Character Creation Challenge: Adnerg Myrildean

 Every campaign needs a high-level wizard. Whether that is Elminster, Gandalf, Merlin, or Mordenkainen, a high-level wizard is good to know. In Grenda's campaign, this was Adnerg Myrildean.

Adnerg was a wizard supreme. He picked up some levels of fighter to stay alive, but he was a wizard through and through.

If I continue with my ham-fisted Freudian analogies here, Adnerg was Grenda's "Super-Ego." 

Adnerg was a great character. 

When my characters first met him, he was in a bar gambling. He was loud and boisterous and not at all like a wizard, until combat came around. Then he became the "nuclear option."

Notes about High Levels

Adnerg here is the third character from this collection and in many ways is the poster child for our games in the 1980s.

I have four character sheets for him at different parts in his career. The image above has hi at level 97 Magic-user / level 30 fighter. Yeah. I know. BUT there are good reasons for this. First off keep in mind that these characters are old. Adnerg here has a creation date of 8/14/1984. So they go a lot of play. I think for a while there I was playing every weekend and sometimes three or four nights per week in the summers. 

Also, there was BARDD. BARDD was our computer-based combat simulator for the TRS-80 Color Computer 2. We would put our characters in to the software and let it run. Our rule was that if the characters died in it, they were dead. This was the fate of my first and only half-orc character. Grenda put his characters in and let it run. His characters earned a lot of XP.

We were both good at math, but I was better and calculated the XP tables and spell-progression tables for levels beyond 30. These skills served me well when I would later work on my witch class and Grenda would work on his various Riddlemasters (more on that later).

Like all good wizards, he had many names. He was also known as Erife'nur, the Rune Fire mage.

Adnerg "Erife'nur" Myrildean

Class: Sorcerer
Level: 20
Species: Human
Alignment: Twilight Neutral
Background: Scholar

Abilities
Strength: 9 (+0)     
Agility: 14 (+1)     
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 20 (+4)  
Wits: 16 (+2) 
Persona: 18 (+3) 

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: 3
Vitality: 110 (d4)
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +8/+6/+4
Melee Bonus: +4 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Spell Attack Bonus: +10
Saves: +5 vs magic attacks and area effects

Arcane Powers
Astral Projection, Beguile, Polymath, Precognition, Shadow Walking, Telekinesis 

Spells
1st level (6+1): Arcane Darts, Black Flames, Gout of Flame, Luck Stone, Night Vision, Sense Death, Sleep
2nd level (5): Beguile Person, Conjure Flame, ESP, Lesser Renewal, See Invisible
3rd level (5): Concussive Blast, Conjure Fireworks, Dark Lightning, Dispel Magic, Fly 
4th level (5): Befuddlement, Conjure Fire, Globe of Daylight, Protection against the Deeper Dark, Serpent Arrow
5th level (4): Banishment, Command Winds, Elemental Wall, Summon Elemental
6th level (4): Dispel Evil, Evoke Weather, Move Earth, Part the Seas
7th level (4): Ball of Sunshine, Drain Life, Wave of Mutilation, Zone of Peaceful Conduct
8th level (3): Gaze of the Abyss, Mind Shield, Summon Other
9th level (3): Feedback Barrier, Orb of Imprisonment, Sleeping Village

Heroic Touchstones
Level 1: Additional First level spell
Level 3: Additional Arcane Power: Telekinesis 
Level 5: Additional Vitality Points
Level 7: Luck Benefit
Level 9: Spirit Guide: Hawk "Rynn"
Level 11: Level 1 of Warrior
Level 13: Level 2 of Warrior
Level 15: Magical Recovery
Level 17: Level 3 of Warrior
Level 19: Level 4 of Warrior

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic

Gear
Staff ("Lacham"), mace ("Shatterside")

Note, unlike the Addingdales, Adnerg has no psionics. 

This is a really great build and "feels" like Adnerg. It would be a pleasure to add him to the Wasted Lands RPG.

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

Character Creation Challenge: Worluk Shadowreaper

 Yesterday, I introduced you to Pathon Addingdale, the patriarch of the Addingdale line. But he almost wasn't. He had a twin brother who was "lost."  Today, I'll talk about that twin.

Worluk Shadowreaper aka Torin Addingdale

The story goes that Pathon and Torin were separated at birth. Years later, Pathon was due to ascend the throne of his kingdom when he fought a notorious assassin, Worluk. They had disarmed each other, and Worluk picked up Pathon's mace Stormshadow. The mace glowed, something it only did in the hands of the true heir. Thus, they both learned that Warluk was really Torin. 

Derivative? Maybe. But like I said before, we ALL did stuff like this back then, and it was great fun. It still is, to be honest.

If Pathon was Grenda's "ego character," then Worluk would be his "Id." Worluk would show up in the game, and he ran as a foil for my largely Lawful Good group of characters. He wasn't presented as an enemy so much as a chaotic force. An evil one, but never directed directly at us. When I would play my own evil character, Death Blade, Worluk would show up as a rival. 

Years later, I revived another Grenda character, Yoln. I misremembered his last name and gave him the Shadowreaper last name as a title. 

Worluk Shadowreaper for Wasted Lands

I am going to provide playable stats for the Wasted Lands RPG from Elf Lair Games. Why? Well, one I want to do is provide Dungeons & Dragons alternatives, and Wasted Lands is my game of choice. 

Though, like Pathon, I am pulling his class from NIGHT SHIFT. While mechanically, Worluk is a survivor, he is even more of one thematically. While a Wasted Lands "Renegade" would also work, I like the idea of Survivor better.

Class: Survivor (from NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 15
Species: Human
Alignment: Twilight Evil
Background: Warrior

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

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: -1
Vitality: 79 (d4)
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 2

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +7/+4/+3
Melee Bonus: +4 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Saves: +5 vs Death attacks and area effects

Survivor Abilities
Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-6 d8), Perception, Vital Strike x5, Read Languages, Stealth Skills

Heroic Touchstones
Level 1: Psychic Ability: Teleport
Level 3: +1 to melee attacks
Level 5: "Luck" benfit
Level 7: Powerful Defense vs. melee
Level 9: Reroll
Level 11: Spell: Invisibility
Level 13: +1 to attacks, checks, and saves

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Warrior

Gear
Sword, elven chain, hat of disguise, thieves tools

Ok, I like this version a lot.  Much like Nigel, I imagine Worluk (maybe now going by Torin again) is alive in NIGHT SHIFT.

I did notice that Pathon, in his early versions, worshipped Zeus. Worluk worshiped Loki. This was common for us back then, mixing up mythologies. This was certainly the genesis of my Black Forest Mythologies. Here, Pathon and Worluk would worship Unser Vater and Betrüger, respectively. 

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

Character Creation Challenge: Pathon Addingdale

Happy New Year!

Other than "Fantasy RPGs," I have not worked out my theme or even my new banner for the new year yet. But I am participating in Tardis Captain's 2025 Character Creation Challenge. 

For this month, I wanted to celebrate the life of my friend and former DM, R. Micheal Grenda, by featuring his characters. When I picked up his collection from his widow this past autumn, it struck me how all of these characters' stories were never going to be told again.  My oldest immediately wanted to take them and use them all in his AD&D 1st Edition game to give it "a feeling of authenticity" and could not disagree.  

Some of these characters are old, as in the dawn of AD&D. Others came from the end of AD&D 1st edition when we were both at University. Some are well known to me, others are not. There are multiple versions of the same characters. There are even versions of some of my own characters.  I won't be featuring those, just his characters. 

Why Do This?

I got to thinking. There are so many of us, players from the first few years of RPGs, who have someone who is no longer at our tables. The Empty Chair. I can't feature everyone's character here, but I can feature his. While I am doing this, you can think back to the characters (and players) who are no longer with you and remember them.

For this, I will feature a character a day, talk about my memories of the character, and talk about how I might use them in my games. 

Pathon Addingdale

This was Grenda's "ego" character and the Patriarch of the Addingdale line. Pathon was born in Oerth CY 632. So in the future if you consider that the "current year" of the World of Greyhawk is 591.  According to his sheet he began in 1976. I know Grenda began playing around then with the OD&D rules, plus the Greyhawk and Eldritch Wizardry supplements. The sheets I have are obviously updated ones. These are newer sheets. Grenda updated to AD&D 1st ed like many of us did.

He was a cleric/fighter. Depending on which sheet I use, he was a 98th/30th level cleric/fighter (hey, it was the 1980s), a 14th level cleric, or a 20th level cleric.  

Pathon, like many of Grenda's characters were part of the Addingdale family. He was one of a twin, but that twin was "lost" in a battle, only to show up later as "the evil twin."  He will come up later.

I am going to pause here. We are going to embrace the tropes here. Sure, some of these might seem edgy, cliché, or even "cringy" by today's standards, but I will not judge them by today's standards. I will look at them in situ as they were when they were made. Let us enjoy them for what they are, not what we might want them to be.

We had rules back then that if you had psionics, your children were more likely to have them as well. Also, we felt that psionics was a sex-linked trait (thank you, high school biology and X-Men comics!), so women characters always had a +5% chance of being psionic. So. You are going to see a lot of psionics here.

Pathon Addingdale for Wasted Lands*

I am going to provide playable stats for the Wasted Lands RPG from Elf Lair Games. Why? Well, one I want to do is provide Dungeons & Dragons alternatives, and Wasted Lands is my game of choice. 

I say Wasted Lands with an asterisk because I will also add material from NIGHT SHIFT and Thirteen Parsecs. This works since there is DNA from my games with Grenda in all the O.G.R.E.S. games, especially NIGHT SHIFT and Thirteen Parsecs.

Class: Theosophist (from NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 14
Species: Human
Alignment: Light
Background: Warrior

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) N    
Agility: 13 (+1) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) N 
Wits: 18 (+3) A 
Persona: 14 (+1) 

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 0
Vitality: 76 (d6)
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

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

Theosophist Abilities
See Dead people, Turn Undead x2, Summon Dead, Channel Dead, Death Knell, Suggestion, Command the Dead, Life Drain, Slay the Unliving, Call the Reaper

Heroic Touchstones
Level 1: Psychic Ability: Body Control 
Level 3: Additional 1st level Spell: Mend wounds
Level 5: Level 1 of Witch/Sorcerer
Level 7: Psychic Ability: Bio-feedback 
Level 9: Level 2 of Witch/Sorcerer
Level 11: Smite
Level 13: Great Smite

Spells
1st Level: Bless, Cure Light Wounds

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Divine Warrior

Gear
Mace, Armor, Holy symbol

Not a bad version. I could tweak it a bit, but in truth, I am happy with how he turned out. There are differences between Wasted Lands and AD&D, and thus some differences in characters. I went through these all last year, but I have been pretty happy so far.

Looking forward to seeing how the other characters turn out.

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

Looking Forward to 2025: FRPGs, Thirteen Parsecs, and Basic Bestiary

 We are nearing the end of 2024. I did not get as much done here as I wanted. That is sort of my theme for 2024, really. Since I had no specific plans for 2025, I will continue with some threads started here in 2024. But I am going to go into some newer areas too.

Fantasy RPGs

This upcoming year I want to focus more on other, non-D&D, Fantasy RPGs. I still love D&D, I am just tired of the conversations around D&D. I am still playing. I am still enjoying it; I am just going to play and enjoy other games as well. 

I *will* talk about how these games can provide a "D&D-like experience" because I am sure that a lot of my readers here are still reading for D&D-related content.

Forgotten Realms

I still want to work through all my Forgotten Realms material and talk about it in terms of my own history of the game. I enjoyed it too much to put aside.

The Enchanted World

I also want to keep working through all my Enchanted World books. I wanted to finish them all in 2024, but that didn't happen. 

Thirteen Parsecs and Wasted Lands

I plan on doing more with these games in 2025. Gotta support the home team.

Basic Bestiary

Ok, this is the big one. I wanted to get this done. I have the monsters written, edited, and ready to go. What I am lacking is art. Monster books need a lot of art, and art is expensive. I am not 100% convinced that a huge monster book would make enough to cover the costs of the art. 

So I am thinking of breaking it up into smaller chunks now, a little like my Myths & Monsters (for AD&D) and my ill-fated Monstrous Maleficarum (for 5e). The goal will be to put a few monsters in a volume with art I have now, and I hope to make enough to buy art for the next one. As business plans go, it is not a great one, but it will do. 

My brain automatically goes to themes. I hope I can do that here. So a collection of hags, then of demons, and more. I am not going to try to kill myself to get one done a week, but I do want to get a few out in 2025.

 

Well. Here's to a better 2025!

Boxing Day: Haven the Free City

 I did not get any new D&D or RPG material this Christmas. No big deal, really; the only new things I wanted were those I wrote! But I did get a chance over the last couple of days to go through a boxed set I got in that lot from my late friend. 

I spent some time in the Free City of Haven.

In his collection was a copy of Haven the Free City. This is the second edition/printing, and it is in fantastic shape.

Fantastic is an understatement, really. The contents are in pristine shape. The box has a blown-out corner, but that is really it.

I am rather thrilled, to be honest. This is not just a great find; I have wanted this boxed set for, well, forever, it seems. Back in the day, Grenda and I spent a lot of time playing in cities and urban areas in our games. So to see this now from his old collection is not just a great gift, it is an emotionally charged one. 

We had planned to write our own "Urban Survival Guide" back then. He had created his own city with a giant map. The map is mixed in with all this stuff. I hope to get to it someday soon.

I didn't even know he had this; we would have played the hell out of it back in the late 80s. Given the material it was bundled with, he must have picked it up in late 1988 or 1989. 

The contents, as I mentioned, are in fantastic shape. I am not sure he used it all that much.

This is great stuff. I could spend days going through all of this. A true gift. 

Grýla, The Christmas Witch for NIGHT SHIFT

 We watched the newest Christmas movie, "Red One," the other night. It is silly but fun. It had Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, and J. K. Simmons as Santa. But the surprise was Kiernan Shipka, as Grýla, The Christmas Witch. 

When she played Sabrina, Kiernan Shipka encountered Grýla before, so seeing her take on the mythological witch was fun. I have also encountered Grýla here before. And given that I already did Santa, I thought Grýla for NIGHT SHIFT would be fun, too.

Thorsteinn1996, CC BY-SA 4.0

Grýla
8th level Witch

Strength: 17 (+2)
Agility: 13 (+1)
Constitution: 16 (+2) S
Intelligence: 14 (+1)
Wits: 18 (+3) P
Persona: 9 (+0) 

HP: 51
Alignment: Dark
AC: 2
Attack: +1

Fate Points: 1d8

Check Bonus (P/S/T): +4/+3/+1
Melee bonus: +2 Ranged bonus: +1
Saves: +4 against spells and magical effects

Witch Abilities

Arcana, Supernatural Senses, Spells, Arcane Powers,

Arcane Powers
Immunity to Cold, Charm Person, Shapeshifting

Spells

First Level (4): Chill Ray, Detect Magic, Mystical Senses, Sleep
Second Level (3): Find Traps, Knock, Suggestion
Third Level (3): Animal Summoning 2, Blinding Speed, Curse
Fourth Level (2): Befuddlement, Metamorphosis

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This Old Dragon: Issue #115

I think I have enough time left in this year to do another one of these. My box of old Dragons, though, is getting a little lighter these days. Today's issue takes us all the way back to November of 1986. My old High School DM had just been medically discharged from the Air Force due to arthritis, something that would plague him to the point that the last time I saw him, he was using a cane. I was a Senior in High School working on College applications and trying to get in as many AP math courses as I could. "Amanda" by Boston from their highly successful "Third Stage" album was the biggest song on the radio, which for me at the time was WYMG. "Crocodile Dundee" had dominated the screens for the last two month making Paul Hogan a household name, and on game store shelves and gaming tables all over was Issue #115 of This Old Dragon.

Our cover art is one of my time favorites from Den Beauvais. It might not get as much nostalgia as his chess ones, but this one is every bit as good. 

Letters is dominated by kudos for the Role of Computers feature and a demand for more AD&D computer games and aids. 

Roger Moore is now our new editor-in-chief of Dragon, taking on the role about a week prior. We were only vaguely aware at the time, or *I* was only vaguely aware, that there had been a huge shake-up at TSR.  Moore lets us know, maybe even reassuring us, that there are more great things coming, like supporting the Masters and Immortals sets for D&D and the newer AD&D books. 

Forum covers the big issues of the day. Namely was the cover of issue #114 considered softcore pornography and what is all this talk about 2nd Edition! I own all the 1st edition books and I don't replace them all now. 

Our featured topic this month is Thieves. In fact, this might be one of the first of the official "Special Attractions" or theme issues. I never associated these with Roger Moore's tenure, but it could be the case.

Lords of the Night by Eric Oppen covers thieves and thieves' guilds. I remember reading this one with great interest back in the day, and was the beginning of my thoughts on the Urban Survival Guide.

Friend of the Other Side Vince Garcia follows up with A Den of Thieves, which also covers guilds and how they exist in relation to each other and their city. It is, like much of Vince's work, very detailed.

Vince follows this up with The Art of Climbing Walls. This expands the thief climb walls skill. nearly 40 years later, we are using a single d20 and a single skill for all thief abilities. Another article, Getting Up in the World by Robin Jenkins also expands on this skill.

Eric Oppen is back with Robin Jenkins in Honor Among Thieves which covers the rules in which thief guilds operate. 

And Vince Garcia is back again with Tools of the (Thieving) Trade which covers, as you guessed, thief tools. 

All said an told about 27 pages of thief information. I ate it up. My main character at the time was Nigel "Death" Blade, a thief and assassin. Larina was still very low level at this point and Johan II was involved in a long prolonged war.

Speaking of holy fighters, James A. Yates is up with an idea that has seen a lot of print in Dragon, but not something that would become commonplace until AD&D 2nd Ed. Hammer of Thor, Spear of Zeus details what weapons clerics of the various Deities & Demigods Legends & Lore Gods can use. 

Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth covers all sorts of snakes in the AD&D game by Ray Hamel and David Hage.

Ed Greenwood is up next with Airs of Ages of Past, which gives us nine magical harps from the Forgotten Realms.

"There's Something on the Floor..." by Reid Beutler features some random tables for determining what is found on, in, and of dungeon floor design. 

Here is a rarity for the time, a non-Greenwood Ecology of article...almost.  The Ecology of the Harpy is split into two articles. The first, Songs of Beauty... comes to us from Barbara E. Curtis. The second, Songs of Death is by Ed Greenwood. Both work well together and I get the impression that the Curtis article was first and Greenwood added his piece afterwards. That's fine, and let's be honest, Elminster *is* the authority on these things in the Realms. The articles are a good read.

Elven Armies and Dwarves-At-Arms by James A. Yates details what sort of troops the demi-humans can muster. I would not run into the need for this one very often, but when I need it, it is nice to have here. You would be excused if your thoughts wander to the Battle of Five Armies. 

More dungeon exploring from Dan Snuffin in Door Number One, Door Number Two, or... You, it dawns on me that modern players would not know what a Monte Hall style play is OR even why we call it Monte Hall. Anyway, this it a bunch of random tables for various dungeon doors. I used to give the Monty Hall Problem in my Intro to Stats course when discussing probability. Really messes with people's heads.

Getting out of the dungeon and into the world of spies we have Stayin' Alive from John J. Terra. This would have been a good bit to have read back when I was investigating the R.I.P. RPG a bit ago. Not for any reason than to give me some more insight on how to play Top Secret. Which is exactly what this article was going for. Later on we also get more Top Secret material in Kevin Marzahl's When Only the Best Will Do. This covers Heckler & Koch weapons. 

The Role of Books by John C. Bunnell reviews newly published sci-fi and fantasy books from the gamer's perspective. This includes some Find Your Fate books, the Lords of the Middle Dark.

Nice ad for DC Heroes 1st Edition. The big DC Heroes Kickstarter just wrapped, so this will all be new again. 

Few more pages down a big full color ad for Traveller: 2300.

TSR Profiles features Roger E. Moore and Bill Larson.

Previews gives us the products coming for the end of 1986. These include a couple of my favorites M3 Twilight Calling by Tom Moldvay and RS1 Red Sonja Unconquered. For the new year of 1987 module H2 Mines of Bloodstone and a new DA2 Temple of the Frog from non other than Dave Arneson and David Ritchie is on the way. 

While the Ares section is a thing of the past now it seems, the back half of the magazine is still devoted to sci-fi and Marvel. 

An Interstellar Armory by Gus Monter for Star Frontiers Knight Hawks covers new weapons and defenses. 

Gamers' Guide has our small ads. All the usual suspects for 1986 are here. Wargames West, Gamescience and others. 

The Convention Calendar covers November, December, and January. None local to me (either now or then). 

We get four pages of Wormy. Tramp would soon move south to Carbondale and I would be a couple of months behind him. We lived in the same town for 4+ years and I never even knew. A page of Dragonmirth and three pages of SnarfQuest.

Honestly, a pretty good issue and a preview of what we would see in the Roger E. Moore, back half of the 80s, era. More special features and less content for non-TSR games.