Better Player #6: Quick Personality Generation

Been a while since I did one of these...

So, you're creating a character for a new RPG campaign. You've decided on the key mechanical aspects of the character, and have quickly fleshed out your PC's background. But what about personality? How can you quickly put together something that will give good results?

First up, I need to add a really important caveat: this is one way to quickly create a satisfying character; I don't claim it is the way to do it!

My basic rule of thumb is a "two alike, one different" method. What does that mean?

Well, first, think of two ways in which your character is like you, and then one way in which he is different. The truth is that most RPG characters will, most of the time, be pretty much like the person playing them. That's almost inevitable - very few of us are actors of a calibre where we can just sink into a character entirely unlike ourselves!

So, rather than try to adopt a character who is completely unlike yourself, it's probably more effective to think of one big way in which the character is different, and then really try to highlight that.

Similarly, I would suggest trying to think of two ways your character is like other members of his race, and one way in which he is different, and two ways in which he is like other members of his class, and one way in which he is different.

The goal here is to create a character who is both recognisably a dwarf (for example), but who is also not just like all other dwarves. So maybe he is indeed inordinately fond of his beard and is likewise loud and boisterous... but maybe he also never drinks. Or perhaps he's fond of gold and dislikes boats, but also hates going underground. Or whatever. (And likewise, we get the studious and bookish wizard... who also takes great care to maintain his physical fitness.)

Once you've got those three things done, you've probably got a fairly good picture of the character - he's like you, but not; he's like other dwarves, but not; he's like other wizards, but not.

Then, when the time comes to play the character, it's just a job of trying to remember these traits as often as possible. It's likely you won't be completely consistent, especially in all those areas where the character differs from yourself, but that's fine - people are seldom totally consistent in their behaviour anyway. But by being sure to emphasise both the ways the character is both similar and different, you should have something that will make for a memorable character.

(One last note: I'm very much a believer that even when "playing against type", a character should probably still be recognisably of the type he is working again. Although Worf is very much not a cookie-cutter Klingon, he's still recognisably a Klingon - his rebellions against the norm are very much Klingon rebellions against the norm, and that's a good thing. Simply ignoring everything from the race/class/whatever you've chosen and declaring that you're "playing against type" is unlikely to work very well - you'll most likely be assumed to be playing a human with funny ears (though, in fairness, Star Trek had plenty of those, too...). That's in my opinion, of course. And don't forget that it is also my opinion that it's you're right to 'roleplay' as much or as little as you see fit. So the above is relevant only if you care what your audience thinks!)

The First Cut is the Deepest

This week one of my big tasks is to take a look at my RPG books and select some that I'm going to let go. On the one hand, this should be a fairly easy task: I'm well aware that there are an awful lot that I've never used, will never use, and indeed in some cases can never use. Some of them are actively bad, and there's a good many that have the opposite of their intended effect: instead of making a game better, they make it actively worse.

My intention, with this first cut, is basically to cull almost all of my third-party D&D supplements, which include such gems as "The Encyclopedia of Demons & Devils" (one of the worst books I've encountered), Green Ronin's "Advanced..." books for 3e (which I've never used and will never use - they make a too complex game even more complex), and Mongoose's "Quintessential..." series (which are deeply unbalanced - though there is some interest in that they include some of Mike Mearls' first published works).

Additionally, I've identified some of my games that are ripe for a cull - "Mage: the Ascension" Revised edition (I have, and prefer, the "Sorcerer's Crusade" iteration of that game, so in the unlikely event I play Mage again, it will be that version), "Vampire: the Requiem" and "Dark Ages: Vampire" (same logic), "Shadowrun" 3rd and 4th editions (I had a really bad experience with this one), and a number of near-D&D fantasy games (again, if I play a D&D-like game in future, it will be D&D).

All in all, it actually amounts to about a quarter of the collection. Which is about consistent with all the rest of the decluttering I've been finding myself doing of late. It's also somewhat horrifying, given the sheer amount of money that that represents relative to the amount of use they've seen (not to mention the hassle of lugging all those books through several house moves).

On the flip side, the end result of all of this is that the collection should be a whole lot more compact and should contain a whole lot less dross - the average quality level will be that much higher as a result. And it will free up quite a lot of much-needed space. So that's all to the good.

Still, it's a painful step to take!

How Much Fantasy in Your Fantasy?

Over the years, I have encountered some really good DM advice, but I've also encountered some really bad DM advice. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to tell the good from the bad, especially since very often they're right there in the same book.

One of the worst bits of advice I laboured under for many years was from the otherwise-excellent "Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide" for 2nd Edition AD&D. In that book there is a discussion of how many and how prominent fantastical elements should be in a homebrew setting, with the conclusion that such elements should be few and far between, in order to enhance their mystery and wonder.

Hogwash.

If we look at the various published settings, we find that the Forgotten Realms is probably the least fantastical, and is absolutely saturated in fantasy elements. Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Al Qadim, and Eberron are all entirely fantastical in nature, and Spelljammer is a whole new level of crazy. Even something like "Game of Thrones", which starts off largely mundane, has several key fantasy elements front and centre (c.f. "winter is coming").

In fairness, I do think the advice given comes from a good place - it is important that a setting has at least some grounding in reality. If nothing else, it should fundamentally be about 'realistic' people dealing with problems in a 'realistic' manner. Wonderland would make for a fairly poor setting, for anything other than a brief sojurn.

However, for the rest it's no bad thing if adventures very clearly take place in a place that is somehow 'other'. It's a good thing that Eberron has Dragonmarks and Warforged and Manifest Zones, and that these things are front and centre in the setting. It's a good thing that Dark Sun has Defilers and Half-giants and widespread Psionics. WHen you step into these worlds, you know it. (And, yes, this ties into my previous post about salient points - very often, the fantasy elements built into the core of the setting are the same ones that are going to be encountered.)

But the discussion is also not just about the key things that make the world what it is. Consider "Lord of the Rings" - it's not about the adventures of Tom Bombadil and yet he's given a fair amount of significance in the story. The Watcher in the Well is likewise a fantasy element that is not strictly required for the story. And so on - Middle Earth is full of magic items, ancient lore, and other fantasy elements, without those necessarily being the defining features of the setting.

So my revised advice would be something along the lines of suggesting that fantasy elements are like salt in a meal - it's important to add the right amount. Too much, and the game can be ruined, but too little makes for blandness. Additionally, you can indeed always add more... but it's more effective to bake it in from the outset.

And, yes, your setting will probably benefit from more than you think.

Demigods, Quasi-deities, and Remnants in the Unbalanced Pantheon

Completing the work on the unbalanced pantheon, I want to take a quick look at demigods, quasi-deities, and remnants. For the purposes of Terafa these are distinct, but closely related, things:

Demigods are the lowest rank of gods. These come about in several different ways: they could be a child of a god with a mortal, they could be a mortal who has ascended to godhood through acclaim, or they could be a lesser god who has further fallen in rank.

Quasi-deities are things that in some sense should be gods but which are not, for whatever reason. This typically includes extremely powerful monsters, and some mortals who are on the cusk of reaching demigod status. The distinction between demigods and quasi-deities is flexible, but typically it is that demigods enjoy the immortality of gods while quasi-deities are mortal (albeit extremely powerful). However, as with all things divine that distinction is not absolute.

Remnants are what is left over when a god dies or is killed. It is not clear whether a remnant is in any sense a part of that god, or if it is instead simply a pooling of the remaining worship ascribed to that god.

Demigods, quasi-deities, and remnants all have something of the divine about them, even if none are true gods. They are all able to grant spells, although none tend to have established churches or more than a few Clerics. (Technically, none of them should be able to grant spells above about 5th level. However, that's something of a moot point - if any of them ever had a Cleric powerful enough to receive higher level spells, that would generally indicate that they have themselves been elevated in rank. Either that, or some higher power has taken an interest in that Cleric and is therefore granting spells on the demigod's behalf.)

For the most part these lesser powers are local heroes and myths. However, a small number are of wide enough interest to be discussed futher here:

Randor: A half-elven hero from the old empire of Solrakion, Randor is said to have led a successful resistance against the tyranny of the elves. Unfortunately, no record of his mortal life remains to corroborate this story. However, Randor is fairly widely revered as the patron of all those who stand against tyranny. He was thus elevated to demigod status over time, as his legend far outlived his mortal life.

The Stonefather: It is not at all clear what happened to the being known as The Stonefather, or indeed if such a being ever truly existed. However, so many dwarves cite The Stonefather as the ultimate progenitor of their race that the existence of The Stonefather as a remnant was inevitable.

Memory: During the Upheaval, The Usurper broke free of his bonds and attempted to overthrow the pantheon. During this time, the being now known only as Memory was slain - it was out of this void that The Thought was brought into being. Memory is therefore a remnant, albeit a rapidly fading one. Those who continue to worship Memory are confounded by confusing visions that things are not right in the pantheon...

Behind the Curtain

Demigods, quasi-deities, and remnants mostly exist to soak up all the other messy bits that don't really fit elsewhere, and to allow for the injection of local colour into the setting.

Salient Points

My scanning/shredding quest has now reached one of my biggest creative failures.

The setting in question was envisaged as a "binary planet" - two planets orbiting a common point, each effectively acting as the moon of the other. I don't claim it's a particularly original thought, given that I nicked it from an episode of "The Transformers", but it wasn't terrible.

Where it went wrong, though, is that I proceeded to create the two worlds, Luminious and Vorgania (yeah, I'm bad at names, too), almost entirely in isolation of one another. In each case, the other world was just there - there isn't really any interaction between the two, there isn't a shared mythology, there aren't many shared gods (and those that are shared are pretty much just a set of names).

Such a wasted opportunity.

The thing is, it's not a bad idea. But that key defining feature should have been something that absolutely saturates the setting - there should be myths about how it came about, the two worlds should in some sense be reflections of one another, there absolutely have to be interactions between the two, and so on.

Basically, what I'm saying is that any setting will have certain key features - things that are unique to, or otherwise distinctive about, this setting. A really good example would be Eberron's "ten things" list that really serves to set the tone of the setting. And whatever those unique features are should be interlaced throughout the setting. They don't all have to appear everywhere, but they should all appear somewhere, and there should be some reflection of at least some of them everywhere.

(Incidentally, that's another reason I'm not keen on WotC's "multiverse" thing - I'm a fan of Dark Sun and Spelljammer and Ravenloft, but they're not the same. Each has features that makes it distinct. By forcing them all into a multiverse, especially if they link them up too tightly, the distinctiveness is necessarily reduced. And, yes, that's a criticism that can be levelled against "Infinity War" also, though that gets lost somewhat in the fact that that film is already trying to do too much in too little time.)

Lesser Gods of the Unbalanced Pantheon

The lesser gods are more numerous but less significant than the greater gods - whereas most of the greater gods appear in most of the legends of the world, lesser gods tend to appear only in a few such legends. Collectively, the lesser gods are less important than any single greater god. Indeed, there is a body of thought that indicates that the universe has an existential need for exactly five greater gods, while the lesser gods have no such restriction.

Theologians believe that each lesser god draws some measure of power from the overlap between two greater gods. As such, there is scope for the existence of no more than ten such gods, as there are ten potential overlaps between greater gods.

The current lesser gods are as follows:

• Chronicle: The god of legacies, Chronicle was the son of Klos and the predecessor of The Thought. He is one of the few beings capable of accurately recalling the events of the Upheaval, including the death of his mother, but is rendered unable to pass this information on to others - the hearer can only comprehend the reality of the new paradigm.
  
• Cyrene the Liar: the herald of the Usurper, Cyrene travels Terafa poisoning right-thinking mortals against the true pantheon. She has been rendered mortal by her travails, but has a strange power over even greater gods such that Choriam dare not strike her dead.
  
• Dolowrath, child of lies: The youngest of all the gods, Dolowrath is the youngest son of Choriam and Li. However, he finds that his power is not as it should be, and his standing as even a lesser god is tenuous at best. Dolowrath is known as a great deceiver, and is the god of seduction.
  
• Drachias: Once a mortal mage of great power, Drachias siezed the mantle of demigod by pure will, and then rose to the standing of lesser god during the Upheaval, slaying and usurping a now-unknown lesser deity. He is the god of ambition, and now has his sights set on further advancement.
  
• Illusta: The goddess of joy, Illustra is the daughter of Li and Choriam, although she is utterly unlike her father.
  
• Horizon: The goddess of wanderers, Horizon appeared at around the same time as The Thought, although there is no indication of a relationship between the goddesses. None know whence Horizon came, including the goddess herself, but it is known that she is not native to the pantheon, and expected that in time she will again depart.
  
• Jolin: One of the original greater gods, Jolin was once the god of the sun, patron of the arts, and lord of all magic. However, when the schism with Lorissa occurred and the sun was split in the sky, Jolin and Lorissa were each reduced in stature. Jolin is now the god of the elves, music, and swordplay.
  
• Kuebe: The daughter of Klos and Li, following a brief and unhappy dalliance, is the goddess of regret. She is a quiet, unhappy creature.
  
• Lorissa: It would be a mistake to label Lorissa the daughter of Jolin, or even to say that she is the younger of the two - she was once a part of Jolin that was forced out in the schism over the fate and souls of the elves. At that time, she was reduced in stature to a lesser god. She remains the lover and partner of Jolin, though their relationship is poisonous in the extreme. Lorissa is honoured as goddess of elves, magic, and poison.
  
• Morr, the static god: The whispered legend has it that Li once had an affair with the being known as Stonefather and conceived a child. However, unlike her other pregnancies, this one was anything but smooth - she remained pregnant for twenty years and was unable to birth the child. Eventually, in extreme pain, she sliced herself open and birthed Morr - fully-grown but already frozen in stasis. Morr isn't so much the god of anything, he's rather just a fact, and as such is worshipped by those who crave stability in all things.
  
• Nemesis: The second interloper of the gods, Nemesis arrived at Terafa from elsewhere at the time of the Rebirth. She is the goddess of revenge, and as such is widely called upon if not truly worshipped.
  
• Shallanah: The second daughter of Li and Choriam is no more like her father than Illusta. Legend has it that her heart was once stolen by a mortal rogue, and that she therefore birthed him a race of children. However, fearful that Choriam would persecute her children for the sins of their father, she reduced them in stature and ordered them to remain wanderers, that they might go unnoticed. Shallanah is therefore the patron goddess of halflings, as well as the goddess of rogues and luck. Finally, she is the goddess of money - she inherited that portfolio from her twin sister, who was slain by The Usurper.

In addition, the Fastness of the Divine is home to some lesser gods:

• The Jailer: The son of Choriam and the predecessor of The Thought, The Jailer is responsible for ensuring none leave the Fastness of the Divine. Although weaker in stature than The Usurper, he has special power in his own domain to allow him to restrain even a greater god. The Jailer rides a two-headed dragon.
  
• The Four: Sometimes named as the North, South, East, and West, these are the followers of the Usurper. Forbidden by divine edit from ever venturing near one another, they are bitter rivals of each other as well as of the true pantheon. It is whispered that if ever they were to unite their power, The Jailer would not be able to contain them.

The Secret

As noted at the top of the post, Terafan theologians believe there is scope for no more than ten lesser gods, representing the overlaps between the five greater gods. They are almost correct - there are actually six greater gods, leading to fifteen such overlaps. Of these, five are contained within the Fastness of the Divine: The Jailer and The Four.

However, a careful count of the other lesser gods will show that there are twelve named, not ten. There is a two-part reason for this. Firstly, neither Cyrene nor Dolowrath fully has the mantle of lesser god - Cyrene lacks the immortality that might be expected, while Dolowrath's standing is noted as being tenuous at best. This is due, quite simply, to their not being enough power to go around.

Additionally, this seeming discrepancy ties into the notion of the Unbalanced Pantheon - such is the nature of the imbalance that even its internal rules are subject to being broken.

The consequent effect of the pantheon not quite working is that the world as a whole likewise doesn't quite work - the whole is spinning slightly off its axis, and the chaos that that inflicts should grow more pronounced with time.

At least, that's the theory.

History is Written By the Victors

The titular adage is as true in Terafa as everywhere else. However, in Terafa it is also metaphysically true. This means two things:

Firstly, where there is a change to the pantheon, such as the death of a god, the rise of a new god, a promotion, demotion, or other change, that is very quickly reflected in the world - where a god rises, there will very quickly be temples and priesthoods springing up, cults, believers, and indeed heresies associated with that god. It is almost as if these things come into being whole-cloth. Conversely, when a god falls her temples will very quickly fall out of use, becoming decayed ruins, and either be abandoned or indeed swept away.

Secondly, however, any such changes are actually retroactive, both in that the legends surrounding the god will be edited to match the new reality (although such things are rarely done in a truly comprehensive manner - some vestiges of the old order almost always remain), but also in the history itself. Thus, if one were to cast a spell to travel back in time to the founding of the universe, one would find that the greater gods were Choriam, Li, Klos, The Thought, and The Twins (and there would be two suns, not one), and The Usurper would be confined to the Fastness of the Divine. That applies even though mythology (correctly) identifies that The Thought came into being following the Upheaval, and that Jolin was originally the greater god of the sun.

This of course means that there are effectively some break points beyond which time travel is effectively not possible - any time the pantheon changes, this closes off the past that has led to that point. Any attempt to time travel back beyond that point won't take you back to the way things were originally; it will take you back to a very similar parallel timeline where the pantheon matches the way things have always been. Or something - time travel just gets weird.

Greater Gods of the Unbalanced Pantheon

Before I start digging into some of the myths of Terefa, I thought it best to outline the greater gods of the pantheon. I'll explain the "unbalanced" bit below...

• Choriam: The primary god of the setting, Choriam is the king of the gods. Depicted as a wise and fair ruler, always smiling and always truthful, Choriam is allied with his blood-brother Klos, and united with his wife Li. He is opposed by The Twins out of their avarice for his position, and by The Thought for no reason either can articulate. Of course, he opposes and is opposed by The Usurper.
  
• Klos: The god of community and tradition, Klos is the deity most commonly worshipped by dwarves, but he is favoured in all civilised lands. He is an implacable enforcer of laws, and protector of civilisation, but he can be hide-bound and slow to change. He is the blood-brother of Choriam, having fought at his side for millennia to bring order to an unruly creation. Klos is allied with Choriam, and respects The Thought most highly for her wisdom and her work-ethic. However, he opposes Li, as she is always trying to poison Choriam's mind against him, and by The Twins, as they would undo all that he has made. Of course, he opposes and is opposed by The Usurper.
  
• Li: Ah, Li, goddess of passion, beloved of artists, poets, and degenerates of all stripes. Li is married to Choriam, but her nature is fickle and so she has dallied with many other deities, demigods, and mortals. Li is allied with her husband Choriam, and with The Twins as both she and they have strong appetites. She is opposed by Klos as she spurned his advances in ages past, and by The Thought whom she finds staid to the point of boredom. Of course, she opposes and is opposed by The Usurper.
  
• The Thought: The youngest of the greater gods, The Thought sprang into being following the Upheaval, due to an unmet need in the universe. She is the goddess of wisdom and industry, ever busy with a philosophy or a task. The Thought is allied with Klos, as her love of industry parallels his guardianship of community. She is opposed by The Twins and Li, all of whose passions she deplores, and by Choriam for reasons neither of them can articulate.
  
• The Twins: Inseparable since their birth, The Twins are depicted variously as brother and sister, two sisters, mother and daughter, as friends closer than siblings, or even as lovers. They are the goddesses of the sun, of change and of want. The Twins are constant and yet ever-changing, as their orbits cause them each to wax and wane in turn. One, the older of the sisters, is regarded as the more stable of the two, bringing constancy and plenty, while the rise of her fickle sister brings great change and upheaval, and the denial of many wishes. The Twins cannot truly be divided, and are never worshipped or even named independently. They are allied with Li, as their passions are often aligned, but are opposed by the more hidebound gods Klos and The Thought.

In addition to the five greater gods, there are four additional powers of note:

• The Usurper: Trapped within the Fastness of the Divine since the time of the Upheaval, The Usurper once attempted to overthrow the order of the universe by deposing Choriam. However, he was defeated by the combined might of Choriam, Klos, and Li. Some heretics claim the The Usurper was once married to Li, but that they quarrelled, leading to his downfall.
  
• The Stonefather: The lengendary forefather of the dwarves, none know what happened to the Stonefather, or even if he ever existed at all. If he ever did exist, he is certainly no longer accessible to mortals of Terafa.
  
• Jolin: The creator of the elves, Jolin was once the god of the sun. His portfolio included both art and magic. However, following by schism with Lorissa, Jolin lost his standing with the greater gods. Jolin will be detailed further with the lesser gods, in another post.
  
• An Unknown God: The Thought was brought into being after the Upheaval due to an existential need in the universe. This need was caused by the death of a previous god or goddess that was slain at that time. Nothing else is known about that deity, and all attempts at divination fail, with those who attempt such blasphemies risking insanity or worse.

The Unbalanced Pantheon?

The fact that their are five greater gods means that the setting can never be truly balanced - as the ego of the gods is such that they will always have an opinion on any topic in question, they will forever find themselves taking sides... and with five of them there can never be even numbers on each side. At present, the triumvirate of Choriam, Klos, and Li stand pre-eminent amongst the gods, but their hold on matters is tenuous at best, not least due to the emnity between Klos and Li. However, it wasn't always like this. By rights, the pantheon should have six greater gods, thus providing the necessary balance and giving the universe harmony. Unfortunately, that harmony was shattered by a conflict between Choriam and The Usurper over the stewardship of the souls of humans. But more of that later.

Secrets

There are several secrets buried in the list of deities, including some that go right to the heart of the setting. I may address some of these in a later post. Though I may not, under the philosophy of "don't show all your working." We'll see...

Building a Pantheon

Of all the aspects of Terafa I'm inclined to redo with my proposed "Ultimates Version", the pantheon of gods is the most tricky. There are two reasons for this: there are some bits I'm very unhappy with, but also some bits that I'm very pleased with; but... the changes I'd like to make to the bits I'm unhappy with would inevitably have a knock-on effect on the bits that I am happy with (or, more accurately, would complete rewrite them). So that's been difficult to resolve.

Where I've come to is a belief that there are three key mistakes that RPGs tend to make when constructing pantheons (though the number is questionable - these are all bound very much together...):

1. Too many deities, and too many poorly defined deities. I mentioned this in my review of "Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes" - an awful lot of settings have massive pantheons that mostly consist of a big list of names coupled with absolutely minimal detail.
   
2. Individual pantheons for each race. This feeds into the above, but also opens up a big dilemma - what happens if a human PC wants to be a Cleric of an elven deity? You can allow it without restriction, and thus lose some of the flavour of your pantheons; you can ban it, and have an unhappy player; or you can allow it but make it a big thing in the campaign that this PC is very much an exception (which may or may not be desirable). But, really, what you have is actually one set of deities, some of whom take a particular, and perhaps exclusive, interest in only one of the races.
   
3. Too often, RPG pantheons look to real-world polytheistic religions for the model of how it should be done. Now, that seems like a strange thing to say, but here's the thing: real-world polytheistic religions did not come into existence to serve the needs of a game. (It's also important to note that I'm not saying we shouldn't look to real-world pantheons for inspiration; I'm just saying we shouldn't seek to simply ape them.)

The problem I had was that I had individual pantheons for several of the non-human races, and I was actually very happy with these, while I felt that my human pantheon was particularly poor - in fact, that was where I ran out of steam and just waved my hand and said, "oh, they're just monotheistic I guess".

After quite a lot of thought, I think I've now come up with the core of a pantheon that works. I still have quite a few details to work out, so can't present it here yet, but I'm looking at five main deities (plus the inevitable exiled god), a dozen or so lesser powers, and then a small number of quasi-deities and demigods (though most of these will be detailed as adventures need them - such deities tend to be very local). Plus three divine philosophies not associated with the gods (ancestor worship, mostly practiced by the dwarves; nature worship, mostly practiced by druids and their followers; and The Way - a philosophy dedicated to the notion of the divinity of man).

As a consequence of this reorganisation, the individual racial pantheons I had established will be removed. However, most of the aspects of those that I liked will be retained and brought into the new unified structure. For instance, the elven gods will have started as one of the Greater Gods (specifically, the god of the Sun) but due to the schism in their nature it will have split into the Two. This division led to the demotion of these gods to become Lesser Gods, the Sun itself was split into two, and a new Greater God, The Twins, has adopted that portfolio (amongst others).

Anyway, I still have quite a lot of thought to give to the subject, so I'll stop there while I tie things down.

Gods and Domains

One of the character rebuilds that was requested recently was a change to the Domain selected by the Cleric character - the player posited that the character might have had a crisis of faith due to recent in-game events, and consequently emerged rather angrier (and changed from a Cleric of Life to one of Tempest). I was quite happy with this, especially given the in-game reasoning, but there was just one problem... his patron deity had Life as a Domain but not Tempest.

My conclusion was not only that I would allow the change, but also that I'm minded to think that it would be better if deities generally did not have specified Domains, or if they must have them then they should be considered suggestions only. Any Cleric of any deity should probably be able to choose any Domain they can justify. (Of course, some combinations are really tricky to justify - a Cleric of the god of darkness who chooses the Light Domain?)

Not only does this grant a bit more flexibility, and especially in the case of character rebuilds like the above, but it also has a key advantage in future-proofing the setting - it's likely that one day there will be a sixth edition, and it's entirely possible that that sixth edition will change Clerics again (after all, every edition since 1st has felt the need...). If a setting has a long list of gods with a Domain assigned to each, that's a long list that will need changed over to match the new paradigm. If instead the setting has a list of gods but without assigned Domains, there's nothing to convert.

(It's also worth noting that Clerics are more or less unique amongst the classes in that their powers are tied to specific setting information, in the form of the gods. Paladins have Vows, but these are not associated with anything in particular, while Warlock Pacts are likewise with broad and somewhat-undefined entities in the game. Only Clerics have to identify a specific, named source for their powers, and that source needs to then match up with the Domain they want. With the curious effect that a player will probably choose the Domain first and deity second, rather than picking a deity that would be interesting to follow and proceeding from there. But I digress...)

Lunar Colonies

I started the process of scanning and shredding my accumulated RPG papers over the weekend. The biggest takeaway from this is the sheer scope of the task - there are four big folders almost entirely filled with old campaign notes, plus a big box fill of old character sheets. As anticipated, even a lot of the material that was originally printed out (and so already exists on my PC) has been edited by hand and so requires some attention.

The other thing that I had fully expected was that a lot of the old setting material is unalloyed dross, or worse - I wrote much of it in my teens, and was labouring under some really bad setting-design advice at the time, so this isn't entirely unsurprising.

But I have, thus far, stumbled upon one really good idea. And while it's something I've seen in sci-fi reasonably regularly, it's not something I've seen in fantasy settings previously (this is, of course, where if I mentioned this on a discussion forum, it would immediately be met with a chorus of people listing settings where it is a common feature...). Specifically, one of the settings I developed all those years ago had colonies on two of the planet's moons.

(I should note also that I have seen settings where a moon or moon has life on it. I'm not aware of any that specifically have colonies, or widespread trade with those colonies. Again, in fantasy rather than sci-fi - it's quite common in the latter!)

Of course, that doesn't mean that the material is useable as-is. Effectively, this is one cool idea, but something I'll need to re-purpose and re-develop if I'm ever planning to use it. But I like it - gives a really nice pulp-y feel to proceedings. But how to use it...?

Showing Your Working

As an engineer, I like things being presented clearly, with as few ambiguities as possible. Ideally, I'd like to see all the working - show me not just how the rules fit together, but also the reasoning that led to them, the various break-points that have been applied, and so forth. This gives a much stronger foundation for running the game (since I can understand why as well as what the rules are saying), and also gives a much better foundation for modifications.

On the other hand, there are some key areas where it's better not to show the working - basically, in anything player-facing, and most of the setting details regardless of source, it's probably better not to have the underlying themes shown up - yes, if orcs represent the rejection of social norms while hobgoblins represent the corruption of those same norms, that allows for a lot of cool storytelling... but the DM should know that and use it to tell his stories; the players probably should not be beaten about the head with it.

Basically, while the 'why' is really useful, sometimes it's better just to have the 'what' and thus retain more of the magic.

(See also the dichotomy between symettry, which is aesthetically pleasing, and creative asymettry which is more interesting...)

Ephemera

Over thirty years of gaming I have accumulated a considerable number of books, dice, and other items associated with the game. However, I have also accumulated a whole lot of paper - old character sheets, campaign notes, and other bits and pieces that have been written down and never discarded.

Obviously, none of these things have any value to anyone else. However, as things that I have created they have considerable value, if only sentimental value, to me. That makes discarding them tricky.

Over the past several years, I have thankfully seen the rate at which I create new items of this sort drop drastically - I've taken to creating almost everything using a PC, which means that any paper generated is just a physical representation - the master copy is the one on the PC. However, that's not yet true of everything, and it doesn't really help me with the accumulated cruft. (Most damning of all, of course, are those documents that started life as electronic copies but were then heavily edited in pen/pencil in their physical versions, such that the master copy is the paper version...)

As I've mentioned on Part Five, I'm now at a point where my accumulated stuff from past lives has started to impact on the quality of the life that I'm living now. And that means that those past lives have got to go, or at least be sharply cut down to size. I need the space a whole lot more than I need the stuff.

So...

Actually, I don't have a clear way forward here. I think that what I want to do is to gather together all the paper I've generated over that time (but specifically all that paper that I have generated - not published materials of any stripe), and then gradually deal with it. In many cases, this means scanning it, potentially front and back, and then discarding it. In some cases, it may mean tracking down and editing the electronic version (so that that returns to being the master copy), and then discarding it. And in some few cases, it just means discarding it.

(I think what I'll do is get everything transferred to electronic format and then work on sorting that into a sensible arrangement of files, rather than trying to sort as I go. Because otherwise the job is going to get bogged down in the organisation state. But I may rethink that.)

One other thing: As a corollary of this clear out comes a new policy for creating new paper. Specifically, don't. Where some sort of note or other paper is generated (and sometimes that is appropriate, when scribbling a map or similar), it should be scanned promptly, and the electronic version should be considered the master. Once the paper version has outlived its usefulness, it should probably be rescanned for archive purposes, and then discarded. (And going forward, any game that does not have a form-fillable electronic character sheet need not apply!)

War for the Crown

The antepenultimate first edition Pathfinder adventure path (and therefore my antepenultime Pathfinder adventure path) is a political-themed campaign - the ruler of Taldor dies leaving no clear heir, and the PCs must play a big part in bringing one of the claimants to the throne.

I have to be honest, I didn't care for this path.

There actually was a great deal that I liked about "War for the Crown". I liked the basic storyline, I liked the choice of villains, and I liked the twist. I especially liked the "triumphs" subsystem, which worked really well for allowing magic items to grow alongside the PCs who use them (to the extent that I would probably adopt that system for a D&D campaign I designed in future).

However, my issue with the path was pretty fundamental - the political aspects of the game are built very heavily on Pathfinder's new and detailed social duelling rules. Unfortunately, my impression of those is that they've created a detailed and complex system for something that not only could, but really needs, to be light and simple. Perhaps it's just that I'm getting old, but my interest in long slugfest combats of attrition is almost non-existent, and adding a correspondingly complex slugfest system for social conflict just has no appeal whatsoever.

This is a shame - this was a path I'd been really looking forward to, and so for it to turn out to be such a let down is especially disappointing.

And now there are two to go.

Character Rebuilds

Once it was decided that we would proceed with the same characters into "Storm King's Thunder", some of my players mooted the possibility of adjusting their characters to more closely resemble how they would build them, rather than how they were presented in the Basic Set. Which is cool - I'm a convert to the notion that you should be able to rebuild your character at opportune times to better represent the character you want to play.

When performing a character rebuild, I have one iron rule: the core concept of the character must be maintained. By and large this will be treated as a retcon - this is the way the character has always been. That being the case, we don't want that to be a huge shock to the game. So if the character has always been a Dwarven Cleric who uses a battleaxe, he shouldn't suddenly become an Elven Wizard who uses a trident!

I have two lesser guidelines to be applied: you really shouldn't change the character's race (and probably not the subrace), and you probably shouldn't change the character's ability scores. Neither of these is quite so absolute, since these things tend not to be quite so clearly established within the fiction of the game, but if you get to the point where you're wanting to change those things, you're probably better off with a whole new character.

You'll note that I haven't said you can't change the character's class (or subclass). That's because the boundaries between some of the classes are at least a little flexible - an archer-Ranger could probably become an archer-Fighter (or vice versa) without too much difficulty, while a Paladin could probably become a Fighter without too much grief.

Two other things to consider, though:

Firstly, a character rebuild should generally be done only when an opportune time arrives - D&D 5e provides three such ideal opportunities, as the characters enter a new tier; alternately, my current game has an opportunity due to moving from "The Lost Mine of Phandelver" to "Storm King's Thunder".

Secondly, any given PC should probably only be rebuilt once in the course of his career. If you're feeling the need to chop and change more often than that, it's probably better to retire the character and start over.

As above, though, neither of these are my iron rule - they're both guidelines.