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Post by doc on Apr 5, 2008 20:21:14 GMT -6
Taking a cue from Fin's Treasures from Literature thread, let's address what characters from fantasy fiction we would like to see written up as D&D charfacters that haven't been. We've all seen Elric, Fafhrd, the Grey Mouser,and several versions of Conan over the years, but who else? Let's start out with a few from off the top of my head: Kane (the Karl Edward Wagner one) Gandalf Aragorn Legolas Gimli Frodo & Sam The Tin Woodsman The Cowardly Lion Druss the Legend John Carter Tarl Cabot Bran Mak Morn Holger Carlsen Beowulf Vlad Taltos What class/level/alignment/stats do you think that any of these characters should have? I know that at least some of these characters have been statted up and dropped into games over the years, as I did my fair share of it back when I first began discovering fantasy novels. Of course feel free to add any of your own favorite literary characters to the list that you would have liked to have seen statted upin an actual OD&D product. Doc
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Post by jdrakeh on Apr 5, 2008 21:35:01 GMT -6
Gandalf = Human, Magic User, Lawful
Aragorn = Human, Fighting Man w/Ranger bonuses per Chainmail 3e, Chaotic (when first encountered, later returns to Lawful)
Legolas = Elf, Fighting Man w/Ranger traits (as above), Lawful
Gimli = Dwarf, Fighting Man, Lawful
Frodo & Sam = Hobbits, Fighting Men, Neutral
John Carter = Human, Fighting Man, Neutral
Beowulf = Human, Fighting Man, Chaotic
Vlad Taltos = Human, Fighting Man, Chaotic
Note that I skipped ability ratings in the above write-ups as, frankly, they don't mean much if you're using the OD&D RAW. The rules mention briefly that different ratings are supposed to represent certain things but they never tell you how to implement those things in play, thus, without house rules, the ratings are largely meaningless.
Also, a note about the Hobbits. The write-up above represents them at the end of their advemntures as, again, the OD&D RAW doesn't provide a way to write-up non-combatant potato or tobacco farmers as characters (which is pretty much what Frodo and Sam are until well after they get called to adventure by Wizard Gandalf).
The Chainmail classification for Ranger is mentioned as, per the rules "A Hero-type, armed with a bow, shoots a dragon passing within range overhead out of the air and kills it on a two dice roll of 10 or better, with 2 plus 1 on the dice firing an enchanted arrow. Rangers are Hero-types with a +1 on attack dice." This is very obviously a nod to the death of Smaug in The Hobbit, thus I thought its inclusion fitting here.
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Post by Finarvyn on Apr 6, 2008 7:16:36 GMT -6
There was a "Giants in the Earth" column for a while in Dragon that wrote up a few of those characters in AD&D terms. I think Wagner's Kane, Burroughs' John Carter and Norman's Tarl Cabot were included in those articles.
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Post by murquhart72 on Apr 6, 2008 9:14:49 GMT -6
Shouldn't this be under Men & Magic or the "Treasures from Literature" thread be brought here? Do we have Monsters from Literature or Places from Literature threads anywhere?
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Post by Rhuvein on Aug 7, 2008 20:26:59 GMT -6
Thinking of a few others: Tarzan Count Dracula (assuming one would view him as more powerful than a typical vampire) - oh perhaps Count Van Strahd from Ravenloft would suffice. Gord the Rogue
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Post by makofan on Aug 11, 2008 8:37:30 GMT -6
Cerebus the Aardvark
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Post by ffilz on Aug 11, 2008 8:50:26 GMT -6
Cerebus was written up somewhere, I think for RuneQuest. I think in JG Journal or Dungeoneer.
Frank
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