X2 - Castle Amber 2026 - Session 1.5 - The Character Sheets

Here is the scorecard post. I should have started with a character list and character sheets. You know why? In Session 1, I put Lance at the front and in the last rank in the marching order. Dummy. Tracking 13 characters is a beast. 

These are PDF files from my Google Drive account. You don't need an account to download them

1. Merry the Halfling, Paladin
2. (Ana) Khouri, Post Human, Fighter
3. Lance, Human, Fighter
4. Alexei, Elf, Bard
5. Pizzaballa, Elf, Cleric
6. Nodonn, Human, Fighter
7. Solvo, Elf
8. Thomas, Cleric
9. Jude (aka Punch), Knight
10. Rety, Thief
11. Dorian, Cleric 
12. Sybil, MU
13. Belaphon (aka Bel), MU

There are also Demos Magen with the party now. They do not have character sheets. 

If I had posted these earlier, I would have successfully completed my #CharacterCreationChallenge. As it stands, I am still a few short. 

Before we go further, let's have the overt DriveThruRPG commercial: 

I use Necrotic Gnome's Old-School Essentials. I picked up the boxed sets from a Kickstarter. You can approximate this with two titles: The Referee's Tome and The Player's Tome. Or you could taste test it with the Basic Rules. These are free. 

Exactly why I haven't been posting links to X2 Castle Amber is beyond me. I've been nattering on about it for weeks. 

When I posted Session 0, I listed the characters' levels. I didn't do that this time because modules like X2 put the characters in a sweet spot where low-level characters rapidly catch up with somewhat higher-level characters due to the taking of gold. The party won 10,000 gps from Jean-Louis D'Amberville in Session 1. 

In adapting this for my table, I have solved the railroad problem by allowing the characters to retreat to a point of safety outside of the Foyer. That's cool. However, the module was written as a railroad and doesn't take into account that if you subvert that point, the party could return to Jean-Louis's Salon over and over again. 

Should 10,000 gps and 3 more Magen be available every time? 

Yes-No. Jean-Louis and his Magen should be there, but should not offer a match to the players each time. At least not for money. That would be game-breaking because dumping 10,000 gps on the party would send their levels through the roof in short order. 

Here is a handy post where I compare all of the character level charts from OSE. Since OSE doesn't have the concept of "Challenge Rating", you can use this chart to quickly determine how much experience is too much to hand out. It doesn't help with creating a combat scenario, but it will stop you from throwing too much cash at the party in one go. It also helps you determine how quickly low-level characters can catch up to higher ones and what classes will rapidly level. 

Jude (formerly known as Punch) had this issue. In the B2 sessions, he struggled to keep up because he obtained most of his experience from combat, not treasure. In B/X, limiting the treasure is the best way to keep characters in a certain regime of play. 

I don't know if we'll see Jean-Louis later, but I have a couple of ideas about how I would play him. He was a pomus ass at first, then morphed into a gamer and gambler. The next time the party sees him, I suspect he will act like a trainer, a promoter, and a coach. He should stay interesting, but slightly annoying, so the party doesn't get stuck. This is why I gave him a cell phone in the last session. Players would catch the meta of a pre-republic French dude trying to be an Instagram influencer. That's fun. 

I believe I'll have time to post again on Saturday or Sunday.