I have been taking part in the D&D Next Playtest with great interest and growing excitement. I have been running a game for my regular group and devouring the new playtest materials as they get amended and released. As a game geek I have to remind myself not to become carried away with the big box of sweets (as I did when 4e was released), but to be a good playtester and actually test. I find with any rpg products there are two decent criteria: 1) Does it make playing the game easier and more fun? 2) Does it stimulate my imagination, and add something I hadn't thought of.
I was bored and decided to try an expreiment. I had the latest D&D Next materials and decided to create a character randomly. Not random stat generation, that was a set array, but random character choices. Firstly, race and class. Dwarven Cleric! For those who know me, it will come as no surprise that I almost stopped then and there. In the twenty-five odd years I have been playing RPGs I have probably played one dwarf. I just dont want to play them. I like Gimli (Tolkien's as well as John Rhys-Davies') as much as the next person. I just dont have any desire to play one. When it comes to Clerics, I've never played one. I've run many games where Clerics have featured and had a great time doing it, but, for some reason, I never want to play one. So, the gods of fate thrusting a bearded spell/mace guy in my face was disappointing. But I have always had an otherwise streak to I decided to spit in the face of destiny and, resisting the urge to fudge towards more appealing archetypes like Wizard and Rogue, I trudged ahead.
The next random choice was Hill Dwarf (as opposed to Mountain Dwarf). Whatever. Then things started to get interesting. Next random selection was deity choice...The Trickster. In my mind the deity that floats to the top is the Norse god of Mischief, so I chose Loki. With the trickster came some intersting additional weapon choices and the Sneak Skill, Spells: Sanctuary and Minor Illusion (Wizard) and the ability to become invisible. Things were getting interesting.
Background Choice was also random and I got "Guild Thief", together with skills: Balance, Disable Device and Search. He now knew Thieves Cant and possessed a set of thieves tools in a pair of breeches with a secret pocket. I was starting to get a mental picture. This dwarf had an umipressive beard, shaved head and wore a badly stained brown leather skullcap.
Next up ....Specialty, randomly selected, was.....Ambush Specialist (too good to be true!) This came with the Improved Initiative Feat, perfect for a guy with 10 Dex.
I went with a handaxe wielder (throwing and striking) to optimse the Dwarven Weapon ability. More imaginative input. He wore a sprig of Holly on the front of his tunic (Loki's Holy Symbol) He had a habit of continually scratching under his skull cap. His name is Ulli Stonecradle.
When he was finished I realised what had happened. I had made a dwarf, but not a Tolkien dwarf as I always imagined the race in a D&D game, but a dwarf from the world of C.S. Lewis or the Brothers Grimm, a dark character, difficult to pin down and equally difficult to be friends with. I had never even considered playing this kind of dwarf in a game of D&D. I am not even a big fan of the second dwarf trope in fiction, but I know one thing, I cant wait to play Ulli Stonecradle.
I haven't played him yet, but, in this instance, (and in a rather surprising way) the D&D Playtest rules passed both of the tests I set for them. The character creation process was smooth, relatively easy and effective. But it also took me down a path I had not considered and opened up a new gaming avenue for me that I had not considered until I delved into the material.
