Should I Start Up My Character Conversions Once Again?

I've been creating RPG content for quite a number of years, now. I've worked for companies big and small, I've dabbled in half a dozen systems, added to existing settings, and made one of my own. However, if I look back to where it all got started, I can trace my career (such as it is) back to my Character Conversions project... something that started as a lark, but became something more.

You never know the places you'll go.

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How It All Got Started

This whole, sordid tale actually goes back to one of my earliest gaming stories, Don't Ever Field a One-Eyed Dragon. During the course of this game there was something of an arms race between myself and the GM, who had a bad habit of letting far more players than he could handle join the table, and then scrambling to come up with appropriate challenges for that many adventurers. This led to my acquiring a cohort via the Leadership feat, and I built him using one of the earlier drafts of my Incredible Hulk character conversion guide. I enjoyed the character so much (and there were so many shenanigans) that I turned the build I'd used into an early draft of that guide, and threw it online on a website called Associated Content that hasn't been around for a long, long time.

And folks really liked that guide. So much so that I was getting a dozen or more requests for other characters. That was when I realized I might have opened up a Pandora's box; I could either struggle to close it, or throw the lid wide open and see where it went.

I went with the latter option, for those who are curious.

The first thing I did was put together other members of the Avengers, such as Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Thor. I spiraled out from there, touching on characters from the DC Universe, Game of Thrones, figures from history, horror movies, action films, and toward the end of my active run, from the Warhammer 40K universe. The project currently has about 60 or so guides in it, and it spans more than 6 years. Not only that, but it was started on Associated Content, which then became Yahoo! Voices. That site closed and I started moving the guides to HubPages, but Google banned my AdSense profile, so I was no longer allowed to make money with that site. I moved them to InfoBarrel, which is also now defunct, and eventually they found a new home over on Vocal.

That was a lot of work to both move the old guides (which were updated and remastered when they went up on Vocal), but I can honestly say that without them I probably wouldn't have half the career I do today as a game designer. It was these guides that got me noticed by Azukail Games, who is the primary publisher I work with. It's also what got me a gig with Louis Porter Junior when I put together the entry Lucia Krille: Enemies of NeoExodus, which was a direct riff on the character of Absorbing Man from Marvel Comics.

One frustrating thing about this project, though, is that every time it started getting close to really building momentum, something went wrong. Just as my Gotham guides were really getting a lot of attention, Yahoo! decided to deep six the site, which sent my searchability plummeting. I got half of them back up on HubPages, and then they were no longer allowed to pay my bills. I got them on InfoBarrel, and a site update that was never fixed tanked both creator tools, and made articles almost impossible to find via a search. Then I got them all up on Vocal, and Pathfinder announced a new edition was coming out, telling me that once more the project's days were numbered.

Would Readers Like To See It Return?

While there have been a couple of updates to the project, such as my guides for The Mandalorian, or the soldiers of 40k's Death Korps of Krieg, my character conversions have more or less been in cold storage for 2022. And the reason for that has been, honestly, new installments just didn't get the views I needed to justify the time, energy, and effort to keep the hits coming. For context, I make $6 for every 1,000 reads an article gets. When guides were getting 5k reads, I was more than happy to spend the 2+ hours it takes to put them together. When they get 250 reads, though, not so much.

With that said, writing these guides is something I did long enough that I sort of miss it now... so I figured I'd ask if it's something my readers would like to see make one more triumphant return?

There are, however, some provisos here.

Before anyone leaves a comment below, or on social media where you found this link, I want to make something clear. If I do bring this project back and start adding to it once again, I will more than likely continue these write ups in Pathfinder Classic. While it's possible to write some guides for DND 5E, I do not have access to the material for that edition (it doesn't have a complete SRD like Pathfinder does), and I feel that it is much too limited, mechanically, for the sorts of tricks and tips that I feel is necessary for the deep dive into a character's abilities that is the series' main selling point. While it might be possible to start making guides for Pathfinder's second edition, I am extremely reluctant to do so. I did not care for the playtest, and while there were changes made afterward, none of them served to make me eager to create anything for that system the more I read about its finalized version.

With that said, if there's folks who want to sponsor guides for particular characters in a particular edition, I'm always happy to listen to business proposals. But I wanted to be clear about the direction that I would take things if left to my own devices so that folks know what they're supporting/asking for.

If you're still with me, there are a couple of things I would like you to do in order to help let me know this is a project you want to come back:

- Leave a Comment: Either below or on social media is fine, just put it somewhere I'll see it. Feel free to make a character request in your comment if I haven't covered them yet!

- Share a Guide: Increased traffic is what really gets my attention. So share which guide you like best, or just the Character Conversion master list to help get it seen by folks.

That's it!

I'll be reading the comments and checking the numbers. If enough people are willing to help me break the seal and take this one out of cold storage, then it's something I'm happy to do in the coming months!

Lastly, if you're someone who's been thinking about trying their hand at writing a character conversion, I'd recommend reading through Tips For Writing RPG Character Conversions. I basically boiled down my process, what I learned, and how I was able to keep things going as long as I did.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Wolverine is a Case Study For Elven Barbarians

The bar was tense as the armored men fanned out. They kept their hands near their weapons as they went from table to table, pulling back hoods or snatching chins, turning patrons' faces into the light. Once they were sure the person wasn't who they sought, they moved onto the next.

"We seek one called Grimtooth," the captain said, watching the reactions of the room. "Reports told us he was nearby. Those who know where he is will be rewarded if they step forward, and guide us to him."

"He's just a myth," a man said, shaking himself out of one of the soldier's grips. "A story told to children."

"Every story has some truth at its heart," the captain said, though not unkindly. "So it is with this one. We have hunted him long, and his crimes are too numerous to count. If you know nothing, then stand aside and leave us to our business."

The corner was dim, but a figure lounged there. He had the relaxed posture of a hunting cat, one hand wrapped around a bottle. The fingers were slender, but strong, the knuckles covered in a network of scars. A pipe smoldered on a cracked, clay plate. The captain nodded at his enforcer, a huge man whose armor strained at the seams, gesturing him toward the back of the bar with one hand. The man grunted acknowledgement, and stalked forward, his hand outstretched toward the drunk.

"You better ask yourself how bad you want to keep that hand," the shadowy figure said, as pleasantly as if he were discussing the weather.

Everything seemed to happen at once. The shadow lashed out, kicking a chair forward. It smashed into the soldier's knees, making him stumble. The scarred, slender hand wrapped around the soldier's wrist like a vise, yanking him forward. His cry was cut short as the corner of the table rammed into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. His gasping turned into a strangled yowling as steel flashed, and a blade rammed through his wrist, pinning his arm to the table. Blood sprayed, and the shadow paused for a moment to let what he'd just done sink in. Then he wrenched the dagger out, and kicked the soldier in the side of the head. He went down like an ox, his skull thunking against the flagstones.

The shadow stood, and the firelight played across his features. His face was drawn, and his dark eyes far too large for a human visage. His ears were long, one pointed, and the other notched from an ancient arrow wound. His hair was long and tangled, like a hunting beast, and the muscles beneath his skin moved like they were made of steel cables. He flicked a gaze over the others, and blinked once. It seemed as if he read all they were, and all they could do, in that moment.

"Sarassan guard," he drawled, stretching his neck till it popped. "Your founders weren't worth much when I taught them the soldier's trade, and you can't even add up to that. You know what's good for you, you'll pick up this ox and leave. While I'm still in a good mood."

You ain't ready for this, boys.

A Template For The Elven Barbarian

One of the constant refrains you'll hear from many players is that you simply cannot mesh X race with Y class, even if there is nothing in the rules that supports this opinion. And while the discussion shifts from one game to another, one of the biggest targets for these arguments is the elven barbarian.

Even if you're playing an edition where elves don't get a negative to their Constitution score, it can seem like a contradiction. Especially if the image you have of elves in your head is Tolkien's ideal, where they represent faded glory, refinement, elegance, and the grandeur of a lost age. Though even in these circumstances, the old fire raging up and refusing to go quietly into the good night is still an interesting character in and of itself.

While the whole conversation about what elves can be used to represent, and how they play in a given setting is an interesting one, something that I think helps the discussion is to find a pop culture representation of an idea or concept that can act as a basis for execution in game. And those looking for an elven barbarian need look no further than one of the most infamous mutants in the Marvel Universe.

Let's run some numbers, shall we?

Though the canon of the character is somewhat scattershot, we know that Logan's early years were spent as a child of privilege. He was educated, and taught many of the finer things in life. After his father was murdered, and he killed a man in defense of himself, he fled to the frontier. Out there he grew hard, adopting the rough ways of miners, hunters, and trappers. He became a soldier, fighting in both World Wars, but he's also adopted several foreign cultures, volunteered for secret experiments, and been around the world a dozen times in the (at least) two centuries since he was born.

And though Wolverine as a character seems simple at a glance (he's a snarling, brooding hardass with a shady history), we get occasional glimpses of his strange, checkered past and unusual legacy. From correcting scholars on the proper origin of a katana forged over a century ago whose original polishing was done with his own two hands, to speaking nearly lost dialects of foreign languages, to major world events he was in the background of, to important persons that he first met when they were young adventurers themselves, there's always more to him lurking just off screen.

If that sort of story doesn't inspire you, then I don't know what will.

Mechanics Can Always Be Overcome

Regarding the arguments of mechanical penalties and ideal builds, there is always a way to overcome an issue, or to nullify a negative. I'm not talking about re-writing the game or begging a boon from the GM either; I'm just talking about ensuring that you take the proper precautions to deal with the negative aspects of your character's build.

I put my high scores in Charisma... I'm not really cut out for this story...

Even if elves take a negative to Constitution (or simply don't receive a bonus to it, depending on your game and edition), you can overcome that. Whether it's through natural attribute bumps as the game progresses, taking the right feats (if you're a 5E player), acquiring the right magic items, etc., there's almost always a way to overcome a negative. You might have to work harder to boost your Strength score over your Dexterity, or you may need to tweak your background in order to get an extra bump to essential skills and tricks, but the point is that unless the game expressly says you cannot combine X and Y, then you should feel free to make the character you want.

Whether it's an orc wizard, a halfling cavalry fighter, an aasimar necromancer, or an elven barbarian, if the rules don't actually stop you from doing it then all you have to do is explain the series of events that led your character to become what they are.

It's that simple.

EDIT: In the time since this came out my Species of Sundara: Elves book has dropped in both a Pathfinder version and a DND 5E version. The warriors of the Rashar, with their steely eyes and fast-healing flesh, are an ideal template for those looking to take this concept just a little bit further!

Also, for those who want to make sure they don't miss any of my upcoming releases, make sure you sign up for my weekly newsletter! You might also want to give the following articles a read through if you're looking to build yourself some better barbarians in the coming games:

- 5 Tips For Playing Better Barbarians

- 50 Shades of Rage: Flavoring The Barbarian's Signature Class Feature

- The Failure of Imagination

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned For More!

That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a game master.

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my most recent collection of short stories The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

All Games Are Inherently Political

Of all the phrases I've grown to hate over my years of gaming, there is one in particular that makes me sigh. It is a phrase that lets me know I'm in for a long, and often frustrating discussion. And, many times, it's a phrase that lets me know that this person is not someone I'd enjoy having at my table.

What's that phrase, you ask?

"Get your politics out of my game!"

Pictured: The kind of character this protester often plays, perhaps missing the irony.

The problem here, for those who are wondering, is that there is no such thing as a non-political RPG. Roleplaying games, by their very nature, have messages in them. Those messages convey meaning, establish themes, and generally speaking are what provide the context for the story we're all telling, here.

Because of that, all games are inherently political in some way, shape, or form. And I'd take that one step further to say that most forms of art (especially things we geeks love like movies, comics, sci-fi and fantasy novels, etc.) are also inherently political.

Do You Remember Stan's Soapbox?

Though it will likely cause all of us pain, I'd like to talk about Stan Lee for a minute. Because while we can argue about the man versus the persona, and the nature of an artist and their legacies, one thing that Stan made very clear was that he and many of the artists he worked with at Marvel were sending very clear, direct messages with the stories they told. From Spider-Man's lessons on power and responsibility, to the X-Men's civil rights metaphor, to Black Panther beating the holy hell out of a white-clad hate group, Marvel's stories were not shy about their politics.

And for people who missed it, or who thought they might have been accidental, there was the handy little feature of Stan's Soapbox.

No gray areas, no miscommunication.

Stan Lee, and other creators, felt that these messages were important enough that they needed to be spelled out in plain English once the story about super-powered men and women in Lycra costumes was over. Because, at the end of the day, they had things they wanted you to take away when you closed the rear cover of that comic book.

That tradition hasn't stopped with the modern iterations of Marvel's comics and films, by the by. Captain Marvel is one of the biggest successes they've had in a while, and the story it tells is about a woman who breaks free from a controlling relationship filled with lies and gaslighting to embrace who she really is. Something with a lot of parallels to Jessica Jones, I'd add. Guardians of The Galaxy tells a story of the importance of personal connection to others like yourself, showing that being adopted (even under odd or unusual circumstances) doesn't make you any less of a family. And, of course, Captain America: The Winter Soldier came out pretty heavily against a surveillance/police state.

Just for a few examples.

But What Does This Have To Do With Gaming?

You can pick up practically any play, any novel, and any game, and find messages like this lurking just under the skin. All you need to do is look at who the heroes are, who the villains are, and what the conflict is over. Are ugly creatures viewed as inherently monstrous and deserving of death, or do we find that orcs, goblins, ogres, and others have a vibrant culture and drive to survive past all the war paint and skulls? Is racism seen as tolerable as long as it's against elves or gnomes, or is that prejudice used to clearly mark someone who is backwards at best, and a villain at worst? Is enchantment seen as an appropriate, non-lethal way to end a conflict, or is its ability to violate someone's mind and consent seen as an art practiced only by the wicked?

Do traditional paladins define what is unquestionably good just by existing?

All of those messages, and many more, are coded into our games. Even if we're not thinking about them. And, generally speaking, players will accept those political points without question. Even defending them virtuously in-game, if they're heroes. Yet for some reason they'll suddenly roll their eyes if, say, a game includes the message of, "Being gay is all right," or, "Humans come in multiple ethnicities, and confining them to imaginary borders on a map makes no sense in a world where immigration is a reality."

Sure, those are political messages in a game. However, it's no more political than the belief that those with magic should be the ruling faction of a nation, or that chattel slavery is wrong and should be smashed at every opportunity. All of these things are inherently political (and dare we say it, moral and philosophical) points that show up in our games, and that's been true since the first dice were ever rolled in an RPG.

Don't Duck The Subject

If you disagree with a particular message in a game, that's fine. I'd even go so far as to say that's great. However, simply demanding that people keep politics out of a game doesn't help, because it would mean staring at a blank piece of paper. Instead, explain why you feel this particular political statement should be kept out of a game, or why you feel it should be altered in some way for the game to better fit your desires as a player.

We do this all the damn time. Sometimes a DM will do it by making certain creatures inherently evil and corrupt, so that slaying them is always a righteous act rather than a callous case of murder. Or players will make it clear that they feel violence is not the answer to problems by always trying to use Diplomacy or Intimidate before actually drawing their weapons. So if you feel that a certain issue doesn't belong in an RPG, you should feel free to say which issue, and why you feel that way.

But just saying, "Ugh, why is everything so political now?" does nothing but make other people think you haven't been wearing your critical thinking hat this whole time.

Speaking of Messages...

As a brief aside, I wanted to let all you fine folks out there know that I recently put together my first gaming supplement with High Level Games! It's a supplement for Werewolf the Apocalypse titled 100 Get of Fenris Kinfolk. And since we're talking about messages in our games and art, I thought I'd provide everyone a sneak preview of the message I wanted to send with this piece by giving you the description of the first NPC in this list.

Sigurd “Ziggy” Bowers: A towering black man whose roots are just starting to go gray, Zig runs one of the most successful outlaw tattoo parlors in upstate New York. His whole life, Zig was pushed to use his size and strength to its best possible end, making him a fiercely competitive boxer, and a champion weightlifter on the amateur circuit. Mostly retired from competition, he’s been known to throw down when provoked. While he sports a great deal of ink, those who see him in his working vest can’t miss the prominent runes across his chest that read, “Fuck Off Nazi Scum.”

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday installment! Hopefully it gave folks plenty of things to talk about.

For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, as well as the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or, if you're more interested in books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, head over to My Amazon Author Page instead.

To stay on top of all my latest releases, you can follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest, too. To help support me consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! If you do that, you'll be able to get in my regular, monthly giveaways as well as knowing you're doing your part to help keep this blog going.

Where Dr. Strange's Somatic Components REALLY Came From

If you've seen Doctor Strange (and really, who hasn't at this point?) chances are good you walked out of the theater with a serious Jones to play a spellcaster. Part of that was the great performances of the cast, and part of it was probably because of all the work that had been put in to really sell the spells. Not just the great SFX efforts that went into the production, but the choreography that went into making the spells actually look like something the casters were putting real effort into.

You know what I'm talking about.

If the hand motions used by the Sorcerer Supreme and his fellow magic users look familiar, they should. The movements are called tutting, of finger tutting, and the style is closely associated with street dance. Even if you're not part of that scene, though, you've seen tutting in the Samsung commercial "Unleash Your Fingers". You also saw the choreographer for Doctor Strange if you've seen that particular viral ad. His name is Julian Daniels, but his performing handle is Jay Funk, and you can see more awesome examples of his work on his YouTube page.

He was also the man in the opening scene of the film who forms the magic whip, according to director Scott Derrickson.

Sell The Magic, You Sell The Story

One of the things Derrickson said about Dr. Strange was that he didn't want the magic to feel like anything audiences had seen on-screen before. You know, the usual flick of the wrist, a single word, and then you get a result. The magic in Doctor Strange had to feel old, the techniques and devices steeped in tradition and ancient knowledge. They also had to feel like something that could have existed in secret in the modern world Marvel has been building. And though it's a relatively small detail, these gestures are something that really makes the adherents stand out.

In a good way.

As I brought up previously in What Do Your Verbal and Somatic Components Look Like?, the more effort you put in to stand out, and be unique, the more it feels like you aren't just casting out-of-the-book spells. Just like every swordsman has a unique style, and every brawler has her own approach, your spell components are what reflect your character's unique magical tradition. Because while the effects of the spells may be universal, what you do to create them can make your character really stand out.

And, of course, if you want some simple performance art that you can do without disrupting the table, finger tutting is always an option.

That's all for this week's installment of Moon Pope Monday. If you'd like to support Improved Initiative so I can keep content just like this coming right to your screen, then drop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page. As little as $1 a month can make a big difference, and you get some sweet swag if you put at least that much bread in my jar. Lastly, if you haven't followed me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter yet, well, why not start now?

Would You Like To See More Pathfinder Character Conversions?

As my regular readers know, I have a side feature where I write two Pathfinder character conversion guides every month. Whether it's Tyrion Lannister, The Winter Soldier, or even Harley Quinn, I provide a full guide that starts with your attributes, race, and traits, and goes all the way through classes, feats, special powers, and other ear marks players can use to translate these character from their original mediums and into the Pathfinder RPG.

As of right now, I have 40 different character guides sitting pretty on my Character Conversions page.

Seriously, it's a rather crazy amount of conversions.

Now, overall, the response to my conversions articles has been positive. I write them with players in mind, and I keep to the Paizo rules without including any third-party books or wonky house rules. They're useful for DMs, too, in the event you want a ready-made bad guy like Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane, or Killer Croc to throw at your players.

However, I'm running into a bit of a problem, and it's a problem I'd like to ask all my readers for help on.

If A Tree Falls in The Forest...

This project started as a one-off post when I wrote up a character guide for building The Incredible Hulk, showing how I had brought the green goliath as a cohort in a game I was playing. That was three years ago. The response from my readers was so popular that I wrote guides for the rest of the movie Avengers, and Loki as well. People seemed to really like it, so I kept up on the project, trying to put up at least one new character conversion every month.

The problem I'm running into isn't that I'm running out of characters or ideas (I could, in all likelihood, keep this feature going as long as there are people playing Pathfinder). The problem I'm running into is that the amount of response the articles is diminishing, and it's a little overwhelming when compared to the amount of time and effort that goes into researching and writing them.

This is the part where you all get to be big damn heroes.

 

 If you're a fan of my character conversions, even if you just found out about them, here's what I'd like you to do right now.

- Click over to my Character Conversions page.

- Find a character conversion article that you like.

- Share that character conversion on your social media pages (Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, etc.).

And... that's it, really. If you can help me spread the word about my character conversions by telling your friends, fellow players, DMs, and if we can get some of those fine folks to like and share them as well, then I'll be able to keep giving them the care and attention you've come to expect (since it's the traffic that pays the bills around these parts). And, best of all, this doesn't require anything from you but time, and a little effort.

Oh, and before I forget, you might also enjoy some of the other bonus gaming articles I've been putting out. As of time of writing, they include:

- 5 Tips For Playing Better Paladins
- 50 Shades of Rage: Flavoring The Barbarian's Signature Power
- Table Attorneys Vs. Rules Lawyers: How To Be Fair Without Bogging Down Your Game

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed, and if you've used run these kinds of games before, leave us a comment to let us know what worked for you!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!