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Zeebo's Library: Characters You Shouldn't Play
I've known a wizard who spent twelve year tryin' to identify a flower he'd seen once beside a ruined well, and a fighter who kept every arrow anybody had ever shot at him. I once met a druid who could tell tha where he'd slept every night fer twenty years by rememberin' the trees. Folk are funny creatures, and what occupies their thoughts generally tells tha more about 'em than what they do fer a livin'.
That's why I've never put much stock in classes and labels by themselves. A wizard isn't merely somebody who can cast spells, any more than a fighter is simply somebody who can swing a sword. The interest lies in the sort o' person who decides a mystery deserves twenty years o' study or who keeps walkin' toward danger after everybody else has decided they've had enough.
These chapters are offered entirely as a public service. Each one explains why tha'd be wise to avoid playin' a particular sort o' character and why certain habits o' mind can lead otherwise sensible folk into all manner o' peculiar situations. If tha's sensible, tha'll take these warnings to heart and occupy thyself with somethin' straightforward and uncomplicated. I should warn tha, though, that books have habits o' their own. Read long enough and tha may start wonderin' why folk make certain choices, what questions quietly follow them through life, and what obsessions shape their decisions. Once tha starts lookin' at characters that way, they're difficult things to forget. Don't say tha weren't warned. -Zeebo
Everybody knows what a fighter, wizard, rogue, or druid looks like. Far fewer people understand why somebody would willingly become one. Beneath every fantasy class and ancestry lies a particular way of seeing the world, and those habits of mind are frequently stranger than dragons, demons, or magic.
Characters You Shouldn't Play approaches fantasy roleplaying from an unusual direction. Each chapter begins as a deadpan warning against playing a particular class or ancestry and gradually becomes an examination of the sort of person who'd make that choice willingly. The essays explore curiosity, obsession, duty, ambition, memory, and the strange convictions that shape identity.
Every chapter is followed by twenty character concepts designed to move beyond familiar stereotypes. The ideas treat classes and ancestries as expressions of personality and experience rather than collections of abilities. The result is a cast of characters who feel as though they existed long before the adventure began.
This book changes the questions you ask about fantasy characters. Instead of wondering what a wizard can cast or how much damage a fighter can inflict, you'll start asking what mysteries a wizard can't leave alone and what experiences taught a fighter to remain standing when everybody else ran. The essays and prompts encourage you to think about characters as people with histories, fixations, private questions, and particular ways of understanding the world.
The material works equally well for player characters, nonplayer characters, and worldbuilding. Open any chapter and you'll find people rather than archetypes. Read long enough and you'll begin quietly assigning classes to everyone you know. If you're looking for another catalogue of abilities and subclasses, there are plenty to choose from.
If you'd like fantasy characters to feel complicated, peculiar, and recognizably human, pull up a chair and keep reading. You may never look at a character sheet quite the same way again.
124 page. PDF and EPUB included.
I've known a wizard who spent twelve year tryin' to identify a flower he'd seen once beside a ruined well, and a fighter who kept every arrow anybody had ever shot at him. I once met a druid who could tell tha where he'd slept every night fer twenty years by rememberin' the trees. Folk are funny creatures, and what occupies their thoughts generally tells tha more about 'em than what they do fer a livin'.
That's why I've never put much stock in classes and labels by themselves. A wizard isn't merely somebody who can cast spells, any more than a fighter is simply somebody who can swing a sword. The interest lies in the sort o' person who decides a mystery deserves twenty years o' study or who keeps walkin' toward danger after everybody else has decided they've had enough.
These chapters are offered entirely as a public service. Each one explains why tha'd be wise to avoid playin' a particular sort o' character and why certain habits o' mind can lead otherwise sensible folk into all manner o' peculiar situations. If tha's sensible, tha'll take these warnings to heart and occupy thyself with somethin' straightforward and uncomplicated. I should warn tha, though, that books have habits o' their own. Read long enough and tha may start wonderin' why folk make certain choices, what questions quietly follow them through life, and what obsessions shape their decisions. Once tha starts lookin' at characters that way, they're difficult things to forget. Don't say tha weren't warned. -Zeebo
Everybody knows what a fighter, wizard, rogue, or druid looks like. Far fewer people understand why somebody would willingly become one. Beneath every fantasy class and ancestry lies a particular way of seeing the world, and those habits of mind are frequently stranger than dragons, demons, or magic.
Characters You Shouldn't Play approaches fantasy roleplaying from an unusual direction. Each chapter begins as a deadpan warning against playing a particular class or ancestry and gradually becomes an examination of the sort of person who'd make that choice willingly. The essays explore curiosity, obsession, duty, ambition, memory, and the strange convictions that shape identity.
Every chapter is followed by twenty character concepts designed to move beyond familiar stereotypes. The ideas treat classes and ancestries as expressions of personality and experience rather than collections of abilities. The result is a cast of characters who feel as though they existed long before the adventure began.
This book changes the questions you ask about fantasy characters. Instead of wondering what a wizard can cast or how much damage a fighter can inflict, you'll start asking what mysteries a wizard can't leave alone and what experiences taught a fighter to remain standing when everybody else ran. The essays and prompts encourage you to think about characters as people with histories, fixations, private questions, and particular ways of understanding the world.
The material works equally well for player characters, nonplayer characters, and worldbuilding. Open any chapter and you'll find people rather than archetypes. Read long enough and you'll begin quietly assigning classes to everyone you know. If you're looking for another catalogue of abilities and subclasses, there are plenty to choose from.
If you'd like fantasy characters to feel complicated, peculiar, and recognizably human, pull up a chair and keep reading. You may never look at a character sheet quite the same way again.
124 page. PDF and EPUB included.