Remember That Characters Are Still Individuals

The human brain likes neat categories, and clear explanations of things. We like things to be neat and clean, and we have a thirst that often makes us see patterns even when they aren't there. And while this tendency can be useful in a lot of situations, it can often bite us when we're trying to make interesting, unique characters for our games.

Which is why this week I wanted to take a minute to remind folks of a very important thing that sometimes gets lost in the shuffle. Namely that while our characters might be part of a larger species, a particular culture, a given religion, they are still individuals. They are shaped by the forces of the game world, but they are not under an obligation to follow tradition if we don't want them to.

There are many knights, but none like me.

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Broad Strokes and Fine Lines

Let's take a moment and think about our lives outside of gaming for a second. All of us have dozens of labels that describe the groups we're part of, and the experiences that have shaped our lives. A person will have an ethnicity, a nationality, a religion (or lack thereof), and a place in a family structure of some kind. In addition to that there's the region they grew up in, what schools they attended, what social clubs or hobbies they've joined, what fandoms they're a part of, what kind of relationship style they prefer, and dozens of other factors that make up who we are as individuals.

And while we know these things about ourselves, we sometimes forget that the people around us are just as complicated, and formed by just as many experiences and forces as we are. Instead of seeing them as complex individuals made up of thousands of different facets, we reduce them to easily observable categories. Often we resort to stereotypes, seeing individuals as indistinguishable from a greater whole that they're part (or seem to be part) of.

A lot of the time these ways of thinking worm their way into our creative processes, and we end up with characters who are all broad strokes, and no fine lines. Characters that, a lot of the time, are actually pretty close to caricatures.

So just because I dress fashionably I'm automatically a Toreador? Foolish mortals.

You see perfect examples of this in the World/Chronicles of Darkness setting. Because Vampire, Werewolf, Changeling, and the other spheres all have sections in the books where we see the stereotypes of certain character options held both within their own culture, and when seen by outsiders. For example, in Vampire games the Toreador are typically seen as art snobs, concerned with fashion, appearance, and beauty above other factors. In Werewolf, the Get of Fenris are seen as warriors, but also as brutes who tend to be bull-headed and crass.

But those are just general, broad stereotypes. They're even listed as such in the book so that we know this isn't required, but it's flavor meant to inform.

These stereotypes aren't like a Nosferatu's physical and spiritual repugnancy; something that is an actual fact within the game world and which has its own mechanic to represent it. They're broadly held opinions... but opinions don't dictate how a character must act, or the experiences they've had. So if you wanted to play an ogre in a Changeling: The Lost game, the facts about your character are the ways you can spend glamour, and the contracts that come more naturally to you. You might be stereotyped as a dim-witted bruiser, but you could just as easily be a computer programmer, an investment banker, or a philosophy professor who, much like Plato, could power bomb people to win an argument if they so desired.

Separate Stereotypes From Facts

A useful exercise I've found is to wipe away everything that isn't a fact about a particular character, and to start from scratch when deciding what they must be, and what you can choose to make them. For example, it is a fact that orcs can see in the dark. It is a fact their bodies are physically more durable than humans (represented by the ferocity trait), and it might be a fact that a certain character has rending teeth because they have a bite attack.

But a lot of the other baggage that comes with playing an orc (that they're inherently violent, that they're savage, that they're evil, etc.) aren't necessarily facts because the rules don't state them as such for games like Pathfinder and more recent editions of Dungeons and Dragons. As such, these are not aspects you are beholden to, and you can often ignore, or plot around them in order to change your particular character and the path they're on. Once you know what facts must be included in their makeup (things that are often physical aspects of who and what the character is), you now need to go down that list of influences (culture, region, religion, history, profession, family, etc.) and ask how those things added to your character to make them who they are.

Whichever direction you choose to go in.

For example, you might have a royal family whose personal bodyguard is made up of orcs drawn from a particular clan as part of a political peace treaty. As such, your character has grown up with a sense of duty for their charge, but also with intense training to educate you not just on the ways of war, but the ways of the court so that you understand the ebb and flow of the rituals surrounding politics. This could lead you to hold certain prestige among the population, and even notoriety if orcs are treated like the Varangian Guard who watched over the emperors of Eastern Rome. It might also mean that you can never marry nor have children until you have left service, as there can be no divided loyalties.

And that's just scratching the surface when it comes to generating a character who seems to defy expectations. Not because they're a one-of-a-kind snowflake, but because their culture, life experience, and opportunities have shaped them into something different than what you may think of when someone says, "I'm playing an orc fighter/barbarian."

An Update: Species of Sundara Has Begun Releasing!

I had this topic on my mind because for the past few months I've been working on a new series of releases I'm calling Species of Sundara. Each of these will explore a player species in my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting, and attempt to break down the monolithic identities we usually assign to a given species (which happens to most, if not all, non-humans in fantasy RPGs).

The idea behind these splats is to create several different, broad cultures for each species, and to do away with things like racial languages in favor of more organic options. There will also be different varieties of each creature type, and the ability for players to customize their characters beyond simply playing the same old elf, dwarf, orc, halfling, etc.

And the first one is finally out!

The first installment in Species of Sundara talks about elves in this particular setting. There are five major cultures presented, along with their unique adaptations and changes, as well as getting to the heart of what makes elves so strange in Sundara. Not to spoil, but it's because elves are masters of altering themselves to suit their environment, meaning they can take on a huge variety of forms and evolutions in order to better suit their homes. And, since players always ask, elves in Sundara can conceive offspring with any sentient species... a byproduct of their mastery over their own forms, and the inherent magic inside of them.

For those who'd like to check this one out, this book is available both for Pathfinder Classic, as well as for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post!

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 thriller Marked Territory, it's sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my recent 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!

Hoardreach is The Place For All Those "Too Weird" Characters To Come From

There are, generally speaking, two kinds of GMs when it comes to fantasy RPGs. There's GMs who want to embrace the full scale and spectrum of possibility within the setting as it exists, and there's GMs who want to limit as many player options as possible when it comes to how weird, wild, or strange they get.

You can usually identify the latter because they'll tell players to stop trying to make "special snowflake" characters.

Now, I talked about all the issues I have with this line of thinking back in It Only Has To Happen Once (Weird PCs and The "Special Snowflake" Argument). In brief, though, if something is allowed by the rules of the game, and is possible within the setting, then players should be allowed to choose those options. Whether it's an orc paladin, a goblin wizard, a dwarven sorcerer, or any other basic combination of species and class that isn't expressly banned by the rules.

Because sure, it might be weird. It might be unconventional. But it's fantasy... stretch your imagination, because that's the name of the game!

Frost Fang approves of snowflakes of all kinds!

It is for this purpose that I created Hoardreach for my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age setting. So if you want the freedom to get weird, wild, and bizarre with your characters, this is going to be right up your alley!

For folks who want to stay on top of all my latest releases, sign up for my weekly newsletter! Also, if you enjoy my work, my latest novel Painted Cats just dropped this month. So if you want to check out a noir mystery with a Maine coon cat as the protagonist, this one is a wild ride!

Hoardreach is Where The Weirdness Lives

For folks who haven't been tuning in, one thing that I threw out the window with Sundara as a setting was the alignment system. While that means you no longer have alignment requirements for classes in Pathfinder, it also means there's no such thing as species-based alignments, or culture-based ones. Everything has to be evaluated on its own, rather than always having that Good, Neutral, or Evil label hanging over it to color your perspective of what you're looking at.

Oh don't you worry... there's still plenty of initiative that needs rolling.

However, while Sundara as a setting is about progress, discovery, and finding creative solutions to existing problems, several readers have mistakenly thought that makes it a world without conflict. There are plenty of conflicts for adventurers to get involved in, from protecting trade secrets, to dealing with outbreaks of undead, to trying to soothe tensions between two powers that might go to war... but what Sundara lacks is the idea that you can just kill certain creatures because they're evil without thinking twice about doing so.

And that, my friends, is where Hoardreach comes in.

Hoardreach is a sky island (a unique mountain location with drastically different conditions due to its height, as opposed to an island that floats in the sky... don't worry, we'll get to that later), and it was the strangeness of this location that drew the Founders. 5 dragons, rather than battling over the territory, agreed to each allow the others the part of the mountain they wanted for their lairs, and to act in the defense of all. While fairly young dragons individually, all 5 working in concert wielded far more power than anything short of a great wyrm could have managed.

After negotiations with one another, and meeting with a representative of the Adeptus Draconis (an order of knights tasked with keeping peace between dragons and non-dragons that was first mentioned back in 100 Knightly Orders), the Cooperation reached out to their neighbors. In exchange for tribute, they would extend their protection to surrounding areas, and assist with dangers they faced. While many were reluctant at first, the benefits of the dragons' aid far outweighed the cost asked.

As word of Hoardreach spread, people started coming to see it for themselves. While there were explorers and merchants, along with scholars, the city also drew outcasts who'd been forced away from their own homes. Goblin tribes that had been hunted, harpies who were unwanted, the remnants of orc mercenary bands who found no welcome, and dozens of others all sought places within Hoardreach. As the city grew it drew still more (and stranger) inhabitants who were able to lend their unique skills and abilities to make the city run smoothly. Soon the Founders were able to conserve their energies only for dire emergencies, while the various corps throughout the city took over the day-to-day labors.

Now Hoardreach is known far and wide. For in addition to being the City of Wyrms, it is also the place where the fledgling industry of air travel has been born. Ships shingled in the cast-off scales of the founders, and carefully constructed for form and function, have opened the possibilities of new types of trade and travel... as well as warfare, for those who would consider making the dragons of Hoardreach their enemies.

When Weird Becomes Normal

Everything in Hoardreach is utterly bonkers and bizarre... which means that to those who live there, this is completely normal.

It's not unusual to have different seasons going on in different districts, the very elements influenced by the presence of one of the Founder's Wyrm Marks. Flying ships are an everyday occurrence, as are pseudodragons, fey dragons, kobolds, and others. Sorcerers with draconic heritage are fairly common, many coming to the city hoping to learn at the feet of powerful dragons who might (albeit distantly) share their bloodlines. Ogres catch lines to help anchor ships, goblins and orcs sell soup in bowls around one of the main squares, and a frost giant is one of the head shipwrights who designs the unique sky ships of Hoardreach.

This is the Fantastical Mundane in action. If there's a monstrous species players have access to in the setting, chances are there's at least a handful of them in Hoardreach. If there's an unusual magical specialty, a strange family history, or just an odd magic item, it's a safe bet you could find it there. If you wanted to play a goblin who grew up in a major city surrounded by their family instead of being hunted like vermin, or a gnoll who was raised by an adopted halfling family, or a sorcerer who learned magic in the lair of a dragon, or an ogrekin looking to make their own way in the world... that's just Tuesday in Hoardreach.

So if any of that sounds like something you want to add to your game (as each of the Cities of Sundara can be enfolded into a different setting, or played as part of Sundara), get your copy of either the Pathfinder Edition of Hoardreach, or the DND 5th Edition of Hoardreach today!

Don't Forget The Rest of Sundara as Well!

If Hoardreach sounds like your cup of tea, remember that it's the 4th installment in the Sundara setting thus far! Not only that, but the others all have their own weird, wild, and unusual goodies to offer as well. So take a moment to check out:

- Ironfire: The City of Steel (Pathfinder and 5E): Built around the Dragon Forge, Ironfire is where the secret to dragon steel was first cracked. The center of the mercenary trade in the region, as well as boasting some of the finest schools for teaching practical sciences, Ironfire is a place where discovery and danger walk hand in hand!

- Moüd: The City of Bones (Pathfinder and 5E): An ancient center of trade and magic, Moüd was lost to a cataclysm, and then buried in myth. Reclaimed by the necromantic arts of the Silver Wraiths guild, this city has once again become a place teeming with life. Despite the burgeoning population, though, it is the continued presence of the undead that helps keep the city running, ensuring that Moüd is not swallowed up once more.

- Silkgift: The City of Sails (Pathfinder and 5E): Built on the cottage industry of Archer cloth (an extremely durable material used for sails, windmills, etc.), Silkgift is a place that prizes invention and discovery. From gravity batteries that store the potential of the wind, to unique irrigation systems, to aether weapons, the city positively churns out discoveries... and then there's the canal they cut through the mountains that makes them a major center of trade across the region.

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 cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel 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!

It Only Has To Happen Once (Weird PCs, and The "Special Snowflake" Argument)

There is an argument that happens a lot at gaming tables, and it's one that's confused me the older I've gotten. It is, in general, the idea that wanting a player character to be unique or special in some way is inherently bad, and that it somehow represents poor storytelling on the part of the player proposing the idea (or on the part of dungeon masters who allow such characters).

Sometimes it's a player who wants to bring in a race that isn't typically seen in a certain environment. Other times it's a desire to play a certain class that's deemed unusual, or even mastering a strange method of magic, or esoteric fighting style. But any time someone asks to bring in a character that has something weird, wild, or unusual, there's all too often a push back against it purely because it's something out of the norm.

This is a bad habit, and it's one that I think we should all step back to examine.

Seriously, guys, calm down.

PCs Are SUPPOSED To Be Special

If you are playing a long-term campaign where the party is supposed to achieve a goal and maintain its cohesion all the way to the end, then the PCs should stand out, or be special in some way. It isn't required, but it is certainly well within the genre if you look at most of the classic examples from modern fiction and well-known myths.

Drizzt Do'urden is probably our go-to example as a drow who finds his views apart from his people, and who adventures away from the Underdark, but he's far from the only example. Logen Ninefingers (and his anime counterpart Guts) are both sensitive to the world of spirits, and achieve feats of violence and bloodshed that leave others in awe. Hercules is the son of a god, and has a strength so prodigious that in one play he literally puts death itself in a headlock until it returns a friend's wife. Oedipus is the secret son of a king, and a child of prophecy (tragic prophecy, but prophecy nonetheless). The crew list for the Argo was a who's who of heroes and champions, all on a quest for the golden fleece. The dangerous ranger who goes toe-to-toe with half a dozen undead kings is actually an 80 year-old prince in love with the daughter of an elf lord who by rights should be wielding a mystic sword spoken of only in legend.

Then there's this white-haired, golden eyed, regenerating ladies' man.

The point I'm getting at is that PCs are not supposed to be randomly-selected extras who've just been promoted to starring roles. They are the ones with the skills, the drive, and often the unusual abilities to step up and do what other people can't... because if someone else was already handling the problem, then we would be telling stories about their exploits instead.

So if a thing exists in the game world, and it is available to players, there's no reason to blanket-deny it to someone who asked for it.

And as the guy who wrote both 100 Unusual Aasimar and 100 Tieflings To Meet in Your Travels, trust me, I'm no stranger to slotting in weird, wild, and bizarre character concepts.

The Drizzt Problem

I can hear a lot of DMs out there clearing their throats, and preparing comments that they've seen far too many players who want to just make versions of some of the characters I mentioned with the serial numbers filed off. They're not putting in their own creativity, or trying to make the character their own in any way, they just want to change the name and be Drizzt, or Strider, or Guts.

To that I ask you this one, very important question: Why does that matter?

Seriously... because I know we've all done our own version of this. Heck, I wrote the conversion!

If the race, class, and abilities your player wants are clearly influenced by a particular archetype of character, and they're willing to make that character work in your game, who cares if it's their own take on a popular archetype? Because Batman is just Zorro without the horse, Zorro is just the Scarlet Pimpernel with a different accent, and so on, and so forth.

Your primary concern as a DM should be that your players are having fun, and playing characters they enjoy, which add to the game. If everyone around the table enjoys their take on something, then it will make the game better. Also, if you let a player get that experience under their belt, next time around they're more likely to do something different, and to stretch their legs a bit. Whereas if you tell them no, they're just going to want to do it more because they didn't get a chance to try it out. I speak from personal experience here both as a player, and as a DM.

Rarity is Not an Excuse, Either

 The other major argument that I'm sure someone was getting ready to make is that rarity should exclude players from having certain character types. The more uncommon a race, class, etc. is, the more reason you have to say no to it.

I'd actually take the opposite view of this. If something exists in the setting, and it is available for PCs to have, then there should be even less reason to say no to it because by its very nature it's going to fit into the mold of someone (or something) bound to have adventures worth following.

A tiefling warlock who uses the powers of hell to battle fiends? Baller, let's roll!

The rarity argument makes no sense, because we are not choosing the PCs we play by looking at world demographics and picking what makes the most sense based on that spread. Otherwise 99 percent of all games would just be human peasants being slaughtered by wave after wave of goblins. You pick a PC for their ability to actually solve the threats the party is facing, and because their unique flavor appeals to your palate.

And if something "doesn't fit" in a particular location, then it's your job to sit down with the player and figure out why this character ambled into town.

Heard you had a monster problem. Might be able to help with that.

I talked about this in The Non-Problem of Making Monks Fit Your Setting, as well as in DMs, Please Stop Arbitrarily Limiting Race Choice in Your Games, but it still bears repeating. The world is a big, wide-open pile of nonsense, and getting a character from one end of it to the other is often way easier than we seem to think it is.

For example, say a player wants to play a character who's been schooled in the art of the Broken Fist. It's a powerful fighting style that has a particular tie to a nation half a world away from where your game takes place. So, how did the PC get there?

- They Walked: Caravans and ships are canonically everywhere in most settings, and there's nothing to say that a student of this bone-breaking martial art didn't simply walk until they found a place where their skills were needed.

- They're Already Local: If someone was a local who was schooled by a retired master of the art, then they're in the area you need them to be, and for bonus points they're someone known to the neighborhood/town. You could even throw in some tension with their master over how this art should be used, with the student electing to do the right thing despite their teacher, or their teacher sending the student to help as a test of their skills.

- They're With Someone Else: The barbarian puts their sword into the fight, but the initiate of the Broken Fist has been traveling with them, and can't let their friend go it alone. How did Han and Chewie get to the middle of nowhere when the plot needed them? Who cares, they're here now, and that's what matters.

Whether the PC is a demon-blooded sorcerer who really just wants to help, or one of the last of a clutch of lizardfolk looking for revenge, as long as the player has an explanation for why they are here, that's all that matters.

Because even if only a small percentage of the game world qualifies for a certain class, or is born as a certain race, what's the point of that argument? 1 percent of billions of creatures is still millions of potential candidates! Having an entire party of "rare" creatures and specialties is not all that unusual, and is something you can explain pretty easily between mercenary companies who specialize in outcasts (like The Devil's Own in 100 Random Mercenary Companies), traveling circuses, fleeing refugees, and the bloodlines of previous generations of adventurers who stopped in every tavern and brothel they could find to spend their loot. So if your urge as a DM is to say no, and fold your arms until everyone goes back to dwarven fighters and elven rangers, ask why you feel that way. What are you gaining from denying your players the options they want to utilize which exist in the setting you're running?

Your players might make do with a secondary PC idea they've had laying around. But if you give them that weird, wild thing they asked for? They will typically fight tooth and nail to make the most of it. Just something to think about.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post! If you've used this in your games, share a story down in the comments!

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 recent 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!