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Nanli Ironboot, Fighter of Rockhome (3.5e D&D, Mystara)

Back to character list Preamble The adventure module XS2 Thunderdelve Mountain is an Expert Solo Adventure for dwarf class BECMI D&D characters. Unlike O2 Blade of Vengeance which puts the PC in the role of the avenging elven scion, Thunderdelve sees the player's dwarf approached by a dwarven clanmaster to rescue another dwarf from the occupiers of the mountain. When I discovered this module, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to place a dwarven hold close to the home of Erystelle, the protagonist solo PC from module O2. A spur of the Rockhome mountain range, the Dwarfgate Mountains, thrusts west into Darokin's hinterlands between Alfheim and Ethengar. Close to the northwest is the humanoid territory of the Broken Lands.  Even though canonically the adventure module B2 Keep on the Borderlands is Castellan Keep in the Altan Tepes mountains in Karameikos I felt this would make an excellent alternative with plenty of adventure and conflict potential.  Per the Republic of ...

Lynndehlia Greenmeadow, Wildwood Halfling Druid (Pathfinder 2e)

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 Back to character list Preamble Work got busy. Life got busy. Etc, etc, etc. So I'm taking the easy path and just going to post a screenshot image of the PDF character sheet as exported from Pathbuilder .  Honestly, automation tools for character creation and game management are indispensable. I wanted so many of the existing tools forty years ago, and it was one of my primary motivations to begin coding.  I don't need Ability Scores (Attributes, Characteristics, etc) rolled for me unless it's to generate a group of NPCs. I like to roll dice, and I think almost everyone in the role-playing game and war game hobbies do as well.  Plugging numbers into a character sheet either online or offline and having bonuses and penalties calculated for me, having lists populated, and options enumerated, makes character creation a lot easier. I would have played more, and I would be a lot more interested in returning to the task of being a GM if there were extensive tools availabl...

Robert Arthur Miller (Savage Worlds Flash Gordon)

Back to character list Preamble - Immersion  After Nana Lilly passed away, Robby's parents were left with the unenviable chore of clearing out the old farm house in the countryside that had stood empty for nearly three decades. It was too far from anywhere interesting to vacation at, and likewise too far from anyone's homes and jobs to go casually. All that was left was to clear it out, get the auction house representative in, and then sell it, so the funds could be used for Uncle Glenn's boat, or Aunt Rhonda's next snowbird winter in Florida, or, maybe Robby's college. No. Ha ha ha, they'd never do that. So Robby was less than enthusiastic to spend two weeks of summer vacation west of Thunder Bay being eaten alive by mosquitoes and ticks between twelfth grade and starting his paramedic program and not working a job to pay for college.  He went into the house with a filter masks, gloves, and a hair net owing to the expected enormous amount of dust and mould in t...

Arthur Cecil Campbell, Canny & Curious Earthborn Scientist (John Carter of Mars, Modiphius)

Back to Character List Preamble Somewhere around 2008-2010, I accidentally started a literature review of the late 19th - early 20th centuries roots (yes, I'm well aware the roots run far deeper) of science-fiction and fantasy. Mostly, I was grabbing everything I could from multiple Project Gutenburg sites. One corpus of work was Edgar Rice Burroughs's adventures on the world of Mars - known by its native name, Barsoom.  Although I thoroughly enjoyed the books, I honestly couldn't imagine how I would roleplay adventures in Barsoom - until I made this character. First, I'm usually going to play a Canadian if I can. After that, likely someone from Ireland, Scotland, or England. Those are voices I'm comfortable with. I'm rather steeped in Canadian history, most of it rather disappointing in terms of humanity, but also quite a bit of genuinely good intentions. Channelling all that, I invented this chap. Warning - Very likely the following text contains anachronisti...

Nick-R-LAS-1, Troubleshooter (Paranoia, 1st edition, 1984)

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Back to character list Preamble Why it never registered in my brain that Paranoia was another West End Games gem? I hadn't yet begun to comprehend dystopian fiction or cyberpunk but everything about this game immediately struck me as truth written in stone. Of course, I already knew what clones were. Star Trek had introduced me to computers controlling society, while both Logan's Run and Star Trek had shown me societies living cut off from the surface. And I distinctly remember a short story about a boy living in a post-apocalypse bunker or shelter beneath Mount Royal in Montreal. But to play this solo I'll have read the gamemaster's book which is ultraviolet clearance. Instant treason.  Character Name: Nick-R-LAS-1 Damage Status: Unhurt Security Clearance: Red Service Group: Armed Forces Secret Society: PURGE Secret Society Rank: Credits: 100 Primary Attributes Strength 17 Endurance 18  Agility 17 Manual Dexterity 16 Moxie 14 Chutzpah 6 Mechanical Aptitude 12 Power Ind...

Shaddock Maxima Sapindales (Ultraviolet Grasslands)

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Back to character list Preamble I'm probably not the right person to play this game with most other folks who would play this game. Maybe I'm not reading it correctly. Maybe I've fixated too much on the wrong thing. But one thing, my sense of humour, other than puns and dad jokes, is dark. My sense of weird hews more away from something just being funny, unexpected, or juxtaposed. I never grokked either Toon nor Teenagers from Outer Space. I totally enjoyed Paranoia. Playing TMNT at my table is black and white Eastman and Laird first run, and that generation of black and white indy comics, and nothing of the bright colours, slapstick, and absurdity of cartoon ninja turtles. Or, think Judge Dredd and Rogue Trooper. Which isn't to say no one laughs and funny doesn't happen, but that's the natural outcome of games, and not the agenda. I can do weird. I can do bizarre. Strange. Eerie. Cosmic horror. But I can see a lot of UVG that I'm going to enjoy just soloing...

Karrad Brekkon, Thief Concept (Advanced Fighting Fantasy)

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Back to character list Preamble  I barely recall the Fighting Fantasy books existing, but looking over the Advanced Fighting Fantasy game, it rings a bell as something I tried briefly and moved on to other things. Probably without even realizing it was part of the same adventure game bucket as Dungeons & Dragons. I've barely scratched the surface of the core rule book. I have no idea yet what the world of Titan is like nor the civilizations that exist upon it.  Character Karrad is short and fat and has been since his tenth year, mostly due to inactivity and being well-fed. Both of those come from his parents being functionaries in the city guilds and doing everything in their very little power to install Karrad into a lifelong position, likewise being a functionary in the city guilds. While he appreciates their efforts, for years he has found the life to be both thankless and unrewarding in any sense of the word. He watches his parents aging with little hope of retiring be...

Lewis Hopson, Hick (Tales from the Loop, Free League/Modiphius)

  Back to character list Character Type: Hick Age: 13 Attributes & Skills: Body: 4 Sneak: 0 Force*: 0 Move*: 1 Tech: 4 Tinker*: 2 Program: 2 Calculate: 2 Heart: 3 Contact: 1 Charm: 0 Lead: 0 Mind: 2 Investigate: 0 Comprehend: 0  Empathize: 2 Luck: 3 Iconic Item: Swiss army knife Problem: "The folks don't want to change the farm, but the future is comin' an' it don't care what they want." Drive: "Everythin's changing. Gotta change with it or die. That's just evolution." Pride: "I can do this." Relationships to other kids: (no kids generated) Relationships to NPCs: (no NPCs generated) Anchor: Grandpa Luther (Aldrich) Look: Buzz cut. Straw hat in the summer, overalls or dungarees, big leather work gloves, track pants/shorts, t-shirt. "Laugh if ya want. It's just practical clothes."

Quinn Faulkner, Data Wrangler aboard Space Mom's Loving Endeavour of Bountiful Harmony (Vultures)

Back to character list Preamble I'm usually not into rules-lite games, but Vultures' weirdo, post-galactic apocalypse interstellar utopia/dystopia has just enough rules and a compelling enough premise to actually hook me.  The problem is, with so many rules-lite games, I immediately think how they could be made better if they were stapled onto other rules.  Vultures cries to be added to Traveller, Palladium's Three Galaxies intergalactic milieu, Stargrave, Five Parsecs from Home, Stars Without Number, and Spacemaster, all thrown in the blender. No. Wrong analogy. I like parfait better than smoothies.  Layers. It's a game that's fully engaged with "the conversation". Success requires justifying how your made up skills are actually relevant. The point is to confront social problems as characters are directed to do potentially unethical things by an inhuman and supreme overlord.  Hmm. What was the author's thought process, naming that overlord Space Mom?...

Untha, Night Slashers Orc Ranger of the Broken Lands (3.5e D&D)

Back to character list Preamble: The first time I had no idea where to go when soloing a game was an unbalanced random encounter that went south quickly for the belligerents instead of my PC. The human ranger Bran had set out from Corunglain in Darokin to join the cohort of the elven lord at Dorneryl in Alfheim. A single ranger in the hinterlands who ran into a pack of orc raiders at night. He attempted to avoid them, but the orcs could see better than he could, and they came at him.  The random number of orcs was seven. One was a leader or captain. I shrugged and decided the brand-new character was already dead. What hope did he have? He would go down, but not without a fight. Always fight when it looks hopeless. Always.  (Unless you can negotiate. Or run away.)  He drew his bow and reached for an arrow. The orcs charged. He fired. Natural 20. Bran's random target turned out to be the captain. It was a one hit kill. The rest of the orcs failed their morale check.  T...