I've announced a new product, "The Emergency Character Collection." It's the first non-adventure product Run Amok Games has produced, and I'm a bit nervous about its reception. I've been really lacking a stable of pregenerated PCs, either for my games or in other people's games (RIP Daremo the halfling rogue, who was eaten by a hezrou). However, lists of pregenerated PCs rarely seem to be a viable (or interesting) product on their own. I decided that my ideal pregenerated PC product would have to meet a few key criteria:
  • It would have to be useful at several levels and not just include 1st level PCs.
  • It should have straightforward roleplaying hooks for each PC, not elaborate backstories.
  • It would not only have to include a range of character types (warriors, healers, arcane casters, etc.), but should also contain a range of character complexities: straightforward warriors and complicated warriors, for example.
  • It would have to have great artwork for each and every PC.
  • It would have to include an in-game justification for each PC to show up just about anywhere, in order to make transitioning in the PC easy for the GM.

With a dozen PCs presented at 4 levels each (1st, 3rd, 6th, and 9th), the ECC certainly has a lot of variety. But will the ECC fit all of my criteria? Take a look when it's released later this year.

As a sneak peek, I plan to include 5 of the ECC characters as pregenerated characters in "Teeth of the Storm." For reasons that are made clear in that "horror-style" adventure, a group may need to have a lot of 1st level PCs on hand...