Exploring the Wilderlands - Character Generation Home Rules

 The Wilderlands is over 90% human, human society dominates the area.  While AD&D encouraged a human-centric play with the race & class character level limits, more recent editions have stripped that away to the point that as far back as 3rd Edition I've had to abandon campaign plans because the characters didn't support the premise anymore.

    Not being a fan of level limits for the last 45 years, I turned to my other old, old RPG rule set to steal ideas. And in the end I created my own version of Chivalry & Sorcery's Character Race random table. Indeed I based much of my chargen process on C&S, creating tables to determine family background and occupation; along with my own "elaborate set of tables ...which can locate a member literally within miles of a particular town" as Simbalist & Backhaus put it in their section on designing the feudal nation. Finally achieving a goal I've been aspiring to since the late 1970s.

Using that, I rolled up a party of four humans, a half-orc and an elf. Again I borrowed a C&S chargen idea that certain races have minimum characteristic values, and having determined the character of that race, if the minimums are not rolled, then the characteristic is raised. In this case the Elf exceeded the minimums on the rolls, so Ithranel became a High Elf, or Gray Elf in AD&D parlance.

Further rolls determined that two characters came from the city of Zothay in the County of Zothiem, so that became the starting point, one the son of a Merchant and the other the son of an egg seller. Characters are assumed to be basically competent in any skills from their family occupational background.

Other rolls were made for height and weight, again based on, but simplified from C&S. And for hair/hide and eye color, these are based on the information from the WIlderlands setting itself. Additionally, based on the location, the character's cultural background was determined.

I should mention, that I've taken to starting new characters at 2nd Level, as few players enjoy grinding out 1st level in old school games.

And so, determining that the Thieves Guildmaster had commissioned them to return with copies of any writings in Auld Viridian or 𐌀𐌖𐌋𐌃 𐌅𐌉𐌓𐌉𐌃𐌉𐌀𐌍  in the Etruscan (Marsiliana Tablet) alphabet as rendered in the 'Historic - Old Italic' font.  And the solo play began.

1. Race and Characteristics

You may always choose to play a Human. 

Table 1.  Roll d100

01- 75	Human
75-80	Elf (Minimum Dex, IQ and Charisma of 13. Adjust scores to meet minimums. If Dex, IQ and Charisma rolls exceed the minimums, then the character is a High Elf.)
81-84	Half-Elf.  Ninety percent of half elves are raised by their human parent.
85-91	Dwarf (Minimum Strength and Constitution of 13. Adjust scores to meet minimums.)
92-94	Half-Orc  Seventy five percent of half orcs are raised in orc tribes.
95	Halfling
96	Goblin
97-00	Special - Table 1b

Table 1b -Special 

Roll	Race
1-15	Gnome
16-25	Bugbear
26-40	Orc
41-55	Gnoll
56-65	Lycanthrope - Wererat
66-73	Lycanthrope - Werewolf
74-78	Lycanthrope - Werebear
79-83	Lycanthrope - Wereboar
84-86	Lycanthrope - Weretiger
87-92	Ogre
93-97	Troll
98-00	Kobold