Sample file ORG2 - Oldskull Rogues Gallery II Sample file Courage can only find dragons. But chaos, and unpredictability, can slay. KENT DAVID KELLY (DARKSERAPHIM) — WONDERLAND IMPRINTS 2 ORG2 - Oldskull Rogues Gallery II ~ UNOFFICIAL OLD SCHOOL MODULE ~ ORG2 CHARACTER RESOURCE OLDSKULL ROGUES GALLERY II ~ BEING A CELEBRATION OF RANDOM CHARACTERSample file CREATION IN DIRECT MOCKERY OF POWER HUNGRY MIN-MAXING BUILD MUNCHKINS ~ OSR KENT DAVID KELLY (DARKSERAPHIM) — WONDERLAND IMPRINTS 3 ORG2 - Oldskull Rogues Gallery II ~ BY ~ KENT DAVID KELLY Author Of SPAWNING POOL OF THE ELDER THINGS CASTLE OLDSKULL HAWK & MOOR Illustrated By EDWIN AUSTIN ABBEY, HEINRICH ALDEGREVER, ALBERT ANKER, HANS BURGKMAIR, HARRY CLARKE, GUSTAV ADOLFSample CLOSS, file JOHN COLLIER, GUSTAVE DORÉ, HENRY J. FORD, ANDRE MARTIN GAUTHEREAU, F. GILBERT, ARTHUR RACKHAM, ALFRED RETHEL, WILLIAM HEATH ROBINSON, LANCELOT SPEED, JOHN VINYCOMB, & CHRISTIAN VON MECHEL WONDERLAND IMPRINTS MMXVII KENT DAVID KELLY (DARKSERAPHIM) — WONDERLAND IMPRINTS 4 ORG2 - Oldskull Rogues Gallery II Published in the U.S.A. First American edition, January 2017 (C) 2017 Kent David Kelly Wonderland Imprints Aurora, Colorado Only the Finest Works of Fantasy Document Version 1.0 – January 2017 DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Forgotten Realms, the dragon ampersand, and all other Wizards of the Coast product names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other countries. This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. All other original material in this work is copyright 2016 by Kent David Kelly and published under the Community Content Agreement for Dungeon Masters Guild. Sample file KENT DAVID KELLY (DARKSERAPHIM) — WONDERLAND IMPRINTS 5 ORG2 - Oldskull Rogues Gallery II DESCRIPTION Tired of laboriously building 5E Player Characters? Roll once, read this book, and come up with the most interesting character you’ve played in years. The Fifth Edition of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is one of the best editions of the game ever created. However, the sheer over-reliance on careful point-driven character “builds” over the last 16 years has removed one of the most entertaining and fundamentally Gygaxian aspects of the original game: rolling up random ability scores to create an unexpected character concept. The problem is easy to rectify: Roll 4D6 for each ability, and remove the lowest scores. But it takes a fair amount of time, and there’s no real guidance for random role-playing ideas to support unexpected results. So this book includes 100 unique level 1 characters, ready to go. They have all been randomly generated using Kent David Kelly’sSample proprietary file level 1 CharGen utility — to be released soon by Wonderland Imprints — which draws on historical and pulp fantasy research to generate millions of great unique character names, from Jolza Grimarrow the Judicious, to Aelia Gratidia the Strengthless. Each character also has unique descriptors (from a list of over 1,000) to turn numeric ability scores into role-playing hooks: Mighty, Disciplined, Forgetful, Clumsy, Barbaric, Perceptive, and so forth. This book and its companion volume, ORG1 ~ OLDSKULL ROGUES GALLERY 1, each feature separate cohorts of 100 unique characters. If you own both, you will have 200 characters to choose from! (Book 1 features many spell casters; this one features many warriors.) Characters in this supplement also have their starting hit points and starting gold calculated, along with recommended gender, alignment, optimal class KENT DAVID KELLY (DARKSERAPHIM) — WONDERLAND IMPRINTS 6 ORG2 - Oldskull Rogues Gallery II (calculated from ability score thresholds), and survivability rating. Just roll 1D100 once, and instantly generate 23 unique pieces of information to drive your next amazing character concept. I guarantee you will be pleased, surprised, and amused by the results! All profusely illustrated, and at a great price. From Wonderland Imprints — Only the Finest Works of Fantasy. Sample file KENT DAVID KELLY (DARKSERAPHIM) — WONDERLAND IMPRINTS 7 ORG2 - Oldskull Rogues Gallery II Sample file Any rogue can be a hero. Welcome, one and all! However many of us may fall, More are sure to come. KENT DAVID KELLY (DARKSERAPHIM) — WONDERLAND IMPRINTS 8 ORG2 - Oldskull Rogues Gallery II INTRODUCTION: EMBRACE THE MADNESS Welcome to volume one of the OLDSKULL ROGUES GALLERY, an old school supplement series designed to bring randomly-created level 1 character concepts in full force, back into the 5th Edition of the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game. In the current era, players tend to be very “build-focused.” Players typically either use a point buy system to select specific attributes — Strength 18, Charisma 6, and so forth — with the goal of min-maxing their character’s power while they plan for a future archetype or skill set. Or, they use predesignated ability scores as provided in the 5E PLAYERS HANDBOOK to build balanced characters with decently high ability scores, predictable capabilities, and no real weaknesses or surprises whatsoever. The advantage of this approach is that players are always utilizing a character “build” that they are comfortable with, thereby experiencing the game in accordance with a predeterminedSample notion offile their character’s ability, potential, and survival expectations. The disadvantages, however, are many: There are twelve character classes in the game, but most players only deeply focus on 1 or 2 to the exclusion of all others. Or, players select a class they want to play “next,” meaning they are subconsciously cutting all of the other classes out of consideration. Random ability scores, the very foundation of the game as it was created in 1972-1974, are scarcely used at all. This means that Player Characters never have unexpected weaknesses, yes; but it also means that they do not possess unexpected strengths or unusually low-and-high ability pairings either. KENT DAVID KELLY (DARKSERAPHIM) — WONDERLAND IMPRINTS 9 ORG2 - Oldskull Rogues Gallery II Of the dozens of races in the game, players rarely experiment outside of their own comfort zone. For example, a player who focuses on humans, elves, and half-elves while envisioning character concepts will almost never willingly play a gnome or a halfling for any length of time. When players are dealing time and again with very similar PC concepts, they are rarely made to role-play unexpected character types. There are very few elderly characters, insane characters, opposite-sex characters, characters of a surprising alignment, completely bizarre characters out of left field, and so forth. In short, players who rely solely on the comfort of “builds” never challenge themselves with the pure chaos inherent in random character generation. This removes a lot of the potential color from the game. And really, this isn’t the way it should be: When players exclusively use point builds and fully-controlled ability score selection methods to the exclusion of random generation, the game loses a significant amount of its old school flavor. Characters become generic, predictable, unvarying, and often simply boring. You may feel safe when you always know that Bob will be the cleric, Sally will play an elf, and Tom’s Forgotten Realms human will be neutral good and ready to collaborate with the other two. But what instead if Bob rolled up a chaotic neutral halfling monk named Bungo the Destroyer, Sally played a Sampleparastite-infested file male dwarf necromancer with digestive problems, and Tom played an insane crippled dragonborn druid out to conquer the world? How could not that make for a fun and memorable game? In short, I challenge you to roll your next level 1 character completely at random, using this book as your principle guide into the realms of playable madness. This book has been designed to provide you with 100 random character ideas of all classes, races, genders, and wild ability score spreads, so that the game’s full role-playing potential spectrum is exemplified in an easily accessible format. KENT DAVID KELLY (DARKSERAPHIM) — WONDERLAND IMPRINTS 10 ORG2 - Oldskull Rogues Gallery II Randomness is not the only major feature of the OLDSKULL ROGUES GALLERY, however. Herein you will also find the following: Researched Name Quality and Density. Historically-researched medieval names, giving you fascinating and reality-based names from England, France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, and so forth. Names are not just appropriately male or female, but researched family names are provided as well. Shout Outs to the Golden Age. Many pulp fantasy bloodline names are included as well, with flavors from Conan’s Hyboria, Greyhawk, Melnibone, Nehwon, Pegana, the Gygaxian Lake Geneva campaign, and more. Great Epithets for Instant Inspiration. Every character has an epithet, or nickname, which is derived from either the character’s highest ability score (an advantage), lowest ability score (a disadvantage), or alignment (a behavioral characteristic). These are quick role-playing hooks which you can use as inspiration to develop a unique character concept. Having a character with a good name is one thing; but when the character also has a memorable epithet, such as the Slithy, the Vile, the Entrancer, or the Skull Crusher, you will findSample yourself writingfile up a short character sketch simply to justify the evocative title. This is the first step to unique character individualization. Ability Descriptors Bring Strange Characters to Life. Further, every ability score is given a descriptor (adjective) to help you envision and define it. Knowing that a character is STR 9, DEX 11, CON 14, INT 17, WIS 16, and CHA 10 is useful; but when you know that the true character concept is STR 9 (gaunt), DEX 11 (well-balanced), CON 14 (good resistance), INT 17 (near-genius), WIS 16 (sophic and sagacious) and CHA 10 (plain), you suddenly have a much clearer picture of your surprising character’s powers, flaws, and mental disposition. Room to Grow.