Charles' New Podcast and Patreon

I have a couple of different outlets for communication. Facebook, MeWe, Ello, pluspora and a few others. The killer thing about promoting is that promotion is necessary, but by rote sharing doesn't work.

You need something more "organic", more "natural" to really get that impactful share to work for you.

I stole this image without permission, mostly because I used to have those dice.

Charles Thorin has a blog called "They Might Be Gazebos". I'm hoping that is a play on "They Might Be Giants", because I really like those guys. What do we have in common? Charles does reviews, he likes luck mechanics, creating interesting magic weapons and we both like to try different games.

What does Charles do that is different? He is a podcaster on Anchor, the host of Playing It Wrong. On the 'cast, he has a smooth voice but an exciting tone. This isn't the sort of 'cast that helps you to sleep at night. Playing It Wrong is an amplification of They Might Be Gazebos retooled for an audio format. He uses music and sound effects in enhance the show without being overbearing or obnoxious. Each podcast has a very newsy sound to it as Charles takes on currents in the blogosphere, topics that interest him, such as Swords and Wizardry.

Just a few episodes back he was talking about finding your voice, something that he has personally managed to do.

This week, to support his passion, he has launched a Patreon page to support his habit. I can't wait to see what new things he comes up with. Please take a moment to explore all the quality content on They Might Be Gazebos, the Playing Wrong Podcast and if you like, his Patreon Page.

Pregenerated Thieves 1st level

These 3 first-level characters are thieves, Ertel, Unger, and Thorm. Click the link to download the PDF file. These characters are almost ready to go. In generating ability scores, I made sure the range was acceptable in both D&D and AD&D. To convert this character to straight AD&D, simply add or subtract the racial modifiers and class abilities.

The equipment and coins are not balanced for a first-level character. It is safe to assume that each has prior adventurers in their background, perhaps even entering the Lion Castle from BSOLO and escaping before victory.

If there is a call for it in the comments, I will make DOCX and Google Doc files available as I have the PDFs. The reason I have not done this from the get-go is that I created every character of a class in one document and print each page as a PDF.

Pregenerated Swashbucklers 2nd Level

These 3 first level characters are Swashbucklers, a character type unique to my campaign. Click here to download the PDF file for Megen, Shaw and Issac. You can also get the Swashbuckler Character Class from DriveThruRPG.

These characters are almost ready to go. In generating ability scores, I made sure the range was acceptable in both D&D and AD&D. To convert this character to straight AD&D, simply add or subtract the racial modifiers and class abilities.

The equipment and coins are not balanced for a low level character. It is safe to assume that each has prior adventurers in their background, perhaps even entering the Lion Castle from BSOLO and escaping before victory.

If there is a call for it in the comments, I will make DOCX and Google Doc file available as I have the PDFs. The reason I have not done this from the get go is that I created every character of a class in one document and print each page as a PDF.

Pregenerated Swashbucklers 1st level

These 3 first level characters are Swashbucklers, a character type unique to my campaign. Click here to download the PDF file for Randal, Matilda and Matilda the Second*. You can also get the Swashbuckler Character Class from DriveThruRPG.

Matilda is wicked with a knife.

These characters are almost ready to go. In generating ability scores, I made sure the range was acceptable in both D&D and AD&D. To convert this character to straight AD&D, simply add or subtract the racial modifiers and class abilities.

Meet Randal

The equipment and coins are not balanced for a first level character. It is safe to assume that each has prior adventurers in their background, perhaps even entering the Lion Castle from BSOLO and escaping before victory.

If there is a call for it in the comments, I will make DOCX and Google Doc file available as I have the PDFs. The reason I have not done this from the get go is that I created every character of a class in one document and print each page as a PDF.

*Matilda and Matilda the Second is a gag. The name was popular after the Norman Invasion and many a scribe was frustrated by the lack of sir names or last names and began labeling them rather arbitrarily. For more great historical details like this, please see Kevin Stroud's The History of English Podcast.

Pregenerated Magic Users 1st Level

These 3 second-level characters are fighters, Ferdae*, Melvin** and Alastair. Click the link to download the PDF file. These characters are almost ready to go. In generating ability scores, I made sure the range was acceptable in both D&D and AD&D. To convert this character to straight AD&D, simply add or subtract the racial modifiers and class abilities.

The equipment and coins are not balanced for a first level character. It is safe to assume that each has prior adventurers in their background, perhaps even entering the Lion Castle from BSOLO and escaping before victory.

If there is a call for it in the comments, I will make DOCX and Google Doc file available as I have the PDFs. The reason I have not done this from the get go is that I created every character of a class in one document and print each page as a PDF.

*Ferdae is a shout out to Michael Faraday, the scientist not known for the properties of glass.
**In our campaign, Melvin is being comically played like the character in Madagascar. He is a halfling.

Pregenerated Fighters 2nd level

These 3 second-level characters are fighters, Zane, Gurwinder and Jaime*. Click the link to download the PDF file. These characters are almost ready to go. In generating ability scores, I made sure the range was acceptable in both D&D and AD&D. To convert this character to straight AD&D, simply add or subtract the racial modifiers and class abilities.

The equipment and coins are not balanced for a low-level character. It is safe to assume that each has prior adventurers in their background, perhaps even entering the Lion Castle from BSOLO and escaping before victory.

If there is a call for it in the comments, I will make DOCX and Google Doc file available as I have the PDFs. The reason I have not done this from the get go is that I created every character of a class in one document and print each page as a PDF.

*Zane is a callback to Final Fantasy, while Jaime is a shout out to my sister-in-law who can find zero products with her name spelled correctly on them. Gurwinder is a woman with a very special background in my campaign. She is decidedly female.

Pregenerated Fighters 1st level

These 3 first-level characters are fighters, Raglan, Merry, and Warren. Click the link to download the PDF file. These characters are almost ready to go. In generating ability scores, I made sure the range was acceptable in both D&D and AD&D. To convert this character to straight AD&D, simply add or subtract the racial modifiers and class abilities.

The equipment and coins are not balanced for a first-level character. It is safe to assume that each has prior adventurers in their background, perhaps even entering the Lion Castle from BSOLO and escaping before victory.

If there is a call for it in the comments, I will make DOCX and Google Doc files available as I have the PDFs. The reason I have not done this from the get-go is that I created every character of a class in one document and printed each page as a PDF.

Pregenerated Elves 1st level

These 3 first level characters are elves, Eirien, Liscë and Turu. In my campaign, elves are decidedly unfriendly to humans and highly militarized, hence the matching gear and uniforms. Click the link to download the PDF file. These characters are almost ready to go. In generating ability scores, I made sure the range was acceptable in both D&D and AD&D. To convert this character to straight AD&D, simply add or subtract the racial modifiers and class abilities.

The equipment and coins are not balanced for a first level character. It is safe to assume that each has prior adventurers in their background, perhaps even entering the Lion Castle from BSOLO and escaping before victory.

If there is a call for it in the comments, I will make DOCX and Google Doc file available as I have the PDFs. The reason I have not done this from the get go is that I created every character of a class in one document and print each page as a PDF.

Pregenerated Dwarves 1st Level

These 3 first level characters are dwarves, Megen, Shaw and Kalen. Click the link to download the PDF file. These characters are almost ready to go. In generating ability scores, I made sure the range was acceptable in both D&D and AD&D. To convert this character to straight AD&D, simply add or subtract the racial modifiers and class abilities.

The equipment and coins are not balanced for a first level character. It is safe to assume that each has prior adventurers in their background, perhaps even entering the Lion Castle from BSOLO and escaping before victory.

If there is a call for it in the comments, I will make DOCX and Google Doc file available as I have the PDFs. The reason I have not done this from the get go is that I created every character of a class in one document and print each page as a PDF.

Pregenerated Clerics 1st level

To start the list, I have created 3 first level characters, Kells, Rona and Iulio. Click the link to download the PDF file. These characters are almost ready to go. In generating ability scores, I made sure the range was acceptable in both D&D and AD&D. To convert this character to straight AD&D, simply add or subtract the racial modifiers, if any.

The equipment and coins are not balanced for a first level character. It is safe to assume that each has prior adventurers in their background, perhaps even entering the Lion Castle from BSOLO and escaping before victory.

If there is a call for it in the comments, I will make DOCX and Google Doc file available as I have the PDFs. The reason I have not done this from the get go is that I created every character of a class in one document and print each page as a PDF.

Pregenerated Characters

I have reworked the way that my tabs above function, clicking one results in a search on labels. This way, I can have my tabbed content appear as both a tab and a post. It avoids the mess of hard coding in the tabs and then forgetting to update.

For my pregenerated characters, I am using a simple form based on the character sheets in BSOLO - Ghost of Lion Castle.

I meant to have 3 characters for every class or race in D&D, AD&D and Unearthed Arcana. One of the character classes is the Swashbuckler, which is an D&D or AD&D specific character class. It is completely unlike the Swashbuckler that appears in AD&D 2.0. Additionally, some of these characters will have professional skills, which appear from my book called Zero to Hero: Uncommon Commoners. Finally, if you would look a retro characters sheet, I have one on DriveThruRPG for characters using Unearthed Arcana. All of these items are in the links to the right.

Campaign Kick Off

I am kicking off a new campaign on The Peninsula of Plenty. Before I detail any of the events of play, I want to cover some general background and house rules.

First, Elves, Half-Orcs, and Dwarves are not allowed as character classes at the start. Humans, Elves, Half-Orcs and Dwarves are at war and the players are starting in the Human Empire's Capital. Half-Orcs are clients of the Elves and both are aligned with the Dwarves against the Human Empire. Halflings are a problem in the human realms, as they are fleeing south, over the mountains. They are at best, politically unreliable.

Below is the racial preference table we are using, which is revised from the last posting of this chart.

Peninsula of Plenty - Racial Preference Table

Race	Dwarves	Elves	Gnomes	Gnolls	Half-Elves	Halfling	Half-Orc	Human	Kobold
Dwarves	Preferred	Neutral	Neutral	Apathy	Apathy	Goodwill	Preferred	Hatred	Hatred
Elves	Neutral	Preferred	Tolerated	Apathy	Apathy	Goodwill	Preferred	Apathy	Apathy
Gnomes	Goodwill	Goodwill	Preferred	Tolerated	Goodwill	Preferred	Preferred	Preferred	Goodwill
Gnolls	Apathy	Apathy	Tolerated	Tolerated	Apathy	Tolerated	Goodwill	Tolerated	Goodwill
Half-Elves	Goodwill	Apathy	Apathy	Goodwill	Preferred	Goodwill	Goodwill	Apathy	Apathy
Halfling	Goodwill	Preferred	Goodwill	Goodwill	Goodwill	Preferred	Tolerated	Hatred	Apathy
Half-Orc	Hatred	Preferred	Goodwill	Apathy	Apathy	Goodwill	Preferred	Neutral	Apathy
Human	Apathy	Hatred	Goodwill	Apathy	Hatred	Neutral	Neutral	Preferred	Apathy
Kobold	Tolerated	Tolerated	Goodwill	Neutral	Goodwill	Preferred	Goodwill	Preferred	Tolerated

As a consequence, virtually all player characters are human, although that was not the intent. I was expecting some half elves, gnomes, and kobolds. We are playing D&D, with an overlay of AD&D. It is possible to be a generic elf which is the straight D&D class, or to pick a class as per AD&D. Only one character did this, the magic user is a halfling.

Next, we are using my rules for the Swashbuckler character class and Uncommon Commoners.

I have two house rules regarding magic: Clerics get spells at 1st level and every Magic User can cast Read Magic once per day in addition to any other spells.

I have a couple house rules regarding combat: Anyone can use a shield to protect themselves, two handed. They can't cast or attack, except for a rough attempt at knocking someone back with the shield. It isn't a good idea if you are a magic user. This rule appears in Uncommon Commoners.

If a magic user or cleric is has a weapon skill due to a professional background, they can replace one weapons with that profession's weapon. For clerics who are also chefs, they can use knives, but generally don't in combat. If a magic user has a skill that allows for a different weapon, say a hammer because they are a mason, they can use that instead of a staff, dagger or dart. These rules also appear in Uncommon Commoners.

Some rule sets state that once a person has been downed, they can be revived by another player. The mechanism for this in my campaigns are either a prayer to Saint Elam or a vial of Elamium. This is a reference to anesthesiologist, James Elam, who performed experimental mouth to mouth resuscitation here in Buffalo, NY at Roswell Park. It's an anachronism owning to my hometown.

There is the expectation that a lot of combat will do subduing damage, but the players can do as they wish. If NPCs are doing this, I will not announce it, but will describe it. This circles back to the Swashbuckler class which engages in this type of combat all the time. Swashbucklers are very far from fighters or thieves. They tend to kill only by a run-through attack after offering a chance to escape. It doesn't work on animals, because they can't be disarmed. 

The first session was pretty eventful and I will detail that in another post.