In Which Your Obedient Serpent is plagued by a character who demands attention.
Does this ever happen to anyone else?
Every now and then, I get an idea for a character that just won't leave me alone. It would be one thing if it were a character that wanted me to write it-but when this kind of thing hits me, it's almost always a game character.
Sometimes, it's a game that nobody I know even plays. I have any number of files and character sheets and general notes for games like GURPS, Castle Falkenstein, and Mutants & Masterminds.
This time, it's for a game I don't even own, in a genre I haven't touched in years.
That's right. A Dungeon Fantasy character has my creative cortex by the short axons. He'd work acceptably in Dungeons & Dragons proper, but only in Third Edition. He'd work better by far in Pathfinder, Paizo's fork of D&D 3.X.
His story:
Twenty years ago, a dragon landed in an isolated Shire, lofty wings and gleaming copper scales, bearing an egg.
This caused quite a stir, of course. Such things simply didn't happen there.
And that was, it seemed, the point.
"You must care for this child, for there is no one else who can," said the dragon. "Keep it safe. Keep it secure. It will have many enemies; protect it from the world outside. Raise it as one of your own; it is your responsibility now."
And so they did.
A kindly couple took the egg, and kept it warm, and when it hatched, raised the child as their own. He was plainly half-dragon, of halfling blood; he shared their stature, but bore the scales and fangs and tail of his draconic progenitor.
He grew swiftly, and the strength of his dragon heritage was clear. He reached the height of a halfling adult years before his playmates. He was swift and cunning, and had a nigh-instinctive aptitude for the sorcerous arts that bemused and often frustrated the methodical halfling wizard who took him as an apprentice.
He's left the Shire now, young by halfling norms, but an adult in every way that matters. He's making his way in the world, seeking his fortune, seeking the dragon who left him with his family, seeking the truth of his birth-parents.
He is Doron Dragonsgift. He was raised by halflings. His ways are halfling ways. His culture is halfling culture.
He has no idea what a Kobold is ... nor that copper dragons are notorious pranksters.
Every now and then, I get an idea for a character that just won't leave me alone. It would be one thing if it were a character that wanted me to write it-but when this kind of thing hits me, it's almost always a game character.
Sometimes, it's a game that nobody I know even plays. I have any number of files and character sheets and general notes for games like GURPS, Castle Falkenstein, and Mutants & Masterminds.
This time, it's for a game I don't even own, in a genre I haven't touched in years.
That's right. A Dungeon Fantasy character has my creative cortex by the short axons. He'd work acceptably in Dungeons & Dragons proper, but only in Third Edition. He'd work better by far in Pathfinder, Paizo's fork of D&D 3.X.
His story:
Twenty years ago, a dragon landed in an isolated Shire, lofty wings and gleaming copper scales, bearing an egg.
This caused quite a stir, of course. Such things simply didn't happen there.
And that was, it seemed, the point.
"You must care for this child, for there is no one else who can," said the dragon. "Keep it safe. Keep it secure. It will have many enemies; protect it from the world outside. Raise it as one of your own; it is your responsibility now."
And so they did.
A kindly couple took the egg, and kept it warm, and when it hatched, raised the child as their own. He was plainly half-dragon, of halfling blood; he shared their stature, but bore the scales and fangs and tail of his draconic progenitor.
He grew swiftly, and the strength of his dragon heritage was clear. He reached the height of a halfling adult years before his playmates. He was swift and cunning, and had a nigh-instinctive aptitude for the sorcerous arts that bemused and often frustrated the methodical halfling wizard who took him as an apprentice.
He's left the Shire now, young by halfling norms, but an adult in every way that matters. He's making his way in the world, seeking his fortune, seeking the dragon who left him with his family, seeking the truth of his birth-parents.
He is Doron Dragonsgift. He was raised by halflings. His ways are halfling ways. His culture is halfling culture.
He has no idea what a Kobold is ... nor that copper dragons are notorious pranksters.