My Life As A Gamer: The Gameplay Is Serious, The Players Are Not

Reading #BROSR blogs, or watching videos/livestreams, shows that the Bros are not entirely serious about certain things.

One does not name their Magic-User "Macho Mandalf" without having one's tongue firmly in cheek, and yet the man behind the magician is one of the best players among the Bros.

You'll find this come up time and again across the Bros' characters, settings, and events.

Some of the detractors point to this as a demerit, but it is not; whether you are at the table or you're watching from the sidelines, this silly element is a vital component to the success of the Bros- and it is another element evident in the hobby since the beginning. (Or you do really need to have it explained that "Drawmij" is "Jim Ward" spelled backwards?)

And you can do this too, here and how. Let me show you.

Talon of the Fear Owl

Let's pretend that I'm running an area in the larger campaign, and I'm Making Shit Up as I go.

Let's get out those dice and roll up a man. I roll 3d6 in order six times and get this as my best array: 12,11,15,12,12,13. Some of you are going "That's a decent Cleric" and you would not be wrong, but I want to see what my options are; I see that this array qualifies for the Assassin class, so I decide to go with that. Furthermore, leaving that Cleric option open, I skip being a Half-Orc (Cleric capped at 4th level, PHB pg. 17) and instead note down the Dual Class requirements I'd need to go as a Man from Assassin to Cleric.

I choose to be a Man, roll Hit Points, note Class Abilities, pick Weapons and other gear, etc. until I get down to things like a description and a choice of a god to worship.

I look into the mirror and confer with the Referee about my Assassin worshiping an Evil sect of a Lawful Neutral Goddess of Civilization.

Oh yes, I can turn the entirety of Hololive into a mythic pantheon.

And no, that's not the only option.

I told you this wasn't that serious.

Why "Fear Owl"?

That's why.

The Fear Owl sect leans hard into the fundamentals of the Assassin class's core function of Disguise and Sucker-Punching to remove Enemies of Civilization, so they are a Lawful Evil cult in an otherwise Lawful Neutral religion. They are sociable, personable, and easy to get along with as much by training as by inclination. The paper boy you see every week, the dogwalker you run into daily, the girl-next-door bringing you food from the grocer- all the pleasant faces and voices you see right before they shiv you in the ribs or poison your lunch and you die because the Fear Owl decreed it so.

Congratulations, you just watched me Make Up Lore On The Spot for a campaign setting.

Now you have proof that you don't need to fork over money to some publisher, who may or may not hate you, to do this for you.