This is it! The last character build for the #CharacterCreationChallenge in 2025. For this build, I went with the newly released Dolmenwood, by Necrotic Gnome.

Tomkin Cottonsocks is a mischievous fairy spirit known as a Grimalkin, which is basically the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Tomkin left Fairy hoping to learn tales of love and adventure that he could then bring back to entertain and amaze his friends.

Although Grimalkin are noted for their love of rats, Tomkin grew up by the fruit-scented shores of Fairy Bay and developed a great love of fishing. Even in mortal lands, he prefers to be near the water.

Dolmenwood

Before I even get into the RPG and the build process, I have to say I love some of the artwork in this book (and some of it not so much). I’m particularly drawn to the flat artwork that reminds me of Greek urns and Russian folklore, credited to Pauliina Hannuniemi. I am SO not an art major, so I don’t know how to properly describe the style – would love to learn. Some of the other choices, however, just do nothing for me.

Character build starts out like most Old School Renaissance (OSR) games – rolling your six attributes, in order, with no bonus dice. They do include rules for rerolls, and I had to take advantage of it, with three of my rolls being under six. My second attempt was probably too strong, but the ability to burn down and build up scores (take an attribute down two to bring a prime attribute up one) left me with a balanced character that I wanted to play.

And, in this case, I decided Grimalkin was what I wanted. While my initial (second attempt) attributes leaned toward a Knight, it wasn’t ideal for a Grimalkin and I used the adjustment rules to make a pretty good Bard.

As with some other RPGs, this was a case where the provided character sheet didn’t support the character creation process very well and there was no example provided. The process around skill ratings and how to record them left a bit to be desired.

Hopefully, once Dolmenwood is fully released (I pre-ordered the hardcovers, having missed the Kickstarter), more resources will be forthcoming to make the build process easier, since this looks like a fun setting. Grab the welcome kit at DriveThruRPG if you want to learn more.