Leon's Laboratory

[leons1701]

OK, let's do this thing.

 

I'm going to start with what I do most, fantasy characters, and no better place to start than at the very beginning...

[leons1701]

1st Edition AD&D.

Technically, I owned the Red Box first, but never actually played it. We're going with the classic generation method I used far and away the most, 4d6, drop the low, 6 stats arranged in any order. And lookie, that's a pretty sweet roll. Qualified for any class except Paladin or Monk (and who plays a 1e monk anyhow?) In this case, I've chosen a Half-Orc Fighter/Thief. And he rolled absolute crap for hit point. Well that just sucks. At least he probably won't have to worry about level limits.

Basil Blackcloak

An all too common story, abandoned child is found and adopted by retired adventurer, taught the fine art of raiding tombs and ruins (and eliminating troublesome pests like goblins and tax collectors). Basil is a large, rather brutish looking fellow, though almost handsome in a dark, thuggish way. He enjoys drinking, clever wordplay, gold, and that moment when a careless foe realizes "He's right behind me!". He doesn't give a damn about the laws of men or gods, though he does have a reasonably decent moral code and can be trusted to keep his word, so long as you keep yours.

He recently contracted some sort of nasty disease that seems to have weakened his normally robust health.

 

And that's day one. Come back tomorrow when we move on to the second system I ever learned. (It's Chartmonster)

[leons1701]

Rolemaster 2e

This is going to be a bit more complicated, and probably a rather ugly post since we don't have a Rolemaster character sheet on MW and I'm not taking a bunch of time to come up with a pretty template. To start, we have to roll 10 stats! Well, at least we get to reroll anything under 20. Well, not only did we roll under 20 again, I actually missed one the first time. Sheesh, finally. Raw stat rolls are: 62, 28, 40, 43, 84, 75, 48, 71, 82, 82, not too shabby, especially since that 28 is going to magically become a 90. I've chosen to build a Rogue, a class that is essentially a hybrid of a fighter and a thief, as such his prime attributes (which are automatically set to 90) are Strength and Agility. We also need 10 more rolls to determine potential, at least there's no rerolls here.

Determining development points, we get a not too shabby 34 (pretty average for a PC IIRC), lets set down the skills with development costs in parentheses. I'm going to ignore magical skills, he's not getting into all that.

Adolescent Training: Maneuvering in Armor: 6 ranks Soft Leather (6) 2 ranks Rapier (OHS: 7) 2 ranks Dagger (OHS: 7) 1 rank Dagger (Throw: 3)

2 ranks Stalk & Hide (4) 2 ranks Perception (4) 1 rank of MA striking 1 (3)

And then we do it all again:

Apprentice Training: 2 ranks Rapier (7) 1 rank dagger (OHS: 2) 1 rank dagger (Throw: 3) 2 Ranks Stalk and Hide (4) 2 ranks Perception (4) 1 rank Climbing (3) 1 rank Swimming (2) 1 rank Ambush (2) 1 rank Adrenal Moves: Landing (2) 2 ranks Body Development (5)

Final Results:

 

Gordon Swifthand

Class: Rogue

Strength: 90 (90) +10 Quickness: 84 (95) +5 Presence: 43 (93) Intuition: 75 (75) +5 Empathy: 48 (48)

 

Constitution: 82 (89) +5 Agility: 90 (90) +10 Self discipline: 62 (80) Memory: 82 (88) Reasoning: 71 (78)

 

Development Points: 34

 

Skills: Maneuvering in Armor: Soft Leather 6 (1*) Rigid Leather (1*) Chain (2*) Plate (3*)

Weapon Skills: One Handed Edged Rapier 4 Dagger 3 (2/5) One Handed Crushing (3/9) Two Handed (3/9) Bows (3/9)

Thrown Dagger 2 (3/8) Pole Arms (6)

General Skills: Climbing 1 (3/7) Swimming 1 (2/5) Riding (2/5) Disarm Traps (2/5) Pick Locks (2/6)

Stalk&Hide 4 (1/3) Perception 4 (1/3)

Special Skills: Ambush 1 (2/5) Linguistics (3*) Adrenal Moves Landing 1 (2/6) Adrenal defense 20 Martial Arts MA striking I 1 (3/7) Body Development 2 (2/5)

Total Hits: 17

Gear and Modifiers: Rapier (OB +30) Dagger (OB +25, OB +20 thrown) Reinforced Leather Coat (AT 7 MM-10 DB 0) Target Shield (DB +20)

 

 

Gordon is essentially a swashbuckler type, lightly armored and depending on a shield and parrying to keep him alive (this is Rolemaster, no character is ever safe, but he's actually decently well off for a level 1 character). He's got a bit of basic brawling skill (Type 1 Striking MA) and is decently sneaky for a neophyte adventurer. He's just another scion of a moderately wealthy merchant family, off to sow some wild oats and maybe find some new trade opportunities, but mostly to tour the grand cities of the Empire, get drunk, get rowdy, get laid (maybe), make friends, make enemies, fight a few duels, all the usual nonsense. He's a clever fellow, quick on his feet and stronger than he looks. but not exactly a great charmer.

 

Come back tomorrow when we get to the 90's and GURPS!

[leons1701]

GURPS

 

Yikes, minor work related hiccup. Anyhow, this is going to be GURPS 3e, despite getting into the system with Man to Man as A) I can't find anything other than a few sourcebooks before 3e and B) I think our total actual playtime pre 3e amounted to 4-5 sessions, not counting a con game or three. Fortunately, I can just about knock out 3e GURPS characters in my sleep. Fantasy ones at least. This is essentially going to be the same character as Gordon Blackcloak above, translated to a new system.

 

Eh, good enough. Didn't actually finish off the gear, no biggie.

 

Gordon

 

Later tonight/tomorrow, we'll jump to the next decade with another 3rd edition. (Skipping over a few other fantasy games like Bushido that I played literally once and have no access (legally anyhow) to the rules for).

[leons1701]

3rd Edition D&D

 

(OK 3.5 to be precise, I'm not hunting down books I haven't used in 20 years over mostly trivial differences.)

 

Random rolls because why not, that's how we started with 3e. Point buy came along later.

 

Brother Randall

 

Description: You see them at every village and town through the whole Valley, big bluff hearty well fed farmers who look like they could pull the plow if the ox was tired. Light brown hair, ruddy complexion, pale blue eyes, the sons of Empire. Randall is just another boy out of the Great Valley, a bit stronger than some and notably more perceptive. As a second son, he followed the time honored tradition and left home to serve in one of the temples. Like many of his fellows, he was a natural for the Pelorite order, unlike most, he had an actual clerical gift, instead of a simple acolyte or village priest, he took up the arms of the Order of the Mace. A new graduate of the Order's training, he seeks out those in need of protection, or those in need of a good beating, whichever he finds first.

 

[leons1701]

Having fallen rather behind, gonna post some previously generated characters to get us through a few more systems. Here's D&D 4e and lo and behold, another Pelorite cleric. Henryk was created for a game here not long after 4e came out. We did get to explore a mysterious island for a bit, then the game died, as they do.

 

Henryk

 

The neat thing about 4e clerics (or at least it would be once we had a few more books), it was totally possible to be a traditional "bash in heads and heal" type of cleric, but you could just as easily be a laser cleric and smite the unholy without ever lifting a weapon. Henryk is almost there.

[leons1701]

Well, along with 4e, we got Pathfinder. Here's another previously generated character, this one a rather bookish wizard with a propensity for destruction.

 

Elladyr

 

Elladyr was my character in the only D&D/Pathfinder game I played in on MW that actually ran to conclusion. He uses a number of Pathfinder only elements such as Versatile Evocation to enable him to be an effective blaster and fills in battlefield control with a handful of leftover spells and the generous use of scrolls.

[leons1701]

5e Dungeons and Dragons

 

So 4e had it's time and then WotC did their absolute best to bury the memory forever. 5e is a much simpler game (I won't even consider making a 4e character without a generator) which is both its charm and its downfall.

 

Anyhow, one of the very first 5e characters I made was Tethys, a dwarven wizard. The idea of a heavy armored wizard amused me, though of course he ended up in medium armor because heavy was just too pricy. Tethys was an evoker because charms and illusions and such subtle stuff are for elves.

Tethys

[leons1701]

Pathfinder 2e

 

In response to 5e, Paizo eventually created Pathfinder 2, which might just be my favorite of all the D&D based builds. It's not perfect, nor even everything I want but it's darn close. One of many, many reasons I love it, shield and weapon is now a viable build. For example, Boradur, dwarven champion of Torag, is one of the very first characters I built for this edition. He's still adventuring, doing his best to keep his companions alive through the Age of Ashes.

 

Another reason I love PF2, Champions! They might not be quite as good at pulling agro as 4e defenders, but they can mitigate damage and either hamper or hammer (literally in Boradur's case) the enemy who dared to attack their friends, depending on which reaction they chose. Not quite as restricted as classic Paladins but definitely fitting nicely into that devoted holy warrior slot.

 

Yet another cool thing about PF2, Pathbuilder. Here's Boradur in Pathbuilder.

 

And as a MW sheet. Boradur.

 

Raised in a non-dwarven town, Boradur is a bit more cosmopolitan than most dwarves, but perhaps as a reaction to that, generally acts very much like the stereotype of a dwarven warrior. Well, aside from grumpiness and suspicion, that part seems to have been left out.

 

That wraps up the fantasy genre. On to my other favorite kind of RPG, Supers!

[leons1701]

Marvel Super Heroes (FASERIP)

 

It wasn't the first system to do superheroes, but it was ahead of its time none the less. It was also incredibly of its time, with completely random character generation that could easily make nonsensically unplayable characters or overpowered silliness. My original group of players probably spent more time fooling around with this than we ever did D&D, certainly if you count all the time spent on rolling up characters we then proceeded to never actually play, but did write/tell stories about.

Gonna use the Ultimate Powers Book because A) that's pretty much the only thing I still have and B) it's just more fun.

Lots of random rolls incoming!