Bugbear - Risus

A recent post by my pals over at Pits Perilous (link) got me thinking about a Risus version of the OD&D monster, the bugbear. I am a visual person so naturally I wanted to have a bugbear image in this latest style I am playing around with, so I headed over to MidJourney to play around. What follows is my journey (no pun intended) to get a solid image to use. At the end I will have a Risus bugbear!

Nice, a little weird (though given Gary's description of merely a "great hairy goblin-giants" it somewhat does the trick)

I love the face here, somewhat pumpkinish and very monstrous, but the rest is too civilized for my tastes.

Too weird...and wth is with that grip on the sword??

Oh now here we go. Giant and hairy monstrous thing, with a "large, round flat oval" head

Let's give it one more go, see if we can get something a little nicer.

There we go, I like that one. Gives me a "Where the wild things are" vibe. A wild and feral beast, with the smidgeon of intelligence like a Neanderthal. Plus, as a bonus, he is carrying a pumpkin.
Perhaps bugbears have an uncontrollable love of pumpkins? I would imagine they can speak in a deep, guttural voice, able to formulate very simple sentences such as "Me hungry. Eat you." kind of thing.

Here we go, a Risus monster card.

Cwene of Bamburgh - Risus

Cwene is a young woman on the run. Originally from York, she slayed a man when he trapped her in an alleyway one late night. Barely escaping with her life, she stowed away on a boat heading north, ending up in Bamburgh. One cold winter night, Finan rescued Cwene and provided food and shelter. As days turned to weeks, she learned of God's grace and discovered a new purpose in life. Now, she travels with Finan as he spreads the word and does the churches work around Northumbria. She is a capable young women, with some skill as an herbalist but she has also proved to be skilled in the use of a spear and fending off bandits on the road.

Happy 4th of July

I salute all those who have served and especially those who have given their lives so that this great country shall not perish from the Earth. This land of the free, home of the brave, may she ever endure for all time.

Aidan of Mellitus - Risus

Finan's companion on the roads, a man I can connect with fairly well: a grumbly old veteran.  ;-) 

Aidan has retired but his ex-wfe (now run off with another, younger man) has racked up considerable debt in his name. Now he looks to earn coin by serving as Finan's armed escort and guardsman as he wanders about preaching and spreading the good word. Additionally, constantly being on the move means Turag has a harder time locating him and forcing him to pay his debts. While he is a believer in the "nailed god", he is not truly a man of faith and only regularly speaks to Saint Cuthbert in the traditions of his people.

Finan of Lindasfarne - Risus

 

Playing around with Risus and listening to a most excellent history podcast on the history of Saxon England resulted in this.

Risus Character Cards

Well, now I am really in a Risus sort of mood. I went looking for a character sheet (silly, I know, but hey) and could not find one I liked so I made one. I just uploaded to Itch.io where all my other stuff is. Made a couple of variations so people could use the one they like. Should fit nicely on a US letter sized page, then cut into fours to provide a handful of sheets for each page printed. Hope you like them!

You can find them here: 
https://mattjackson.itch.io/risus-character-cards