How Is Your Party Connected?

The dread necromancer Elara Shann, wreathed in funerary black. Kurdack Deadhand, a hulking orc-blooded brigand that's Wanted in seven nations. Litana Veil, Voice of the Queen of Shadows. Vor, the red-skinned devil speaker born from the ancient Rite of Conjunction beneath the darkened moon. While each of these characters might be interesting on their own, each with their own backstories like what you'd find in The Small Legend, it's important to ask how it is they all know one another, and what brings them together in this endeavor?

Because that knowledge can make your campaign go a lot more smoothly... and sometimes it can be funny as hell!

It has been some time, my old friend. I suppose I have one more adventure in me.

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Who Are You Adventuring Beside... And Why?

Campaigns take a wide variety of forms. From glorified bank heists, to tracking down dangerous bounties, to fighting cults and stopping ancient prophecies, so-called adventurers tackle all sorts of deadly tasks that are beyond the skills of any single individual. The question you should ask, though, is when you need to deal with a dragon problem, or root out a roost of manticores, who are you going to ask to come along on this errand with you?

Because that can be an interesting story all on its own!

Ragnar, you old sot! Remember that favor you said you owed me...?

On the one hand, we can have the vague, fill-in backstories to justify the party coming together. Perhaps a local lord put out the word for adventurers to deal with an infestation of the undead, the party were all taken captive by slavers and they band together to free themselves, or they all happened to be in the local tavern when something happened that required them to leap into action. And if the players around the table are willing to take the plot hooks dangled in front of them, this can work fairly well.

But consider what additional story could be made by creating the bonds between the characters in order to create extra context and story. For folks who don't usually try this method, the best way to do this is by examining what things the characters have in common, or what things might act as a bond between them.

As an example, consider a party where all the characters have a missing father. Maybe that was done intentionally, and maybe it wasn't, but it's a commonality with them. Is it possible that all of them have the same father, and they're looking for him? If you want to play into a silly stereotype, said father might be a wandering bard who moved on from town before realizing his previous partners had fallen pregnant. And each of his children has a very different tale to tell, from the half-elf wizard whose mother described him as learned and quick, to the half-orc fighter whose was told her father was a fierce champion with a battle cry that could banish fear and a rage that couldn't be matched, to the farm girl paladin who was told her father was the most handsome man who ever graced the village, and that he'd sung the dead back into their graves when they wouldn't lie still. Each tale is true, in its way, but each paints the man in a very different light... and when the siblings find each other, they have a chance to find more than just their absent father. Bonus points for him being the BBEG of the game!

Come my children... join me, and together we can rule!

Things don't have to be so explicit and overlapping, of course. Characters might have an individual connection to one another, and it becomes a game of tag along. For instance, one character might be a noble born wizard, and when attacks from raiders harry the border of his family's lands, he's bound by honor and duty to go stop it. However, he knows going alone is a death sentence, so he asks his father's Mistress of The Hunt to come with him. The ranger understands the danger, so she reaches out to a warrior she served with in the army. The fighter has a bit of a limp and several scars, but he agrees to come with on one condition... the wizard gets a pardon for his half brother. The half-elf rogue has been rotting in jail for months, but jumps at a chance at freedom, even if it's a dangerous one... and his partial sibling will be keeping an eye on him the whole time.

In this scenario, all the characters are still highly motivated to deal with the problem that's been presented, and each of them has a connection to at least one other player character that's strong enough to solidify them as a member of the party. However, this still allows them to form impressions, roleplay organically, and come together as a closer group by the time the initial challenge is done with... and that bond likely means that when they uncover a deeper threat, or a new problem rears its head, the party will saddle up once more to handle business.

This Is One Of The More Fun Parts of The Game

A lot of players don't go through this stage of the story, they just create their characters in a vacuum and expect them to come together when it's a necessity... but a lot of the time this leads to friction and problems because players had different ideas and visions for how the game was going to go. That can all be avoided by sitting down and adding a little extra polish to the story.

For instance, does one player have a barbarian character who loathes spellcasters, and another player is bringing a sorcerer? Well, figuring out a way to make that less of an issue before the dice hit the mat can be an interesting challenge. For instance, does the barbarian believe the sorcerer was touched by the gods because he was there when their bloodline manifested, so that character is an exception in his mind? Do both characters want revenge on the same person, so they've agreed to work together until that goal is achieved before they settle their differences? Are they actually related, and no matter how much it twists the barbarian's gut, it is dishonorable in the extreme to slay one's own kin?

Getting your table into these little story writing sessions, and finding answers that gets everyone excited for the game, is a great way to start off your first session with a bit of momentum, and I highly recommend folks at least try this method out if it isn't a part of your Session 0 setup yet!

Lastly, if you'd like to check out some supplements of mine that can help with chiseling out the details on your character, consider taking a look at:

- 100 Character Goals and Motivations: Picking a direction and putting gas in the tank, this supplement helps you figure out what they want, and even why they want it.

- 100 Questions To Ask About Your Characters: Everything from what their favorite food is, to what kind of partner they'd like to marry, and even how they want to die, there's a lot of questions in here!

- 100 Dark Secrets: If your character is holding something close to their vest, something that could change the way people perceive them, this supplement can get your imagination flowing.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post. 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 Azukail Games YouTube channel, or the dark sci fi saga of The A.L.I.C.E. Files! 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 Blue Sky, 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!

You Aren't Your Character... You're The Author (A Perspective Shift)

We've all had those moments sitting around the table where things don't go our way, or the story gets complicated in a way we wish that it hadn't. Too many of us end up frustrated by this, and we can end up dejected, losing our zeal for the game. As someone who has rolled more natural 1s in a single session than some players have rolled in an entire campaign, I understand, and feel these feelings. However, there is an interesting mental trick you can use to help deal with fate going against you.

Remember that you aren't your character... you are the author of their story.

It can be a small thing... but a helpful one.

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

A Step Back, And A Different Perspective

When we make our characters for an RPG, we tend to get really close to them. We construct their lives, we talk with their voice, and in some cases we even crawl into their skin. However, when we take on the role entirely, we tend to equate the character's success with our own success... but also their failure with our own failure.

And on the one hand, that is the double-edged sword of roleplaying; you get the highs and the lows. However, it can be interesting to take a moment to purposefully consider yourself and your character as separate entities, and to treat yourself as the author of their destiny. So the question is not whether they win or lose... the question that you're treated to becomes, "And how are they going to deal with this twist of fate?"

Okay, that failed... but HOW did it fail?

Take a situation that is far from uncommon in RPGs at early levels. The party was ambushed on the road by something (bandits, goblins, or even a cadre of wandering undead at the behest of a necromancer), and despite their best efforts, they fell in battle. Now, that might be disheartening, but if the characters aren't dead yet, then the story continues on. If they awaken in the wilderness, injured but alive, now they have fresh challenges to meet. If they were taken prisoner, or are being held hostage for ransom, there is now a fresh arc in their story to tell.

A fresh arc that you, as the player, should be excited to tell. Because yes, it might be frustrating that the dice didn't reward your character with a victory in the last episode, but in this fresh episode there's a new danger, new stakes, and a fresh path to take and explore!

And just how the hell are we going to get out of here?

 

I will say that this shift in perspective only works if you have a GM who is following the advice I gave in Dungeon Design Tips: Find A Reason For PCs To Survive (And Try Again). Because there is a huge difference between being able to follow a character's journey through misfortune, and being able to just shrug off a character dying, and being told to go make a new one. Generally speaking, there needs to be some kind of reassurance that a character doesn't die upon their failure in order to keep players interested and engaged.

Put another way, if you're reading a fantasy novel, and the protagonist blacks out after being stabbed in a duel, and you still have half the book left to read, you usually keep reading because you want to see how they come back from this. Was the protagonist bound and put in prison? Are they wounded and on the run? Are their whereabouts kept secret for a few chapters until they return in some way? Because we will absolutely accept that a character has failed, fallen, and is facing fresh difficulties... but if we open a new chapter on the latest installment of our favorite series only to find that Conan is dead, and some random character we've never heard of is taking over for the titular barbarian, a lot of us are going to give up and stop reading entirely.

Clarification and Closing Notes

Now, to be absolutely clear here, I am not saying that GMs cannot kill PCs. I'm not saying that characters should never die, and that they should be given chance after chance to try, try again. However, what I am saying is that if the primary failure state is death with no way to undo it and continue the story (even if undoing it is difficult, convoluted, or both), it becomes very hard for players to get invested in their characters and to be excited to see what twists and turns are coming.

Because if the character dies, there's no more story to follow.

Additionally, I am not saying that players should think of themselves as the author of the entire campaign, and to view their character as the protagonist. Rather, every player is writing their character's story, but that story is prompted by the game world around them. This helps engage your sense of the dramatic, and to actually tell a story, instead of just focusing on whether the character is winning or losing, succeeding or failing, which can make for an overall more engaging story for yourself, and for everyone around the table!

It's a cooperative exercise, and putting on your writer's cap can get you thinking about your character and their actions as a part of an unfolding narrative, instead of just something personal to you and your own scoreboard. It also makes those fail states sting a little less when you view them as plot twists to roll with, instead of the dice punishing you arbitrarily.

And now, to tweak things just a little more...

Lastly, I wanted to offer some additional reading for folks out there. Because putting a few finishing touches on your character can make it that much more interesting to pull them along through their adventures! So, if you want to go a little deeper with the next character you put together, check out:

- 100 Character Goals and Motivations: Why does your character keep going? What are they trying to accomplish? Answers to these questions lie within!

- 100 Dark Secrets: Just what it says on the tin, this supplement provides you with a slew of secrets to bury in your backstory... you should probably tell your GM about them, though.

- 100 Questions About Your Characters: Everything from their favorite foods, to where they learned their skills, to how they want to die can be found in this supplement, rounding out a character's finer details.

- 100 Tips For Being A Better Player: Lastly, this is for the players behind the sheets. Everything from table etiquette to habits that will help you have more fun at the table, I highly suggest giving this one a read!

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 Azukail Games YouTube channel, or the ongoing audio drama channel The A.L.I.C.E. Files! 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 Blue Sky, 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!

Who Is Your Clan (And What Does That Mean)?

Every character has a family. Even if they're dead, estranged, or just far away from where your current adventure is taking place, someone raised them, and helped them acquire the skills they currently possess. However, there is something that is bigger than just your family, in the sense of those you share a close blood tie with. This is something that can set the culture a character was raised with, covering everything from what they value, to how they dress, to what morals they have.

This concept is your clan, and it can be a useful thing to consider when you're trying to build your character's backstory!

I pledge my sword to the House of The Sun, and the Seat and Seal of Clan Blackwind.

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

What Is Your Clan (And What Does It Mean To You)?

We often think of a clan as a particularly big family, so I want to take a moment to break down what I mean in this context. Because a clan is not just a family, but it is (typically, at least) a rather large group of interconnected/interrelated families. So a character will have their immediate family (parents, siblings, children), their extended family (grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins), and then beyond that immediate family, you have your clan.

But what goes into a clan?

For Hawkwind! For Clan Darkhelme!

A clan is many things. At its most basic, it's a social support structure that acts in a way similar to a family, in that its members can rely on one another. So whether there's a disaster where one part of the clan has lost homes or crops, or the new generation needs to learn skills from more established professionals, the families of the clan can rely on one another to provide. This can even go so far as adopting members who have lost parents, or whose parents are unable (or unfit) to care for them. The clan takes care of its own.

Beyond that support structure, though, a clan also has obligations required from members. As an example, some clans might require that all members learn how to fight, and that tours of service be completed. There might be a kind of clan tax levied in order for the clan to support itself, with resources being distributed as needed. If one wants to stay in good standing with the clan, they need to fulfill their obligations, or suffer the consequences for ignoring them (such as becoming an outcast for refusing a major obligation they owe).

Lastly, a clan has its own culture. This can vary from clan colors and battle cries, to social norms regarding courtship and marriage, to what is considered a duel-worthy offense. Clans have their own internal politics, their own mores and norms, and they also have their own relationships with outsiders (which members may have to deal with when they travel, even if they are no longer an active part of their clan). They may even have their own clan law, which can come into conflict with the law of the land depending on where they happen to be.

All of these things can have an affect on your character. For a few examples, consider:

- Did your character's family have high standing in the clan? Low standing? Has their standing changed since your character's birth, and is that connected to their current adventure at all?

- Did your character defy any of the clan norms or laws? If so, have they escaped punishment for it, or is it still a secret?

- What is your character's clan heraldry, and is it different from their family heraldry? Does your character wear their colors and sigils openly and with pride? Or do they forego them unless required?

- Is your character proud of their clan affiliation, or ashamed of it? Are they willing to stand up for their clan, even if they consider them problematic or wrong in some way?

- Is there something about your character that people can immediately tell what their clan is? Whether it's something as obvious as a tattoo or a brand, or something more subtle like a particular weapon of choice, fighting style, or even an accent or turn of phrase?

All of these, and many more, can be unique ways to think about where your character came from, and what effect the clan had on them as they grew, and became who they are today.

Additional Resources

If you haven't grabbed your copy yet, get it today!

If you're looking for some additional things to help build your character's backstory, and to expand on the idea of a clan, the following resources might be of help!

- A Dekas of Dwarven Clans: From the grim-faced Ironhelms, to the indefatigable Craggs, this supplement contains 10 clans complete with history, heraldry, example NPCs, and rumors about each clan.

- 100 Fantasy Battle Cries (And Their Histories): If you're looking for a cry that can define your clan, consider some of the options in here, along with how they came to be!

- A Baker's Dozen of Noble Families: Similar to clans, these overarching noble families share a lot of similarities, and can be used as a basis for creating clans.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post. 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 Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, 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 Blue Sky, 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!

What Traits Did Your Character's Culture Value (And Discourage)?

Our characters come from a wide variety of backgrounds, cultures, and experiences, and these things often shape them in ways that are just as important as the adventures and campaigns they complete while we're at the table. However, we often hand wave away this part of their stories, leaving them vague and open-ended when we can often end up making our characters far more interesting by digging into that part of their story.

Which is why it's worth taking a moment to ask what traits your character's culture valued and reinforced, which traits they suppressed or avoided, and why that was the case? Because those things can often tell you a lot about a person, and what they consider normal... even if no one else agrees with them.

Night painting emphasizes clear sight, and smooth dexterity.

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

What Was Your Normal?

Take a moment and think about the culture you grew up in, and what it told you was desirable, and normal. As an example, I'm American, Caucasian, and I identify as male. I was born into an upper middle class home, and I come from a military family. The messages I received growing up were that height was a key component of my attractiveness, and that I should be strong and muscular. I was told that having a high sex drive was a key component of masculinity, as was a willingness (or ability) to commit violence in appropriate situations. Going to college was very important, and the hallmarks of good grades, social activities, etc., were encouraged to help make that happen. As someone who got into gaming, LARPing, and light historical reenactment, long hair and a well-kempt beard were also seen as desirable, fashionable things for me to have alongside creativity and the ability to sword fight. Speaking other languages wasn't encouraged or valued overmuch in my circles. Emotional vulnerability was sometimes encouraged, and other times strongly discouraged. Physical affection with other men was often unacceptable, and even with femme-presenting folk it often came with a slew of caveats.

The list goes on, but you get the idea.

You could take almost any of these traits, values, cultural assumptions, and find other cultures and locations where if I moved I would have had relatively little to unlearn or change. For instance, I could likely move to Canada, and adapt fairly quickly. I could probably do the same with most places in the United Kingdom. However, there are other cultures and locations I would have been about as comfortable as a fish in the desert. Whether it's the language barriers I would have come across in France, the expectations of gender roles that would have thrown me for a loop in Spain or Greece, or even something as relatively simple as the (to me) complete lack of personal space between people in Russia, all of these things would have thrown my differences into a rather stark light.

Now ask what those differences might be if we were in a fantasy setting where there are at least as many cultures among humans as we have in the real world, but where we also have magic, monsters, and a dozen other species of intelligent creatures that we share the world with, and you can see just how unique this exercise can become.

Things might get... complicated.

Consider for a moment how long archery was the national sport in England. How everyone no matter their age, sex, or even skill, at least understood how to operate and use a bow, with regular practice deemed a normal part of social life. Someone who was "average" under those conditions might be considered one of the best archers anyone had ever seen in a culture where that sort of practice was just not a part of public life. This is similar to how Glima, the wrestling martial art of the Norsemen, led to a not-inconsiderable population that were (by and large) more skilled grapplers than other places that didn't practice a fighting style so commonly. It wasn't some strange, genetic disposition or inherited viciousness; it was just that training in a martial art was often done from a young age, and it was often practiced far into adulthood.

It's all about what is considered normal for you, that is decidedly not normal for other people... and why that is the case.

Let's look at Archbliss: The City of The Sorcerers (available for Pathfinder Classic and DND 5E) in my Sundara setting. It's a floating city in the sky ruled over by an aristocracy of sorcerers, and where a majority of the population has access to magic. Even if an individual cannot use magic themselves, they would still have grown up with it constantly available to them, and an important component of everyday life. As such, an education about magic, spellcasting, proper use of magic items, and other such skills and abilities, would be emphasized for those who were raised there. But if these people left Archbliss, they'd find that many other places don't rely so heavily on magic. While mastery of it may still be useful, a person born with no inherent spellcasting, and who may lack the intelligence to become a wizard, wouldn't be shunned for that "failing". After all, to their eyes, only one in a million people might manage what would be considered an everyday feat in Archbliss.

Or consider the Malisus, a unique elven people who live deep in the ground found in Species of Sundara: Elves (available for Pathfinder Classic and DND 5E). The Malisus's cities are often built from stone and bone, and while this is a matter of practicality (since trees don't grow underground), their faith is centered around the rituals and acceptance of death. As such, their outlook is often macabre to outsiders, and they are extremely comfortable near corpses, bones, graveyards, and other such things that would be considered taboo to other cultures. The Malisus value grace and quiet, as being able to move stealthily is a necessity of survival in the underground, and those who cannot see in the dark are often looked on with pity. If they were to move among peoples who are loud, brash, and (to the Malisus) unobservant, it might seem as if these dark elves simply appeared from nowhere, because "quiet" to an overlander is like stomping through the undergrowth to the finely-tuned senses of many of the Malisus.

Lastly, consider someone steeped in the culture of Moüd, The City of Bones (available for Pathfinder Classic and DND 5E). The City of Bones is a place deep in a blasted desert, lorded over by a guild of necromancers, and whose very existence is made possible by use of the reanimated dead. So while some cultures might consider necromancy a great taboo, or an outright evil art to practice, in Moüd it would be an honored profession. While there are certainly moral and ethical concerns if the art is used improperly, the culture of this city typically views the use of this magic in service to the living as an overall good. So while a person raised here might not be pressured to become a necromancer themselves (though it would be considered a prestigious skill set and career), they would be quite familiar with the undead in general in ways that other people simply wouldn't be. The idea that particular duties that were previously done by the living dead (cleaning the city streets, patrolling hostile wastes, handling various menial tasks, etc.) would be done by living people might even horrify them... especially if those living people were kept as slave labor because the job still needed to be done, and that was the solution another culture found to the problem.

Sometimes It's The Little Differences

While the examples above highlight some pretty stark differences where a culture or people might be very different, you don't need the differences to be that large. For example, did your character come from a society that valued logic, reason, and scholarship, considering brute strength and violence to be a sign of a failed mind that one would be shunned for if used to win an argument? If so, were debate, legal trials, and so on considered proper ways to settle public differences, possibly watched with the same enthusiasm others might feel for watching sporting events? Or was dueling with blades the way differences were settled where your character came from, and every free man or woman was expected to carry a knife on them at all times as a sign they were neither a child or a slave?

Once you know the norms, traditions, and so on of your character's culture, you can then ask how they fit, or didn't fit, those norms. For example, if tusk size is considered a mark of attractiveness among the orcs of the high valley clans, does your orc carefully polish and clean their teeth before going into town, perhaps putting on silver or gold caps? Or is your orc sensitive about the relatively small size of their tusks, considering it a punchable offense if someone brings it up to their face? Was speaking multiple languages and traveling considered a normal part of your life growing up, and a sign of intellect and experience, or do you come from an insular society where such things are discouraged, and where outsiders are rarely encountered?

All of these things can make a big difference in who your character is, and what they believe about the world around them. Even if they've since left the cultures they grew up in or were shaped by, and they've experienced other walks of life in other places with other peoples, these formative views, taboos, beliefs, and traditions might say a lot about the forces that shaped them. From how your character dresses, to how they talk, to what they believe is attractive or unattractive, to what skills they learned, or even how they think of themselves, you can find the answer to all of these and more in the culture that first shaped them.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post. 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 Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, 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!

The "Naked In Prison" Test For Your PC

We've all seen builds for extremely powerful player characters. You know, the wizard who can destroy an entire army with the wave of a hand, or the fighter who can wade through an entire gauntlet to challenge a god. We hear about these characters, and we stand in awe of their powers, wishing we'd come up with that build first.

However, there is a test I'd suggest we all put our characters through. I call it the "naked in prison" test.

The name is pretty self-explanatory, really.

How Well Do You Do Without Your Toys?

As I said way back in The 4 Major Flaws of Character Building, one of the most common mistakes players make is to assume they'll have all the necessary toys to make their concept function at all times. This might be one of the only old school things about my gaming experience, but I always expect the DM to screw with my necessities as soon as they recognize I need those tools in order to properly function.

Call it unfair, against the spirit of the game, or hitting below the belt, I call it a perfectly legitimate strategy. And if I'm trying my best to hamstring the monsters, why shouldn't I expect the monsters to play that same dirty game right back at me?

Put another way, if I build an armored tank, I expect at least one enemy to sunder my shield. If I play a wizard, I am always waiting for the moment I'm told to make a Reflex save for my spellbook. If I have a barbarian specialized in great ax fighting, it's only a matter of time before an enemy takes the field with a tricked-out version of shatter to ruin my day. Or, at the very least, I expect to be ambushed in the middle of the night, or to wake up in prison after someone took us all by surprise.

It was why, for the longest time, I would never specialize in a single weapon.

It goes without saying that every character is more effective with their ideal choice of gear and tools. The question you need to ask, though, is how easy are your tools to take away from you? Not using sneaky, DM-ex-machina, hand-wavey stuff, but just with the standard rules in the game itself?

Put another way, how big is the chink in your armor?

We Are A Lot More Vulnerable Than We Think

It is remarkable how vulnerable most of our character concepts are. We're just lucky that our DMs are either not mean enough, or devious enough, to pick us apart piece by piece.

If your PCs are giving you grief, here are a few suggestions to keep in mind.

Wizards and clerics are powerful character options. But what happens if your bonded item/holy symbol is stolen or sundered? Or if someone just yanks it out of your grasp? Which spells can you no longer cast with your focus component missing? What do you do if your spellbook is destroyed or stolen, or your spell components are taken away from you? There are ways around these problems, like the Eschew Materials feat, making sure you have backups for spellbooks and components, and taking traits like Birthmark, which give you a holy symbol that's part of your body... but if you don't prepare, it's easy to get caught with your pants down.

The same is true for non-casters as well. What do you do if your sword and board fighter finds he's been stripped of his weapons in hostile territory? Or, perish the thought, you get ambushed by a rust monster? What happens to the ranger when his bow is smashed, or he runs out of arrows? Well, you need to have a backup plan. From improvised weapons to teamwork and ambush tactics, your success can often depend on how creative you get when your primary options are taken away, or simply do not work for the task at hand.

It's true that if you have 10 rounds to cast all your buffs before the combat starts, you're wearing your ideal armor, you have your ideal weapon, and you are in an environment that doesn't give you any penalties, of course your characters are going to carry the day. But you need to ask what happens when you don't have all those things in your favor. Or when it's exactly the opposite. When you're ambushed without any prep time, when you don't have your armor because you were sleeping, or you've lost important pieces of your artillery... what will you do then?

Because you don't have the time or the resources to limp back to town, take a week of bed rest, imprint a new familiar, buy a new spellbook, and custom make a new suit of armor. The cult is summing the Old Ones now, and it's your time to shine whether you have your best toys on hand or not. So be prepared.

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully it gave everyone, players and DMs alike, some food for thought. If you want to make sure you don't miss any of my releases, then follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. And, if you'd like to help support Improved Initiative, head over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a patron. $1 a month makes a big difference, and it gets you some sweet swag to call your own.

Unleashing Yuri: A Gaming Story About Evil Gods and Evil PCs

Here on our Table Talk feature we are always happy to hear from our readers. This week's gaming story comes from Ron Samuel, and it's one that I think we can all sympathize with.

Game masters take note; evil gods lead to evil characters. And shenanigans.

The Story of Yuri

Yuri, as recreated by the stock photo tribe.

This is a story about a barbarian our shop owner plays. It is definitely a little more on the adult side but I tried to keep the references to a minimum. Let me know what you think.

The adventures of Yuri #1

How I met Yuri.

A couple months ago my younger brother started a beginner Pathfinder group at the local game shop, to try to drum up some interest for some new players and introduce more people to the world of roleplaying. He had been playing with the same group off and on for years, so starting a new group with strangers seemed like a great idea.

I missed the first couple of sessions due to some work scheduling issues, and not being acquainted with Pathfinder (my last roleplaying experience was some 4th edition games) I wanted to see how the games were going. I sat in for a session before making a character to get in on the action. It was a pretty standard group set up so far: barbarian, cleric, bard, fighter, rogue, mage; the staples. At this point the group was still about the same, plus some old friends who we hadn’t played with in years and the shop owner who was also new to pathfinder.

I didn’t know exactly how into this I was going to be so, with the GM’s permission I rolled a magus tiefling who was going to end up being one of the NPC villains of the campaign. I didn’t know how long or interested I was going to be so I was preparing my character for integration into the campaign if I didn’t end up sticking around. He was a blind magus based on a character from a early Sega Genesis rpg game called Shining Force 2. He had lost his memory (I know what an original plot), and when recovered would revert to his evil persona. I can’t even remember what I named this character because after the first session he henceforth was known as “The Herald”.

Now, Yuri. Yuri was the party’s barbarian who was being played by the shop owner. As barbarian as he could be, he also worshiped an evil god. My brother allows all sorts of stuff in his campaigns. Never one to shun any creative idea, he had let this barbarian come up with his own evil god to worship. Now as every GM knows leaving decisions to your players can result in some hilarious or even broken characters; this particular god came to be known as Phallus Diablo. Yes this is exactly what it sounds like, a god that was worshiped by sacrificing male parts to it.

Yes folks, this too was allowed.

Yuri, being a swing first act questions later kind of character, immediately latched onto The Herald as he entered the game. Proclaiming that this demonic looking creature must be a “Herald” of his god Phallus Diablo. The special relationship that developed around these two eventually ended up with us taking our turns in unison, being as The Herald was blind and he needed to be led in most situations.

Having almost every single one of the characters in the campaign being Chaotic Neutral didn’t help the situation either. Often resulting in inter-party fighting over various things the Herald and Yuri took on all comers, using different creative ways to bring down their foes. An example of this was when the party was fighting a giant whale god, Yuri shed his armor and attempted to jump onto the whale's back as it was swimming. Using The Heralds prehensile wings to help with the check he lunged out, dragging The Herald behind him like a kite. Upon landing they both immediately began assaulting the whale’s blowhole, all in the name of Phallus Diablo (whose sworn enemy was apparently whales… based on the size of their… in Yuri’s words dongers).

Various shenanigans ensued, at one point ending up with Yuri killing off another party member in a drunken brawl. The Herald, not realizing it was a friendly bout, had heard the struggling from Yuri and cast Enlarge person on Yuri, which spelled the downfall for the dwarven fighter. Afterwards he was jailed in the city of Sandpoint. Now in character, every time someone would get within range of Yuri in the jail cell echoes of FREE YURI were yelled into the night hoping that someone would free our mighty barbarian.

Long story short I have since rolled a new character to play in this campaign (the Herald taking his predetermined slot of a villain), but the hooks laid into Yuri by befriending this blind tiefling have led to all sorts of story lines and adventures. GM's, let your players be creative. In the end it may be broken, or make you change some of your campaign, but it almost always ends in a more fulfilling experience for the player. Sometimes you just have to free Yuri.

A big thanks to Ron for his strange tale. Do you have a story of your own? Would you like to see it right here? Contact us right here on Improved Initiative for your chance. If you'd like to help support us then feel free to drop your loose change into the "Bribe the DM" button on your top right, or drop by our Patreon page and become a patron today. If you'd like to keep up-to-the-minute with what we're posting here at Improved Initiative then just drop your email address into the box on the top right of the screen, or follow us on Facebook or Tumblr.