Hijacked By Unrelated Characters.

I’m one of those people who has a cast of characters in his imagination, many of whom are waiting for a chance to be put somewhere. Some of them enter and emerge with a quick turnaround, while others have been waiting “backstage” for years. Every so often one of those characters rushes to the front of the line and takes the spotlight for themselves, despite my best efforts to the contrary.

The most notable occurrence of this, for me, was when I was playing a Diviner Wizard in a 3.5E D&D game. I turned him into a career.

I’ve had pretty good control over my cast of characters these past few years. Working with Garth has kept my backstage area in check. Thanks to the very structured nature of our collaboration there have been little opportunities for a character to rush to the front of the line and steal my attention. But now as Star Power draws ever closer to its conclusion and more of my time is spent on The Legacy of Dominic Deegan, someone has rushed to the front of the line.

His name is Molos. He’s my tiefling paladin in a long-running tabletop game of the Pathfinder 1E “Hell’s Rebels” campaign module. I originally created him to be the backup muscle for the smooth-talking charmer and analytical strategist, who are meant to be the stars of the campaign. But as time passed, I began to grow fond of this “pit-born paladin” and his inner struggles, and my generous GM allowed for some moving character moments. Now, in this moment, he’s all I can think about.

But don’t worry, I have a handle on him. His story is strongly connected to an existing campaign setting owned by another company and the experiences created when my friends sit down to play our games. He’s not someone I can drag-and-drop into my work without serious modification and planning, so don’t expect a hell-born demon knight to burst through the wall here in Star Power. He probably won’t even be appearing in The Legacy of Dominic Deegan (yet). That hasn’t stopped me from drawing him a lot in my free time, and even asking my personal Patreon patrons if they want to see more of him this month.

This hasn’t happened in a long time and I’ve come to realize I’ve missed it. I don’t think Star Power has suffered because of it. The structure of my working relationship with Garth has been wonderful for my creativity, causing me to think and write in ways I’d never attempted! But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little thrilled by this old feeling.