Category: Gaming

I wanted to build something completely weird and gonzo and that’s Heart in a nutshell. It’s a weird dungeon delving game into a dungeon that wants to give you your heart’s desire but isn’t very good at it. The world is just deeply weird. Let’s mess around in it.

It turns out that business trips are poor places to work on posting challenges, especially if you’re horribly jet lagged and you have a lot of evening meetings. I’m gonna try and hit 31 of these anyhow, just not before the end of January.

I found myself thinking about action a lot, so now that I’m back in the US I’m gonna do a quick Outgunned character. Outgunned is designed as a modern action RPG, very much in the spirit of John Wick. Since it’s been pretty successful as measured by Kickstarter success, the designers (Two Little Mice) have added a couple of genre books packed full of potential settings — Wild West, space opera, etc. — and a second corebook aimed at 30s pulp action. This time out I’m doing the “A Kind of Magic” mini-expansion, or Action Flick. I’m going to frame this as modern espionage with magic, which seems like a fun game idea.

Man, there were no dice last time. Also I’m just off a transatlantic flight and I’m tired. Thus, I’m going to let the dice do the thinking for me and go for something highly randomized: the Troika supplement Academies of the Arcane. It was a really fun read; I wound up wanting to run a mini-campaign in it.

We start with stats:

Skill: 6 (nice, that’s max)
Stamina: 18
Luck: 9

All characters start with 2d6 silver pieces, a school uniform, a knife, a rucksack, and a text book on their favored subject. I don’t know what the latter is until I randomly roll a background — like I said, this is highly randomized.

And on a 52, my character’s background is Hellfire Gullet. He signed his soul over to the Devil and ate the contract, as if that would negate it. Instead, he wound up with an eternal case of acid reflux (really, it’s listed under Possessions). He also has singed clothing and a ritual dagger. His magic lives in his stomach and his spells are kind of — well, it says they “spew forth from your throat,” so.

And what spells does he know?

Ember: 8
Glotfire: 8
Firebolt: 8
Flash: 7
Explode: 7

That max Skill plus the base rank in each spell is added together to get the total shown, which is why maxing out my Skill was so good. This is not a hyper-balanced game. Jaym (there’s a name) also has a couple of skills:

Language – Legalese: 7
Gastronomy: 7

So I think Jaym is the kind of officious prick who memorizes regulations. Should be plenty of rules and restrictions at an arcane academy! This particular supplement is big on the annoying students, which means I’m more willing to be abrasive than I normally would be. The one spell which isn’t fairly obvious is Glotfire, which basically allows Jaym to burn away written words leaving paper intact. Obvious applications for forgery there. I’m thinking Jaym didn’t actually get into this academy legitimately.

And that’s character creation. I can’t resist rolling up the academy itself, though, since there are these great tables…

Jaym attends the Kraken’s Hammer Lyceum of the Four Humours. Feels kind of Nordic, maybe; the school’s focus on bodily fluids explains why Jaym wanted to go there. The school’s central feature is a great arch of Sudano-Sahelian stylization, with opal minarets and onion domes; there are also hanging translucent bulbous lecture rooms strung up with golden chains. So not all that Nordic after all. The interior tends towards belted metal and thin, fur rugs, with industrial light fixtures. It’s a deliberate attempt to evoke the feeling of being inside a kraken’s digestive system.

The school is built on top of an oasis in the desert. Rumor has it that those who know the right rituals can sail directly from the oasis into the far away Blood Red Sea.

The school uniform is a cubist-patterned Dalmatia tunic, hose, and a dressing gap. It’s incongruous with the rest of the aesthetic. There was a Magister several hundred years ago who dictated it.

Finally, the Kraken’s Hammer is locked in a long and notable conflict with the College of Friends. Those idiots worship the Cordial Wizard God; the Kraken’s Hammer faculty know that no divine entity should rule over wizards.

Young Jaym is a first year in House Xilat. The House’s mascot is a feathered mastodon, iridescent in hue, which is constantly coughing up gemstones. Their motto is “The Drink is Deep and Plentiful,” which Jaym has learned is a warning about the dangers of the sea rather than anything related to alcohol. House Xilat is deeply indebted to a Gremlin Hunter consortium, and everyone knows it; their deeper secret problem is that they’re also indebted to the Palace of Tigers, and the Palace is disgusted at Xilat’s weakness.

I swear I did not even use all the tables. These are so good!

That’s a lot of OSR to start the challenge, so I figured I’d do something less trad for day three. If I’d been thinking ahead, which I may do later in the month, I’d have thrown the playbook history section open to my pals on social media to crowdsource answers, but in the interests of efficiency I just made up my own this time around.

I decided I wanted to play a character who’s a little bit out of sync with the modern world but still effective. Playbook: the Initiate, who belongs to some kind of secret sect that thinks it’s the bulwark against evil. I’m going to call her Jeanne, as a reference to Joan of Arc.

She thus has a thin body and wears unfashionable clothes. This doesn’t lessen her charisma:

Charm +1
Cool -1
Sharp +1
Tough =0
Weird +2

Or her weirdness. She’s no mystic but she is subject to prophecy; I want Fortunes and Sacred Oath for my first two move choices, to sort of emphasize the chains of obsession that bind her. For a third move, in order to make sure she plays well with others, I’ll take Helping Hand. Note that Help Out is a Cool move, which with her -1 Cool means she’ll be exposing herself to trouble a lot. If I’m power gaming, I can use Sacred Oath to offset that a bit.

I see her Sect as somewhat antiquated. It’d be fun to do the contrast of a traditionalist who belongs to a high tech bunch, but nah — let’s make her the product of her upbringing. Their good traditions are Ancient Lore and Fighting Arts; their bad tradition is Tradition-bound. I think they are religious in nature, maybe Montanists? I am just skimming Wikipedia here but a Catholic heresy that believes in prophetic gifts seems right for Jeanne. For a real campaign I’d do some more research; Montanism has the benefit of being a dead sect so not a lot of real people to offend there.

I’ll call the sect the Prisca Society, after one of the original sect leaders. They recruit by family ties, although not exclusively — if someone has the gift of prophecy, they’re a candidate for recruitment. Since Jeanne does know prophecy, I think she was recruited at a young age, which may have been traumatic. I’ll let that develop in play.

OK. Those tradition choices mean Jeanne has three old fashioned weapons and one modern one. She prefers the old school stuff: her sword, her really big sword, and a silver knife that’s handy for certain targets. She also owns a shotgun and maybe has a very limited supply of silver-loaded shells.

For my fellow PCs, I’m postulating Marcia, playing Gregori, a Professional who favors direct action; and Hank, playing Feldspar, a Spooky. Hank loves weird characters and Marcia loves being effective.

Jeanne and Gregori fought together when the tide of monsters seemed unstoppable. How did that go? Gregori says they were shoulder to shoulder when the Gates broke open, and both of them were at peace with whatever happened. She was a bit reckless — took a bite for him while he was reloading — and he appreciates that. They have each other’s back.

Feldspar knew Jeanne when she was under her cover identity as Jane, a bank teller. (I like the way there are little implications about character history in these questions.) Feldspar thought Jane was trying too hard because nobody is that boring. Turns out Feldspar was right! I bet Feldspar isn’t always right about that kind of thing, though… anyhow, these days, Feldspar keeps looking for the next shoe to drop, the next layer of weirdness, although they don’t hold the secret against Jeanne.

Mothership gets to be my second character because a pal of mine wants to playtest a scenario sometime this year. I won’t use this character for the purpose — at the table, I’d rather make PCs with everyone else around — but it’ll familiarize me with the rules a bit.

Stats come first. This is another one where you roll stats in order, using 6d10 this time. I get:

Strength: 21
Speed: 32
Intellect: 41 (31 + 10 from my class)
Combat: 30

So clustering around the mean, sure. Interestingly I just noticed that the character sheet I downloaded says I should roll 2d10+25 for each stat, which must be a change from the initial rules. Well, I’ve got the initial rules so I’m using them and will cope.

I feel like playing a scientist; that’ll be my class. That gives me a +10 to Intellect, keen. My saves are:

Sanity: 40
Fear: 25
Body: 25
Armor: 35 (30 + 5 from gear)

Note that stat checks and saves are just roll under on 1d100. I sense plenty of exciting failure in this dude’s future.

Also my character — let’s call him Sal, he’s a xenobiologist who specializes in developing useful new drugs from alien lifeforms — deals with stress and panic by, um, freaking out people nearby when he fails a Sanity Save. I think he talks too much because he’s used to lab situations where communication is more important.

I get to choose some skills now. As a Scientist, I pick two of several basic skills, then spend 3 points. I’m taking Biology and Hydroponics as my basic Trained skills — that gives me +10% on their skill rolls. So 50% base, not so bad. Expert skills cost 2 points per and Master skills cost 3 points. Xenobiology is a Master skill, that’s a bummer. Let me revise a little: Sal wants to be a xenobiologist, but isn’t there yet. Thus, I spend 2 points on Genetics (a prerequisite for Xenobiology). If my GM will let me hold a point and spend it on the Expert skill Botany when I earn another point, I’m doing that. Otherwise I’m buying Scavenging.

Actually, no, I’m just buying Scavenging. Let’s be simple here. I get 2 skill points when I level up after the first session so I can go to Botany immediately. Xenobiology is a long ways away; that’s OK! Gotta have dreams.

Gear is super-easy, because Mothership is all about getting right down to play. There are four standard loadouts and you pick one. Sal gets Examination: a scalpel, a tranq pistol, pain pills, a diagnostic scanner, stuff like that. I also get a randomly selected trinket and patch: Sal has some kind of token, let’s call it a challenge coin, with “Is Your Morale Improving” written on it and a cool patch depicting a Fun Meter. The Fun Meter’s needle is in the Bad Time zone. I think Sal’s morale is not improving.

Sal has 20 credits, rolled on 5d10. I guess I could gotten a much better roll for starting credits if I selected gear piecemeal but it’s gonna be a long month, let’s not do that. His hazard suit boosts his Armor save by 5%; his tranq pistol does no damage but can knock the target unconscious. I bet it works very well on xenos. The stun baton does some damage along with a chance of unconsciousness but you kinda gotta be next to someone to use a stun baton on them so I know where Sal’s instincts lead.

Finally, secondary stats:

Stress: 2
Resolve: 0
Max Health: 42

In theory I’m supposed to pick a name at this point but I’m too much of a filthy storygamer to wait until now. Good luck, Sal, you’re gonna need it.

Day one is Tunnels & Trolls, in honor of my very first RPG. I’m using the Deluxe rules, no complications. Stats are 3d6 in order and all that jazz. So what do we get?

Strength 12
Constitution 5
Dexterity 8
Speed 11
Luck 11
Intelligence 9
Wizardry 8
Charisma 18+10 = 28

Phew, that’s poor. Except Charisma, which is ridiculous. This particular version of the rules allows you to roll and add when you get triples, so when I rolled an 18 on Charisma, I rolled again and added. If I’d gotten triples on the second roll I would have kept on rolling and adding. It’s ludicrous and it means my yet unnamed character starts at level 2, since level is determined by the highest first digit of any stat.

Charisma, alas, is strictly a social interaction stat so Kevin here is going to be one of those people who gets by on charm. I don’t think he really realizes it, though. He thinks he’s a bold warrior type. Quirkily enough, warriors get +1d6 per level on any melee weapon damage so Kevin will be a bit less hopeless than he would be without his spectacular Charisma.

I am briefly tempted to make him an elf to multiply his Charisma by 1.5. That’d actually also boost his magical stats to something plausible for a wizard… but nah, let’s lean into the flaws, it’s more interesting.

What are his personal adds (which are effectively a combat bonus)? One point for each of Strength, Luck, Speed, and Dexterity that are above average… so no adds at all.

Back to dice. Randomly generating his height and weight, I discover that Kevin is 5’7″ and a skinny 150 pounds. He starts with 110 gold, which should be easy to spend. The weapons lists are not the weird joy they were in Fifth Edition, but they’re still pretty cool. Kevin’s limitation is his Dexterity, which will vastly limit the weapons he can use. For example, he’s too clumsy to handle a medium sword: if he wants a blade, it’s a short sword or nothing.

The mini-max choice would be a medium pick of some kind, which does 5d6 and requires a mere 12 Strength and 8 Dexterity. It just doesn’t seem flashy enough. An axe could be cool but he’s under by 1 point on both Str and Dex. It’s fine: 55 gold goes to a small sabre, which is flashy and does 3d6 of damage (plus 2d6 for his level). Another 50 gold gets him a full suit of light leather armor, which will take 3 hits for him. Puny but that’s life as a new T&T character. His last five gold is exactly the cost of the “basic delver’s package,” which is a cheap backpack, a waterskin, some chalk, and so on.

Since Tunnels & Trolls experience points are spent on improving stats, there’s hope of a substantial improvement in combat damage someday. And the one advantage to low stats is that they’re cheap to improve.

Finally, a bit more choice: I get to pick a talent! Cool. Actually two talents because he’s level 2. These are sort of like skills or areas of knowledge. Kevin’s first talent is Culture Knowledge: bars. He’s good at those; he understands the typical patrons, he knows a lot of bartenders, that kind of thing. His second talent is, let’s see, Outdoorsmanship — it’ll come in handy now and again and reminds me that Kevin isn’t useless. Just… oddly shaped. I suspect he learned it camping with his father before he grew up and glowed up.

I’m not sure who told Kevin he had a future as an adventurer. Maybe people just hate to disappoint him and tell him it’s a bad idea. Regardless, there he is: bold, stupid, and absolutely the life of any party. He’s going to wind up as one of those characters whose success depends on how well I can sweet talk the GM.

I got a wild hair this year, plus I need something to keep me busy in the evenings while I’m traveling, so I’m going to take a shot at the 2025 Character Creation Challenge. Basically: one TTRPG character per day. Details here.

Then I missed the first day because I got very distracted by Trenque Lauquen. No regrets. That’s okay, I can play a bit of catchup! Completed entries are tagged as character-creation-2025.

Sorry about the relatively frequent posts in your RSS feed. It’s OK, it’s likely there won’t be more than ten of these.