Anybody can swing a sword and beat up bad guys, but the swashbuckler does it with panache. While the term was originally used to describe swordsmen, its current usage has more to do with a hero’s style than his weapon of choice. In addition to being incredibly skilled (and knowing it), the swashbuckler is…
The Con Man specializes in finding people who want something for nothing and giving them nothing for something. When most people think of a con man, they imagine a ruthless criminal who steals money from little old ladies. While this is sometimes the case, the little old ladies aren’t always blameless. In addition to exploiting…
When Hex wrote M-Force: Monster Hunting in the 21st Century, we included a lot of detail about the organization and all of the support that it could offer a team of monster hunters in the field. Unfortunately, we didn’t include any rules for dealing with this support structure, which meant the competence and response time…
The small-time crook is a person who relies on illegal activities to make a living, but doesn’t have the abilities, resources, or imagination to pull off a big score. Some small-time crooks specialize in a particular brand of illicit activity—for example, drug dealing or stealing cars—but most will take any opportunity to make a quick…
The gambler is a character who makes a living (or tries to) by wagering on contests of skill or chance. Most professional gamblers prefer games that rely on personal skill, such as pool or poker, but a few play games of pure chance (such as slot machines) or bet on the outcomes of events…
In D&D, all characters start the game with a randomly determined number of gold pieces with which to buy equipment. Once the campaign gets started, they keep track of every piece of treasure or equipment they find, buy, sell, or give away, which can lead to very complex accounting and resource tracking once characters reach…
Although the term has gone through several changes in meaning over the years, today most people use the term “hacker” to describe a person who breaks into computer systems for fun and profit. While some hackers practice their electronic breaking and entering for legitimate profit (for example, working as computer security consultants) or as a…
To view this content, you must be a member of Steve’s Patreon at $1 or more Unlock with PatreonAlready a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to access this content.
Editor’s Note: Starting with this week’s exciting episode, new Archetypes of the Week will go up on Thursday instead of Wednesday. The fixer is a person who solves problems, often using methods that are not entirely legal. While most fixers deal in material goods (especially illegal or hard to get ones) to some extent, the…
Zombies are the reanimated (often decomposing) corpses of deceased humans. Although many zombies retain the ability to speak, they otherwise exhibit few signs of higher intelligence. The zombie’s only motivation in unlife is to satisfy its desire to feed on human flesh (brains in particular), though zombies do exhibit rudimentary self-preservation instincts and can use…
