Week one. BUT she can be used to move the adventure forward or provide some clues.

For example. In Jackson, the "Big Bad" is the Hollow King. He is trying to absorb special items and then people to fill the emptiness, sorry, Emptiness, inside. His ultimate targets are Candy and Denise. Why? They are "mirror shards," and while they seem to be just two party girls, they actually have connections to all their alternate universe selves. Candy even says all the time, "I contain multitudes." She says it because she thinks it makes her sound cool and deep. But in reality? She could not be more correct. She and Denise have enough to make the Hollow King whole again. And that is bad. Not just "in bringing back a very powerful Necromancer" bad (where the most powerful witch right now is only 2nd level), but because two very sweet and mostly innocent girls would be dead.

Jenny: "Yeah, the data plan is great, but I have to wait 35 more years for decent 5G."

Jenny is like a shard as well. But Jenny is aware of all her "shards," and they are aware of her. The Hollow King could no more consume her than I could eat all of the food in Chicago right now. It would destroy him.  BUT Jenny knows the importance of Denise and Candy. She knows their other shards. 

Now...she might not know why they are important to what is going on in THIS Jackson right now. And she might not even know they are part of the larger seasonal arc; she just knows they are important.

Because of course they are.

Jenny Everywhere
The Shifter

4th level Sage, Human (mostly)

Background: Multiversal traveler. 

Base Abilities

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

Vit: 22 (1d6)
DV: 7 (leather jacket)
Fate Points: 1d6

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +3/+2/+0
Attack bonus (base): +0
Melee bonus: +0  Ranged bonus: +1

Languages: All
Skills: A little bit of everything

Saves: +3 to spells and magic-based saves

Sage Abilities
Survivor Skills, Mesmerize ("Fast Talk"), Lore, Languages, Spells

Survivor Skills
Open Locks: 25%
Bypass Traps: 20%
Sleight of Hand: 30%
Move Silently: 30%
Hide in Shadows: 20%

Read Languages: 20%

Spells*
First-level: Bless ("Motivation Speech"), Command
Second-level: Knock

*Note about spells: Jenny doesn't actually cast spells. Her 'magic' allows certain disruptions of the local reality. She can talk to give someone an emotional boost ("Bless") or get them to do something else ("Command"). She also has an affinity for locks...or more to the point, she has an affinity for getting into places she really shouldn't, and locked doors are not going to be an obstacle ("Knock"). 

Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5'1"
Weight: 101 lbs

Archetype: The Shifter
Quote: "I’m not lost. I’m just taking the scenic route through reality."
Quirks: Travels the multiverse or "shifts" to different realities.
Theme song: She tells everyone it is "867-5309/Jenny" by Tommy Tutone, because she loves seeing people's reactions. (I have to admit I always think it is "Donna Everywhere" by Too Much Joy, but she doesn't fit the girl in the song at all.)

Heroic Touchstones
1st Level: Psychic Power: Tele-empathic link (to other selves) 
3rd Level: Aura Sense/Sight (Mirror Shard Awareness)

The Mirror Shard: Mirror Shard Awareness

Jenny Everywhere does not see the future. Not exactly. She sees versions.

She has made the acquaintance of people before they were born and after they were dead. She has been in worlds where they are famous and in ones where no one remembers them; worlds where they made every wrong move and, impossibly, where they got it right. Jenny does not always have the wherewithal to tell which version is from which reality or which of her memories will be of use. But she will remember a face, a name, and the particular shape a soul has when you run into it more than once.

Jenny calls it her sight. I call this Mirror Shard Awareness.

It is not mind-reading, nor is it prophecy. Call it a multiversal memory. When she comes across someone of consequence, she might well recognize another version of them. Some days this makes her helpful, some days funny, and on occasion it makes her exceedingly careful.

In the course of play, this awareness lets Jenny know things about a character that she ought not to. A nickname that has yet to be used. A scar this world has not put on him. A debt, a rescue, a funeral, or a betrayal that never took place here. Her asides will sound like jokes or mistakes, but there is nothing random about them.

Take Larina Nichols in Jackson. Jenny will notice the glasses first. Many Larinas don’t wear them, but the one in Jackson does. And the one for the Mage RPG does. Jenny puts two and two together: the ones with the glasses are usually the sort who have seen too much and found a way to live with it. The magic they see all the time is just too much.

Or when she calls Faye "Fey." The rest of the room won’t catch it, but Faye will. It will land wrong, or perhaps too right. Jenny isn’t mispronouncing Faye Thorne's name; she is recalling a version of her for whom the name was something older.

The immortal Valerie will get a smile and an inquiry as to where the ten dollars she owes her are, even though Valerie has no recollection of owing Jenny a thing.

"Not yet," Jenny will say, unbothered.

When she sees Candy and Denise are together, Jenny goes quiet. 

"Oh," she’ll say in a low voice. "There they are." She doesn't know why they are important, just that they are. 

That is the awareness at work. Jenny has known Jacksons without them. Jacksons where only one of the pair made it, or where they never met, and the town was all the colder for the absence of two ordinary, impossible girls. She knows their futures. The daughter Denise adopts. The Hope Center that Denise and Candy built/will build in the 2010s to help families in need. 

People's pasts and futures are in her head, but they do not always belong to this world. This is one of the reasons she can't be trusted as an oracle. She is telling the truth; the problem is you can never be sure which truth applies here. She isn't psychic (normally); she just has a lot of incomplete histories and futures.

Game Use

A scene may warrant a comment from Jenny about an important NPC or PC by way of Mirror Shard Awareness. Let the GM make of it what they will: a clue, a warning, an emotional complication, or a jest. It should hint at a possible truth without writing the character’s future for them.

Examples:

"Still here. Good. That matters."

"You wrote the song already? No? My mistake."

"Wait, the scar isn’t there yet? Good. You want to stay off the gym roof in November."

"You are so much harder to convince in this version."

The GM is free to decide if such remarks are true, partly true, true in another timeline or merely symbolic. Jenny is not lying. She is just carrying around too many maps.

Limit: Too Many Truths

Jenny has trouble separating one world’s truth from another. If the players put her on the spot for a straight answer on the future, the GM can rule one of three ways: it is true here, it is true in another world, or it is true only if the characters make it so. Jenny is aware of this and would rather be irritating than put words to a possibility and turn it into a cage.

Edited to Add: This past weekend, I ran a "Next Generation" game in Jackson to see if the setting works outside of the 1980s time frame. It does, but I like the 1980s vibe better. But it does give me a new idea for when I use Jenny later on.

Jenny: "Oh! And say hi to Taryn for me!
Larina: "Who is Taryn?"
Jenny: "Oh. Sorry. Spoilers. Say hi to her in 2012."

Special Limit: Larina's Mirror

You will not catch Jenny looking in Larina's mirror. Not safely. 

While she has passed through a train window, or a comic panel, even a particularly judgmental snow globe to cross universes, Larina’s mirror is different. It doesn’t just show you alternate worlds; it throws back too many shards of Larina Nichols at once: the Witch Queen, the librarian, the schoolgirl, the red-headed girl with the black fingernails and a notebook, the woman with blood on her hands, the psychic storm that still uses her name.

If forced to look, she must save vs. magic (or equivalent). Fail, and she is stunned for 1d6 rounds, unable to shift and unsure of which Jackson she is in. Succeed, and she still sees one impossible Larina with too much clarity and will have nothing more to do with it.

"Nope. Uhn-uh. Absolutely not. That is a Larina-shaped traffic accident across twelve dimensions."

And if she is feeling less flippant:

"That thing doesn’t show you who you are. It shows you who you might be mistaken for. All of them."

She will describe this as akin to multi-versal feedback. Jenny can already see more than most people; she avoids objects that allow others to do what she can do naturally.

Links

• Her page at Public Domain Super Heroes

HAPPY JENNY EVERYWHERE DAY!

#RPGaDAY2026: Day 12 Loss

Another Witchcraft Wednesday. Let's talk about my favorite witch. 

In most versions of Larina, she has lost both of her parents.

I have used that for nearly forty years now, and honestly, I have come to realize it is a little lazy. Dead parents are easy character development. Too easy, sometimes. They explain the pain, clear the stage, and give the hero a wound without making the writer work too hard. And gives them a reason to be away from their homes. I mean it works, and everyone does it.

But loss has defined Larina for a long time.

So now I am experimenting with it. In Jackson, IL, Larina has lost her mother, but not both parents. In my Carbon Vale, Illinois setting, she still has both. The question becomes less "what did she lose?" and more "who is Larina when that loss changes?"

That is the useful part for gaming.

And since this is all about occult associations, there is another thing to consider. Jackson Larina, aka "Nix," and Carbon Vale Larina, aka "Creepy," communicate back and forth via notes slipped into a copy of "A Wrinkle in Time." And Nix warned Creepy what was going to happen. So Creepy stopped it from happening. There will be a debt to be paid here; I am not sure what, and I am not sure when or even who will need to pay it.  

But it will come due.

A character’s loss can be canon, variant, rumor, retcon, or alternate timeline. What matters is not whether every version has the same tragedy. What matters is what the loss taught her, what it cost her, and what she refuses to lose next.

Jackson, IL NPC

Still in Associates Week and Wednesday's Child is Full of Woe. 

Evan Harrow is a Jackson teen descended from a family everyone whispers about, but no one confronts. Evan is from a long-suspected witch family, which is true, but not for a generation or two. It is not something they are happy about, and they still get a lot of grief in Jackson, but no one quite remembers why.

Jackson Soundtrack

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#RPGaDAY2026: Day 11 Tact

Tact is not lying.

That is worth remembering in Jackson, IL, where everyone is keeping secrets, everyone knows more than they are saying, and half the adults in town have perfected the art of saying nothing with a pleasant smile.

But for a witch, the definition changes.

Tact is in the knowing; it is understanding when the truth is of service and when it will do nothing but wound. It means a character can inform someone their home is haunted without adding that their grandfather had it coming. Or put a friend on notice of some peril without having them feel like a fool for their fear.

Stephanie possesses this quality naturally. Larina has to work on it. Faye has heard something like it exsits, but has never had much use for it. Which is why they are all so well suited to each other.

A horror game can't always afford being blunt. The truth has a way of being unclean. There are real monsters and old curses and family histories that are thoroughly rotten, and the one asking for help may not be in a position to take it all in at once.

A witch will tell the truth, of course. She is only expected to know how sharp to make it.

Iriandor NPC

Today is Day 11, Tuesday, Associates + Full of Grace. Maelin Three-Strings is an Iriandor bard whose kindness opens doors faster than any lockpick. He is always welcome and tells stories of the heroes of the Last War.

Jackson Soundtrack

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#RPGaDAY2026: Day 8 Resolve

 Resolve is doing the thing anyway.

Not because it is easy. Not because it is fun. Not because anyone is going to thank you for it. Sometimes resolve means standing there when every sane instinct says to walk away, go home, lock the door, and let someone else deal with the nightmare.

Cases in point: Larina Nichols and Vera Rook of Jackson, IL.

Larina does what she believes is right, even when it costs her. Especially then. She will argue, complain, lose her temper, and probably make some deeply sarcastic comment along the way, but when the moment comes, she stands.

Vera is different.

Vera does what she wants. That can look like resolve from the outside, because she is stubborn, sharp, and hard to move. But there is a difference between holding your ground because something matters and refusing to move because you do not feel like it.

That is the real test of resolve for a witch.

Not whether she has the power to act, but whether she can make herself do what must be done when walking away would be so much easier.

In Jackson, walking or running away always feels easier.

Jackson, IL NPC

This is Week 2, and the topic is Intellect. Back to Saturday and "Works Hard." 

Kevin Pike: A JPHS AV-club kid who records every ghostly sound in the old school and catalogs them like science. One of the first kids in the school to own a camcorder; a JVC GX-N7 Lolux. 

Kevin is a good but odd kid. He doesn't trust anyone with his video collection so it sits in his room with his own organization and label codes. When asked, he says he is filming local wildlife. His mom thinks he is harmless. His dad is worried he is sneaking off to film the girls' dorms at Beecher College. But his tapes are filled with video footage of monsters, ghosts, and in one case a red-headed girl with glasses shooting fire from her hands.

Jackson Soundtrack

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#RPGaDAY2026: Day 7 Mercy

Mercy is the hardest magic for a witch to learn.

Any witch can curse. Any witch can hex. Any witch can call down fire, rot, silence, madness, or whatever else the old books and older powers are willing to teach her.

Mercy is different.

Teenaged Larina is powerful, loyal, brilliant, and brave. But she is not famous for her impulse control or her anger control. Sometimes she sees the cruelty, the monster, the threat to someone she loves, and her first instinct is simple enough.

Burn it all down. Burn fucking everything.

And sometimes, that is the right call.

But mercy asks something harder of her. It asks her to stop. To breathe. To decide whether justice really needs fire this time.

For a witch, mercy is not weakness.

Often, it is choosing not to become the next thing people need saving from. 

Jackson, IL NPC

This is Week 2, and the topic is Intellect.  It's Friday, and Friday's Child is "Loving & Giving." 

Mara Ashcroft.  Mara is a librarian at St. Michael's Catholic School who quietly places the right forbidden book in the right frightened student’s hands. She likes most students, and more to the point, she knows which books NOT to give to which students.

Miss Ashcroft is not a "witch," at least that is what she tells herself. She says she is like her gran; a woman who knew how to "see around corners" and who always knew who was sneaking cookies from her drawer in the kitchen. Miss Ashcroft likes to think that she knows which books to give to which students because she is a good judge of character. And she is. It's just she often has the book in hand before the student even enters the library.

Jackson Soundtrack

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#RPGaDAY2026: Day 6 Reach

Learning and dealing with occult magic is all about reach.

It reaches across the veil, into dreams, through mirrors, down bloodlines, into old books, forgotten places, and the spaces between worlds. It is not always about power. Sometimes it is about contact.

That is what makes it dangerous.

The Witch Queen Larina of West Haven knows this better than most. The white streak in her otherwise red hair is not just cosmetic. It is a reminder. A mark. Proof that sometimes her reach goes farther than her grasp. It is also something that Teen Larina of Jackson, IL has yet to learn. 

And really, that is the risk every witch takes.

To be a witch is to reach for something beyond the safe and ordinary world, knowing that sometimes something reaches back.

Iriandor NPC

This is Week 2, and the topic is Intellect. Today is Thursday, and that is "Far to Go." Today's NPC is from Iriandor, my Daggerheart setting. Neris of the South Road. They are an Iriandor mapmaker who believes the world changes when no one is looking. Given the flux that Iriandor is in, they might be on to something.

Jackson Soundtrack

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#RPGaDAY2026: Day 5 Burden

It is Witchcraft Wednesday, so let's make today witch-focused. 

Every witch carries a burden.

For some it is knowledge, either learned through books or experience. For many it is power. And for others still it is the terrible understanding that the world is larger, older, stranger, and crueler than most people will ever know.

Larina carries the burden of knowing what is really out there. Faye carries the burden of what was done to her. Rowan carries the pain of others. The witches of the Threefold Goddess carry faith, mystery, and contradiction. The High Order carries secrets. The Scaled Sisterhood carries ancient blood and older obligations.

That is part of what makes witches different from other magic-users.

A wizard learns spells. A cleric serves a god. But a witch inherits something. Often it is a terrible inheritance. A promise. A scar. A duty. A curse. A family. A coven. A town. Often all of them at once.

Jackson, IL NPC

This is Week 2, and the topic is Intellect. Today is Wednesday, Full of Woe, which is why Wednesday Addams has the name she does. 

Lots of students at Jackson Public High School and St. Michaels know what is going on. David Cross is one such student. A Jackson Public student who keeps dreaming true things and writing them down before they happen. Sadly, it is likely he will come to the attention of the PCs when his diary shows up, and he predicts his own death. And others. 

Jackson Soundtrack

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#RPGaDAY2026: Day 4 Charm

Today we move over to Rowan's boyfriend, Andy. Anderson Thompson has Charm. 

Not in the slick, silver-tongued way one usually associates with the elites. Andy's charm is quieter. Maybe because of who his family is, he has developed his own way of dealing with people. He does this by raising others up. He is the kind of person who makes others want to be better because they are sure that is what Andy already thinks of them. 

That is powerful.

He doesn't bully, guilt, or cajole people into doing the right thing. He doesn't shame them. He just looks at them with his strong, steady confidence and enthusiasm, and suddenly they want to be whatever it is Andy sees in them. And when they do it, Andy is there saying, "Yeah! I knew you could do it!"

That is a different use of Charisma/Persona that what Stephanie has. No seduction, no manipulation. But rather trust. Andy already knows you can do it; you just need a little encouragement.

Jackson, IL and Carbon Vale, IL NPC

This is Week 2, and the topic is Intellect, and Tuesday is Full of Grace. Today I reach into TWO campaigns. This character is part of my Carbon Vale, alt-universe setting, but she also makes appearances in Jackson due to her connection to Lars Nichols.   

Professor Étaín Ní Mhaoláin: A Carbon Vale folklore professor whose lectures feel almost like rituals. An Irish national in Illinois on a scholar's visa. Larina is obsessed with her research. 

Étaín Ní Mhaoláin is, of course, the modern horror version/echo/shard of Étaín Moonshadow. She is also based on a Classics professor I really liked.

Jackson Soundtrack

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