Skal! Turns out, there aren’t that many C&S pregens floating around. Whilst it can be pretty easy to whip them up yourself, I thought I’d share the ones I made for my party running Storm Point Asylum.
Here’s the link: feel free to use them, abuse them, or lose them!
Reader/User beware!
- Did I mess up making these pregens? Could be! I am afterall, just a lowly human. Edit them at your leisure of course—but I stand by the process itself.
- A couple of the weapons I gave out (looking at you Odak Giant sword) are pretty nasty, even if they are within the 50 point threshold.
My process, if ya wanna know:
- Cracked open C&S Volume 1 and got to work spending hero points (50). I did not use Vol 2.
- Each pregen started with the character templates included in the book (p. 20-21).
- Rolled a d6 to decide hometowns for each pregen. 1-2 Gardenburrow, 3-4 Slimshire, 5-6 Rivergate.
- For ancestry and added backstory flavor, I incorporated rolls from the character prompts tables (pp. 22–25). Drawing inspiration from their respective hometowns, I integrated these details into the existing character template descriptions, editing to make sense.
I believe strongly in creating pregens that are distinct from one another and also provide some tasty hooks to inform play at the table. It can help create a much deeper play experience—even for one-shots.
- Using the above information, I then added skills, equipment, and spells from the standard and frog-kin tables that fit the character description and build so far. (p.30-37, 304-305) I customized those items, skills, and spells to make them as useful and flavorful as I could.
Personal (and probably obvious) advice? Create the raddest characters you can. After all, we want them to feel like they’re doing cool shit, don’t we? (Yes…we do.) It also gives the system a chance to shine by hinting at its great depth. Of course, take care not to go overboard—a couple of extra casts or a deadly weapon that might break on a bad roll? That’s probably enough to start and to impart that feeling of uniqueness that C&S pulls off so well.
- Name your dang characters and find some art! I used roll tables in the Shadowdark core book, free ICRPG art, and some google machine help as usual.
- I gave each player one “free-to-carry” item that reinforced their backstory. i.e. A note from their deceased mother or a pipe they pilfered from the local lord. (Purely flavor, cannot absorb attrition…unless some cool-ass reason is given of course.)
FINAL NOTE:
While I used the character templates as a starting point, there is no rule you need to of course. Dream up your build, choose your core ability, roll or choose your flaw, and off you go! If there’s one thing I am passionate about with characters I build for myself or pregens I give out, its to make them interesting without being overwrought. You don’t need 10 pages of backstory to get the idea. Start with 1 or 2 sentences of really flavorful, interesting stuff and let the rest come out the table. Just my two cents! (2 hero points?)
