The Fearless Five vs Bargle: Basic Characters for ShadowDark

 My foray into the ShadowDark RPG did not begin or end with The Witch. Last week, I was chatting online with someone about my idea for a time travel adventure called "The Keep Killing Aleena," where the premise is a bunch of high-level adventurers go back in time to try to save her life, and the results of that interference. It is not an adventure I have ever finished since few ideas in it have never jelled right for me. BUT in my research I did uncover the 3.5 Edition adventure from Dungeon Magazine #150 (2007, Paizo era) called "Kill Bargle" from Pathfinder's own Jason Bulmahn.  The idea has stuck with me for years. It would make for a great convention game. It is a low-level dungeon crawl where you need to, well, what it says on the tin, Kill Bargle.

When I ran T1 Village of Hommlet, I included Aleena, Morgan Ironwolf, Rufus, Burne, and yes, Bargle. I did their stats in 4e Essentials, but ended up running it in 5e. In that adventure, Bargle still kills Aleena and gets away. 

I could not help but think revenge would be nice and maybe someone gathered everyone up to go get him.  

Enter the Fearless Five!

Given the "Women in Refrigerators" treatment of Aleena, I thought it might be fun to grab all the "Basic-era" heroines and send them on a quest to kill Bargle. 

Premise: Skylla, wanting something from Bargle's trove of magic (likely his spellbooks) decides that the only way to kill get it is to assemble a group of adventures who have a personal grudge against him. Knowing they will never follow her, or do what she asks, she gets the one person she knows they will follow. It's just too bad that person, Aleena, is dead.

So Skylla gets Aleena resurrected (she still has contacts in the cult underworld). She gets Morgan Ironwolf to find her, and then she gathers the Sorceress, Duchess, and Candella together to go after Bargle. Five heroines to kill one villain. Easy peasy.

While I could run an adventure like this in nearly any system, it seems fitting to me to run it with ShadowDark.

Aleena

Ancestry: Human
Class: Cleric, 2nd level
XP: 20 
Alignment: Lawful
Deity/Patron: Madeera
Background: Noble

Str: 11
Dex: 14
Con: 10
Int: 10
Wis: 16
Cha: 16

HP: 9
AC: 15

Weapon: Mace
Gear: Chainmail, holy symbol, backpack, torches, 1 week of rations, wolf'sbane

Languages: Common, Elvish

Talents
Human: +1 to melee attacks
1st level: +1 to Cleric spellcasting checks

Spells
Tier 1 (3): Cure wounds, Light, Shield of faith

Aleena is a cleric. She was brought back to life by Skylla's intervention but has no memory of the time between then and when Bargle killed her. 

She feels Bargle is a threat to all that is good and lawful and he must be stopped.

Morgan Ironwolf

Ancestry: Human
Class: Fighter, level 3
XP: 34
Alignment: Neutral 
Deity/Patron: None
Background: Soldier

Str: 16
Dex: 13
Con: 14
Int: 7
Wis: 9
Cha: 8

HP: 21
AC: 14

Weapon: Longsword
Gear: Chainmail, bow and arrows, quiver, 5 silver arrows, 50' rope, 10' pole, 6 torches, 1 week rations, 1 qt wine, large sack

Languages: Common, Goblin

Talents
Human: +2 to Strength
1st level: +2 to Constitution
3rd level: +1 to melee and ranged attacks

Morgan thinks of Aleena as a little sister who needs protecting; as such, she blames herself for Aleena getting killed. She would go after Bargle for free just to have the pleasure of killing him herself. 

The Sorceress

Ancestry: Human
Class: Wizard 3rd level
XP: 35
Alignment: Lawful
Deity/Patron: Ord
Background: Wizard's Apprentice

Str: 10
Dex: 14
Con: 12
Int: 18
Wis: 10
Cha: 13

HP: 10
AC: 13

Weapon: Staff
Gear: 6 torches, 1 week rations, large sack, spellbook, bag of spell components

Languages: Common, Elvish

Talents
Human: +2 to Intelligence
1st level: Advantage on one Spell: Magic Missile
3rd level: Advantage on one Spell: Burning Hands

Spells
Tier 1 (4): Magic missile, Mage armor, Light, Burning hands
Tier 2 (2): Detect thoughts, Invisible

The Sorceress knows the group is getting played by Skylla. She is friends with Morgan and wants to make sure everyone comes out of this alive. The chance to rummage through Bargle's collection of magic is an added bonus. 

Duchess

Ancestry: Human
Class: Thief, 5th level 
XP: 55
Alignment: Neutral 
Deity/Patron: None
Background: Thieves Guild

Str: 11
Dex: 16
Con: 18
Int: 12
Wis: 15
Cha: 15

HP: 17
AC: 14

Weapon: Longsword
Gear: Leather armor, short bow and arrows, quiver, thieves tools, 50' rope, 10' pole, 6 torches, 1 week rations, 5 qts wine, large sack

Languages: Common, Dwarvish

Talents
Human: +2 Charisma
1st level: +1 to melee and ranged attacks
3rd level: +2 to dexterity
5th level: +1 (+2 total) to melee and ranged attacks

And her partner in crime:

Candella

Ancestry: Human
Class: Thief, 5th level
XP: 56
Alignment: Neutral 
Deity/Patron: None
Background: Urchin

Str: 12
Dex: 17
Con: 15
Int: 15
Wis: 13
Cha: 14

HP: 14
AC: 14

Weapon: Short sword
Gear: Leather armor, short bow and arrows, quiver, thieves tools, 25' rope, 7 torches, 1 week rations, 3 qts wine, large sack

Languages: Common, Goblin

Talents
Human: +2 to Dexterity
1st level: +2 to Strength
3rd level: +1 to melee and ranged attacks
5th level: Backstab +1 dice of damage

Duchess and Candella were hired by Bargle to retrieve an item for him. He meant for them to get killed, but they ended up in jail instead. Worse, he never paid them for the item. They are in it for the money and revenge—but mostly for the money.

Skylla

Ancestry: Human
Class: Witch, 6th level
XP: 64
Alignment: Chaotic
Deity/Patron: Baba Yaga
Background: Cultist

Str: 9
Dex: 11
Con: 10
Int: 12
Wis: 11
Cha: 15

HP: 16
AC: 11

Weapon: Staff
Gear: 3 torches, 1-week rations, large sack, bag of spell components

Languages: Common, Diabolic

Familiars: Raven, Owl (+1 to Wisdom checks)

Talents
Human: +1 to occult spellcasting checks
1st level: +2 to Charisma
3rd level: one additional witch spell (T2)
5th level: additional familiar (special)

Patron Boon: Learn 1 Tier 1 Wizard Spell: Magic Missile 

Spells
Tier 1 (3): Charm person, Disguise self, Mage hand, 
Tier 2 (3): Call lightning, Light as feather-stiff as a board, Turn Undead (Ritual)
Tier 3 (2): Hag's Illusion (Baba Yaga), Bestow curse

Our "sixth" member of the Fearless Five is the mastermind behind all of this. Well...sort of, she is discovered rather quickly, but her intuition that these women would all do this to get back at Bargle is spot on. Have to figure out who gets the best magical loot between her and The Sorceress. 

--

I love the idea of a distaff "Usual Suspects" or "Reservoir Dogs." I really want to run this sometime. I would love to see how a witch (Skylla) and a wizard (The Sorceress) work together in an adventuring party run by someone other than me. 

And more to the point, I just want to see Bargle get curb-stomped by a bunch of women.

The R. Michael Grenda Collection - The Characters

 I am still in the process of working through my friend's collection of old D&D material.  While I have put his books on my shelves and given my current copies to my kids, I am still working through all the characters.

And he had a LOT of characters.

There are some here dating all the way back to 1976. The vast majority are for AD&D 1st ed. There is a long period of post 1987 to 1989 where there are dozens and dozens of characters. And then there are a few 2nd Edition ones as well.

Among these I found versions of my characters Retsam, Death Blade, Rogue, and Phygor. But those are not as interesting to me as my nearly forgotten and abandoned SpellJammer characters. And these pale to the shear weight, number, and import of his own characters. Names I have known now since the early 1980s.

Even Yoln is here in his original form.

Here are my problems.

What do I do with them all? And what story about them should I tell? 

Also, they have been in a house with cats, and I am deathly allergic. I can only handle them for a little bit. So my son suggested putting them in sheet protectors. That was smart. It will take me a bit to get them all in, but it has been fantastic so far.  Plus, he wants to use them as NPCs in his AD&D 1st Ed game (more on that later).

Here is what I am considering.

I am thinking about participating in The TARDIS Captain's New Year New Character challenge/fest. These are not new characters by any stretch of the imagination, but I feel the need to share them with you all. 

I just hope I can remember enough about each one to do them justice.

In addition, I am considering taking these characters and putting my spin on them. I might even post Wasted Lands or OSE or ShadowDark stats for them. I am still deciding. 

The Refrigerator for DC Heroes

The DC Heroes Role-Playing Game 40th Anniversary Kickstarter is still going strong, and new stretch goals are added all the time. I am quite excited for this one to be honest.

While I have a lot of heroes I would love to add, more than a few villains also need my attention. And given how this particular villain got his real-world start, it seems fitting to stat him up now.

Dr. Andreas Gelé, The Refrigerator

You can read the history of this misanthrope here, but he began as a nod to the "Women in Refrigerators" trope as detailed by Gail Simone. 

History of The Refrigerator

Dr. Andreas Gelé was born to wealth and privilege but never to love.  His father was a was a rich industrialist who made his money on the work of others and his mother was a noted and beautiful stage actress.  From his father he gained his intellect and from his mother he learned lessons in cruelty.

As his mother aged she became more and more cruel.  In his mind's eye, he still saw her as beautiful. This was reinforced by all the pictures of her on the wall of their estates, where she was young, beautiful, and happy. Frozen in time.  Gelé began working on a process to keep the beautiful women young forever.  He was drawn to beautiful women, and his prestige later as a doctor and his wealth made that easy.  But he never could talk to or relate to them, having grown up socially stunted.  So Gelé embarked on a plan so he could have his desires met.

His first experiments in cryonics were failures. Animals would not return to life after being frozen, and even when he perfected the process, they still had tissue damage, finally, through a combination of fluids and gases at supercooled temperatures.  He tested it first on his hated father. He died soon after he was free of the ice, but Gelé expected that since the old man's heart was now weak. He froze his mother next. He was overjoyed that the ice preserved her remaining beauty.

All his research, though, has depleted his fortunes, so he robs banks to fund more research and to keep more of his "beauties" on ice. He still has trouble talking to and relating to women, but he finds it much more manageable after he has frozen them. 

Creepy little bastard, huh.

The Refrigerator

Dexterity: 2		Strength:	2	Body: 3
Intelligence: 6		Will: 4		Mind: 5
Influence: 2		Aura: 3		Spirit: 4

Initiative: 10
Hero Points: 100

Current Body: 3
Current Mind: 5
Current Spirit: 4

Alter Ego: Dr. Andreas Gelé
Occupation: Former Medical Faculty
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliations: None
Base of Operations: Gotham City
Motivation: Twisted Obsession
Wealth: 6
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 125 lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: White

Skills
Gadgetry 6
Medicine 5
Weapon (Freeze Ray) 5

Powers
Freeze Ray (Gadget)
- Ice Control 6
- Ice Production 6
Thermal Goggles (Gadget)
- Thermal Vision 6

Advantages
Connoisseur [5], Gadget Freeze Ray, Rich Family [15], Scholar: Cryonics [10], Medicine [10]

Drawbacks
Guilt [25], Irrational Attraction [25], Mistrust (women) [50]

Equipment
Freeze Ray

--

I am sure my numbers are off here. But it is a start.

Since I am expecting something of a DC Heroes renaissance, here are a couple of sites I really enjoy. 

The Mayfair Games DC Heroes RPG online Character Database

Hundreds of characters for the MEGS DC Heroes game. Heavy on the DC characters, but a few others.

Writeups.org

Lots of characters for both DC Heroes (MEGS) and DC Adventures (M&M 3).

The Witch for ShadowDark - Amaranth Lilis

 Yesterday, I talked about my "Can I play it as a witch" character, Esme Valethorne for my Witch Book of Shadows supplement for ShadowDark. Today, I want to share my "played as a witch with no preconceived notions" character, Amaranth Lilis. And since she was "new" I made her a tiefling. 

I say "new" in quotes because she was/is a character I have had in mind for a bit now; she was just never given form. Like Esme, she also had a Baldur's Gate 3 counterpart, but unlike Esme, she, so far, only lives on paper in ShadowDark.

Amaranth Lilis

So, who is she? "Amaranth" comes from the Nightwish song and because her skin is the same color as the flower of the same name. "Lilis" is not just a nod to Lilith, her "mother" and Patron, but also to Sophia Lillis who played Doric, the tiefling druid in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

Outside of that...I knew nothing about her. In my mind, she was in this demonic pact, but it wasn't so much a pact as it was a, well, family obligation.  The rest I just ran with.

Amaranth Lilis

Ancestry: Tiefling
Class: Witch 4th level (Apprentice)
XP: 20 (need 50 for 5th level)
Alignment: Neutral 
Deity/Patron: Lilith
Background: Born with a Caul (sensitive to certain occult workings)
Familiar: Raven ("Lucifer")

Str: 8
Dex: 11
Con: 12
Int: 17
Wis: 15
Cha: 10

HP: 10
AC: 11

Languages: Common, Diabolic

Talents
+1 to Spellcasting checks (tiefling)
1st level: +2 to Charisma
3rd level: Patron Favor, +1 to any die roll once per rest

Patron Boon: Learn 1 extra Tier 1 wizard Spell: Burning Hands

Spells
Tier 1 (3): Feel my Pain, Glamour, Häxen Talons
Tier 2 (2): Light as a Feather-Stiff as a Board, Scorching Ray

The one thing I wanted to do most with Amaranth is have her be a "Good Witch."  She is essentially a "good girl" with some minor demonic tendencies. I modeled her behavior a lot on "Anita" from Keith Roberts' book of the same name. 

Her raven, Lucifer, is a joke, but it is also a nod to a familiar another character of mine had years and years ago.

I am pretty happy with how she turned out and want to see more of her adventures. Her low(er) Wisdom lets me get her into trouble, and her background, "Born with a Caul," is a great excuse to make those misadventures be based on something "she sensed" or "she felt." Lots of fun potential there. 

I have a lot more characters I could do for The Witch - Book of Shadows, but I think you are getting the idea here. 

 

The Witch for ShadowDark - Esme Valethorne

My new The Witch - Book of Shadows for ShadowDark features a couple of new iconic characters/NPCs: Larina Nix, Amaranth Lilis, and Esme Valethorne. They are not just NPCs or names in the book; they were my playtest characters for the witch rules. 

Now, all of you know Larina, so there is little need to post her first. But I do want to talk about Amaranth and Esme. Since Esme was the first, I will go with her.

Esme Valethorne

Esme is a wizard, but I played her like a witch to first see if it could be done. Very much like I did with Marissia (magic-user), Luna (cleric), and Cara (illusionist) back in the earliest days of my D&D days and when I was first working on my witch class. 

Esme was first brought to life, not in ShadowDark but in Blue Rose. I was playing in a Blue Rose RPG over the summer and Esme was one of my NPCs. She was originally designed to be a foil for the PCs, a local magical expert, but over time I began to invest more into the character. That game ended and I ported her over to ShadowDark and ran her as a wizard learning about witchcraft. 

And of course. I also tried her out in Baldur's Gate 3, also as a wizard. I will likely give her a go in AD&D 1st Edition now, too.

I initially based her appearance and personality on Stacy London, but she (as characters often do) grew away from that.  

Esme is a "by the book" ShadowDark character. 

Esme Valethorne

Ancestry: Human
Class: Wizard 5th level (Warden)
XP: 30 (need 60 for 6th level)
Alignment: Neutral 
Deity: Ord
Background: Acolyte

Str: 8
Dex: 11
Con: 12
Int: 17
Wis: 15
Cha: 10

Languages: Common, Sylvan

Talents: +2 to Int stat, +1 to wizard spellcasting rolls. Additional wizard spell, Tier 1 (Charm Person) 
3rd level: Advantage on Spell (Charm Person)
5th level: Additional wizard spell, Tier 3 (Lightning Bolt)

Spells
Tier 1 (4+1): Burning Hands, Charm Person, Detect Magic, Light, Magic Missile
Tier 2 (2): Hold Person, Misty Step
Tier 3 (1+1): Dispel Magic, Lightning Bolt

I like this character. And I had a lot of fun playing her in Blue Rose and ShadowDark. But she wasn't "witchy" enough for me. There is a LOT you can do with ShadowDark, but in the end I did decide I wanted a proper witch.

Still. I am not done with Esme just yet. 

New Release: The Witch - Book of Shadows for ShadowDark

 New release Tuesday. Earlier this year, I started a ShadowDark Witch book, and now today it is available to buy.

The Witch - Book of Shadows

https://legacy.drivethrurpg.com/product/502244/The-Witch--Book-of-Shadows

The Witch Book of Shadows

Witches have long been a part of Fantasy, from fairy tales to fiction to RPGs. Now, you can bring the witch class to your ShadowDark games. 

Included here is the Witch Class.

• Six new ancestries
• New occult backgrounds
• Basic, Expert, and Advanced witch talents that grow as you level up.
• Thirteen Witch Patrons, from Baba Yaga to Xthluhu the Horror of the Deep! Each with boons and spells.
• 160+ new occult spells for ShadowDark, including special Patron Spells and Ritual Magic spells.
• 60+ Witch-related monsters for your ShadowDark adventures
• 40 new magic items.
• 124 pages

Compatible with ShadowDark and other ShadowDark products.

Art by Javier Charro, Tamas Baranya, Joe J. Calkins, Luigi Castellani, Dean Spencer, and James Thompson.

--

This is my first big project using Affinity Publisher 2, and I am very pleased with how it turned out. I am sure some improvements could be made in my process, but all in all I am very happy with it.

I bought that cover art from Javier Charro a while back, and I have been dying to use it somewhere. This seemed like a perfect fit for me.

Order your Print on Demand copy now to get it in time for Christmas.

The R. Michael Grenda Collection

 This past weekend I went downstate to see my family and celebrate my Dad's 95 birthday. Yeah, he still doing great at 95! I also stopped by my old friend Michael's house, where his widow gave me a bunch of his old D&D stuff.

There is so much here. That black grocery bag is filled with character sheets dating back to 1981. There were a lot of duplicated books too. Much to my surprise and delight, a few of them were mine!

I have always talked about here how in the 1990s I lost a lot of my Basic and 1st Ed AD&D collection in various moves. I know where some of it went. I guess I lent some of it to Grenda back then.  There was my Fiend Folio, Manual of the Planes, Tales of the Outer Planes adventures, a bunch of other modules, and more. My oldest got my replacement copies, and I reclaimed my originals. 

There is so much more here too. 

In addition to a bunch of city books, I found a ton of his notes on our house rules for playing in cities and urban environments. By the way, other than some box damage, that Haven set is in fantastic shape. 

Maybe our "Urban Survival Guide" will see the light of day. 

There are also hundreds of characters here—so many that I don't even know what to do with them all. Some of the main ones, the ones I remember from our time playing, are going to get some airplay here. 

I found maps of our shared world, maps (so many!) of his city, the Riddlemaster, Shadowmaster, Beastmaster, and Starmaster classes—they were so overpowered, but it was a blast when we were teens. Details of his Greyhawk campaigns into CY 800—just so much stuff.

It is also sad. I would have loved to have gotten this stuff out there for others to enjoy while he was still alive. I could have asked him about these complex family histories and the differences in these maps. 

There is so, so much here. It is like walking into a past I only vaguely remember. It is also a reminder of how long ago some of this actually was.  

I tend to think of my University days as being "not that long ago."  Maybe because I am still hanging out with the same girl I was then (best friend. totally married her). But it really was. There is sadness in that. It is sad to know that Warluk, Adnerg, Danis, Finn, Tali, and Alix will never have their stories continue. Well, they can, with me I suppose, but that is really not the same is it?

I do take comfort and joy in the fact that my oldest has been converting over to AD&D 1st ed and will use all of this stuff and my own stuff with his group.

I'll spend more time with all this material and see where it takes me.