My personal Shire United jersey is Kellamon 131. Kell is my favorite halfling character. Over many years of play Kell has existed in many classes and campaign settings. He’s always loyal, always friendly and always underestimated. The 131 well, that’s a special birthday that had to be honored.
Kellamon Sqoques felt like the perfect character to represent while sponsoring Shire United in ECS Pub League. Because my friends are always underestimated and always loyal.
They play soccer horribly.
Soccer isn’t the point of Pub League — bonding together over a ball and the struggle to play is. That’s why I’m a proud multi-year sponsor going back to my time running Sounder at Heart (they still sponsor).
My friends at Pub League continue to make wild jerseys that we’ll never sell. As long as they need a few dollars I’ll toss them their way.
Being able to support my friends who do fun stuff is good. ECS continues to run Pub League, a simple barely competitive set of two soccer leagues full of joy that embraces everyone. Once upon a time I sponsored them while I managed Sounder at Heart. Then I stopped because I didn’t manage Sounder at Heart. A year ago they had an empty slot that needed a sponsor. I was able to and that was when my team was a group of pirates. Last fall it was vampires.
Now it’s the Almost Full 90 FC, inspired by the era when I was a teen with Trapper Keepers and Peechees playing D&D hiding my inner nerd behind pastels (including my jeans).
Every player name is inspired by 90s era TV shows, songs and memes (we had those back then).
Coaches: Bop it Throw it Pass it, That’s Brisk Baby, and Eat My Shorts
Players: WHAT’S THE 411, COOPER, FRESH PRINCE OF DEFENSE, SPORTY SPICE, FOOTBALL HEAD, THAT’S BRISK BABY, I DID NOT INHALE, EAT MY SHORTS, ON A BREAK, BOP IT THROW IT PASS IT, DOCTOR, BEANIE BABE, REPTAR ON TURF, TRUNCHBULL, D’OH!’, MIDAS, YOU’VE GOT MAIL, STREET SOCCER, TOO YOUNG FOR THIS, UGH, AS IF!, NEVERMIND, NON BLONDES.
I’m telling you, they’re going to win the ‘ship.
There’s a couple other cool bits. The Captain’s armband is inspired by iconic frogs from the era and unlike most soccer jerseys these days, the back is similar to the front — with a unicorn.
As always, the lesson from this is to support your friends when they do rad things. It’s totally awesome.
There’s a blue super moon tonight, which feels like the perfect time to reveal “What we do on the sidelines FC.” This team is inspired by What we do in the Shadows, a fine vampire production.
Full Moon Storytelling was kind of the perfect fit for the front of shirt sponsor.
The orange is the keeper kit. I may need to talk to the corrupt league commissioner for one of those. When the season is done, I’ll be getting the “Strahd #83” jersey and maybe one of the other sub jerseys too.
If you want one of the pirate themed sub jerseys from Spring ’23 reach out to me. I do not need three, but will be keeping the Dread Pirate Roberts #6 (Wesley was #4 btw) top.
As I said last time I say again, maybe one of the players on the soccer team I sponsor will play Dungeons & Dragons for the first time because of this. Maybe not. That’s not the point. The point is my friends needed a tiny bit of help and I could help — so I did.
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.
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.
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 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.
Full Moon Storytelling 