Legend4ry Heroes: Re-occurring Archetypes

In almost every D&D edition or fantasy RPG there are a handful of character concepts that I try to re-create. Now, usually these are just in one-shot formats. I don't want to be that guy that always plays the same thing over and over and over again. That guy isn't any fun at gaming tables. That gal isn't willing to try something new (usually.)

But, like I said, there are a few character concepts that I created during my years of play that I keep coming back to. Some of them have been re-created in various systems and editions and others just hold a special place in my heart.

So, instead of a post about my crazy time-travel shenanigans as an excuse to take a tour through the editions of D&D I'm going to take a break for a moment of levity and discuss these concepts and solicit the same from my reader(s). I'll ask it now, so you can digest it while I discuss my own, and I'd love to see what you have to say in the comments below. What character concepts do you love so much that you try to recreate them in every (or most) systems that you play?

Legend4ry Editions: Traveling Through D&D's History

I had a crazy idea recently.

You see, I had talked awhile back about my on-going 4e pirate-themed game coming to a halt. I TPK'd the group and was burnt out. They made new characters, we pressed on, but I was still burnt out. I wasn't having fun. Luckily my group still was and when I addressed where I was at with DMing, they were super supportive, even offering to take over DM duties.

Then I had a crazy idea. I had promised to introduce them to other editions of D&D and figured, why not use this burn-out with 4e productively and run them through some Swords & Wizardry to show them how 0e worked.

Turns out, they quite liked it. Our first session was filled with 2 (count 'em, two) TPKs. But they loved it. It was fast, furious, deadly, and different. They still loved 4e (understandably so) but appreciated S&W and 0e for what it was. Our second session was awesome, too. Another player joined us and no further TPKs were experienced.

Legend4ry Transitions: Dungeon World

I had heard things about it for a long time. Good things. Things that piqued my interests. Things that made me think, "I've gotta give this a shot!" So I did it. I bit the bullet after missing the tremendously successful Kickstarter months and months back; I purchased Dungeon World.

I didn't only buy it. I got consumed by it. So much so that I devoured the rule book in a handful of sittings. So much so that I sought out clarifications for things that confused me and even more rules, more options. I was hooked, I am hooked. This is the dungeon crawling system I've been waiting for and wanting. 

Legend4ry Delves: Hardcore Dungeons

I had an idea or a hack that made use of the 4e D&D chassis to facilitate an old-school feeling dungeon crawl. Aside from base mechanics, it almost feels nothing like 4e at all, despite relying on it tremendously. This is either a good thing or a bad thing, I'll let you decide. 

The point wasn't to be contentious or edition war-y, instead it was more of a private thought experiment and a way to learn how to use the free open-source publisher program, Scribus. Thus Hardcore Dungeons was born.