COVID Character: Agent Waldo

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.

Agent Waldo

Aliases: [REDACTED]
Pronouns: He/him
Character Concept: A postal worker who has seen some stuff.
Character Stats: Postal Worker
Campaign: Operation FULMINATE
System: Delta Green
Campaign Status: A single adventure, which we completed!

Delta Green is an interesting beast. It shares a lot of similarities with Call of Cthulhu (from which it is derived). There are, however, a lot of differences between the two games that set them apart from one another. The best way I can describe these differences, thematically, is to imagine you're an American in a British clothing store who has just loudly asked for suspenders. You are, technically, correct (the best kind of correct), but you have also made some assumptions and have embarrassed yourself.

For those that don't know the game, Delta Green is the love child of Call of Cthulhu and the X-Files. Players play characters that are regular people who have, through no fault of their own, witnessed the Mythos. As a result, they have been recruited by the titular organization, and are periodically activated to go to dangerous locations and deal with Mythos threats. For the most part, their job is to prevent regular people from learning about Lovecraftian beasties, clean up ritual sites, and shoot monsters. 

I played Agent Waldo (name withheld), who was (and still is) an ordinary postman. One day, he had to deliver a package to a creepy barn out in the middle of nowhere. While he was out there, he met a talking dog who insisted that Waldo should burn the barn straight down to the ground. Waldo did, losing some sanity in the process, and was recruited by Delta Green shortly thereafter.

The adventure took place in Yosemite National Park in 2017. Brandon McGill, a young boy who went missing in 1980, has suddenly returned, and has not aged very much in the intervening years. Waldo and his team were sent in disguised as FBI agents, to interview Brandon and find out what the hell was going on.

Waldo turned out to be fairly levelheaded and likeable, trying to sooth and befriend Brandon while making sense of the occult nonsense occurring in the park. Unfortunately, he and his team were well out of their depths. Despite that, we managed to eke out what could technically be called a win, defeating alien ghost monsters with overwhelming firepower and flagrant disregard for the safe operations of golf carts.

 

COVID Character: Yaldandros

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.

Yaldandros

Aliases: Aachee, Exiled from the Cult of the Technoraven
Pronouns: He/him
Character Concept: Elderly healer with a complicated past
Character Stats: Expert Healer
Campaign: A Lamentations of the Flame Princess adventure
System: Worlds Without Number
Campaign Status: Terminated

I have a soft spot in my heart for weird, post-apocalyptic fantasy. The Book of the New Sun, The Dying Earth, and the Dark Tower series are perennial favorites. So when one of my GM friends pitched a post-apocalyptic fantasy game for a bunch of us to play, I was all in it to win it!

We used Worlds Without Number, which is an entry in the X Without Number line of games. This version centers on the weird fantasy genre, especially of the type that includes science fiction elements. The system features a mix of old-school D&D and Traveller, for maximum crunchy goodness.

I played Yaldandros (a name I made up by smooshing Baldanders and Dr. Talos' names together and then futzing around with the result). He was old, wrinkly, cagey, and sort of cryptic. I made him an Expert (a person who uses skill instead of fighting or magic) and had him specialize in healing. I did this because it sounded neat, and also because the game seemed fairly lethal. I figured that someone who didn't rely on magic to heal people would be invaluable. 

We adventured in the ruins of an old wizard tower that seemed to be protected by some kind of lightning field. We mucked around in the basement and in a puzzle room, gathering such strange treasures as a jar of living, thinking meat that constantly regenerated itself (useful for the old larder), and some other things I'm a bit fuzzy on. 

Alas, the game ended early due to scheduling issues. Which is too bad, because I was enjoying myself.

 

COVID Character: Marius

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.

Marius

Est-a-me!

Aliases: Master-Certified Aqueduct Technician
Pronouns: He/him
Character Concept: What if Mario, but in Roman Empire
Character Stats: Strength 4, Smarts 2, Sneak 2, Smile 4
Campaign: The Cult of the Destroyer
System: Critical!: Go Westerly
Campaign Status: Suspended

This was a character I played briefly early on in the pandemic. I had totally forgotten about him until I spotted his sheet while I was organizing my game folders.I'm glad I found him, because he was pretty great.

This character is also notable for having been built (and played, obviously), in a system that I helped design. If you're interested in learning more about Critical!: Go Westerly, you can click that linky-link.

 

Briefly, the game is set in the Kingdom of Westerly, which is a very silly place that all the inhabitants take very, very seriously. There are singing pirates, monsters that have settled in the mountains in order of difficulty, giants that are divided into three clans (Rock, Paper, and Scissor), and more foolishness. The kingdom is to the west of a big swamp, which is a contested territory that it periodically fights over with the Great Eastern Empire. Whoever loses gets to keep the swamp.

Marius is a non-native of Westerly and hails from the Eastern Empire, which is Greco-Roman in theme. He is based on Mario, of Brothers fame, and works as an aqueduct repair person. He came west to Westerly for reasons that are lost on me, but can probably be summed up as: ADVENTURE!

While in Westerly, Marius teamed up with a bunch of other folks and was tasked with infiltrating the Cult of the Destroyer. The Destroyer is one of Westerly's six gods. He may be nine feet tall, clad in spiky black armor, and have flaming eyes and a reverberating voice, but he's actually a fairly reasonable guy and the patron deity of the monsters of the land. 

His cult, surprisingly enough, turned out to be an MLM scheme. We joined for the business opportunity, but also for the chance to bring down the cult from the inside. Our contact in the cult was an orc who wore a polo shirt and khakis and who, I think, went by the name Chad.

It was as fun and as silly as it sounds!

COVID Character: Eunice

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.

Eunice

Aliases: None
Pronouns: She/her
Character Concept: An older lady who makes good trouble
Character Stats: I forget
Campaign: The Ministry - Historical Canadian Edition!
System: The Ministry - A World of Adventure FATE Core
Campaign Status:Paused due to scheduling

In The Ministry, players are members of the Ministry of Rocketry, tasked with discreetly investigating and combating weirdness, such as aliens, monsters, and so on. I think the default setting just before the turn of the last century (1890s-ish) Britain, but our GM decided to move our game to Canada, for a few obvious reasons (they're Canadian). I was excited about this because I have been to Canada once, and I have watched a lot of Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Avonlea, and Anne with an E.

So, you know, pretty much an expert on that whole time period.

I don't know how it happened, but the players decided that we were going to be a trio of tough ladies who had a habit of making good trouble. This also, quite handily, explained why we were in Canada in the first place. We assumed that the management of The Ministry were all like, "you ladies are very good, but we also kind of want you far away from here. Say hello to the people in Toronto for us! Don't write!"

We only played one session, but it was a good session and I made quite an impression playing Eunice, an older lady who had no fear and took no shit (again, something well outside of my wheelhouse). Her defining character moment was pretty great, and it's something I'm pretty proud of.

The setup is that Eunice and one of the other ladies are walking around the high street of the town, getting the lay of the land and buying some things they'd need for their stay in Toronto. While doing this, we are approached by a nattily-dressed gentleman who begins to talk to them very quickly. As he talks, we realize that he is an advertiser/recruiter for a nearby brothel, and he is checking to see if maybe we would like to a) work for him or b) partake.

After considering my character's FATE Traits, I brusquely tell the man that I want to see his house of ill repute and also want to speak to the manager. He just about swallows his tongue as I swan into the brothel and rather imperiously make the following decree:

"I have no interest in working here, but I also have no particular animosity of your business per se. However, I want you to convince me that the women who work here are doing so of their own free will, and are well paid, well treated, and well protected."

The manager does, stammering through his reply.

To which I say, "Very good. Now, if this ever changes, or if I hear any unpleasant rumors about this place, I will be back."

So, that was fun!

COVID Character: Razorgrass Molly

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.

Razorgrass Molly

Aliases: Dread Captain Molly, Captain of the Sea Otter
Pronouns: She/her
Character Concept: Slightly reformed pirate, servant of Aldea
Character Stats: Specialist
Campaign: Blue Rose
System: Blue Rose
Campaign Status: Discontinued due to game complexity

After our successful Blades in the Dark game, we decided to try something new and different. We eventually settled on Blue Rose, which (I think) none of us had played before, and which promised a fairly different gaming experience - fantasy, but with romance!

The players were tasked with protecting a pop-up town on the border of the kingdom, which had been established by the Queen to provide homes and a safe haven for refugees. The town was populated by a wide assortment of characters, most of whom could be romantic partners, should we want them, and all of whom could be allies, quest givers, plot motivators, and plot complications.

One of the things that Blue Rose has going for it that I like is that the more successes you get on a roll, the more conditions you can apply to your target. So if you're fencing (a thing I did pretty regularly), you'd injure your target on a normal hit, but if you did really well, you could disarm them, stun them, or similar.

I only got to play my badass, bisexual, ace, swashbuckling pirate for a few sessions before the game ended. Blue Rose is an RPG in the D&D vein, meaning that it requires a lot of prep and learning a lot of rules. It was fun, but it was a bit too much for a group that had been playing Blades in the Dark for...three years? by that point, so we switched to something a little easier.

COVID Character: Commander Tada

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.

Tada

Aliases: None
Pronouns: He/him
Character Concept: Young samurai, eager to prove himself
Character Stats: I don't have the character sheet in front of me, so I'm not sure!
Campaign: Thousand Arrows
System: Thousand Arrows
Campaign Status:Ongoing

This is a new character in a new game, using both rules and a genre that is rather outside of my own comfort zone. 

Thousand Arrows is set in the Warring States period in Japan. The players are all allies to Hiro, one of the warlords who is trying to make a name and a kingdom for himself amidst all the strife. I'm not sure that he is "the good guy," as I think that the game is far too nuanced to do something like that. It seems that he is reasonably forthright and just, though, so that's something.

The game is based on Powered by the Apocalypse, which I've always had trouble wrapping my head around. Not sure why. It's just a thing. Rather than have stats or skills like "Strength" or "Metallurgy," my character has things like "Void" and "Lead from Behind."Combat is less about, "he misses you, but you hit him," and resolves more in the abstract. 

For instance, we recently led a 200 soldiers on an assault of an enemy fortification. I think the fact that we were going to win was a foregone conclusion, considering we had done a lot of scouting and had the advantage. Instead, the rolls were for things like, "okay, this was your first command. Let's see how you did. Make a Lead from the Front roll. Oh, that was a contested success. All right, you only barely manage to hold the bridge and, as a result, you lost more soldiers than you were comfortable with. Also, the other player characters noticed. How does that make you feel."

Despite being set during a war and featuring actual battles, the game is more tightly focused on drama, court intrigue, romance, and interpersonal relationships. It's basically like a soap opera, but with swords.

And this brings us to Tada. He is a young samurai who is desperate to prove himself. He's from a clan that has adopted the use of the arequebus (which they acquired from trade with Portugal). Arquebuses are devastating weapons, but at least one of my companions thinks that they are messy, stupid weapons that fly in the face of our traditions. 

I have also learned that Tada is someone who thinks in straight lines. Do you want that thing? Go over there and get that thing. Do you see an objective? What is the most obvious way to reach the objective? Do that.

The problem is that a lot of the game's focus is on things like soft power, manipulation, and social positioning, which are things that Tada is (and here is an understatement) not particularly good at. He has been successfully bamboozled by his grandmother (a skilled politician and schemer) and by his new ladyfriend (who he didn't realize was attracted to him until she kissed him). 

He's in a lot of trouble, is what I'm saying.

COVID Character: The Peacemaker

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.

The Peacemaker

Aliases: Tretyak Chudin (his real name), The Nameless One
Pronouns: He/him
Character Concept: Skovlan criminal who joined a cult
Character Stats: Spider, member of the Cult of the Want
Campaign: Blades in the Dark
System: Blades in the Dark
Campaign Status: Completed!

Peacemaker started out as The Nameless One, a street preacher and criminal who had an army of urchins at his command. He joined up with a fellows Skovlander named Wraith and a non-Skovlander (but still sympathetic to the cause) merchant named Iris. Together, they started the Cult of the Want, which was a new religion that Wraith found when he was fleeing Skovland and randomly shouted out to the universe for help.

The Want, it turned out, was part of the original Skovlander pantheon of gods, each of whom is dual aspected. Some are straightforward, some are tricky, all of them are downright dangerous.

The Want, true to their name, gives its followers what they Want. Was this a good idea? No one knows, but probably not! But if you live in Duskvol and you are not one of the very rare, very privileged few, you definitely Want things. And thus, we had a lot of converts.

The Nameless One became Peacemaker when he used his street preaching and Spider abilities to stop a riot from breaking out in the streets of Duskvol between rival Skovlander factions. This was the beginning of his becoming not just a cultist of a god of a lost pantheon, but a speaker for the refugees of Skovland as a whole.

Peacemaker was very, very good at the physical world, at maneuvering through society, and getting information about people. He was almost completely dead to the spiritual aspects of the setting, which was interesting for a person who decided that he wanted to elevate not only the Want, but the entire lost Skovlander pantheon, back to their places in the heavens.

It helped that he was part of a Triumvirate: Wraith (who I think was a Lurk) had some magical abilities, as well as unorthodox means of getting to people and places, as well as a love of big explosions, and Iris, who was a Whisper and became so ungodly powerful in the mystical arts that she routinely did things that were supposed to be impossible. Like summoning LEVIATHANS (or, if you're Iris, "sea kitties") to eat the docks, devouring the life energies of lesser deities, and having a demon basically on speed-dial.

Peacemaker was often overwhelmed by his self-imposed responsibilities and by the actions of his own teammates. Oh, Lord Scurlock is in our kitchen making tea? And you told him we'd do what? And you blew up which building? And you tore out all of their blood? And put it in this jar? 

Our GM did a great job running the game and orchestrating an epic and satisfying conclusion. We explored a lot of themes relating to colonialism (which is present in the game, but not given as much of a focus as my GM gave it). The end game involved us getting all the artifacts of the Skovlander gods (including the Mask of the Teller, which Peacemaker is holding in his picture up there). As a result of our quest to hunt down the artifacts, we wound up discovering the Immortal Emperor's deepest secret.

And then we killed him. And brought the sun back.

So, what I'm saying is that the last thing the Triumvirate broke in their heyday was Blades in the Dark itself. We won! Everyone can go home and wait for John Harper's next game. Hoorah!

COVID Character: Mikey Yates

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.

Mikey Yates

Aliases: None
Pronouns: He/him
Character Concept: A regular kid from America who has cousins in the Yorkshire Dales.
Character Stats: Lucky 12, Creativity 10, Physical 8, Social 6; Puzzle Solver
Campaign: The Vampire Next Door
System: The Vampire Next Door
Campaign Status: Completed!

This was a one-shot that I played in called The Vampire Next Door. It's the summertime in Yorkshire in the 1980s. All the players' are kids and are all related somehow. They're all spending the summer at their grandparents' house. Very idyllic, very bucolic. You get to run around and do whatever you want during the day so long as you're back by supper.

There's just one problem. The players are all convinced that their grandparents' creepy neighbor, Mr. Alucard, is a vampire. Despite trying to explain about Mr. Alucard's funny accent, penchant for only going out in the evenings, very sharp teeth, and love of cravats, none of the adults believe the players. 

The entire game is all about running around town trying to get proof that Mr. Alucard is, in fact, a vampire without causing so much trouble that you get punished. 

My group of three players took things one step farther than, "convince the town the vampire is a vampire." We all, being seasoned Call of Cthulhu players, decided that we were going to end him instead. With a bunch of chopped garlic, a squirt gun full of holy water, and some kid-like determination, we hunted him down and ended his threat once and for all!

Oh! My character, Mike Yates, was a kid from America who was visiting his cousins in the UK for the summer. He was nice, if a bit shy, and had a thing for sitting quietly and doing puzzles. His much more active British cousins made him go outside and do some activities. Like basketball. And vampire hunting. They also teased him about his name but, because he's never watched Doctor Who, he doesn't get why they do that.

COVID Character: Lou

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.

Lou

Picture redacted for reasons of sanity.

Aliases: True name is hideous and unpronounceable by human tongues.
Pronouns: Usually he/him
Character Concept: Cthulhu, but, like, if he was a Brooklynite dishwasher at a diner
Character Stats: It was FATE, so there weren't that many!
Campaign: I don't think it had one
System: Nitrate City- A World of Adventure for FATE Core
Campaign Status: Abandoned

This was the semi/sorta sequel to the FATE superhero game in which Lutz played. This one is set in Nitrate City, which is a film noir setting populated with classic movie monsters. So it's kind of grim and gritty, with chiaroscuro lighting, fedora hats, too much cigarette smoke, and also the wolf man and mummy are private detectives, or something.

I decided to play as either Cthulhu himself or one of his star spawn--I never really decided. He had somehow wound up in Nitrate City and had gotten most of his powers taken away from him. Left stranded and friendless in an uncaring city, he walked the sepia-stained streets for a while until he got a job washing dishes at a local diner. The other player was his coworker, a waitress who was a Frankenstein monster.

So, my character wore an apron and a hairnet and had a heart tattoo on his shoulder with the word "Hydra" superimposed on it. He smoked too much, spoke in the best New Yawk accent I could manage, and was on the trail of some two-bit hood or other. But then the campaign ended.

Oh well, it was worth it just to make this silly character!

COVID Character: Lutz

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.

Lutz

Aliases: Sarah Sonner (her secret identity)
Pronouns: She/her
Character Concept: A super-powered figure skater
Character Stats: It was FATE, so there weren't that many!
Campaign: I don't think it had one
System: FATE
Campaign Status: Completed!

Lutz is one of my old characters from City of Heroes. Remember City of Heroes? Such a good MMO.

A friend of mine invited me along to play a superhero game using the FATE rules, which was run by one of their friends. Based on the initial pitch, it sounded like some good, clean fun with a dash of goofy humor thrown in. So I decided to have Lutz lace up her skates and triple Salchow crime right in it's face!

Lutz's origin story in the tabletop game was the same as her origin from City of Heroes. Sarah Sonner was a figure skater who was an Olympics hopeful, only to have her dreams tragically dashed when she was run over by a radioactive Zamboni. Shortly after her accident, she discovered that she had gained ice powers, and so she decided to use them to FIGHT CRIME.

Lutz's introduction to the game was as follows: She had been hired to be a stunt double/skating trainer for a major motion picture. When weird shenanigans started threatening the star and the set, she teamed up with the star's bodyguard (who was also a superhero) to get to the bottom of things. 

Later on, the duo became a trio when we joined up with a superhero who was also a social media personality. We fought sympathetic villains who had been wronged by their corporate overlords, went to war with those corporate overlords, and occasionally visited the city zoo to speak with Doctor Gorilla, world reknowned scientist!

COVID Character: Khazana Stonespine

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.  

Khazana Stonespine

Aliases: None
Pronouns: She/her
Character Concept: A shy, bookish dwarven wizard
Character Stats: 3rd level Mountain Dwarf Order of Scribes Wizard
Campaign: The Shattered Obelisk
System: D&D 5e
Campaign Status: Ongoing

We tabled our Masks of Nyarlathotep game for a bit, because it was getting to be a lot, and decided to take a break to play some more D&D. We started out with Curse of Strahd, but realized that might be a bit much. So we ran away from Barovia (like smart people) and went to the Sword Coast, in the hopes of finding a lost mine, or something. 

This campaign is proving to be pretty fun so far. It's an expansion of the Lost Mines of Phandelver, which is written to be "your introduction to D&D," and it works very well on that front. There's the quick opening fight to get everyone up to speed, the introduction of the Big Quest, the arrival at Ye Towne, which is also a quest hub, and the promise of adventure in every six mile hex we plan to visit.

At present, we're working on clearing out some undead, and also a dragon, from a town that was destroyed in a volcanic eruption. Which means that, officially, this is the most D&D of D&D games, because we encountered a dungeon in session one and a dragon in session four!

Oh, I should tell you about my character. Herp! 

Khazana is a very nice, very sheltered dwarf from somewhere to the left of screen. She's as accomplished you can be as a third level wizard, with minors in Arcana, History, and Investigation. I made her dump stat Charisma (classic, baby, classic), but I decided that she was sort of shy and sheltered instead of being the broody loner what broods in tavern. This has also resulted in me playing her as someone very out of her depth in a big, wide, new (to her) world that has lots of monsters and intrigue in it. Oh, and a really nasty young green dragon.

Speaking of the dragon...we got some insanely lucky rolls and managed to blow it out of the sky. Then gravity asserted itself and its corpse landed right on Khazana. Thanks to dwarven constitution and some temporary hit points from one of her friends, she survived! Barely!

COVID Character: Varf

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.  

Varf

Aliases: None
Pronouns: He/Him
Character Concept: Goblin jungle scout and guide
Character Stats: 8th Level (I think) Goblin Ranger
Campaign: The Slithering
System: Pathfinder, 2nd Edition
Campaign Status: Complete!

I've been switching back and forth a lot between Pathfinder 1e and Pathfinder 2e, and nothing is more jarring than seeing how differently both games handle the goblins. They go from feral, dog- and horse- spree murdering creatures with no redeeming qualities to...you know...people.

And honestly, I think goblins as people make for more interesting stories than goblins as fodder for low level PCs, so I wholeheartedly welcome the change. 

It gets very weird if you look at it from a story perspective, though. Did they stop being feral murderers? Were humans (et al) so freaking racist against goblins that even the metatext of the setting suffered for it? I don't know, and I'm not going to wade through all the wikia pages to find out, so there!

The Slithering does try to sort of address this issue in universe, which is interesting. Humans (et al) realized that they were all being super racist and apologized. But there's still tensions on Golarion that have yet to be fully addressed. These tensions are exacerbated when a mysterious disease sweeps through the City of Kibwe, transforming humans into hideous blob monsters. 

Varf was part of a party of all demi-humans tasked with learning more about the disease and how to cure it. There were asymmetrical fights every ten feet, but a few really cool set pieces that mostly made up for it. There's also a lot of nice worldbuildy information in the game that helped me (a novice to Golarion) get a better grasp on the world.

Varf mostly shot his crossbow at things, occasionally used his horsechopper (yes, they still call them horse and dog choppers) when things got too close to him, and didn't do much else of note.

Except!

The module features an early encounter with a human supremacist and his small cadre of racist acolytes. We thought he knew something about the disease, and went over to his "school" to ask him about it. He refused to talk to us until we proved that we were people. 

If you are familiar with Pathfinder 2e, this encounter resolves with one of their little minigames. You have to make (in this case) Perform, Diplomacy, or other rolls to convince this racist that you were human adjacent enough for him to help you. If you get enough successes, you win.

Varf was way too angry to play along. He told this guy that he was just as valid as anyone else, human or not, and that it wasn't his job to prove it to anyone. He certainly wasn't going to perform like a fucking trained animal for him and his slackjawed followers. The racist could not, and would not, make Varf dance for his amusement. If that meant that the party would have to learn the information elsewhere, that was just fine by him.

"And then," I said, to the laughter of the group, "I roll Diplomacy."

COVID Character: Terry

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.  

Terry

Aliases: None
Pronouns: He/Him (I think)
Character Concept: Kobold accountant and pancake enthusiast
Character Stats: 12th Level Kobold Sorcerer
Campaign: Agents of Edgewatch
System: Pathfinder, 2nd Edition
Campaign Status: Abandoned

I hopped into this campaign after the first few chapters (chronicles? adventures?) and was told that I already had a character waiting for me, if I wanted it. The character was a kobold, so of course I said yes.

In Agents of Edgewatch, the players are a bunch of rookie cops on patrol in Absalom, the Pathfinder world's largest city. This city also has a 1920s feel in places, which was a bit jarring for me. (The only other times I've played Pathfinder, it's been high fantasy).

At some point before I joined, the players befriended an NPC who the GM had provided to be a bit of local color/someone they could talk to down at the precinct. This was Terry, a kobold who either taught (or was taught, I was never sure) accounting to (or by) the players. He also seemed to have a hankering for pancakes, which, I mean, wouldn't you?

The players were surprised when Terry became an NPC and revealed that he was a high-level sorcerer in their first fight. Hello, Wall of Force. After that, the usual shenanigans ensued as we fought our way through an arena, tracked down perps, and fought a bunch of really powerful undead in the sewers beneath Absalom.

Pathfinder 2nd Edition has this problem (at least for my groups) where the game kind of implodes around 6-8th level. At about this point, monsters can hit/affect you at will and you can barely hit/affect them at all. We still won, of course, but the combats were definitely falling on the wrong side on the nail-biting versus difficult slog scale.

Even with all that, we had fun. And a bunch of unwitting NPCs died from dissing Terry.

COVID Character: Brian Debney

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.  

Brian Debney

Aliases: The New Guy
Pronouns: He/Him
Character Concept: A sensible, solid bloke and Great War Veteran
Character Stats: Investigator who is a Private Detective
Campaign: Masks of Nyarlathotep
System: Call of Cthulhu, 7th Edition
Campaign Status: Suspended, for now

Brian was the replacement investigator that I played while Catherine Planchett recuperated in a London hospital. I decided to make him a private investigator who was looking into some recent murders, although he didn't know the murders were cult related. I then had him go to Catherine's hospital room to interview her about her attack and managed to get myself invited along by the rest of the party.

Brian wound up tagging along for two of the England chapter's side missions that weren't part of the main campaign. He encountered a nice old lady in London that turned out to be a serpentperson and a nice young lady in Edale who turned out to be a ghoul. 

It turned out that he was way more helpful than I expected because, since he was a native, he had a better understanding of the lay of the land, the culture, and so forth, which was really useful. He also wasn't as hamstrung by the Customs department as his American friends, and was armed with his Webley the entire time.

Brian said goodbye to the group once Catherine got better. I thought I would never see him again, but it turns out we met up with him in our latest adventures in Kenya. On the Mountain of the Black Wind. Where he was imprisoned, out of his mind, and about to be sacrificed by the Cult of the Bloody Tongue.

That was a surprise cameo, for sure!

COVID Character: Catherine Planchett

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.  

Catherine Planchett

Aliases: None
Pronouns: She/Her
Character Concept: Upbeat, thoroughly modern girl who loves the Charleston
Character Stats: Investigator who started out as a Librarian, but become a Nurse
Campaign: Masks of Nyarlathotep
System: Call of Cthulhu, 7th Edition
Campaign Status: Suspended, for now

I love the Lackadaisy comic. So much so that I based Catherine's personality on the character of Miss Pepper. I also use the art from Miss Pepper's human reverse fursona (everyone in Lackadaisy is an anthropomorphic cat) as Catherine's character art. 

Catherine is furiously upbeat, fun, optimistic, and adventurous. I have also leaned very hard into her being an excitable tourist on all of her globetrotting investigations--to the point that I made sure to outfit her with a really good camera and regionally appropriate clothing. 

This actually resulted in a fun anecdote from our very first investigation in Peru. We knew we were going to be heading up into the Andes, and so I had a scene in which Catherine was doing deep breathing exercises to help stave off hypoxia. Then, when we finally got high enough into the mountains that we needed to make CON rolls to see how we did in the thin air...I was the only one who failed.

Catherine is fiercely loyal to her friends, and is particularly close with Nell Bergram (who jumped from the previous game to the new game). She is also more than a little bit in awe of Eliza Bergram-Porter, Nell's older sister and a super smart professor who seems to always be able to figure everything out.

I had to take a break playing Catherine for a short duration when we were having adventures in England. We got jumped by a bunch of cultists and Catherine got stabbed really badly. Her friends had to carry her to the nearest hospital while Catherine moaned in delirium and asked for, "a big glass of orange juice."

Call of Cthulhu's healing is pretty slow. While Catherine was in the hospital recovering and mooning over all the handsome, young British doctors, I made a replacement character so I could continue playing the game.

COVID Character: Morgan Bergram

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.  

Morgan Bergram, Ph.D. 

Aliases: None
Pronouns: He/Him
Character Concept: Insecure older brother and psychologist.
Character Stats: Investigator with the Psychologist career
Campaign: Mansions of Madness
System: Call of Cthulhu, 7th Edition
Campaign Status: Completed, sort of.

The next game we played after the Wild Beyond the Witchlight was Call of Cthulhu, using the standalone scenarios in the Mansions of Madness supplement. The first adventure has the investigators play characters who are all part of the same family.

So we made the Bergram siblings, five dysfunctional people who had returned to the family homestead to take care of things while (I think) mom and dad were in the hospital. While there, we noticed our across the street neighbor, Mr. Corbitt (big red flags there), had started to get deliveries of some very weird packages wrapped in medical canvas. 

I played the (I think) oldest sibling Morgan, who I played as a large, loud-mouthed, know-nothing know-it-all. He had put up this shell around his fragile ego when he realized, at an early age, that his younger sister Eliza was way smarter than he was. He continue to compete with her over the course of the game, quietly frustrated that Eliza had not only gotten married (and had been, sadly, widowed), but was a tenured professor at Miskatonic, while he was a bachelor and a clinical psychologist.

His other siblings included:

• Bennie, a fireman who was slightly out of his mind before the start of the game.
• Howie, a Great War veteran and a writer of horror fiction that Morgan always enjoyed overanalyzing.
• Nell, a rootless young lady who traveled the world doing archaeology.

We played through two of the scenarios in Mansions of Madness before abandoning that supplement to start playing another, differenter Call of Cthulhu campaign. Morgan--insufferable dingus that he was--did not make the jump, but his kid sisters did!

COVID Character: Argentus St. Huber

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing.  

Argentus St. Huber 

Aliases: None
Pronouns: He/Him
Character Concept: On the run from his former associates, a dangerous gang of rabbit bandits.
Character Stats: 7th Level Harengon Monk, Way of Shadow
Campaign: The Wild Beyond the Witchlight
System: D&D 5e
Campaign Status: Completed, and by this character!

As mentioned in my previous post, I had increasing difficulty playing the very upbeat Weetle across from some of the very bad and upsetting things going on in the Feywild. I told my DM that I wanted to make a new character, but that I also wanted to make that new character fit in with the setting so that it wasn't too weird.

Enter Argentus, whose name is a pretty glorious reference if you know anything about rabbits. He is also a lop-eared bunny, but Heroforge doesn't let you make lop ears, so he's wearing a hood, instead.

I'll try to tell Argentus' story with as few spoilers as possible: During the campaign, our party encountered a band of harengon brigands who are surprisingly vicious. We survived the encounter, but had a sort of respect/utter hatred from them ever since.

I was very entertained at the prospect of playing a rabbit person, so I decided that Argentus had a change of heart and decided to leave brigandry behind. He just so happened to be in the process of...ahem...borrowing a rowboat when the rest of the party showed up. After a tense back and forth, they decided to take him along.

I don't usually powergame (and frequently do the opposite of minmaxing called "maxmining"), but I accidentally made a pretty broken build with Argentus. Harengon can jump around a lot without provoking attacks of opportunity. All that movement, plus taking the Way of Shadow, makes for a pretty powerful monk. Many foes fell to my fuzzy fists of fury, I can tell you!

COVID Character: Weetle!

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing. 

Weetle!

Aliases: None
Pronouns: She/Her
Character Concept: Just the nicest, most upbeat gnome you've ever met.
Character Stats: 3rd Level Gnome Ranger
Campaign: The Wild Beyond the Witchlight
System: D&D 5e
Campaign Status: Completed, but not by this character!

I got invited to play the very Fae-heavy "The Wild Beyond the Witchlight" campaign, and so I tried to play a character that I thought was well out of my wheelhouse. I tend to play characters fairly cautiously, being an old and well-seasoned gamer, and I figured something as whimsical as this campaign might not be the best place for that sort of attitude.

Thus, Weetle, a very cheery, happy-go-lucky gnome and Pidgey, her little birdy friend. She said yes to almost anything, threw herself into some ridiculous situations, and was just super jazzed to be doing stuff with her new friends!

I think that Weetle's niche was the first chapter of the campaign, which is set in a fairy carnival. Weetle played all the games, ate all the foods, went on all the rides, and had a ton of fun. She even used her speak with animals abilities to encourage her riding snail in the snail races. As a result, she was voted the Queen of the Fair, and got herself some sweet temporary powers to go along with it.

I found her a little harder to play once we got into the Feywild and the campaign started to get somewhat darker. It's hard to be cheerful all the time when a bunch of hags are doing terrible stuff to people. After a while, I realized I couldn't maintain the characterization, so I had to let her go and play something a bit closer to type.

Which is the next character in this series!

COVID Character: Tezz Videka

Since the start of the pandemic, I have played more role-playing games than I ever have before. I thought I'd use my space to introduce you to my characters, and give you a little background about the system they're in, what they're like, and what they're doing. 

Tezz Videka

Aliases: None
Pronouns: She/Her
Character Concept: Street rat trying to make something of herself
Character Stats: 5th Level Half-Orc Arcane Trickster (Acolyte Background)
Campaign: I don't know that it had a name!
System: D&D 5e
Campaign Status: Suspended

 

Tezz grew up on the mean streets of a city that is at least a hundred miles in diameter. She was eventually taken in and cared for by a mission house run by a religious order. They helped her get on her feet and figure her life out, so she decided to pay them back by joining the order and helping other people like her.

 

When the city was sacked by a massive horde of undead, Tezz and her friends went out into the frontier to search for answers. They eventually realized that the undead horde was marching on the dwarven lands to the north. Tezz and her companions pushed themselves to the brink of exhaustion trying to get ahead of the army and warn the dwarves in time.

 

There was also some stuff with a friendly, flighty elf wizard who rode around on an undead bugbear, and also magical items that were bonded to us that would destroy other magical items that we picked up. Mine was a cloak!

Arcane Trickster is a funny subclass, because you can use Mage Hand to distract your opponent and give yourself the ability to make a Sneak Attack, even if there's no one else around. I liked to imagine that I was giving wet willies to skeletons and zombies.