Now that I’ve finally finished work on my Alternate Character Sheet, I can finally start work on the originally intended product: Packs of pregenerated characters. These don’t take nearly as long for me to put together as a typical product, but they allow me to explore some of the less common race/class combinations in D&D. I think there’s value there for other people, too — obviously as characters they can pick up and play tonight, but also to serve as inspiration for their own characters.

Volume I: The Goon Squad focuses on characters that might feature more prominently as bad guys in your typical D&D game:

• Bartleby Bruce, the bugbear brute. Bart doesn’t fight because he’s angry. In fact, he would prefer not to. Unfortunately, it’s just about the only thing he’s good at.
• Demelza Bree-Yark, a goblin bard from the College of Swords. Some might say that Demelza has an “obsession” with sharp objects. She prefers to call it an “appreciation.” Regardless, she’s spent so many hours studying the blade that she almost never nicks herself anymore. Her enemies are rarely so lucky.
• “Hundred Hands” Harlan Ward, the boxing orc. Harlan used to use his fists as a bounty hunter. Then he realized he didn’t care that much about the bounties, or the hunting. He just likes to use his fists.
• High Justicar Brassus, the minotaur zealot. Brassus was the most brutal and heartless interrogator of the Great Inquisition. The only problem now is that no one can convince him the Inquisition ended over a decade ago.

Each of these is a character I would love to play, if I ever have the time. I’m particularly excited to include the Pugilist class by Sterling Vermin. It’s a fantastic execution of an unarmed fighter that’s nothing at all like the Monk.

The Goon Squad is available as a pay-what-you-want title on the DM’s Guild today. I hope this is received well, since I’d like to put out several of these packs in between bigger releases. I might even put out a product that’s not PWYW one of these days!