Vick's Hangout

D 5E Character - Wolverine - Building

About This Build
This build explores the design of Tharn Wildvein, a Half-Orc Barbarian in Dungeons & Dragons 5e inspired by the essence of Wolverine — the feral loner, the unstoppable survivor, the relentless fury in the face of overwhelming odds.

Rather than a direct adaptation, this is a fantasy reinterpretation: a savage warrior whose power is not bestowed by science or sorcery, but awakened by rage, trauma, and unrelenting instinct. His body is the weapon — muscle, claw, and willpower forged through countless battles.

4 minutes to read

DND 5E Character - Iron Man - Building

About This Build
This build explores the design of Jaxen Vantrell, an Armorer Artificer in Dungeons & Dragons 5e inspired by the concept of Iron Man — especially the Heroes Reborn saga, where the character’s brilliance, adaptability, and sheer variety of power suits took center stage.

Rather than a direct conversion, this is a high fantasy reimagining of the archetype: a genius arcane engineer who doesn’t rely on destiny or lineage, but on crafted armor, magical augmentation, and relentless iteration. Every infused item, every armor model, every spell reflects a different version of “the suit” — modular, reactive, and purpose-built.

4 minutes to read

DND 5E Character - The Darkness

Design Note
Zareth Kael is a personal homage to one of my all-time favorite characters — The Darkness, from the Top Cow comic series. I read the entire run starting from the 1990s, and the idea of a reluctant antihero bound to an ancient, sentient force of shadow left a permanent impression on me.

In reimagining this concept within 5E, I wanted to portray the Darkness not just as a weapon or curse, but as a primordial entity — protective and parasitic, elegant and monstrous. Its presence isn’t loud or overt, but it shapes every moment Zareth lives through, watching from behind a cracked mirror and whispering between spells.

7 minutes to read

DND 5E Character - The Darkness - Building

About This Build
This step-by-step breakdown traces the mechanical and narrative design behind Zareth Kael, my reinterpretation of The Darkness comic character in Dungeons & Dragons 5e. As someone who grew up reading The Darkness from the 1990s onward, this project is more than just a character — it’s a tribute to one of my favorite antiheroes.

I wanted to explore how Jackie Estacado’s cursed, sentient power could be expressed through official 5e mechanics, while leaning into my current interest in flawed, complex protagonists. This build is designed for a homebrew game I may run someday — dark, thematic, and soaked in psychic tension.

5 minutes to read

Soulbound Earthdawn

Earthdawn Reforged – A Heroic Take on a Legendary World

What happens when you take the lore-rich world of Earthdawn and explore it through the lens of Age of Sigmar: Soulbound’s heroic engine?

Welcome to Earthdawn Reforged — a personal design experiment where I’m reimagining the Earthdawn setting using the mechanics of Soulbound. This isn’t a full system rewrite or community project — just something I’m exploring for my own creative enjoyment, to see how the themes of survival, horror, and magical legacy can play out in a more fast-paced, cinematic system.

6 minutes to read

One Hero Engine

🛡️ One Hero Engine – Core Rulebook (v 0.12)

A solo-focused, narrative-driven RPG for mythic storytelling, bold decisions, and immersive worldbuilding. Designed to be lightweight in mechanics and rich in expression, One Hero Engine puts the story in your hands—no game master required.


Part I: Creating Your Hero

1. What Is One Hero Engine?

One Hero Engine (OHE) is a solo tabletop roleplaying system where you take the role of a single hero facing challenges, enemies, and unknown fates in a dynamic, mythic world.

22 minutes to read

Solo Hero RPG

For this game, I’ll be using the concept outlined in this post .

🚀 The Journey Begins

Aside from wargaming, RPGs have been a long-time passion of mine. It’s been quite a while since I last ran a proper campaign, and for the past few years, I’ve been drawn to the idea of solo RPGs. My first foray into that space was with Ironsworn by Shawn Tomkin—I loved its gritty tone and mechanics so much that I immediately backed Starforged on Kickstarter when it launched.

2 minutes to read

Rangers of Shadow Deep - Hope Eternal - Starting the Game

For this game, I’ll be using the concept outlined in this post .

The first wargame I’m trying out solo is Rangers of Shadow Deep (ROSD) by Joseph A. McCullough, the creator of Frostgrave, Stargrave, and Oathmark. I played Frostgrave 1st Edition years ago and had a great time with it. I came across ROSD back in 2018 and was immediately intrigued, but I didn’t actually pick it up until Modiphius released the deluxe edition. I finally got my hands on it—and, well, it’s been sitting on my shelf ever since… until now.

4 minutes to read

Gaming Concept

So, this is my first proper attempt at documenting my RPGs and wargames into something a little more coherent—a story I can look back on later. To keep things simple (and keep future me from getting confused), I’ll be breaking down each campaign session into two parts: gameplay and story. Together, they’ll give me a full picture of what went down.

Each gameplay and story entry will be linked to each other so I can jump between the crunchy bits and the narrative whenever I need to.

One minute to read