5x5 Fronts: Chaos in Waychester: Front #3: Subregional Front (Northumbria) (spoilers)

A quick personal note: I had anticipated that I'd be both too stressed and too busy with job-hunting to blog much. That hasn't really been the case. I have been busy, but I've been somewhat less stressed than anticipated. I'd seen other people in prior waves of layoffs struggle for months to land on their feet. I'm now at about two weeks since my last paycheck (although I got another last paycheck for my unused vacation; I haven't even had my severance arrive in my direct deposit yet, and I'm sitting on enough money for some time... although we're obviously being more careful with it than we used to be.) It's just over three weeks since I was told that I was going to be laid off. In the meantime, in the last seven business days—since after Labor Day, I guess—I've had nine interviews; one of which was a second interview, and one of which was a third interview. I've got another first interview tomorrow, I'm traveling on Friday, and I have an in-person second interview on Monday, and two more second interviews scheduled for early next week, even though I'll be out of town. Now, granted, I haven't had any conversions (yet) to an offer, but I'm quite encouraged by what's happened so far. The one I had a third interview with today will likely make an offer, I think, and one of the first interviews I had today told me that if it were only up to her (and she's the one that I'd report to directly) she'd hire me on the spot. I think both of those guys will try to lowball me a bit on salary, but we'll see. I'm also thinking that the in-person second interview I have on Monday will likely convert, unless I blow something badly in person, but I'm experienced enough not to make that likely. The other first interview I had today was also extremely promising, and a job that I'd very much like to have. On top of that, I've got a couple of other guys who've told me outright that they want to schedule an interview, I just haven't done it yet. In any case, my stress is significantly relieved, although I'm busy fielding all of these interview requests and calls from recruiters. I never thought I'd be glad to get a job just so I can finally turn off all of these notifications and phone calls that I don't want.

So, I'm feeling a bit encouraged to blog more than I expected to. Here's the next column in the 5x5 front for CHAOS IN WAYCHESTER, and today's column will focus on the Northumbrian orcling pirate threat. But first, as is my wont, some setting background. I thought it appropriate to talk a bit about the northern Hill Country border region just a bit. I need to draw a specific CHAOS IN WAYCHESTER map, but until then, I'll use my earlier draft, cropped just a bit, to showcase the area; it'll still be close enough.

The northern edge of the Hill Country is partially made up of some other cultural entities. The Wolfwood is a significant barrier (I haven't even bothered to develop what lies beyond it except in the very vaguest of terms), and the Plateau of Leng is, as you can probably imagine, hostile to all human and demihuman life. I think it's worth taking just a second to detail what Lovecraft himself (and a few other writers in his oeuvre) said about Leng

• inhabited by a human corpse-eating cult ("The Hound")
• inhabited by degenerate satyr-like "Men of Leng" as well as The High Priest Not To Be Described and his prehistoric monastery (The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath)
• possibly the location where the frozen Antarctic city of the Elder Things was located, before being abandoned to shoggoths and weird gigantic blind albino penguins (At the Mountains of Madness)

I've also had the Plateau of Leng in my setting since at least Dark Heritage Mk. IV as well, although there is starts to coincide a bit too much with the source of the Cursed, who became the Hyperboreans. I don't want those two to converge too much. Suffice it for now to say that the Plateau of Leng is some seriously bad medicine, and you don't want to go there. But the malign influence of it does occasionally spread to its closest neighbors, which in this case would be mostly Lomar and Bucknerfeld. 

Bucknerfeld is an interesting place; although adjacent to the Hill Country, and a city of Hillmen, geographically it's just beyond the Hill Country, being sandwiched between the Plateau, the Indash Salt Sea, the Sabertooth Mountains and the lands of Lower Kurushat to the north. Hillman also have significant settlements along the north shore of the Darkling Sea, like Cayminster especially and the more far-flung city of Burlharrow. However, smack in the middle of this is Lomar, which has some hillmen, but is not part of their nation.

Lomar was founded by Hyperboreans fleeing the destruction of their far northern city-state of Zobna some generations ago. Whatever the culture of the Zobnans once was, it's become syncretic now, and the Zobnans have traded with and been influenced by the Hillman for some time, adopting their language, many of their fashions, traditions and even structure of government. Many of them have also converted to the Christian faith of the Hillmen, although Lomar officially has no state religion of any kind.

However, there's another population of Hyperboreans living among the Zobnans of Lomar, and they maintain a significant plurality. Their original homeland of Nyx was also destroyed by the savage Inutos, but their culture seems to have been significantly different than that of the Zobnans, and they have also resisted integration of Hillmen culture of any kind, or even to the Zobnan culture. This tension between the Nyxians and the Zobnan elements of Lomar has been the source of considerable cultural and social conflict in Lomar. The Nyxians still maintain their ancient cults, and are seen as extreme and potentially violent, or at least those political factions that refuse integration. Lomar is almost at the point of open civil war in the streets.

Iconic character Kimnor "Kim" Rugova is a great example of a Zobnan, highly integrated into Hillmen-like lifestyle, who actually left Lomar in disgust over the socio-political situation there, but a great many other Zobnans are much like him, except that they remain in Lomar and refuse to give it over to the Nyxians. The Zobnans originally welcomed the Nyxians as fellow outcasts and brothers, but have gradually lost a great deal of patience with the stubborn hold-outs who refuse to integrate to the Zobnan majority culture of Lomar, and many have now come around to being in favor of forcibly expelling or even simply exterminating the Nyxians if they continue to threaten the peace of the Lomar lifestyle.

I've included a few new Hero Forge Nyxian models. My original plan was to simply take and slightly modify Shadar-kai models out of the library, but I found that I didn't like them as much as I'd thought I would, and that my own creations looked better and more in mind with what I had. The selection below is a bit mixed. I never liked the white dreadlocks and ridiculous piercing look that Wizards of the Coast thought was so cool for the Shadar-kai, for one thing, so the Nyxians have a somewhat more subtle barbarism to them; although many of them are perfectly capable of mingling in high society as well. The violence and savagery of certain castes in their society is more a cultural affectation for those castes than for the entire Nyxian population.

The Tazitta Death Cult second column will have the PCs most likely getting at least a little bit involved with current events in Lomar, as will this orcling pirate one, but in neither case are they expected to really tackle it head-on. Official hillmen rangers, of course, have no authority or jurisdiction whatsoever in Lomar, and while freelance Shadows like Ragnar and Stefan don't actually have any jurisdiction anywhere, they are usually deputized and happily by those who do. The Zobnans, at least, are aware of the reputation of the Rangers, and have even come up with an organization of their own that mimics it to some degree for the countryside around Lomar.

The final area which needs to be discussed, at least a little, is Chersky Island itself. A the name somewhat implies, it was named by the hamazin when their empire stretched its farthest colonies this far, but it has been largely abandoned except by a handful of secretive fisherfolk, hermits, pirates and runaways or criminals who have lived a precarious life on the island. Now, however, as the migrant crisis from Gunaakt has grown, many of the orclings (again; a common term for both morphs of the race; orcs and goblins) have decided not to try and force their presence on people who's way of life would be harmed by their presence, and have sought out Chersky Island as a refuge where they can live in peace and friendly relationships with the other city-states around the Darkling Sea such as Cayminster, Lomar and Waychester. For about ten years now, streams of orcs and goblin settlers have moved to the island and established small ports, fishing villages and farming hamlets. However, this is somewhat threatened by those who arrive and decide that fishing, farming and trading are less effective than piracy. Now the friendly relations with their neighbors are souring, and the piracy problem threatens to become a major international incident between the orclings and the hillmen and the Hyperboreans of Lomar. With that, let's get to the column, which deals, in fact, with exactly this piratical problem.

First, the PCs should be approached in one of the port cities that they are in. It could be Burham's Landing or Benchley, where they are trying to book passage to Waychester, or alternatively it could be in Waychester itself trying to book passage to Cayminster to follow up on the Morcant Gunderic clue. Or, if you've decided to make this a late game front, it could be in Cayminster or Lomar trying to get to Waychester back again, or even just in any one of those towns without the PCs necessarily looking for passage to anywhere. Here they will hear rumors all over the place of the latest ship to limp into port in the last day or two with its cargo stolen and its crew reduced significantly either because they fought or were taken prisoner by the orc pirate captain Taurak. There's another ship anxious to leave with cargo, but worried about the safety of the sea-lanes, who are looking for extra protection (I know, I know, it's a tired RPG trope, but it'll work.) This is especially helpful if the PCs are trying to book passage somewhere; just make sure that your own ship captain Borus is heading to the same place the PCs are headed. Naturally Borus' ship will be attacked by Taurak's, and there's be ship to ship boarding action and swashbuckling combat for the PCs to engage in. I envision that the most likely outcomes are that Taurak is driven off, but as he leaves he swears revenge on the PCs and the captain that thwarted him, or Borus surrenders before he's left with too few crewman to get the ship in to port, and the ship (and the PCs, probably) are robbed by pirates. But if you want to do something more dramatic, or if the dice and the PCs crazy plans head that way, awesome. 

Captain Borus

Captain Taurak

Secondly, it seems likely that the PCs will be irritated at the villain that dared to rob them, but if that's not the way it goes, then the villain could well be irritated at the PCs that thwarted him. Spies from the Chersky settlement, usually corrupt goblins who can blend in easier than most, but possibly some paid humans or demihumans as well if that works better, will be keeping a watch on ships arriving in the various important ports, looking for the PCs arrival. Then, via messenger bird, quick communications will be sent to Chersky Island's pirate haven, Calak, where agents of Taurak or the pirates at large will send waves of thugs or assassins to kill them.

Meanwhile, regardless of what does or doesn't happen to the PCs, Waychester, Lomar and Cayminster and other port authorities are losing patience with the increased piracy and are talking of mounting a military expedition to wipe the orcling settlements off of the island, since they don't realize that the majority of the orclings are simply peaceful farmers and fishers, rather than pirates. There may even be an approach made to the PCs to scout the island before an invasion, but perhaps the PCs just want in on the action because they've been involved already. There are a number of peaceful settlements on the island, all relatively small, such as Wrynn, Edenna, Roclus and Barion. Even a quick and casual reconnoiter mission will demonstrate that only Calak is where the pirates are from, and that the majority of the orclings are very nervous and hesitant about the pirates; they are as much victims as the people of the other port cities, but are in less of a position to do anything about it.

A deeper reconnoiter mission will prove that Calak has an even more sinister side to it than simply piracy, although naturally that's bad enough. A priest of Dagon has started the violent and depraved cult of said daemon among the pirates. While not all pirates are members of this cult, enough of them are to make the pirates a force to be reckoned with because of their occult sorcery and zealot approach, as well as the sacrifices that they make on a regular basis. Those who are part of the cult also take a Deep One on as an officer, and this underwater perspective of the Darkling Sea makes them especially dangerous to the ships that they would target. Taurak and his crew are among the strongest supporters of the priest of Dagon, who's name is Guarg Dreghu.

Fourthly, whether the PCs reconnoiter on the island or not, there will be an eventual invasion; a joint operation coordinated between the Harbor-Master of Waychester, a self-styled "admiral" of privateers, who's the brother of the Lord Mayor of Lomar, and the ships of a consortium of merchants and marines from Cayminster, with a few additional boats or troops from other smaller port-cities all along the Darkling Sea. Without the PCs to direct them to the right targets (Calak and the pirate ships vs the other towns and the fishing and merchant fleet of the orcling civilians, they'll probably mostly just kill innocent civilians, farmers and fishers, while giving the actual pirates and cultists ample time to make their escape (mostly, anyway.) With any luck, the PCs could actually muster a militia of local orclings to assist in the cleansing of the pirate cove of Calak. Regardless, Guarg Dreghu isn't there when they attack, having been given advance warning of the approach by the Deep Ones. Although he wasn't given enough advance notice to evacuate most of the pirates, so he escaped with Captain Taurak's flagship to an even more remote cove with an even more remote temple to Dagon in it where...

Fifth, Guarg will summon a Ketos (or the Ketos, perhaps) to attack Lomar, which is the closest target. After that, if he isn't defeated or otherwise stopped, he'll continue to attack coastal cities, including eventually Waychester itself, until the PCs either do something about it, or Guarg and the cult of Dagon are the undisputed rulers of the Darkling Sea's waters.

As you can see, I've done my best to interweave this column with stuff going on in the two bigger, "major" columns, to reduce the temptation to ignore this one as a smaller threat that deserves to be ignored. It isn't, but I can see the players thinking that if they don't have really immediate reasons to get involved with it directly.

Ragnar and Stefan

In my last post, I said I was considering that one guy as a replacement image for Ragnar Clevenger. My original idea for Ragnar was that he was a bit of a side character; his younger brother Stefan would be the main character, and Ragnar would be a bit like Racer X to Speed Racer. (Because I used to watch that show a lot in the late 70s when I was a little kid.) I've actually, as I've started going through this 5x5 business, decided that I needed more than one protagonist. Like a lot of larger fantasy novels, there's multiple plot threads with multiple characters off doing their own thing rather than a single plot thread with a single main character. Ragnar and his "crew" was the obvious alternative here, so he got elevated to a secondary protagonist, who mostly does his own thing in a different geographical area to Stefan, although their work ties together to tell the full story.

While this is common in really huge Sir Mix-a-lot sized butt fantasy novels, as written by guys like Brandon Sanderson or Robert Jordan, for instance, even Tolkien did it. After Fellowship of the Ring, the Aragorn-led plot and the Frodo-led plots diverged for almost the entire remainder of the narrative, and Aragorn was "promoted" if you will from being a supporting character to being a co-protagonist on a different track.

Anyway, I ended up redoing him in a different outfit, but his head looks pretty much the same. I'm actually redoing a lot of characters, because my early efforts were kind of primitive compared to what I can do now on with the tool. I also decided that Stefan and Ragnar would probably dress similarly. 

I don't like to get into the really weird stuff with Hero Forge; the using extra arms, but posing them so that they are inside the body, and their hands just stick out holding something, or the doubled miniatures so you can have more layers of clothing, etc. Those kinds of minis aren't reposable without too much work, so I prefer to keep to the "basic" steps of just creating a mini and equipping and clothing and painting it to get it to look as good as you can without these glitches and tricks and stuff that the tool obviously wasn't ever meant to do.

Anyway, here's the main protagonists of each of the three groups I might potentially use, with Ragnar and Stefan being the most iconic, and Claud being an alternate for if I need three streams.

I also decided that I don't need so much gear. A cavalry saber in his right hand, a bow in his left, and a dagger at his hip is probably already more than I need. Stefan has a packhorse to carry most of his stuff anyway.

Stefan is a bit broader, while Ragnar is a bit taller. While their hairstyles are different, and their eye colors, they are meant to look quite a bit alike. They even both use the same faded green and dusty leather color schemes.

Two images of my reimagined Claud. The original image I had for him was one that I got from the library, and it was a doubled image to get a few tricks, including a unique hairstyle that combined two models. While this isn't as complicated, I actually think it looks considerably better. And it was hard for me to change the original, because it was a doubled image. That's why I don't like using them.

Claud is also a Tarushan gypsy version of the Jekyll and Hyde archetype, so here's his "Hyde" form.

Here's both forms on the same base so you can see the size difference.

When next I post; the next column of the 5x5! If I remember correctly, the next one should be the Northumbrian orcling pirates in the Darkling Sea based on Chersky Island.

Dark Fantasy X... don't forget the little guy

A few Hero Forge guys I made, or copied, or played around with for whatever reason, that don't really represent PCs or even necessarily important NPCs; maybe just regular Joe Blow farmers and whatnot. But I like them.

A retired soldier showing up to defend his farmstead. His kit might not be completely up-to-date or even complete, but it's effective, and so is he.

A young housewife, or maybe a farmer's daughter of marriageable age.

I copied this image from somewhere. It says Royal Guard, and maybe that's a good use for him; some kind of elite soldier or guard in the Grand Duke's retinue.

Although not High Medieval Le Morte d'Arthur type fantasy, this is what a Dark Fantasy X variation on a questing knight would be; a pretty rough and tumble warrior making camp in the wilderness.

Another guard, although he clearly isn't equipped like the Waychester guards. He's either from Dunsbury, or his from Timischburg somewhere.

This veteran guard of Waychester is a bit suspicious of what he's being asked to do, but he's not necessarily completely by the books; as you can see his armor and equipment isn't 100% standard issue, and he hasn't updated his colors to the latest that's been issued. He's probably on the outs with the leadership of the guard because he actually has integrity.

This self-important chap is pretty typical for a goblin, who styles himself a community leader of his people, or something like that.

I like this image so much that it might actually replace the one I made for Ragnar Clevenger. 

I'm not a huge fan of action grrls, as I've said many times before, because not only are they unrealistic given the physical and psychological differences between men and women, but they also aren't very attractive, because men should be masculine and women should be feminine, not the other way around. However, I'm always willing to entertain an exception or two, and the decadent and outcast Tarushan gypsies are the most likely to buck convention and do something that scandalizes everyone else anyway.

I had an image that I grabbed as a screenshot from some show that I didn't watch to represent Joan Wilmere, but I actually like this for her quite a bit. 

Everybody loves a low status but likeable rascal, right?

I grabbed and modified this image that was originally titled "airship captain." There's no airships in Dark Fantasy X (more's the pity, sometimes, but it's a more grounded fantasy than that... no pun intended) but this could be a normal ship's captain, or more likely a caravan master and traveling adventuresome merchant.

The salt of the earth. A farmer. This is the kind of guy fighting to preserve his family and farm at Roan's Mill, in the Tazitta Death Cult arc.

A typical Tarushan gypsy. Less attractive than his daughter above.

A Timischer of some importance, given his rich accoutrement.

A town crier reading news of the Grand Duke's imprisonment of the Grand Duchess in faraway Southumbria.

The city guards of Waychester are well trained and equipped; this guy represents a smaller town with a smaller budget, although he's still got the goods, and is most likely a veteran of the military.

I make a big deal out of the humano-centrism of Dark Fantasy X compared to other settings, but there's still regular farmers and artisans of other races too, of course. Here's a woodwose couple of homesteaders wondering what those shifty looking PCs are doing at their gate.

Dark Fantasy X novels

I'm probably going to rename CHAOS IN WAYCHESTER, at least for a different purpose. It doesn't sound like a good novel. And I'm feeling motivated to convert this into a novel right now. I've been puttering around with the labor of love novel that I've been unwilling to commit to, and its time to just stop and do it already. Most of my objections aren't valid; I can get a professionally done cover on Fiverr for easily less than $100, and it is just a matter of determining finally to do it and not put it off any more.

With regards to recent posts that I've made, I still haven't found a job, although I'm technically only 8 days out from the official end of my employment. In the meantime, I've had two interviews already, and I have three more scheduled. I'm feeling confident that I'll find new work fairly quickly, hopefully long before my severance money runs out, and I'll actually come out financially ahead from having lost my job. Here's hoping, anyway.

Because of that, my anxiety is significantly reduced, and I have motivation to allow myself some free time here and there to read and think about hobby endeavors after all. I'll feel even better when I convert some of these interviews into offers, and even better when I start working and get settled in. If I have to relocate, I'll be unsettled for months due to that process, but at least I won't be too anxious about the future, and I might actually have more free time in the short term if I have to move out west while my wife stays behind for a few months until she can get out of her work commitments, my daughter's wedding is done. I mean, with her being out of state, what do I have to come home to other than my computer, amirite? And heck; I've got three interviews out in the Rocky Mountain states where I'd love to live, so I'll put aside whatever hassle and anxiety comes from relocating and enjoy being surrounded by the best scenery in the world on a regular basis. (My wife won't be quite as happy about it, but once we're settled in, she'll be happy too. Especially since we'll be a lot closer to our kids and grandkids, and she'll be able to see them much more frequently than we do now.)

Anyway, long rambly prelude aside, I'm feeling motivated to write Dark Fantasy X novels, including ones based on the CHAOS IN WAYCHESTER campaign (which I'll rename to Chaos in the North or something like that; Waychester just isn't a suitably epic name to be in the title), and the CULT OF UNDEATH and the MIND-WIZARDS OF THE DAEMON WASTES. Except, I wonder if these 5x5 as a high level outline actually provide too much content to work with. And the nature of the various columns having little relationship to each other except kinda sorta geographical proximity makes it difficult to imagine a coherent structure that utilizes all of them in a single novel. Each of the campaign 5x5s will probably give me material for two or even three novels, if I go for the punchy 350 or so page 90,000 word novel, not the door-stopper epic fantasy types that are twice or even thrice that. I know that in epic fantasy that's a pretty ideal length given the market these days, but I don't think I can do it. Plus, I don't want to wait until I've got a novel that long to publish. Punchier "standard" length novels still sell well in fantasy too, I believe. Spec fiction, like the D&D novels, for instance, were always that long. This is probably especially true for Kindle stuff. And it's just so much easier to structure that kind of novel well.

I've been messing around with my "iconics" that I really created more for gaming purposes, but which I'll repurpose, I believe, to novel characters. But I've rejiggered how I imagined them as a group of PCs and thought about them more as characters in a novel. And I think for a two-three book Chaos in the North Country "arc" based on Chaos in Waychester, I'd need a main character who's got a sidekick, and a secondary main character who operates separately from him most of the time with his own sidekick, and maybe even a tertiary main character who can operate separately from them even and handle geographically more far-flung plot points. They'll all come together at the end again of the first novel, and advance the storyline. The main character would focus on the eponymous columns, with the Grand Duke and his wife, the secondary main character would focus on the Tazitta Death cult threat, and the tertiary one could run around doing some of the other ones, depending on how I adapt the 5x5 matrix into a novel-like structure. I'm giving up my 4-5 member "PC party" structure to these characters, and thinking that I'd bring in the non-main character of each arc with his sidekick as merely recurring allies and "guest stars" for the most part. 

So, the main character is still Stefan Clevenger, the freelance Shadow, mid-to-late twenties, combination of Robin Hood and Davy Crockett, except he hunts ghosts, vampires and other monsters for a living. His "sidekick" will be Kimnor "Kim" Rugova, a Shadow Sword from Lomar who used to be named Demir, but I decided I liked this name better. His allies will be Oisin Dughall, the woodwose who used to have a weird foreign name, and Shule, the little goblin criminal who I also used to have another name for, but I don't know that they would even make appearances in the first book. He's also associated with Revecca von Lechfeld, but not until we get to the CULT OF UNDEATH arc, and with Alys, but not until near the end of the CHAOS IN WAYCHESTER arc.

The secondary main character will be his older brother, pushing 30, also a freelance Shadow, named Ragnar Clevenger, and his new wife Cailin, who was a damsel in distress. Ragnar saved her, but not 100%; she was still bitten a few times by the vampire Lysander Draven, and although Ragnar was able to break the hold on her, she had a partial transformation, and became a dhampir. Her father sadly decided that it wasn't safe for her to remain on the ranch, so she decided to use her new-found abilities to do what Ragnar had been doing, and tagged along with him. Over a very brief courtship, that started when she was being rescued anyway, they fell in love and got married. He's also associated with Fredegar de Vend and Dean Bannermane, but I don't think they are crucial to the story yet and may not make an appearance for some time.

These two groups, in spite of the fact that they carry the consequences of desperate or poor choices, are the heroes. The tertiary group is a group that aspires to be heroic, but often fall morally short, and is centered around the Lupescus, twin brother and sister Claud and Griselda, and their mentor father Victor. Dominik and Redemption can appear later on. I'm not yet sure which threat I'll have them deal with. The Southumbria threat plays very well in to the Tazitta Death cult threat, but will delay getting to that threat. I think I'll need to maybe shorten it somewhat, and let Ragnar handle the rescuing of Joan Wilmere. Maybe Claud and Co. can deal with the thurses, and maybe I can tie that in to the Chersky Island orc pirates threat too. 

Meanwhile, the Burlharrow smaller threat probably needs to be dealt with as part of the Duke and Duchess storyline, so I'll roll that over to Stefan.

Not sure how I'll get them all back together again, but I'll work on it. It's pretty early to have a settled structure mapped out and plotted already.

Anyway, I've also made a few updates. I had earlier made these sample city watch guys for Waychester, who will be an impediment if not outright Bad Guy to Stefan and his friends. And by made, I mean that I found them in the Library and made some minor modifications to them. I was more worried about the actual look and costume of them than anything else at the time, and I came to realize that they looked really fake, like dummies wearing a costume in a store.

With just some minor reposing of their heads and faces, as well as a dusting of dirt, they look much more realistic now, I think.

Me in Hero Forge

I don't know why it didn't occur to me to do this earlier, but here's me in Hero Forge. Out of shape and fairly sedentary as I unfortunately often am at my age, this is me on vacation. Sitting on the porch in the fall, when the weather is cool enough to merit a jacket, wearing a Cabela's bucket hat because I have bed head, unshaven for a few days, sweat pants and hiking boots (my feet often get cold, so if I'm outside for any length of time, I'll have warm shoes on) Mountain Dew in my hand and at my feet, and books all around. To be more accurate, I probably should have had moccasins, since that's what I wear at home frequently. Warm and comfortable and easy to put on. But let's assume that I took a break from reading recently and took a walk outside. That sounds like the kind of thing I'd do on vacation.

Sadly, I fritter away too much of my free time on the internet rather than reading like I used to do when I was younger, but it's one of the better habits I'm trying to reintegrate now that my regular routine has been thrown for a loop. 

Here we replace the leather jacket with a regular poly-cotton hoodie. Actually, for fall days, as opposed to winter, that's more likely to be what I wear anyway. The Injun moccasins aren't really like the ones that I wear, but it seemed the closest thing in the Hero Forge library, so I swapped the hiking boots for those.

And changed the angle, of course.

Here I am without the hat, and from yet another angle. I've also switched the hoodie to another athletic type jacket (not that I look athletic in it, but I like wearing that kind of stuff.) The Sinbad vest isn't really a great analog for the kind of puffer vest that I sometimes wear, but I didn't see a better option for it either.

Stefan Clevenger

I'm going to take just a moment to cross-post the so-far only iconic character sheet that I've made. When I made this character, I thought his hp total was a bit low, so I actually updated the Dark Fantasy X from 1.1.1 to 1.1.2 and updated a few minor things, including how to do post level 1 hit points. So, the original post is a few hp lower than this version, but yeah. I might yet update 1.1.2 to 1.2 if I decide I want to reevaluate the hp of the monsters.