Creating Characters

Character creation in role playing games is the most important aspect of the hobby. In RPG's characters are what drive the story, they make all the big decisions, rescue (or imperil) the settings rulers and resources, and challenge its enemies.

The sad thing is, that many players do not bother to make their characters interesting, and so most games do not last beyond a few sessions, and fizzle out. If the players (regardless of age) put a little life into these characters, the game would be far more interesting for the DM/GM/Storyteller and the players alike. But how do you make a character unique and interesting?

Using the normal default of roleplaying games being in a pseudo-medieval world with dragons elves and dragons. Lets look at some questions that are good to ask yourself about the character to hlp you flesh out his personality and history:

Where Did The Character Come From?

Is he or she a local or a foreigner? This makes alot of difference in a medieval setting, where few people ever go farther than a few miles from where they were born. People in a medieval setting are generally very suspicious of outsiders, seeing them as inherantly immoral and suspect. DMs should feel encouraged to play this up.

What Did The Character Do Before Adventure Came Calling?

Adventurers rarely choose their careers. Often they had a normal hum-drum life before some big event, such as a rampaging enemy, plague or other event made adventuring an option (or removed all other options). Many times, and adventurer might wish nothing more than to settle down to a nice "boring" life rather than crawling through swamps and fighting monsters. Other times, adventurers might be the sort of people that never really fit in society. History is full of these sorts of adventurers including Christopher Columbus, Juan Ponce de León, Benjamin Franklin, and Jack Churchill (This guy fought in WW2 armed with a bow, arrows and a Claymore, saying: "any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed").

Career Choices: Choosing a career that the character had before adventure came a-knocking is a great way to flesh out a character and get a feel of his world view and normal skills and knowledges. An excellent list, with descriptions of medieval trades can be found here.

Projects

Lots of projects are under way lately, with many more to come. But I will try to post assorted bits as I can.

I am presently working with Knightvision Studios as a concept artist for their delightfully complex setting Ebonyr. Its a very detailed world meant for "Old School" style roleplaying games.

To the left is one of the concept sketches of the settings bestial/scapegoat race called the Ruhk. This race seems to be more like primitive humans than the standard non-human goblinesqe critters that we see so often.

From what I have gathered, the Ruhk are tough, warlike folk. But are also innovative, cunning and brave. To reflect this, I want to portray them as people, rather than just tusked brutes. The image shown depicts a Ruhk woman gathering oysters with a child of her race.

Angelic Musings

To the left is a color piece created for the launching of Marcher Lord Press. This company strives to produce quality fiction for the Christian market that is geared towards fans of science fiction and fantasy. Its some good stuff too.

This was a fun project. I love angel imagery, but prefer "action" oriented angels. Biblical angels are often seen as frightening by those who meet them.

If you think this image, or other Aaron Siddall images would look good on a print, coffee mug or mouse pad, YOURE NOT ALONE. Such products can be purchased over at my DeviantArt Page. Just click on the appropriate image in My Gallery, and click on "Available in The Shop" and take it from there.

Old School/New School?!?

Now, as I have stated before, I am a Dungeons and Dragon geek from way-back. I have loved the concepts of those games ever since I saw one of those books, though it was much later until I was able to play. I used to read through my much loved Fiend Folio (shown to the left) and assorted Monstrous Manuals, on winter nights, and my heart would swell with thoughts of adventure.

These games should be all about imagination. Promoting the players and the Dungeon Master (Game Master, Labyrinth Lord or Whatever) to create a world, and those who live in it, with a basic framework of rules to keep things in order.

Many people think you have to be "smart" to play tabletop rpg's (not realizing how many adventuring parties are wiped out by stupidity), or that you need to be a math wiz. This is untrue, as some of the BEST gamers I have met had all manner of learning disabilities (ADHD, Dyslexia, etc) or otherwise had a hard time in school.

The math aspects of these games cannot be ignored though. Most of the earlier game systems (such as Basic D&D) were "rules lite" games, that were fairly straitforward. But later games added layer upon layer of rules, transforming a narrative/storytelling guide into a math quiz, and the character sheet into an SAT exam. It is this process that was so skillfully lampooned by the wonderful tabletop rpg Hackmaster, and related products.

I personally prefer lighter rules, as I like to handle unforseen events in the story with "horse sense" and storytelling rather than cunsult a network of tables. Though I realize that not every DM can do this well. I'm just special that way I guess...


Retro Clones
Recently, I have become enamoured with the concept of "Retro Clone" rpg's. These are independant publishers taking advantage of the Open Gaming Movement to create there own versions of Dungeons and Dragons more like earlier versions of that game. Rather than waiting for a larger game company to produce a game that they like, these folks are doing it themselves, largely out of sheer love of it.

Many of these retro-clone games are very well put together. The revised systems are professionally assembled, and the artwork has the same mixed quality of all those old game books from my childhood (like in the fiend folio). I personally recommend the following games:

Labyringth Lord (Goblinoid Games): For that Basic D&D feel. Great for kids!

Osric (Goblinoid Games): 1st Edition AD&D style.

Basic Fantasy RPG: Sort of a mix of Basic and 1st Edition Dungeons and Dragons. Real classy stuff overall.


And Lastly...
An Interview with "Venger" the incompitent bad guy from the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon.

Funny (But Horrible) Musical

Below is a short created by the talented author of the webcomic Looking For Group. Its about all of those player characters in online video games that just want to Kill Kill and Kill! I dont play those games (as I would become addicted), but I know that many of the more immature D&D players can lean this way.

Tales of Tethys

The possibilities concerning tales told in Tethys are enormous. It is a world full of passion, ferocious beasts (and ferocious people), lost wonders, and a vibrant, though in some ways precarious environment.

As a storytelling excercise, I will be posting deeper details on this far future version of Venus. Details on cities, tribes, ruins and individuals will all be included.

For those of you new to Tethys, further detains might be found here (though with a brief synopsis below). It is a far future, terraformed version of the world of Venus, now collapsed into primitive form. It is a land haunted by genetically engineered dinosaurs, homebrew animals, prodigeous plant life and really tough humans.

A great deal of effort was made to terraform Venus, though those who did so are long dead, the means by which they did it still remain. The ancient devices used to maintain livable conditions still function, and are maintained by ancient golems who savagely defend their treasures. For details on the mysteries of Terraforming Venus, look here.

Tethys is a hot, wet world, with daytime temperatures averaging around 80 degrees, with highs of 110 degrees being common towards mid-day. Night temperatures are less ferocious, with early highs in the 60-70's range, dropping into the 40's towards mid-night cycle. The long day and night cycle of Tethys (each being 243 Gaian/Earth days long) has resulted in a fierce environment.

Most of Tethys consists of shallow seas and islands, but there are two prominent continents:

Ishtar (at the top of the map, about the size of Australia)

Aphrodite (at the right of the map, somewhat smaller than Africa).

Phoebe and Labda, though continents in their own right are far swampier. Though they do host abundant life.

Life and other Dramas

Yeesh, its been a busy couple of weeks here in Heresville! But fret not! I am back in action and fixing on putting some folklore and fantasy stuff up here next week.

To the left here is a character sketch for a a young lady by the name of Hanat to be found in an illustrated novel Ive been cooking up for awhile now. We are still in early days, but its been a neat project. I will be posting design stuff for this project here.

Also, I am delighted to direct you fans of the fantastic over to Dark Worlds Magazine, an independant magazine featuring pulp fantasy and horror fiction. I am already a fan, as I so rarely see magazines of this sort.

Also, check out Flashing Swords Magazine, an online publisher of many fine works of fantasy fiction.

Angels Part Two

Its been awhile since I mentioned Angels. So heres a link to the earlier article.

The sketchwork presented here is the pencils for work produced for Marcher Lord Press, a new publishing company of considerable energy and vision. This image depicts a valiant warrior sallying forth with accompanying angels. Whether or not he is aware of their presence is up to the viewer to decide.

What threats lie just out of sight in those wood do you suppose? What could make those gigantic, sword weilding angels so alert and on edge? Something awful I imagine...

Let me know what you think of this, I want to know. I will be getting more into art for folklore, myth and modern fantasy in the weeks to come, so expect a great many articles on such matters. If there is anything you would be interested in seeing here, let me know. There will be a great many more pieces going up along with stories and poems, so stay tuned.

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"I will not say, O Brother, what the spiritual concert is,

Until I know who is listening to it.

If he begins his flight from the tower of the spirit.

The Angels will not keep up with his soaring.

But if he be a man of error, vanity and play,

The Shaytan will grow more powerful in his brain.

The Rose is torn apart by the morning breeze,

But not the log; for it can only be split by an ax.

The world feeds on music, drunkenness and rivalry.

But what does the blind man see in a mirror?"

-Who is The Real Seeker, Sa'di Shirazi

Under The Bridge

Though I have been getting a bit into the whole gaming thing for a bit here, from now on I shall be pushing more towards storytelling in general. I will still be posting game stuff on occasion though, so no worries there.

I have recently become enamored with the concept of storytelling. As a lover of the tale, and being of a dramatic bent (ie; I am a bit of a ham), I will be taking a crack at it. I shall be posting sound bites of my forays into this world, so stay tuned!
I also want to get back into discussions on myth and folklore. Its too darned important to let drop, and I love it all so much. All the stories of our ancestors, their beliefs, stories and fears can all be found in the tales that they told each other.

Make sure to stop by regularly, as I intend to post as often as I can manage. YOur comments and input are important to me.


But John, he keeps on questing
And the poor man knows no resting
For there's something hurt within him.
And the pain wont go away.
-Ragged John by Beatrice Farrington

Mythic Eighties America: 4-Color RPG

I love the spirit of Four-Color "Golden Age type comics and pop culture. Theres just something about the idealism and the black and white outlook on the world that appeals to me. I guess it is that I am so saddened by the tension and cynical apathy I find amongst young and old Americans.

When thinking on a setting for a Four-Color RPG (using the 4-Color System), I was not entirely sold on running a WWII game, as historic rpg's are hard to run. Then it occurred to me that the time of my childhood, the 1980's also had its four-color feel. People back then were trying to get past the lingering horrors of the Vietnam war, and to ignore the threat of Nuclear Holocaust. So folks immersed themselves in media hype and escapist movies and television, leaving the deeper social commentaries for another day.

Note: Please bear in mind that I do NOT think the setting presented below is the TRUTH! It is an idealized and fictionalized version of the attitudes of 80's America. Remember this is a "tongue in cheek" setting, so play it up and have fun!

THE MYTHIC EIGHTIES
The eighties was an era of sparkling ideals and Cold War politics. Regardless of the truths of foreign policy and growing environmental disaster, American culture was optimistic, energetic and produced some of the best movies and weird television yet. Below are some major players that those in the “Super” business will know about.

AMERICA
Land of the free, and home of the brave, the America of the Mythic 80’s was a land of high ideals, optimism and loads of sparkly pop culture icons. America stands for the best that the human spirit can accomplish, and its military, its heroes and its foreign policy is the best in the world.
Still, even in the Mythic 80’s America has loads of villain types. Super villains a-plenty have risen out of America, some of whom are the results of ill-advised super soldier programs or other weapons. America still has its share of rotten eggs, even in the Mythic 80’s.
Inspirations: The Greatest American Hero, Commando, Captain America, Superman.

BRITAIN
Americas greatest ally, and producers of great Rock n’ Roll. The spy network of Britain is incredibly effective and advanced, combating Communism and injustice all over the world. A great many British superheroes are in operation, though most answer directly to the Royal Family.
Inspirations: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carre, From Russia With Love and Dr. No (James Bond films), Captain Britain (a favorite of mine).

RUSSIA
The Evil Empire of the U.S.S.R. is a major villain in the Mythic 80’s. Producing all manner of super technology, cunning spies and loads of super villains of every type. Super Soldier programs are pursued regularly in Russia, some of which has been tested during the 1976 Olympics.The Russians of the Mythic 80's are all slavishly devoted to the spread of Communism, Atheism and insulting America.
Inspirations: Red Dawn, Rocky IV, The Incredible Hulk (70's version) and The Abomination.

JAPAN
Rising technological power that is extremely rich. This nation seems intent upon buying everything in the U.S. with their vast wealth. Despite acting like a huge corporation rather than a nation, Japan is still quite focused on a drama rich version of the Samurai/Ninja code. Ninja clans still exist here and are very powerful in the realms of underworld politics and sorcery (see Kiyo Assassins belwo).
Inspirations: Tokyo Pop, Black Rain, The Silver Samurai.

SOUTH AMERICAN DRUG LORDS: South American nations produce enormous quantities of Cocaine and other drugs, exporting them to the US. A great many super villain types find employment and safe haven in these countries, including a fair number of Nazi super-scientists and Russians.
Inspirations: License To Kill (James Bond), Commando.

OTHER NATIONS: The other nations can be lumped into Europe and Everywhere Else, with little concern. These nations are mere backdrop in the Mythic 80’s, existing as little more than scenery. Most heroes in the Mythic 80's will be "passing through" these places, taking little note. Some of these nations are actually supported by one of the nations presented above, and thus will have a version of that nations attitudes.
Inspirations: Delta Force, Smileys People, Alpha Flight, Madripoor.

SUPER BEING FORCES

SUPERHERO INTERVENTION ASSOCIATION: The SIA is an effort of the US government to organize the efforts of its Superheroes. Supers wishing to join must register their secret identify (if any) with the SIA, after which the super will gain the full cooperation of the government. Failure to register can lead to a super being considered a rogue, though not necessarily a villain.
Supers working with the SIA are not employees of the government, but are expected to pitch in during times of crisis such as natural disaster, alien invasion or rampaging super villains. Think of it as a superhero National Guard.
Inspiration: S.H.I.E.L.D., Justice League of America.

KIYO ASSASSINS: Ninja clan of tremendous influence, and producers of several potent and deadly super villains. This order has dominated much of the Japanese criminal underworld, and has its hands in all of the worst sorts of dealings. Asian style demons and witchcraft, as well as terribly effective assassins.
Inspirations: The Octagon.

OVERMEN
Nazi super villain organization under the leadership of the mysterious super scientist The Harvester. These villains are the worst sort of criminals, and prop up neo-Nazis and hate-criminals all over the world. It is believed than these villains hold secret bases all over the world, particularly in Antarctica.
Inspirations: Education for Death, Triumph of The Will, The Red Skull.



ALIENS
Earth has been visited by a great many beings from Out There somewhere, whether from other planets, dimensions or timelines. These can be slobbery monsters, half-men, greys or regular-looking humans, but they all have something strange about them.
Inspirations: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!, Dr. Who (Tom Baker version), The Brood, Celestials, Darkseid, Sooo many others.



MYTHIC RACES
A wide range of supernatural creatures come and go in the setting. From ancient gods and goddesses to all manner of trolls, elves, demons, dragons and others frequently make their appearance. Whether of not these beings are actually who and/or what they claim to be, or whether they are actually aliens or supers is largely irrelevant.
Inspirations: Asgardians, Vampires, The New Gods.

This setting will work just fine for any superhero game, and should present a powerful sense of black and white morality.

Have fun!

Four Color Dreams in RPG's

Ah, comic books.

As a sweaty awkward teenager I read many MANY comic books. Though I no longer read them with any frequency, there is something wonderful about comic books for me. Morality was clearly defined for the most part, bad guys were BAD, and good guys tried to do right.

The "Golden Age" comic books are of particular interest to me. Such books were published from the 1930s-late 1940s/early 1950s, and were where the Superhero genre began. In these comics, heroes battled weird monsters, ghosts, zombies, giant robots, mad scientists, Nazis and the Japanese. They fought with two-fisted justice and won because of their guts, grit and ideals (and powers).

This isn't to say that Golden Age comics were necessarily "kid stuff" by modern standards. Before the coming of The Comics Code Authority in 1954, comic books were enormously varied in content. Supernatural Horror and stories involving brutal murders were quite common (and very graphic).

Even superhero comics could be brutal by todays standards. Superman in his Golden Age persona had no problem killing enemy soldiers and particularly nasty criminal types. Batman was also responsible for the death of several gangster-type baddies. Of course America was in the Great Depression, and racketeers were seen as satanic villains. So there wasnt much public outcry to comics that fantacised about their doom.

And people think superheroes always had to save everybody...


Superhero Role Playing Games
Role Playing Games that feature "Supers" are a hard sell. As it is very VERY easy for players to get stuck on the characters powers rather then focussing on what makes the character a HERO. To make a super character, you have to determine from the get-go why this guy does the hero thing. Is it vengeance, an ingrained sense of justice, a duty passed to you by your home planet? After that is determined, you can create the other bits and push this motivation into everything that you do or say.

Game systems for this sort of thing are tricky. Because of the sheer number of potential powers, most super game systems are incredibly complex to the point of gross tedium. Still, some mutant math majors out there like these systems, though I am not one of them. I prefer "rules light" game systems for superhero games, ones that allow you to get to the action, and enjoy the world in which the character lives. I recommend the following game settings and systems:

Aberrant (White Wolf): A well thought out setting and using a version of the Storyteller system. Fun and well thought out, it features one of the best system for creating potentially unstable superheroes much like the X-Men and their many mutant friends and foes. Now out of print, but can be found at RPGnow.com.

Heroes Unlimited (Palladium): A bit clunky mechanic wise, but alot of fun.

Four Color (Homebrew/Fan Made): This is my favorite. Lightweight and easy to understand. It being free, AND only having 14 pages in the main Players Guide is a big bonus.

Also, for those who are artistically challenged. Check out the Hero Machine. Its an online character art generator for those wishing to have a kewl character portrait to accompany their hero (or villain) character!

Below is a trailer for an interesting animated movie.



It depicts a future setting in which the old villain Ultron defeated the superheroes of the world. For those who dont know, Ultron is an evil robot whose "skin" is made from Adamantium, the unbreakable matal that Wolverines skeletons and claws are made from. This makes him REALLY tough and strong, though in the past heroes have defeated him by destroying his internal components by sending a shrunken hero in through his mouth. Why a robot needs a mouth is apparently a question we are not supposed to ask...

Strange Eons: Magic Items

The Microlite 20 system is beautifully simplistic, with just enough complexity to keep you in the rhythm of the game, but loose enough to allow more of a storytelling environment. This open-endedness allows a world designer (me) to add in all kinds of tidbits for flavor.

Magic Items in Strange Eons
Magical devices are found thruought the worlds of Strange Eons, from simple talismans to the crowning achievements of the ancients and the weird sciences of the Xenogen. The creation of magic items is always accomplished during "off hours" and are the subject of long hours of study, with the creation of more powerful items being restricted to ancient mages or Xenogen.
Magic items should enhance the game, not overwhelm it. That said, gamemasters are advised to dole out such items only when it is important to the story. This is supposed to be a game about HEROES, not their toys.

Spellwrought Devices
These items carry a spell effect, drawing hit points from the user to power the effect. Some examples can be found below:

Ring of The Executioner
These grim rings are typically worn by mortal servants of evil beings who are put in command of undead monsters. There are many versions of these rings, each housing one or more spells from the school of necromancy. all of these rings at least possess the spell Detect Undead, and Command Undead with some possessing one or more of the following spells- Animate Dead, Desecrate, Ghoul Touch, Speak with Dead and Vampiric Touch. These spells are cast as though by a cleric of equal level to the wearers own level.


Skullcap of the Overlord: This close fitting skullcap is greatly prized by evil overlords from across the known worlds. This device, when worn allows the wearer to cast Detect Magic, Hypnotism, Detect Thoughts, Hold Person and Scrying as though the wearer were a Mage of equal level to her own.
These spells still drain the wearer of hit points as per a mage, and thus the trifty despot must be careful.

Blade of the Alien Hunter: A device created to cause great harm to Xenogen, delivering the effects of the Banishment spell upon a successful hit. This effect is cast as though the weilder were a Cleric of equal level to his own.

Talismans
Devices that help or otherwise enhance the use of spellcasting in some way. Some examples can be found below:

Wizard Staff: Many wizards carry staffs, either as a weapon of last resort (as per a quarterstaff) or to help with travel as a walking stick. Still, the true Wizards Staff is a magical device in its own right, made from the wood of a magical tree such as a Treant or a Dryads Tree.
A Mage or Cleric in possession of a Wizards Staff may count one additional signature spell per level (see Magic in the Microlite 20 Core Rules for details). As each additional spell is gained, the staff twists, warps or otherwise changes somehow to reflect its magical nature. If the staff is lost or destroyed, the spellcaster no longer has access to those spells at a reduced price.

Hands of Doom: These devices are a favorite of those mages who specialize in touch attack spells, as the possessor of a hand may deliver touch spells (shocking grasp, vampiric touch, etc) through these items. Hands of Doom that are owned by a spellcaster act on the mage or clerics turn, and any spell cast through them draws spell energy (hit points) from the caster as-normal.
The Hands of Doom appear as floating hands with eyes and act more like creatures than items. Hands of Doom have the following statistics: HD1 (7hp), AC13, Natural +3 (1d8-5).

Artifacts
These are magical devices that always work, and draw no Hit Points for their use. All such devices are legendary in status, and cannot be created by player characters, being the creation of god-like beings, and possibly the result of terrible accidents of magical engineering or the body parts of vast supernatural beings. One examples can be found below:

Stargate: Portals that connect the different worlds. These magical wonders create permanent Gate effects between themselves and one or more other gates. Most known gates appear on the planets of the solar system, appearing as ornate "doorways" that once activated create a "tunnel" to another gate. One gate, located in orbit around the glacial world of Themis (Europa), and is large enough to cause tidal effects on the chill seas of Themis.

Intelligent Items
Any magical device may be intelligent, including Riding Golems and Vimanas. Such devices have Mind scores and levels in the Knowledge skill, the levels of which is up to the Gamemaster. Intelligent items are completely aware of their surroundings and can talk to the player characters. If the item itself has magic powers, the intelligence has access to them (draining hit points from the person holding the item to do so). Intelligent Items cannot normally self-animate.