Category: meta

I went and sponsored a soccer team. It’s a pub league team with several friends I met through Sounders soccer. Rather than advertise my soccer blog they all know about already I put the logo for Full Moon Storytelling on their kits. And then I offered to make any of them an Adventurer’s League legal character that represents some of their favorite soccer players and themselves.

A character sheet in Dungeons & Dragons is a story told in short hand.

Here’s the story I was trying to tell with Passive Aggression.

With Passive Aggression, one of the first things I wanted to do was have a little honey badger companion (in Reroll I used a cat). Ozzie Alonso was Seattle’s honey badger for so long that I must, must honor him. The player who submitted their favorite players requested a minotaur, which also suits Alonso well. It is easy to imagine Alonso lowering his head and charging through someone.

The other guidance is the maestro Luka Modrić. Ranger helped with this, because the bit of magic makes sense. Luka is one of the more technical players in the world, with the titles and individual recognition that makes sense. When the player is that exceptional only magic makes sense. Zephyr Strike seemed perfect for that representation.

I chose the subclass Gloom Stalker because of the Our Flag Means Offside FC player sees themselves as someone who can be a support player across the battlefield, Entangle and Dread Ambuser helped capture that story

Here’s the story I was trying to tell with Izzy Handball.

Roger Levesque is a legendary Sounder, from the time before they were in MLS. He also puts on a great pirate impression. Pelé is the world’s greatest player, ever. Young people please don’t come at me with your modern faves — Izzy Handball will slay you.

Combining a cult legend and the world’s greatest was a fun challenge. I started with the pirate, which meant Swashbuckler Rogue, which also fits Pelé’s personality. He loved to go one-on-one, or one-on-four, whatever. Dual-wielding swords made sense because Pelé would strike rapidly, constantly and with both feet.

A wood elf was chosen to further lean into Pelé’s pace, his fey ancestry and his charm.

With both of the soccer players the Folk Hero made sense. Whether form the streets of Brazil or the artificial turf of Starfire, Levesque and Pelé became legends with tales growing taller every year.

Character graphics are made using ReRoll app. All eight players who submitted their favorite players and idealized playing styles to be imagined as D&D characters can be seen on DnDBeyond.

I went and sponsored a soccer team. It’s a pub league team with several friends I met through Sounders soccer. Rather than advertise my soccer blog they all know about already I put the logo for Full Moon Storytelling on their kits. And then I offered to make any of them an Adventurer’s League legal character that represents some of their favorite soccer players and themselves.

First up is Davy Jones. Why Davy? Because that persona is on the reveal graphic.

A character sheet in Dungeons & Dragons is a story told in short hand.

Here’s the story I was trying to tell with Davy Jones — the name on the back of one of the players’ shirts. I didn’t look up the real players to build these. I did use their soccer-name as inspiration.

The soccer players provided in the prompt questions were Fredy Montero, DeAndre Yedlin, Zlatan. In some of the prompts there were references to Jessica Jones and Ljósálfar.

D&D is an imperfect way to represent these things. My attempts here are to capture the vibes of a potent showperson, a striker from distance and a stout defender. An Aasimar is more similar to the light elves of Nordic legend than the current version of D&D, plus that helps add more magic to Davy Jones — Zlatan has to have magic, so does Fredy “Golden God” Montero.

It was Fredy that helped the lean towards Paladin, as well as the Jessica Jones mention. Jones helped the decision towards Oath of Vengeance. Having Compelled Duel was another touch point towards Zlatan.

With DeAndre Yedlin still to be incorporated the Background choice was obvious — Folk Hero. Yedlin was the first MLS Sounder to rise from the Academy, the first to play in the World Cup because of their performance as a Sounder and the first to be sold to Europe. He’s a legend in his home town, and so is Davy Jones.

Each skill, weapon, spell is chosen to emphasize the combination of mystical striker, bewitching technique and the willingness to be a stout defender.

That’s Davy Jones.

Character graphics are made using ReRoll app. All eight players who submitted their favorite players and idealized playing styles to be imagined as D&D characters can be seen on DnDBeyond.