Character Creation Challenge 2026 Day 21: WEG Star Wars 1st Edition Bounty Hunter

I've always wondered what it would be like if a bounty hunter joined the Rebellion.  He could work as a double agent of sorts.  He could pursue regular bounties most of the time while gleaning what information he could about Imperial forces.  Then, on occasion, nabbing important Imperial officers or officials and turning them over to the Rebels.  It would be a dangerous life.  A lucrative one, but dangerous.

 

 

Character Creation Challenge 2026 Day 20: Spellzard

Spellzard is a simulacrum game of Fighting Fantasy: The Introductory Role-Playing Game.  For those who don't know, the Fighting Fantasy RPG was an RPG based on the simple system used in the gamebooks that so many enjoyed in the Eighties and beyond.  The system has seen a resurgence in recent years as the simple foundation for other games.  Troika is perhaps the most prominent.  Spellzard falls into this category, too.

There are several changes to the game but the two most significant are the core mechanic and character creation.   FF and Spellzard only use d6.  The core mechanic for FF has to do with a characters Skill.  If you are performing a regular task, you throw 2d6 and try to roll equal to or under your Skill.  In combat, you roll 2d6 + Skill and try to beat your opponent’s roll.  In Spellzard, all rolls are 2d6 + Skill => 14 to succeed or higher than your opponent’s roll.

Character creation is changed significantly but it is still simple.  FF has you roll for Skill, Stamina and Luck and, with a little gear, you’re ready to rock-n-roll.  With Spellzard, you still roll for Stamina and luck.  You then choose a class, either Adventurer or Wizard.  This determines your potential Skill level and the number of Special Skills your character can have.  If you choose Skill level 8 for your Adventurer, you receive 1 Special Skill; 7 you receive 2; and 6 you receive 3.  A Wizard starts with a Skill of 7 and the Spellcasting Special Skill or Skill 6 and the Spellcasting Special Skill and one other Special Skill.

There is a restriction on Skill tests though:

If you do have the Special Skill for the task being tested, you make a Skill Test. But if you don’t have the relevant Special Skill, you make a Luck Test instead.

Special Skills are abilities such as Athletics, Healing, Repair and Strength.

Spells do not have levels, but the Wizard must pass a Skill check to succeed and there is a Stamina cost associated with each spell.

You can choose a race but this only has an effect if the GM wants it to.

 

Spellzard Character Sheet
Name	Robert Rednose
Race/Class	Human Adventurer
Skill	Stamina	Luck		Inventory/Spell Slots
7	19	11
				1 Dagger (1/2 slot)
Special Skills
Athletics				2 Adventure Gear (3 Slots)
Notice
				3 Provisions 6
				4 Axe (1d6) (1 slot)
				5 Light Armor (2 Slots)
				6
Money				7
11 GP
				8
Advances
				9
				10

 

 

 

 

 

Character Creation Challenge 2026 Day 19: Tiny Living Dead

On, no!  More zombies!

 

The zombies aren't actually tiny though.  Just the rules-set is.  And the dice pool.  Tiny Living Dead is a TinyD6 game, all of which have their origin in the game Tiny Dungeon. The dice pool is usually 2 dice, no larger than 3 and sometimes only 1.  Certain Traits and circumstances can give you an advantage, just as obstacles or problems can give you a disadvantage.  The goal is to roll a success which is a 5 or 6 on any dice.

 

To create your Survivor you choose three Traits, which can give you advantages on rolls or other benefits.  Then a Weapon Proficiency group along with a mastered weapon.  A Family Trade and Belief.  You start with 6 Health Points and some gear.

 

 

 

Character Creation Challenge 2026 Day 18: Risus

Risus: The Anything RPG is a 4 page comedic RPG that is simple to play yet can do a surprising number of things.  It was intended to be a comedic RGP but can do serious just as well.  Many people have done settings and games based on it.

 

It is a simple dice pool game.  When you create a character you have 10 dice to allocate to Cliches.  Cliches are descriptors of your character.  If you are playing a Viking character, one of your Cliches should be Viking.  When a challenge arises you roll the number of dice assigned to the most appropriate (or inappropriate) Cliche and beat a target number.  There are a few more rules but that's essentially it.  For those who want more there is a companion book with a lot of different options.  Oh, and Risus is free. 

 

Flavius Flacidus, Roman Centurion

A burly Roman Centurion who likes parading his men, red horse hair plumes, shiny armor and fish sauce. 

Cliches: Centurion (4), Armorer (3), Hiker (2), Garum Maker (1)

Character Creation Challenge 2026 Day 17: Rats in the Wall

Rats in the Wall is a rules-lite game of Cosmic Horror.  It was written by Kobayashi, the author of The Black Sword Hack.  It is set in the 1920's and 30's but there are brief mentions of other times.

 

The game is heavily influenced by Lovecraft, down to the name of the game which is based on one of his short stories.  There is a sanity mechanic and a discussion of the Old Ones, though they are down played a bit because if one of them shows up you are well and truly screwed.

 

Task resolution is 2d6 + Attribute => 8. 

 

The PDF is 54 pages long including covers and character creation is short and easy:

• Distribute 5 points between 5 Attributes.  Range 0 - +3
• Determine Secondary Attributes.
• Choose a Profession.
• Choose a Reputation.
• Get some Gear.

Off we go... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Character Creation Challenge 2026 Day 16: Ancient Odysseys: Treasure Awaits!

I've actually had Ancient Odysseys: Treasure Awaits (AOTA) for over 15 years.  I've puttered around with it over the years and enjoyed it.  It is another simple system that can be played with a GM but has a focus on solo play.  The rules originally came in three booklets.  The first covers character creation and the rules of play.  The second is an adventure.  It is essentially a programmed adventure meant for solo play.  The third is to help GMs create random dungeons.  Or it can create a dungeon on the fly for solo play.

 

AOTA is a simple dungeon crawler.  It's intended for you to send your characters into a dungeon to avoid traps, kill things and take their stuff.  Thus, the characters and the rules are all combat focused.  Apparently, an expansion, More Treasure Awaits!, has wilderness rules but I do not have it.

 

Character creation is entirely random.  There are a few point where you make decisions, like choosing which four pursuits (skills) you have and which weapons you get, but the rest is pure random.  This includes how high you are rated in each pursuit and what armor you start with.

 

There are several steps to creating the character:

• Roll Race:  There are four.  Human, Elf, Dwarf and Hobling.  Non-humans have modifiers to their abilities and/or pursuits.
• Roll vocation:  There are three.  Rogue, Warrior, Wizard.
•  Roll Abilities:  Each vocation has six arrays and you roll to find which array that you use.  Abilities can range from 1-5.
• Pursuits:  You choose four from your vocation's list but then roll for its rating.  Ratings range from 1-3.
• Choose Weapon Combination:  From Vocation's list.
• Armor:  Roll randomly.
• Other Gear:  Choose one item from a short list
• Choose Spells:  If you are a Wizard, choose your spells from a short list.

Character creation is a really quick process.  I rolled up two characters. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Character Creation Challenge 2026 Day 15: Retro Sci-Fi Rules

Today I am revisiting the Classic Traveller family of games.  This time via the Cepheus Engine branch of the family tree.

 

The Retro Sci-Fi Rules are by Paul Elliott, the author of Hostile and Cepheus Universal amongst other Traveller related things.  It is intended to emulate the 1977 edition of Traveller.  But it has been streamlined and modified in several ways.  One of the biggest changes is character creation.

 

Gone is life path character gen with the possibility of death.  Here are the steps with commentary in color.

 

1 Select Career. Note its ‘required characteristic’.  Six careers:  Navy, Marine, Star Trader, Scout, Syndicate, Scout

2 Skills. Divide up 7 skill levels between the career skills. No skill level may start at more than 3. One of your choices must be the Auto Skill.  Each Career has an Auto Skill.  For example the Auto Skill for Marine is Gun Combat.

3 Select Bonus Skill. Select a table and roll 1D6 for a bonus skill at level 1.

4 Characteristics. Choose a ‘String of Scores’ and allocate those scores to your six characteristics: Strength, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Education and Social Influence, as you see fit. The career’s ‘required characteristic’ must be at 7 or more.  There are four separate strings of scores to choose from, some balanced, some not.

5 Name. Create a name for the character.

6 Rank. Use Social Influence to determine the character’s rank.  Social Influence replaces Social Standing.  No nobility in the implied setting.  And there is a sample setting involved.

7 Age. Decide on an age.  Are you retired from your service or not?

8 Appearance. Decide on the character’s appearance.

9 Movement. Note your Move score.

10 UPP. Note your character in the Universal Personality Profile arrangement.

11 Equipment. Allocate cash and starting equipment as needed.  Starting cash determined randomly based on your Social Influence.

12 Backstory. Roll for a past career event.

 

Character creation is a very quick process. 

 

Let me present:

 

Ret. Capt. Gael Jones-Smith 

Star Navy    46697A, Age 50, Move 10

Computer-2, Engineering-2, Gun Combat-1, Gunnery-1, Medical-2

Cr 30000 

 

Retro Sci-Fi Rules are an interesting variation on Traveller.  I might do more of a review later.  If you're interested in these type of RPGs, I think it's worth a look.