Character Creation Challenge: Magnus Ulslime for Wasted Lands

 Heroes are often measured by the bad guys they have to face. If that is the case then Johan Werper and his line are true heroes indeed because their long time foe is a semi-immortal necromancer of the darkest dye. And you have seen him before.

Magnus Ulslime had several origin points for me that all seemed to collide at once. First there was Len Lakofka's Death Master class I saw in Best of Dragon Vol. III, a reprint of his class from Dragon #76. There was Ulslime the Chaosar (terrible name) from Module CM2 Death's Ride. And finally what I *thought* Module X6 Quagmire was about. All of these mixed in the same vat I was building classes in; my Healer, Sun-Priest, Witch, and Necromancer.  I saw my Necromancer as the moral opposite of the Healer and the Sun Priest.  Eventually, I would go to get my Profane Necromancer and Death Pact Warlocks out into the world along with my Witch.

Much like Larina is my test character for anything witchy, Magnus is my test for any sort of necromancer. Though I do not have as many versions of him as I do her.  I have featured him, though, as Necromancer for Spellcraft & Swordplay and as a Death Pact Warlock. I have also done his adopted children Runu and Urnu for both Spellcraft and Swordplay and Wasted Lands in the past. 

Magnus Ulslime

Class: Necromancer
Level: 13
Species: Human
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Cult

Abilities
Strength: 10 (+0) 
Agility: 13 (+1) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 19 (+3) N
Wits: 16 (+2) N
Persona: 19 (+3) Z

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 5
Vitality: 87
Degeneracy: 33
Corruption: 7

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +7/+4/+3
Melee Bonus: +2 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Magical Attack: +2
Saves: +8 to Persona saves, -2 vs Corruption

Cult Powers
Commune with Deeper Dark (1/week), Familiar (small demon), Forbidden Knowledge 38%, Mystical Senses

Necromancer Abilities
Channel the Dead, See Dead people, Turn Undead, Protection from Dead x5, Summon the Dead, Vampiric Augmentation, Suggestion x2, Command, Vampiric Touch, Beguile Spirit

Arcane Powers
Detect Thoughts, Polymath (Sage Abilities: Level 1), Incubus (touchstone), Shadow Walk (touchstone)

Spells
First level: Black Flames, Night Vision, Glamour
Second level: Invoke Fear, Paralyze Poison

Heroic/Divine Touchstones 
1st Level: Arcane Power: Incubus (1d6)
2nd Level: Arcane Power: Shadow Walk
3rd Level: Class Level, Sorcerer 1
4th Level: Class Level, Sorcerer 2
5th Level: Class Level, Sorcerer 3
6th Level: Class Level, Sorcerer 4
7th Level: Character ceases to age

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Death

Gear
Death staff

Magnus in the Wasted Lands

These are great stats and I am amazed with how flexible and customizable this game actually is. There is just so much going on here. It is also the first time in a character write-up I was able to really capture his childhood in a Death Cult. The only thing I did not do here is capture his early adulthood as a druid. Maybe a couple of levels of Theosophist would cover that.

Magnus in NIGHT SHIFT

If the Dark Druid can make it to the modern age, then Magnus could as well. I can see a cult trying to bring him back. I see it as sort of like a cheesy 80s movie where a bunch of teens play some record backward and summons Magnus, though I think to be true to his roots AND the 80s, he would have to be called "The Death Master."  Hmm. Maybe this is the missing piece of this 80s adventure I have been wanting to do.

Magnus in Thirteen Parsecs

I honestly have no idea if he will live this long. But maybe I will come up with something. The universe is a big and really weird place.  Though I will admit the name "Magnus" came to me while watching the Doctor Who serial "Talons of Weng-Chiang."  The bad guy in this one, Magnus Greel, was from the 51st Century. He even had a familiar of sorts, Mr. Sin.  I might have to name his quasit familiar Mr. Sin.

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

Character Creation Challenge: "Retsam Elddir" for Wasted Lands

 This one is important to me.  

Yesterday, I briefly introduced you to a character I mentioned around here but finally gave him a proper introduction: Nigel "Death Blade" Delamort. If he sounded like the sort of character a 13-year-old makes while trying to sound edgy, then yes, you are 100% correct. But he is part of a quintet, five aspects of my personality on paper as it were (remember I was just introduced to psychology and I was eating it all up). Today's character is the last of that quintet.

Briefly, when looking at psychoanalytic theory (and please keep in mind I am reducing a hundred+ years worth of thought into the size of a bubble gum wrapper), a person's personality can broken up into two aspects according to Jung (Anima/Animus) or three according to Freud (Id/Ego/Super-ego). I have already introduced you all to my Animus (Phygora), Anima (Larina), Id (Nigel), and Super-Ego (Johan), so all I need now is my Ego-self.  

My ego is Johan Werper, aka Retsam Elddir.

Wait. That doesn't make any sense. Here is what I am talking about. 

Again, I ask you to come back with me to the years between 1983 and 1986. I was in High School and playing a ton of D&D...or, more to the point, AD&D. We really tried to draw a very solid line between the two. When I was the DM, it was B/X D&D, and our world was "The Known World," later to be called Mystara. When my friend Michael was DMing, it was AD&D, and the world was Greyhawk. We would merge them, and that world became something like the Mystoerth that I use today.

Around 85-86 we were both working making new character classes and trying them out. Mine were the Healer, the Sun-Priest, a variant on the Necromancer/Death Mage, and my most successful one, The Witch. Grenda was not sitting by. He had created, sort of as a joke, a super-powered class of psychic adepts that had to hide their powers since at that time we said psionics were considered unnatural in a world of magic. That class was the Riddle Master, named after the Patricia A. McKillip book, The Riddle-Master of Hed. As it happened, he really loved the class. So much so that he wanted me to try it out.  So I said fine, roll up my stats and I'll come over.  He did and the stats for my new Riddle Master were the exact same as the ones Johan I had. So we thought this was the Johan of Oerth and not the same as the Mystara one I was playing. We were both high from the Crisis on Infinite Earths, I had also been reading Job: A Comedy of Justice by Heinlein and The Coming of the Quantum Cats by Pohl. So we decided that this new Johan was a "Quantum Cat" or multiverse counterpart (the current en vogue term is Variant) of my first Johan. Much like Superman of Earth 1 vs. Superman of Earth 2 there was a generational age difference.

We decided that this new Riddle Master character had to use a different name to avoid confusion in our inevitable cross-overs.  I did the only logical thing. I spelled his name backwards, much to the chagrin of Grenda. Of course I stole the idea from him. He had characters named Adnerg and Htaed.

Thus began the adventuring life of Retsam Elddir. He crazy powerful psionic powers and still made dumb mistakes. Like when he stuck his hands into a Gelatinous Cube (he wore gloves after that forever to hide the scars), he was best friends with Larina, married Heather, and killed the ancient vampire Mal Havoc. 

Later on, Retsam, using the name Scott Elders, would show up in Ghosts of Albion, WitchCraft, and even feature in a Star Trek game as a guest, then as the main PC. The AD&D version was a blast to play with but I also enjoyed the WitchCraft version a lot. It was the WitchCraft version that I used in my Vacation in Vancouver campaign.

Retsam has a lot of things in common with both Johan (Super-Ego) and Phygora (Animus). Like both of those characters, he is an occult/arcane scholar. Like them both he is an expert in magic. In Larina's library, there are books with blue covers from Johan, black covers from Pygora, and red covers from Retsam.

Retsam Elddir / Scott Elders / Johan Werper

Class: Psychic / Scholar
Level: 20
Species: Human
Alignment: Light Neutral
Background: Scholar

Abilities
Strength: 15 (+2) 
Agility: 10 (+0) 
Toughness: 12 (+0) 
Intelligence: 15 (+1) N
Wits: 15 (+1) N
Persona: 19 (+3) A

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: 5
Vitality: 120
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +8/+6/+2
Melee Bonus: +4 (base) +1 (touchstone) 
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Psychic Attack: +7
Saves: +7 vs Persona (Psychic), +1 to all (touchstone)

Psychic Abilities
Psychic powers: 5, Supernatural attacks, Supernatural power: Astral Projection

Psychic Powers
Bio-feedback
Psychokinesis
ESP
Telepathy
Temporal Sense

Sage Abilities
Languages: 15, Lore 95%, Mesmerize others, suggestion, Renegade Skills: 3rd level, Spells 3/2/1

Stealth Skills
Open Locks: 30%
Bypass Traps: 25%
Sleight of Hand: 35%
Sneak: 30%

Spells
First level: Arcane Dart, Damage Undead, Mystical Senses
Second level: Lesser Renewal, Unlock
Third level: Concussive Blast

Heroic/Divine Touchstones 
1st Level: First Level Spell: Black Flame
2nd Level: +1 to melee combat
3rd Level: Charm Power
4th Level: Favored Enemy: Vampire
5th Level: +1 to all checks, attacks, and saves
6th Level: Immunity to Undead Attacks
7th Level: Character ceases to age
8th Level: Persistent Luck
9th Level: Down but not out
10th Level: Time Slip

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Knowledge

Gear
Sword, Leather Armor

Retsam in the Wasted Lands

Much like Nigel this is where Retsam starts. In the Wasted Lands I would focus on his psychic abilities and his desire to hunt the undead, vampires in particular.

Retsam in NIGHT SHIFT

In modern times Retsam is using the name Scott Elders. NIGHT SHIFT works great (naturally) with the type of supernatural games I like to play/run. In this sort of game I can use Retsam/Scott as Prof. Scott Elders, an occult scholar and faculty at St. Andrews University. 

Retsam in Thirteen Parsecs

This Scott Elders was the Chief Medical Officer and then Captain of the medical starship Mercy. To have one system to be able to do all three of these different versions is fantastic. Especially one system that allows me to do this character so well.

ALL allow me to use the same character across different times, different places, and right up to the Solar Frontier.

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

Character Creation Challenge: Raven Ebonflame for Wasted Lands

While I am done with the various versions of Johan Werper, I am still working on his family. Today, the girl that Johan Werper III fell in love with and their adventures in "Ravenloft."

Bit of a background first. The period between 1986 and 1989 or so was a transition period for me and for my games. I was leaving High School and headed to University so I wanted to wrap up a lot of different loose ends in my game world. This was one of the reasons why I wanted to merge my world with my DM's world in what would become our Proto-Mystoerth. This was also a time I wanted to do a new world, one that was more horror-focused. Eventually, I would find this with the AD&D Ravenloft campaign setting, but for the time before that we were just calling it "ShadowEarth."  This is where Johan III would end up.

Part of the problem was the girl he was in love with. A girl known as Raven.

Now I will be truthful here, my Raven (full name Morgan "Raven" Ebonflame) began as little more than a copy of the infamous Richard Kirk's "Raven Swordmistress of Chaos," a book I had seen but had never read (yet). So my mind was already primed for this character idea.

Back in 1986, my DM Michael Grenda wrote up a new class he was calling "The Riddle Master," which was essentially a Psychic-powered class that looked like a combination of a fighter and wizard. They were more than that, but that is the overall gist. It was an experiment in class creation. This was the same time I was making my first witch class. While I had made one Riddlemaster already, I wanted another one. Someone that fought undead (sorta my thing then) and in particular, vampires (very much my thing then). Combine all of these together, and 1987 Raven Ebonflame was born.  She was the daughter of my assassin character and, what I said then, an angel. Though he did not know the woman he was with was an angel. Raven then was a supernaturally strong girl with blond hair, who's task was to destroy vampires.

Look. I am not going to sit here and tell you I invented the idea of the Vampire Slayer. 

I am going to sit here and tell you the idea was not as original as some Vampire Slayer creators might want you to believe. Hey, maybe if my father and grandfather had been big-name Hollywood writers, I could make this claim. Plus, I also know at least two other creatives who did similar things and, in one case, had published their work before the Buffy movie and series.

So Raven was a slayer hmm hunter of vampires. I used the Riddle Master class for her as a test bed for what would later become the Shadow Master class. NOTE: Don't expect to see the Riddle Master, Shadow Master, or Beast Master classes anytime soon. They were grossly overpowered even if the XP per Level were excessive. 

Fast forward to the early 2000s. I would revisit my Raven using the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG. She would even be a part of my Buffy "Season" The Dragon and the Phoenix. 

I did a version of the Richard Kirk Raven (her "Godmother") for Wasted Lands last year, I figure I should do my Raven now.  There is no Riddle Master analog in the Wasted Lands, so what is she? I thought maybe I could build her out XP for abilities like I did her namesake. It would be fitting given how the Riddle Master class came to be. But the more I thought about it the more I kept coming back to the same conclusion.

Morgan "Raven" Ebonflame is a Chosen One from NIGHT SHIFT.

Morgan "Raven" Ebonflame

Class: Chosen One (NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 8
Species: Human*
Alignment: Light 
Background: Warrior (Wasted Lands p. 185)

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

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 87
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +5 (base), +2 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +5 (base), +3
Saves: +3 to all Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background)

Chosen One Abilities
Brutal Warrior, Melle Combat, Stunning Blow, Killing Blow, Supernatural Attack, Difficult to Surprise, Improved Defence, Ranged Combat, Survivor Skills (Level 2), Mental Resistance, Regeneration

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Sense Evil
2nd Level: Favored Weapon: Sword
3rd Level: 
4th Level: Smite
5th Level: 
6th Level:  Great Smite
7th Level: 
8th Level: Destroy Undead
9th Level: 

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Protection

Gear
Longsword, leather armor, vampire hunting kit

Wasted Lands as D&D and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Ok. THIS is Raven. At least this is the Raven I imagined she was when I made the character so long ago. Wasted Lands + NIGHT SHIFT gives my the perfect combination of Fantasy plus Horror that I really enjoy in my games.  Here stats are high because her mother was a freaking angel after all. 

Of course, now I am a little sad I don't get to share this one with Grenda. He would have loved it. In fact I can hear him now saying "Oh shit! That IS her!"

I am going to have to go through my various folders of characters and see who else I have in this Dark Fantasy Horror theme and see if they are as equally improved by this conversion. 

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

Character Creation Challenge: Johan Werper VI for Wasted Lands

 Today I give you the last of the Johan Werpers and my "current" one. This is a D&D 5th Edition character and one I have been using as a DMPC for my Come Endless Darkness campaign with the Order of the Platinum Dragon.  This one also brings me full circle since last year at this time I was talking bout how to move away from D&D 5 and more into other RPGs.

Johan VI is the son of Johan V.  He is largely the same as his father since I abandoned my 4e plans and moved them all over to 5e (with a brief stop as a 1st Edition character the summer before 5e was out). He is also a Paladin/Cleric, though less of a cleric and again for the Cleric's abilities as an occult scholar.  Johan VI made a study of demons in his life, which is good since he is the Johan that I am now taking through the GDQ modules. 

The trouble with converting the Johans is that original system aside they are largely the same with minor tweaks here and there. I mean, that is what I want, much like how I use Larina in other games as well. The difference is one set is a line of father-son and the other is multiple universe "Variants," which is the current en vogue term, we used to use "Cats."

This Johan was able to recover the legendary sword, Demonbane.

Since I wanted to focus this character completely within the Wasted Lands rules, I am sticking with the Warrior and Sage character classes.

This is also the same Johan, more or less, I am playing in Baldur's Gate 3.

Johan Werper VI

Class: Warrior / Sage
Level: 12/4
Species: Human
Alignment: Light 
Background: Warrior (Wasted Lands p. 185)

Abilities
Strength: 19 (+3) A
Agility: 12 (0) 
Toughness: 14 (+1) 
Intelligence: 12 (0) 
Wits: 20 (+4) N
Persona: 20 (+4) N

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 114 
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +7/+5/+3
Melee Bonus: +6 (base), +3 (STR)
Ranged Bonus: +6 (base)
Saves: +4 to all Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background)

Warrior Abilities
Combat Expertise, Improved Defence, Melee Combat, Master of Battle, Supernatural Attacks, Spell Resistance, Tracking, Masters of Weapons, Extra Attacks (x4), Extra Damage

Spells (Sage)
First: Bless, Restore Vitality
Second: Lesser Renewal

Renegade Skills: Level 2

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Sense Evil
2nd Level: Favored Weapon: Sword
3rd Level: Turn Undead
4th Level: Zone of Protection vs Evil
5th Level: 
6th Level:  Smite
7th Level: 
8th Level: 
9th Level: Great Smite
10th Level:  
11th Level: Destroy Undead
12th Level:
13th Level: Spell: Ball of Sunshine
14th Level: 
15th Level:
16th Level

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Protection

Gear
Longsword, Full plate armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as D&D 5th Ed

Like new D&D since 3.0, 5e introduced a new skill system. Wasted Lands has skills, but takes an old-school approach to using them. Also like 3.x and 4e, the Heroic Touchstones are great ways to fill in some the powers characters have and feats.

This one feels right. I would use the this character. After doing all six I think my preferred mix is Wasted Lands Warrior with NIGHT SHIFT Theosophist.

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

Character Creation Challenge: Johan Werper V for Wasted Lands

 Moving into very interesting territory now, Dungeons & Dragons 4e.  My 4e days were not long-lived. I liked the game, but I never got much chance to play 4e, though I did rather enjoy it in principle. There were some really neat ideas and I liked a lot of the design elements. Thankfully, emulating the best parts of 4e while keeping the best parts of old-school D&D can be done here.

Johan V was one of a set of twins along with sister Celene. They were the children of Johan IV and his wife Reychel, aka "Rey." (yes that is how I wanted to spell it.)  Rey has a very convoluted history in my D&D 3.x games (3.5) and was a fun character to play. I might detail her later if I have the time.  

This Johan was also a Paladin, while his sister was the Cleric. Gave me the chance to try out both. To be honest, I was pretty happy with the 4e Paladin. Lots of fun things to do. I wish I had gotten to play him longer. Like his father, he was searching for the sword Demonbane, and like his father, he was unsuccessful.

Johan Werper V

Class: Warrior
Level: 5
Species: Human
Alignment: Light
Background: Warrior (Wasted Lands p. 185)

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

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 37
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +3/+2/+1
Melee Bonus: +2 (base) +2 +1 Divine Touchstones
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Saves: +3 to all Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background), +1 Divine Touchstones

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

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: +1 to melee attacks
2nd Level: +1 to saves 
3rd Level: Favored Enemy Undead
5th Level: Smite

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Protection

Gear
Longsword, Full plate armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as D&D 4th Ed

If you want to give Wasted Lands a more "4e feel" you get really liberal with the Heroic Touchstones. I hate to reduce the differences to just that, but it does work. This is also why Johan V is also just a warrior so I could compare him to Johan III who was also a warrior. V already feels like he is more powerful than his great-uncle Johan III.

This will be even more useful when we get more Heroic Touchstones with Thirteen Parsecs. 

What does this mean for games? You can set the "power level" from gritty dungeon or hex crawl to super-powered heroics as you all see fit.  This is not even taking into consideration the levels built into the system itself.

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

Character Creation Challenge: Johan Werper IV for Wasted Lands

 When D&D 3.0 hit the game stores in 2000, I was ready for it. I had been away from D&D for a number of years and was really wanting to get back into it. So, D&D 3.0 was the right game for me at the right time. In truth, there is a lot I still love about D&D 3.x, and there were some significant advances made in terms of game design and lore. So, of course, I had to make a new Johan and try out the new Paladin class.

Johan IV is the son of Celene, not Johan III, for a lot of in-game reasons that don't really matter here now. At this point, Celene is much older and retired. Johan IV has begun a quest to recover the sword Demonbane. He didn't find it, but that is another tale for another character.

For this version of Johan, I am opting to try out the Divine Warrior from the Night Companion for NIGHT SHIFT.  Thematically the Divine Warrior doesn't work with the Wasted Lands, everyone has a bit of the divine in them. But mechanically, it works great. Plus this isn't a pure Wasted Lands game, this is "O.G.R.E.S. D&D using the Wasted Lands rules."  

This version of Johan works quite well and helps differentiate him from his forefathers. In my games at this point I was playing around with the ideas of characters marked by the gods. Forgotten Realms has their "Chosen" and I had been working a lot on the Buffy RPG at this point (more on that later) so I liked the idea. Johan IV is not the chosen one (and thus I did not use that class) but he is special. In my Game he was called "The Fist of Pelor" a title for various paladins. My son had a character in 5e who is the "Fist of Bahamut." In this case the Divine Warrior class fits well.

Johan Werper IV

Class: Divine Warrior
Level: 20
Species: Human
Alignment: Light 
Background: Warrior (Wasted Lands p. 185)

Abilities
Strength: 18 (+3) N
Agility: 12 (0) 
Toughness: 12 (0) 
Intelligence: 12 (0) 
Wits: 19 (+3) A
Persona: 18 (+3) N

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 110 
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +8/+6/+4
Melee Bonus: +7 (base), +3 (STR), +1 Divine Touchstones
Ranged Bonus: +7 (base)
Saves: +7 to all Wits and Persona Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background)

Divine Warrior Abilities
Sixth Sense, Heal Injury and Illness (20d6), Supernatural Attacks, Protection from Evil, Turn Undead (level 15), Spot Hidden (1-3 on d4).

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: +1 to melee attacks
2nd Level: Cure Light Wounds Spell
3rd Level: Zone of Protection vs Evil
4th Level: Favored Weapon, Sword
5th Level: 
6th Level: Zone of Protection vs. Undead
7th Level: 
8th Level: Paralyze Undead
9th Level: Restore Life
10th Level: Extra Attack
11th Level: Destroy Undead
12th Level:
13th Level: 
14th Level: Spell: Ball of Sunshine

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Protection

Gear
Longsword, Full plate armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as D&D 3rd Ed

D&D 3.0 introduced a new skill system and the idea of feats to the game. Wasted Lands has skill, but takes an old-school approach to using them. Feats though have a good roleplaying (but not mechanical) analog in the Heroic Touchstones.  The Divine/Heroic Touchstones, though do tend to be more powerful than feats.

Speaking of which. The "Divine Touchstones" of Wasted Lands are being used in NIGHT SHIFT and the upcoming Thirteen Parsecs as "Heroic Touchstones." If I can, I might share some of those ideas here later on.

Unless crunching numbers for skills is your thing, I found that Wasted Lands/O.G.R.E.S. is a superior D&D feel than D&D 3.x. Character creation for a 20th-level paladin is also far simpler. 

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

Character Creation Challenge: Celene Werper for Wasted Lands

 You have followed the exploits of the Werper family, so you might be asking who this is. Celene Werper was/is a very interesting character for me. During play, Johan III got trapped in Ravenloft. Celene was his little sister. She was adopted by the group to come along in their search for Johann III (they did not know he was in Ravenloft). Celene was my first AD&D 2nd Edition character. She was also a test character for a number of things I was trying out.  She was one of my tests for a Healer Class, this time as a Priest of specific mythoi. She was also a pacifist, so I also tried to have her do non-lethal damage whenever I could. She was a healer, an exorcist of sorts later on, and to top everything off, I made her afraid of the dark. So she always had a light source on her, and yes, my DM rolled for extra wandering monsters.  But it was part of who she was.

From very, very humble beginnings game-wise, she would become a very important character. So important that the line of the Wepers now goes through her and not her brother. 

Celene Werper

Class: Necromancer (Light)
Level: 10
Species: Human
Alignment: Light
Background: Scholar

Abilities
Strength: 16 (+1)
Agility: 12 (0) 
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 14 (+2) N
Wits: 16 (+2) N
Persona: 18 (+3) A

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 3
Vitality: 76 
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +5/+3/+2
Melee Bonus: +2 (base) +1
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Saves: +5 to Persona, +2 to Intelligence (Scholar background).

Necromancer Abilities
Channel the Dead, See Dead people, Turn Undead, Protection from Dead x4, Summon the Dead, Vampiric Augmentation*, Suggestion x3, Command, Vampiric Touch*, Beguile Spirit, Call the Reaper.

Heroic Touchstones

1st Level: Cure Light Wounds
2nd Level: Light
3rd Level: Eternal Flame
4th Level: Conjure Flame 
5th Level: Cure Disease

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Occult Scholar, Hunter of the Undead

Gear
Full plate armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as AD&D 2nd Ed

AD&D Second Edition introduced some power creep in terms of some of the classes and kits. For that reason I am adding more DivineHeroic Touchstones. Also, I wanted to replicate her healer abilities a bit more. This also begs the question, Why isn't she a Theosophist?  In truth I wanted to try her out as a Light Necromancer. Some one who naturally sees dead people and spirits and wants to help move them on. Her "vampiric" powers work in reverse; she saps her own life strength to heal others. Much like the Star Trek Original Series episode, The Empath.

In AD&D, we did this with our Spell Points system. But in truth it was way overpowered. I would not come up with a good "spell point" system until Ghosts of Albion came along. Wasted Lands already does a much better job of this, but these powers give her a neat set of role-playing hooks as well. 

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

Character Creation Challenge: Johan Werper III for Wasted Lands

 Moving ahead to the magical year of 1986 a few things were going on in my games. For starters, I was fully converted over to AD&D 1st ed. I was playing rather regularly with my High School DM, Michael Grenda, and we were looking to merge our worlds to be something more cohesive. To this end we thought we needed a "New Generation" of characters. This was the generation into which Larina was born, but today is not her story. 

Today I am going to talk about Johan Werper III. This Johan was the son of Johan II and grandson of Johan I. But this Johan was not a Cleric or a Paladin. He was one of the new Cavaliers from the new Unearthed Arcana. 

I wanted this Johan to be a bit different, he was the son of a King, not something I had done before. Johan II was the son of a cleric, and Johan I was the son of a fisherman. So I wanted him to be a bit arrogant, and he didn't have the frame of mind to be a holy warrior. He eventually became something else, a key figure in my giant "War of the Dragons" to end my high school games, and start my college ones.

For this build I want to stick to a rather solid Warrior build. That was his thing. He was a "Knight in Shinning Armor" but not necessarily "nice." His alignment was Lawful Neutral as opposed to the more common (for me) Lawful Good.

Johan Werper III

Class: Warrior
Level: 9
Species: Human
Alignment: Light (fits here)
Background: Warrior (Wasted Lands p. 185)

Abilities
Strength: 19 (+3) A
Agility: 16 (0) 
Toughness: 18 (+3) N
Intelligence: 17 (+2) 
Wits: 16 (+2) 
Persona: 17 (+2) N

Fate Points: 1d10
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 87 (9d8+1d10)
Degeneracy: 1
Corruption: 1

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +5/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +7 (base) +1 Divine Touchstones
Ranged Bonus: +7 (base)
Saves: +3 to all Saves, +2 to Toughness (Warrior background), +1 Divine Touchstones

Warrior Abilities
Combat Expertise, Improved Defence, Melee Combat, Master of Battle, Ranged Combat, Supernatural Attacks, Spell Resistance, Tracking, Masters of Weapons, Extra Attacks (3), Extra Damage

Divine Touchstones
1st Level: +1 to melee attacks
3rd Level: +1 to saves 
5th Level: Smite
7th Level: Favored Enemy Undead
9th Level: Blind Fighting

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: War

Gear
Longsword, Full plate armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as AD&D 1st Ed

Like previously, the conversion between AD&D and Wasted Lands is rather easy thanks to O.G.R.E.S. (and to a degree O.R.C.S.). While the Wasted Lands Warrior covers a lot of what would have been AD&D Fighters, Paladins, Rangers, Barbarians, and Cavaliers. To split them up there are skills, powers, multiclassing and divine touchstones. All to make for some very unique characters.

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

Character Creation Challenge: Johan Werper II for Wasted Lands

 While I had other Basic (B/X) era D&D characters I could discuss (and still will), I want to skip ahead a bit and talk about another character in Johan's family tree, his son, Johan Weper II.

Johan II was the son of Johan and another character of mine Luna Mondgott, a cleric "of the old ways" who converted over to still rather unspecified faith of Johan I. She was a prototype witch for me.

Johan II differs from Johan I in that he was a Paladin and my very first Paladin to be truthful. I always imagined he had some clerical training first before moving on to Paladin, thus the dual-classed Cleric/Paladin.  I would revisit this later on in D&D 3.x.

While I have a LOT of options here, I am going for something fairly straightforward. Johan II is a warrior with some clerical, or in this case, Theosophist training. I'll use some divine touchstones to help smooth out his paladin powers.  Since this is the first "Advanced" conversion, I'll also make use of the optional backgrounds in the Wasted Lands.

Johan Werper II

Class: Warrior (from Wasted Lands) / Theosophist (from NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 8/4
Species: Human
Alignment: Light
Background: Warrior (Wasted Lands p. 185)

Abilities
Strength: 19 (+3) A
Agility: 11 (0) 
Toughness: 17 (+2) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) 
Wits: 18 (+3) N
Persona: 18 (+3) N

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 66 (8d8, 4d6, +1d10)
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

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

Theosophist Abilities
See Dead people, Turn Undead, Protection from Dead

Warrior Abilities
Combat Expertise, Improved Defence, Melee Combat, Master of Battle, Ranged Combat, Supernatural Attacks, Spell Resistance, Tracking, Masters of Weapons, Extra Attacks (3), Extra Damage

Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Bless, Cure Light Wounds
3rd Level: Cure Disease

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Occult Scholar, Hunter of the Undead

Gear
Longsword, Full plate armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as AD&D 1st Ed

Like previously, the conversion between AD&D and Wasted Lands is rather easy thankks to O.G.R.E.S. (and to a degree O.R.C.S.). Play style is also quite similar. Given when I was playing Johan (High School) my Roman-Norse Pantheon would be a perfect choice with the Werpers all paying homage to Unser Vater and Luna Werper originally worshiping Ôstara. 

This Johan was the one who first fought Strahd von Zarovich back in 1986. So I would want to play up his general attitude vs. Undead over what is written for the Warrior class. The rest of playing a Paladin is largely going to be one of role-playing and me sticking to a prescribed set of ideals I think a Paladin, an AD&D Paladin, should follow. 

Looking at the Goldenrod character sheet, I see Johan will be 40 years old at the end of this month. He was, for the longest time, my central character. At the end of my high school games, he became a King and started a dynasty that I still use to this very day. I think I could be quite happy with this version.

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

Character Creation Challenge: Johan Werper I for Wasted Lands

 Today I want to go back in time. All the way back to the dawn of Dungeons & Dragons...well at least my dawn. One of the first (if not the first) characters I ever made for D&D was a cleric named Johan. I wanted a sage, someone who knew a lot about things, I also wanted a Van Helsing-like character. A cleric dedicated to destroying undead, and vampires in particular. 

I have talked about Johan a lot in the past and his connection to Darlessa, the Vampire Queen. 

Johan the First was a quintessential Basic D&D character for me. He was a great character to be honest, exploring the Keep on the Borderlands, the Isle of Dread, and more. We walked the streets of Glantri together and fought horrible undead. 

In the Wasted Lands, he would be more of a Sage and Theosophist. These are, as it turns out, NIGHT SHIFT classes. But these are NIGHT SHIFT classes, not Wasted Lands ones. But one of the best features of the O.G.R.E.S. games is they are completely interchangeable. So swapping out the classes is easy.

Basic, B/X, D&D is an easier if even simpler game to play and run, so Wasted Lands can handle this well. The concepts central to D&D are at its core design. 

Johan Werper I

Class: Theosophist/Sage (from NIGHT SHIFT)
Level: 5/3
Species: Human
Alignment: Light
Background: Scholarly

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

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 5
Vitality: 66 (d6)
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+3/+1
Melee Bonus: +3 (base)
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Saves: +4 vs Wits 

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

Sage Abilities
Languages (16), Lore, Mesmerize Others, Suggestion, Renegade Skills, Spells, Read Languages

Spells
1st Level: Bless, Cure Light Wounds

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Occult Scholar, Hunter of the Undead

Gear
Mace, Armor, Holy symbol

Wasted Lands as D&D B/X

Thanks to O.G.R.E.S. (and to a degree O.R.C.S.) the conversion between D&D B/X and Wasted Lands is rather easy. Play style is also quite similar. For this "new" campaign I would drop a lot of the campaign setting from the Wasted Lands. The setting is great, but I need some gods for my games. I guess this would be a great place to bring in my Roman-Norse Pantheon.  

To emulate this sort of D&D experience, I would likely not use a lot of Divine Touchstones. Granted, stripped of the setting the divine touchstones are not as central either, but mechanically they still have their use. I might later use some to help work out the differences between the spells of a D&D Cleric and O.G.R.E.S. Theosophist. 

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

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 12, Room 30

 The room on the right-hand side is of a similar configuration to the library. This one has all the Queen's treasures.

This room is large and contains a lot of treasure.

The following can be found here: A x3, B x4, E x3, G, x4, H x3, I x2, M x2, N x5, and O x5.

Additionally, there are magic arms and armor here:

• Nightbane, +2 Sword, +3 against werewolves, vampires, and witches. Stored here to keep it away from the Queen herself.
• Mace of St. Werper, +3, +4 vs undead. An item of conquest taken from Father Werper himself. 
• Armor of Shadows, this black leather armor casts both Mage Armor and Intangible Cloak of Shadows. The Queen doesn't wear this armor due her other protection magics.
• Helm of Telepathy
• Helm of Darkness. As a Helm of Brilliance, but only darkness.
• Cauldron of potions
• Amulet of Protection
• 5x Bags of holding

There are no traps here. The Queen honestly did not expect anyone to get this far.

#RPGaDay2023 Favourite CHARACTER

 I do have a few. There is the whole Werper family with Johan I as the first character I ever created and played for longer than one session. Every version of *D&D gets a new version of Johan as either a Paladin or Cleric. A (mostly) unbroken line of father and son dedicated to fighting evil, particularly the undead.

But I have to say my favorite character has to be my little witch Larina Nix/Larina Nichols.  Johan gets a new version (a son of the previous) in every version of D&D. Larina gets a version for every game I ever play.  I don't play her in every game, but I at least give her a try in the character creation rules.

I also like to get custom art of her and support artists.

I might be a little obsessed. 

AD&D Haul from the Jon Cook Collection

 This past weekend I went down to my old hometown to see my family for my mom's 80th birthday. She is honestly doing great, and it was a pleasure to see all my family.  I even got the chance to run into an old friend, Jon Cook.

Jon and I met in Jr. High, we both played saxophone in the school band. But it was D&D that got us to be friends. I had been playing around with my very rudimentary knowledge of D&D at that point, Jon had some AD&D books and, like me, the B/X books. So we spent our time in band class when she should have been practicing rolling up characters.

We decided to meet up because he wanted to sell me his collection!

How could I say no?

Not a huge collection, but a really great one to be honest.  It shows our strange, eclectic blend of AD&D 1st Ed and Basic/Expert D&D in a way that only 1981-1983 could produce. 

I am pleased to get all the Monster books, and it has given me an idea for some edits to Basic Bestiary. Getting his copies of B4 and A1 really took me back too. Especially his weird blend of A1 with his idea of a worldwide assassin's guild. It was also the scene of one of my first character deaths!

I think I might be most thrilled with these dice.  Those orange dice came with MY Expert set. Jon and I traded since his set came with blue, and I wanted blue. Now I have them back. They are going to go into my "Halloween" set.

Those armory dice markers are a rare treat.

Some art books that my youngest brother is going to hold on too till I see them next. He called these "Elmore Porn."

The Lejendary Adventures are like new, and I can't wait to try them out!

Another DM's screen!

Some more Dragons for This Old Dragon.  ETA: Looks like the only one I have not done here is #87.

And the infamous Grimtooth's Traps. Gods I hated it when he would pull out this book.

I can add all of these to his minis he sold me a couple years back.

Those are the real deal lead minis.  The last one was the mini I had used for my cleric Johan Werper, but back then he had a blue robe and white hair. He also had a hand. No, I did not paint him myself.

This is all rather fantastic to have.

I have already added some of these to my collection, others have gone into my "extras" pile for when people come over to play (an extra Player's Handbook is always welcome), and some others have been claimed by my youngest.  He already called dibs on the B/X books and adventures along with the Traps book. Pity his poor players.

Tomorrow is his birthday, and I know he will use the cash to buy some more train gear. This was his previous hobby before D&D and the one he and his son are really enjoying together now. 

So Happy Birthday, Jon! 

Thank you for all these books, the memories of going through the A Series with your crazy ass traps, and our own blend of Advanced and Basic/Expert rules. Your books have a loving home where they will get used all the time!