Lounges & Lizards

When I became more involved in the Dungeons & Dragons Encounters program, I found myself disappointed that Wizards of the Coast did not continue to provide pre-made characters for people to play.  To that end, I started making my own.  After the first few, I began making characters that were based off of popular video game characters.  To my surprise, it was very easy to "re-skin" D&D 4E characters in such a way.

After making a few, I realized that I needed a good leader.  A few beers later, this came about:

Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards

Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places)

Larry was surprisingly easy once I got over the initial step of "what to do" with him.  For those looking carefully, there are still a few obvious signs of the original character.  Mindful players will quickly determine that Larry is in fact not a "Lounge Lizard" but an Eladrin Bard.  Built on the  PHB2 Bard, Larry has the ability to hurl cruel insults upon his opponents (including the popular "Check Your Fly, Man!") while complimenting his allies.  He also has the racial ability "You Said You Were Single..." which lets him escape from those rather unfortunate situations he may find himself in.

When Larry showed up to Encounters, I had players give him a try.  It's amazing how a simple re-skin will completely change the way a player interacts with the game.  Granted, this increased the number of off-color jokes by 50% - 100%, it made for a surprisingly entertaining game experience.  To this day, it is routinely the most successful D&D Encounter re-skin I have ever created.