User:Markus

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Markus Viklund, aka MKai.

Tiny Metal Men

I recently made an inventory of all my metal and plastic miniatures, painted or not. The natural next step is to do something with this information...

Blood Bowl

I've got complete Chaos Dwarf, High Elf, and Ork teams, and I'm finalizing a Chaos team and a custom Undead team. That's hardly enough, is it?

First up are pygmies (http://alphaspel.se/shop/743-pigmei)!

Firestorm Armada

I just can't resist spaceships, even if I never get a chance to play. Got two fleets at LinCon 2011.

Table: 1195 pts Directorate Ships
Type Points Notes
Judgement-class Battleship & 3 Escorts 230
Overseer-class Carrier & 3 Escorts 185
Overseer-class Carrier & 3 Escorts 185
Tormentor-class R&D cruiser 70
Justice-class Heavy cruiser
2 Vanquisher-class cruisers
80
130
3 Vanquisher-class cruisers 195
3 Enforcer-class Frigates 60
3 Enforcer-class Frigates 60
3 Unassigned Escorts (45)

For a 1000-point fleet, either drop 3 cruisers, or all escorts and 3 frigates.

Table: 1130 pts Sorylian Collective Ships
Type Points Notes
Swordbreaker-class Battleship & 3 Escorts 255
Swordbreaker-class Battleship & 2 Escorts 235
Morning Star-class Carrier 160
2 Bombard-class Gunships 150
Halberd-class Heavy cruiser
3 Skyhammer-class Cruisers
85
180
3 Scythe-class Frigates 60
3 Scythe-class Frigates 60
1 Unassigned Escort (20)

For a 1000-point fleet, drop the gunships and a cruiser, and reassign the last escort to the second Swordbreaker.

Gorkamorka

Similar to Necromunda and Mordheim, Gorkamorka suffers from having a single playable faction -- orks. On the other hand, what else do you need? Gorkamorka is a perfect excuse to paint up a limited number (12-20) of orks and kustomize some trukks.

Mordheim

I missed Mordheim when it was new, but I easily have the 20 orcs needed for a warband.

Necromunda

I have unpainted or partially painted Orlock and Escher gangs hidden in a box. At a mere 12-15 figs each, there's very little reason not to finish them.

Trafalgar

A delightful game of napoleonic sailing ships from Warhammer Historicals. Came highly recommended on SomethingAwful historicals forum, so I looked it up.

I've had a few small ships for ages, what can I do with them? A 650-point scouting fleet.

Table: 650pts French Ships
Type Points Notes
La Régénéré, 5th rate frigate 125 NavWar.
Another 5th rate frigate 125 Langton.
8 Mars-class corvettes 360 NavWar. 2 squadrons of 3, 1 squadron of 2.
Miscellaneous upgrades 40 NavWar.

For a suitable English fleet, I had to order more. I got them from Langton, and they're gorgeous!

Table: 650pts English Ships
Type Points Notes
Two 5th rate frigates 250 Langton. Squadron of 2.
Two 6th rate frigates 220 Langton. Squadron of 2.
6 Pandour-class cutters 180 NavWar. French class, but cutters are pretty generic, and there are none in the french list. 2 squadrons of 3.

Random Projects

Occasionally I have some free time, and frivolously spend it fiddling with one of these projects. Real Life prevents them from ever being finished.

DBMM

I co-wrote a fantasy version of DBM called DBF. With DBM out of print forever, I intend to port the changes to DBMM instead. Logically enough, I call it DBMF.


Malleus

Malleus (Sv) is a homebrew system based on Pendragon. It was used for several local campaigns during the 90s. The rules are in Swedish, and were never complete or 'stable'. It has been my general intention to update, modernize, and fill in missing parts of the ruleset.

However, 4th edition Basic Roleplaying (Chaosium) provides a firmer foundation upon which to build, and would need only minor tweaks to become a 2nd Ed Malleus.

Since Pendragon lacked a magic system, Malleus had several modular magic systems, just like BRP. The primary one was based on Ars Magica, but the others came from RQ, Stormbringer, and other games directly compatible with BRP.

World of d20

World of d20 is a d20 Modern adaption of World of Darkness and other games of modern horror/urban fantasy. I tinker with it far too often, but I don't expect to actually finish it. Class-based and Modern really don't mix all that well, and getting the balance right is a hairy task. Also, nWoD is actually quite decent and coherent, unlike oWoD, so there's little reason to change systems anyway.

Characters Old and New

I've made a lot of characters over the years, many forgotten and some that really ought to be (MC Solo, I'm looking at you!). But there are some that, for some reason or other, remain memorable. I figured that it would be easier to keep remembering them in my dotage if I collected them somewhere. This also enables me to convert them to new systems, just to see what they would be like.

When comparing character 'levels' across systems I'll be using a simple low/mid/high heroic/paragon/epic scale like 4th edition D&D. This will be tied to mostly to fluff, unless comparable enemies exist in both systems. Some systems are inherently limited in which tiers of play they can handle. Most handle heroic just fine, but choke as power levels grow. Exalted, being inherently epic, is an interesting exception.

Andrew Mackintosh

Top Secret agent, later converted to Top Secret/SI. Was more of a martial artist and gunner than a Bond-style diplomancer.

All character data long since lost.

Aramil Amastacia

Aramil has the dubious distinction of being both prince and princess, due to a distinct lack of males in her parentage. The elven queen got infatuated with her birth mother, the future queen of Coeranys, and courted her under a heavy male glamour. This glamour was so strong that it stuck to the child of their union, and Aramil was born male, but with weak gender identity. During the final arc of the campaign he met his other mother, who removed the glamour and turned him female.

Had a lot of temporary lovers of both sexes, and several permanent mistresses. Even so, he never managed to father an heir. Once female, she kept the same behaviour and rapidly became a mother of four. After that she finally adapted to being fertile, and her remaining three children were born with a more sedate five-year interval. All of her children have different fathers, and like her mother she used her womb to get political advantages. She never married.

His rôle in Coeranys was spymaster and diplomat, though he never had sole responsibility for either field. As spymaster he used his followers to introduce the concept of ninja gardeners and combat maids to the royal palace. After the Ascension of the Gorgon she continued to refine these ideas, and institutionalize them so that would be able to survive without her personal attention. It is as of yet too early to tell if she succeeded in this endeavour.

The ruleset is D&D 3.0 with extensive houserules to handle the Birthright-specific campaign elements.

Male and female half-elf Bard-9/Duelist-5/Fighter-2. Neutral Good.
35 years old, 5'11", 159 lbs. Great Vorynn bloodline (60).

Initial: Str 12, Dex 19, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 10, Cha 18.
Current: Str 20, Dex 28, Con 22, Int 23, Wis 10, Cha 27. (inc. items)

Bloodline Abilities: minor Alertness, minor ?, major Detect Illusion,
  major Protection From Evil, major Resistance (SR 32 vs Evocation),
  great Divine Aura.
Languages: Anuirean, Brechtur, Goblin, Khinasi, Sidhelien.
Feats: Alertness, Ambidexterity, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (whip),
  Improved Ambidexterity, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Leadership,
  Lightning Parry, Two-Weapon Fighting, Weapon Finesse (dagger),
  Weapon Finesse (rapier).
Skills: Balance +16, Bluff +20, Climb +8, Concentration +11, 
  Diplomacy +34, Gather Information +22, Hide +11, Intimidate +17,
  Jump +12, Knowledge (arcana, history, local) +13, Knowledge (nobility) +15,
  Listen +15, Move Silently +12, Perform +30, Ride +12, Search +8,
  Sense Motive +20, Spellcraft +13, Spot +20, Swim +12, Tumble +16,
  Use Rope +20.
Domain Actions: Diplomacy +8, Espionage +6, Grant +8, Rule Law +8,
  Rule Province +4.
Items: 4 stat boosters +4, amulet, cloak, 4 rings, 3 ioun stones,
  empathic boots of Levitation named Hellwalker, shock rapier +3,
  empathic defending shock dagger +3 named Raincloud, lots of minor stuff. 
Spells: charms, defenses, utility.

The bloodline abilities are worth at least another level. Which is good, since 3.0 bards suck.

Beatrice

Rolemaster courtesan. Was actually a high elven imperial princess of the local Ardor-expies, sent abroad under heavy glamour to keep her safe from enemies, though I didn't know any of that until quite late. Short, very curvy, and blessed by a certain goddess of courtesans with a strong Allure. This was balanced with a divine Geas to always require payment for sexual favours.

The campaign ended in the middle of an attempted conquista, against the local Empire of the Petal Throne. The locals revered Beatrice as an incarnate goddess of lust, prostitution, and other things lost in translation. If we won they'd get slaughtered and we'd get rich beyond dreams. If they won I'd probably be put in a golden cage on top of a pyramid for a life of ritual sex, drugs, and human sacrifice. For however long it took for someone to rescue me, potentially hundreds of years.

THe system used was RoleMaster II with lots of options. Character sheet was a Ragtime spreadsheet, and even if I could find a copy I wouldn't be able to open it.

Christina "Misty" Lee

Vampire from Miami, clan Toreador. This was primarily a Mage chronicle, with Misty mostly being a sidekick and hired muscle to the real sort-of-heroes. She didn't mind--it was much safer to run with mages than to involve oneself in the eternal turf wars of vampire society. Also, mages had no real interest in real valuable stuff like low-generation vampire lords in torpor, ready for a quick snack.

Female Asian-American vampire of clan Toreador.
8th generation of Caine, sire "Rose".
Apparent age 18 years (1966-1984); 5'6", 36-22-36. Conformist, Survivor.

Str 2, Dex 5, Sta 3.
Cha 3, Man 2, App 4.
Per 3, Int 2, Wit 2.

Abilities: Acting 2, Alertness 3, Brawl 2, Dodge 3, Empathy 2, Intimidation 2,
  Streetwise 1, Drive 2, Etiquette 1, Firearms 2, Melee 3, Perform (Music) 6,
  Stealth 3, Survival 1, Technology 1, Linguistics 3, Medicine 1, Occult 2.
Disciplines: Auspex 3, Celerity 2, Presence 2, Fortitude 2, Obfuscate 2.
Backgrounds: Generation 6, Herd 2, Resources 3, Status 1.
Virtues: Conscience 2, Self-Control 5, Courage 3. Willpower 8, Humanity 6.
Merits: Ambidextrous, Eat Food, Greater Colours, Light Sleeper.
Flaws: Repelled by Crosses, Haunted, Taint of Corruption.

Ended the chronicle as the permanent mistress of a quite competent NPC adept. Makes her feel safe. And he's got an artifact that produces an endless supply of blood. That's certainly worth putting out for, isn't it?

Dorothea Caiphon

Dorothea is 4th edition D&D star pact warlock, and is currently the most recent character on this list. Sadly, balanced (Con/Cha) warlocks suck at their primary task of dealing massive damage, and are mostly failures at control.

Dyvim Evadne

A trueblood Melnibonéan, Evadne was the semi-illegitimate half-sister of Elric's cousin Dyvim Slorm, and therefore daughter to Dyvim Tvar. Gotta love random character generation! Forced into a life of adventure and irresponsibility after Elric destroyed her home, she managed to flee the Young Kingdoms before the end. The gate took her to the Warhammer Old World, were she eventually settled in a nice castle by the Reik.

Like most Melnibonéans, she was cruel, sadistic, generally uncaring, hedonistic, and drugged higher than the Himalayas. Unlike most, she actually felt remorse for her actions whenever her drug supply ran out. Quite incidentally, refilling the supply and stopping those nasty feelings were her primary motivation for engaging in unpleasant adventuring.

After being kidnapped, bought from her father (and cheaply too), and strongarmed into marriage, her husband forcibly detoxed her and prevented further relapses. While she doesn't love him per se (she's a lesbian ailurophile), she's heavily dependent upon him and cannot contemplate a life without him. She knows she would eventually return to drugs and sadism if allowed to run free.

She was created as a Stormbringer sorcerer (demon/elemental summoner). Due to a highly impressive act of wanton debauchery in front of the Chaos Lord Balo the Jester, she received a Gift for blasting direct-damage magic quite unlike what was the norm in the Young Kingdoms. Later converted to a more ordinary Malleus mage, by simply expanding on that Gift.

Early adventures were firmly in the heroic tier, but she was mid-late paragon at the end.

Female Melnibonéan sorceror-priestess.
20 years old, 6'0", 130 lbs.

Siz 9, Dex 26, Str 7, Con 8, App 25.

Traits: Lustful, Open-Minded, Honest, Dreaming, Generous.
Passions: Addiction, Piety, Love (Cyrillia, Music, Family), Pain.
Skills (at 5+): Art (body painting) 9, Art (pain) 5, Chirurgery 7,
  Courtesy 18, Custom (Melniboné) 8, Demonology 5, First Aid 8, 
  Intrigue 10, Orate 10, Play (lute) 16, Poison 8, Sing 15, 
  Speak (high Melnibonéan) 11, Speak (low Melnibonéan) 15,
  Speak (reikspiel) 6; Dagger 6, Sword 11.
Magical Skills: Creo 7, Rego 15; Aurum 22, Ignem 16, Terram 7, Vim 17.
Items: Flaming sword, demon negligé.

Garth

Rifts is a Palladium game. All Palladium games have the same basic rules, and they all suck. Beyond belief and reason. Rifts is no exception to this basic natural law, but it does have the most cracktastic fluff imaginable. In the end I broke, and made a Rifts character. Enter Garth, stage left.

Male human Maxi-Man lvl 3; 16 years old, 120 kg; Unprincipled (Selfish).

IQ 8, ME 7, MA 13, PS 19, PP 27, PE 17, PB 10, Spd 43. 190 MDC.

Tattoos: Simple Sword, Simple Shield, Flaming Shield, Sword in Flames,
  Swords Crossed, Eagle, Wolf, Griffon, Manticora, Three Eyes, Heart in Chains,
  Lightning Bolts, Pierced Heart, Broken Chain, Large Winged Heart,
  Phoenix Rising, Dolphin, Skull with Thorns.
No equipment.
No interesting skills.

The tattoos are spell foci, with effects that only occasionally have any connection to their names.

Hermann Mann

TORG action hero, born on Core Earth but transformed to the Nile Empire. In TORG you can burn XP for extra power. The Nile Empire schtick is to burn even more XP, for a minor additional boost. This is wonderful in a one-off adventure, but a total disaster in a long-running campaign like this. Those who hoard their XP advance faster, and will in time be so good that you have to burn XP just to keep up, which of course makes the power difference even worse next time.

This, and heavy-handed GM use of TORGs subplot drama cards, eventually caused me to feel nothing but distaste for him.

He's built with houseruled -- as in more expensive -- XP advancement costs, and there might be a new skill or two, but not many. The really heavy modding of TORG didn't start until we found Feng Shui, and by then he was retired.

Male human; 37 years old, 172 cm, 72 kg. Cosm: New Empire of the Nile.

Dex 12, Str 9, Tou 9, Per 9, Min 8, Cha 11, Spi 14.

Skills: Dodge 5, Fire Combat 5, Heavy Weapons 3 Maneuver 5, Melee Weapons 5,
  Missile Weapons 2, Prestidigitation 2, Stealth 5, Unarmed Combat 5,
  Athletics 4, Endurance 4, Air Vehicles 3, Find 4, Land Vehicles 5,
  Language 4, Trick 5, Computer 3, Construction 3, Evidence Analysis 2,
  Scholar 4, Survival 2, Technology 2, Willpower 4, Charm 3, Persuasion 5,
  Streetwise 2, Taunt 5, Faith (Nile) 5, Intimidation 6, Leadership 5,
  Pain Weapons 5.
FX Skills: Reality 6, Weird Science 5, Corruption 1.
Equipment: whip, Tharkoldu pain baton, Force Field gizmo, Dazzle gizmo,
  lots of assorted guns (Tech 21-26).

Kit O'Malley

Cat pilot and secret agent, sent to spy on the Star Wars empire. Apart from having an origin beyond the Empire's borders, the campaign was fairly ordinary with typical SW adventures in the beginning. After the rebellion won, we returned home for a mix of Call of Cthulhu and James Bond.

Kit himself was a Casanova at heart, but rarely got to do it as his "friends" took great pleasure in sabotaging all efforts at romance. He was also followed by an ImpSec agent that took a liking to him, and enjoyed playing him for a fool. In the end they married, and settled down in a threesome with a Rabbit. Father of Teela (see below).

All character sheets long since lost.

Njal Stormcaller

Misanthropic and technophobic werewolf, one of Fenris' get. Was blind, but could see through the eyes of his spirit familiar whenever it materialized itself. Disdaining humans and technology, it was rare for him to leave his native wolf form.

Male lupus theurge werewolf.
Get of Fenris tribe, Shadow Wolves pack, Shadow Dolphin totem.

Str 3, Dex 3, Sta 5.
Cha 3, Man 1, App 2.
Per 2, Int 4, Wit 5.

Abilities: Alertness 3, Athletics 1, Brawl 3, Empathy 1, Intimidation 1,
  Primal-Urge 3, Subterfuge 1, Perform 1, Stealth 3, Survival 1,
  Enigmas 3, Medicine 3, Occult 4.
Backgrounds: Familiar Spirit 4 (stormcrow), Pure Breed 4, Totem 4.
Gifts: Heightened Senses, Mother's Touch, Resist Pain, Spirit Speech,
  Razor Claws, Resist Toxin, Scent of Sight, Command Spirit,
  Silver Claws, Pulse of the Invisible.
Rage 5, Gnosis 9, Willpower 5.
Glory 3, Honor 2, Wisdom 8.
Rank 3.
No equipment.

Rasputin

Vampire in Chicago. Always claims to be a Ventrue, and to be The Rasputin. People who claim otherwise (especially if the name Malkavian is involved) tend to suffer accidents. True or not, he's certainly old enough to have experienced the Russian revolution and several decades prior.

He's also a creepy dirty old man who likes to lurk around Obfuscated and watch, even though he (like almost every other vampire) lacks an actual sex drive. To facilitate this hobby he occasionally ghouls a pretty young female that has the misfortune to meet him. Once blood bound, she's used to trap the evenings entertainment and dinner. His first ghoul in modern times was Susan, a quite comely blonde student. The others all die in horrible accidents after a few months, as Susan is both insanely jealous and wickedly inventive. They're quite a happy couple.

Male vampire of clan Ventrue and the 9th generation of Caine.
Apparent age 30-50 years old, 164 cm, 65 kg.
Black eyes, long greying black hair and beard. 
Bon Vivant. Visionary.

Str 2, Dex 1, Sta 5.
Cha 5, Man 4, App 2.
Per 2, Int 4, Wit 3.

Abilities: Acting 3, Alertness 3, Brawl 1, Empathy 1, Intimidation 3,
  Primal-Urge 2, Subterfuge 3, Firearms 1, Melee 1, Stealth 3, Survival 1,
  Bureacracy 3, Enigmas 1, Investigation 1, Linguistics 1, Occult 3.
Disciplines: Fortitude 2, Presence 2, Obfuscate 3, Vicissitude 2.
Backgrounds: Generation 5 (8th!), Prestige (Ventrue) 0, Status 1, Fame 1,
  Herd 2, Resources 3, Retainers 1 (Susan).
Virtues: Conscience 4, Self-Control 3, Courage 5. Willpower 5, Humanity 7.
Merits: Iron Will, Occult Library.
Flaws: Anachronism, Confused, Hunchback.
Contacts: Trixie, a werewolf; Mr Copeland, a priest of sorts.
Retainers: Susan, a ghoul student of the humanities.
Derangements: Lives in a separate reality, akin to a Disney movie. Complete
  with talking kitchen utensils and skipping rainbow-coloured unicorns.

Teela O'Malley

Teela was a Cat in heavily houseruled TORG, and later in T3 as the campaign rules got increasingly Feng Shui-inspired. She started out as a basic Gun Bunny of the "Oops, I blew up the nuclear reactor" kind, but eventually grew into a more mature Jedi-type.

The campaign was heavily houseruled TORG, which mutated into T3 under increasing inspiration from Feng Shui. TORG and T3 both starts at mid/high heroic and goes upwards, an both can handle epic levels with an industrious GM. Teela was part of a dimension-hopping team that managed to defeat the Gaunt Man in straight combat, which based on fluff would make her mid-epic at the end. In actual play that was mostly handled by dialing down the opposition instead.

Female Cat, Space Critters cosm.
18 years old, 162 cm, 55 kg.

Dex 12, Str 8, Tou 9, Per 11, Min 7, Cha 14, Spi 10.

Skills: Athletics 2, Charm 6, Dodge 5, Endurance 3, Energy Weapons 5, 
  Faith (Force) 4, Find 3, Fire Combat 3, First Aid 2, Flight 3,
  Impersonation 3, Individuality 6, Land Vehicles 2, Language 3, 
  Maneuver 5, Melee Weapons 6, Missile Weapons 2, Perform 6, Persuasion 4,
  Prestidigitation 3, Riding 4, Scholar 2, Stealth 3, Streetwise 2, 
  Survival 3, Taunt 6, Trick 5, Unarmed Combat 2, Vector Vehicles 3,
  Willpower 3, Virtual Reality 3, Meditation 3, Martial Arts 5.
FX Skills: Control 6, Kinesis 6, Machine Empathy 4, Psychic Senses 6,
  Psychic Projection 4, Reality 7, Telepathy 4.
Equipment: Implast jacket, lightsword, Czerka 411 light blaster.

After the changeover to T3 we instead get:

Female Cat, Space Critters cosm.
19 years old, 162 cm, 55 kg.

Bod 6 (Con 6, Str 5, Tou 6), Chi 10, Min 8 (Cha 11, Int 4, Per 8), Ref 10.

Skills: Deceit 13, Dodge 17, Guns 15, Intimidation 17, Intrusion 15,
  Martial Arts 17, Seduction 17, Sorcery 17, Willpower 16.
Fu Schticks: Willow Strike, Willow Stance, Hands Without Shadows,
  Gathering of the Clouds, Awesome Downpour, Sudden Lightning,
  Rain of Fury, Fox's Retreat, Willow Step.
Cat Schticks: Squeeze, Free Will x2.
Gun Schticks: Hair-Trigger Neckhairs x2.
Sorcery Schticks: Communication, Enhancement, Gate, Heal, Movement,
  Transformation.
Misc Schticks: Spy, Signature Blaster (armour-defeating),
  Signature Lightsabre (enchanted, armour-defeating, camouflage).

By Feng Shui standards those stats are pretty modest, but XP costs are radically different in T3. With original TORG advancement costs all the way, she would have been a powerhouse.

Tzerai Thagdahl

My very first character, an AD&D CN half-elf magic-user/thief. Such an original character concept that there were another nearly identical one in the party. Except that she was better at everything. He always had rotten luck and lacked true adventurer instincts, so he died four times before he got the hint and retired. Indeed, the only truly memorable moments are some of his deaths:

  • While the party is travelling along a narrow canyon, three mountain giants decide to throw a rock each, just for sports. Since they target random party members, all three rocks hit Tzerai in the face. Exit and goodbye.
  • Trying to cheat a river troll of his bridge toll led to being dumped into the river on top of lots of pointy stakes. Proceeded to bleed out and drown while the rest of the party enjoyed a heroic battle.
Male half-elf; 38 years old, 155 cm, 54 kg. Chaotic Neutral.

MU2/T3.
Str 10, Int 14, Wis 8, Dex 16, Con 16, Cha 14.
Proficient with Sling, Dagger; no useful spells, and no self-preservation instincts.

Ended his adventuring career as MU-7/T-7, with Con 12 after all those Raise Dead spells, longsword proficiency, and a fair number of spells, some of which were actually good. No really nifty magic items. Basic magic weaponry, ring of Swimming, ring of Human Influence, and a glove with a built-in sling. Also lots of scars, a busted knee and neural damage.

His replacements proved to have even worse luck though:

  • A ranger that managed to lose body parts to frostbite before the session even started, and ended his first major battle unconscious and bleeding out in a barrel in a marketplace.
  • A cleric that was swallowed whole within one minute of taking point for the first time, while the rest of party kept arguing about what to do and where to go.

Left AD&D for other systems after that.

Wolfgang Weiss

WHFRP Bounty Hunter that travelled along the quite optimal road to Assassin. He was many things, subtle not one of them. His only real (contracted) assassination was handled by walking up to the mark as he sat drinking in an inn, and chopping him to giblets with a two-handed axe.

While he never did evil just for the lulz, he was utterly ruthless and thought nothing of chopping down anyone in his way, witnesses, or otherwise inconvenient people. A genuinely bad man, which is rare for me.

Male human ranger; 39 years old, 6'2", 133 lbs; ratty brown hair and blue eyes.

Initial: M4, WS25, BS40, S4, T4, W3, I23, A1, Dex31, Ld29, Int26, Cl32, WP31, Fel38.
Current: M4, WS55, BS60, S5, T5, W9, I53, A4, Dex61, Ld49, Int46, Cl52, WP51, Fel58.

Skills: Read/Write, Sixth Sense, Acute Hearing, Follow Trail, Shadowing,
  Silent Move (Rural, Urban), Specialist Weapon (Lassoo, Net, Throwing Knife,
  Double-handed Weapon), Strike Mighty Blow, Concealment (Rural, Urban),
  Marksmanship, Scale Sheer Surface, Disguise.

Zappavan

Zappavan was created for the Kelandra campaign using a heavily houseruled version of The Fantasy Trip, and eventually converted first to Malleus and then to AD&D 2nd edition. Both conversions were due to the power levels of the campaign outgrowing the limits of the systems used. AD&D was never a good fit for replacing Malleus, but it was proven for high-level play, and it enabled easy use of existing adventures. When the campaign finished he was a 16th level Wizard, but he would have been 18 if it had been in AD&D from the beginning. If he had been created for D&D 3.x, he would probably have been a conjuring sorceror, as that is the closest D&D equivalent to a Fantasy Trip mage.

Kelandra is a slower-than-light colony ship, incredibly vast, and its entire interior is a gigantic holodeck. Sometime in the far past something went wrong during an adventure simulation, and it has been running wild since then. No parts of the old society remains, except as garbled legends. In Kelandra, magic is the ability to give holodeck commands, and is inherited according to the security clearance of one's parents. Dwarves (originally support and repair androids) kidnap all nine-year old children and take them to Youth Camps (used to be boarding schools), where they are held captive for several years, but otherwise left to fend for themselves. Almost everyone has issues with abandonment, even if they understand that their parents had no way of resisting.

Boys and girls are placed in different Youth Camps, and 'dating' is handled by adventuring in the abandoned service labyrinths, duelling people of the opposite sex, and taking or being taken as sex-slaves. People that outgrow the artificial Youth Camp environments eventually migrate to the Adult Lands, i.e. anywhere else. There is no slave trade, and most Adult Lands outlaw slavery.

Zappavan was a pervert even for his native world of Kelandra, and collected girls like other people collect cats. Each new girl was renamed in alphabetical order, and he considered it a priority to have one for each letter. He never reached that goal, as a titan gifted him with a painting that, as a side-effect, froze the size of the harem just after he reached the letter 'P'. The primary effect of that marvelous painting was to increase household harmony to epic levels, which was desperately needed by that time.

Some girls from the harem:

  • A?: Elven rogue, magician and priestess.
  • Blaise: Voluptous and white-haired flail-fighting berserker.
  • Cidri: Svelte duellist and fellow adventuress. Have occasionally been the Mistress in the relationship, and is formally married to him.
  • His young apprentice. A clear case of sexual harassment, where he quite blatantly overstepped the bounds of what Kelandran society considers appropriate.
  • Alu-demoness found wandering the demi-plane of fire.
  • Cloud giantess.
  • Normal girl found comatose in the frost giants' larder, and taken advantage of while she was being nursed back to health.
  • P?: Black barbarian from the Isle of the Ape.