Noble Knight Games buys gaming products every week, and sometimes those products contain something extra. One of my favorites things to find is old character sheets. There’s just something cool about looking at someone’s old, handwritten character. In this series of articles, we analyze one of those found sheets through a thin veneer of nostalgia (with just a touch of tongue-in-cheek sarcasm).
This time, we have a character we found in a trade from around 2019. Behold, Juhanas Booda!
According to the date on his character sheet, Juhanas Booda was created on Nov. 11, 1984. He’s a character for 1st Edition AD&D. Mr. Booda (I’ve decided that he insists people call him Mr. Booda) is a Lawful Evil Dwarf (technically it says “Dwarpf”) fighter who hails from the Iron Hills. His patron deity is Hephaestus, so I’m guessing he’s really leaning into the whole dwarf-as-artisan thing.
Now, I have a running theory that every character created back in the day had at least one ability score that was an 18, and Juhanas doesn’t disappoint us on that front. He’s sporting 18s in both Strength and Constitution, not to mention a pretty solid 17 Dexterity. All legitimate rolls, I’m sure. Another interesting note is Mr Booda’s weapon of choice: the mattock. According to the description on the back of the sheet, it’s a “black-handled mattock with silver head and red runes.” Actually, the whole description section is worth sharing.
As you can see, Juhanas limps, wears red platemail “to hide wounds”, and once suffered a forge accident that resulted in scars on his left leg. Mysteriously, he also “lusts for the yellow lotus,” which I imagine as a magical herb that has a potent magical effect on dwarves who ingest it. Not unlike the Spice from Frank Herbert’s Dune.
Thanks for checking out Juhanas Booda, and thanks to the customer who inadvertently submitted him to our online rogue’s gallery. Look for more finds like this in the future. And, if you’re trading vintage RPG books to Noble Knight Games, don’t toss out those old character sheets!
