Character Creation: Adventure Maximus!

FOR THE FINAL GAME OF XMAS, TWENTY-TWENTY-FIVE,
TWELVE ADVENTURES MAXIN',
ELEVEN HARES A-BONDIN',
TEN BLOODY LOINCLOTHS,
NINE SENTAIS SENSIN',
EIGHT MONSTERS FIGHTIN', 
SEVEN LAWS A-SCOFFLIN',
SIX CHAOS GOOSES,
FIVE MOONLIT GIRLS,
FOUR SCREAMING LOONS,
THREE ***************,
TWO CORVID COURTS,
AND CAIRN, BUT NOT THE ONE I ACTUALLY RAN!

Whew. Another year of chargen under the ol' belt. Shall we talk numbers?

This character will make 99 for the year. Less than I usually shoot for (last few years, I've been trying to do 10 a month and 12 in December for a total of 122), but I wanted the last one to sync up with the this index post getting to 500. Coincidentally, it's also been five years since the previous index post, meaning I've averaged 100 characters a year.

So do I have any hope of ever finishing this project? Well, on January 1st, 2025, I had 184 games left to do. Twelve months and 99 characters later, I have 185. So, um. I've obtained 100 games this year. 

Now, that sounds like a lot, but it bears noting that buying a couple of bundles accounts for at least half of that. I don't actually "buy" games all that often, but I do back Kickstarters and suchlike a lot (not using my own name, of course, after a couple of incidents where creators refunded my money, unasked, because apparently my money is somehow tainted and evil? Or they were taking a "stand" against...something? Like, people, if you're going to sell your game commercially I could just buy it anyway). 

So: I'm starting off 2026 with 186 games undone. I'm gonna try to do 10 a month plus an additional two in December, for a total of 122. If I bought exactly 0 new games (lol) I'd be done in 19 months. If I bought (or otherwise obtained) 50 new games in 2026, I'd wind up done in two years. But of course, if a bundle supporting a good cause comes along, it's entirely possible I'll buy it. You know. Assuming my money is good enough. 

Anyway, for the last game of 2025, here's a blast from the past.

The Game: Adventure Maximus!
The Publisher: Eden Studios, Inc.
Degree of Familiarity: None
Books Required: Just the one 

Adventure Maximus! is a kid-focused game. I picked it for the "twelve lords a-leaping" slot for the same reason I picked Hero Kids a couple years back. Oh, also, some version of the song list the 12 slot as "bull a-roaring" and there's a minotaur on the cover.

This game was on of the earliest I backed on Kickstarter. It funded in June of 2013, delivered the following August, all good. My kids would have been...what, 10 and 6 when it came out? So I'm not sure why we never played it, because they were both definitely gaming by that point.

Well, whatever. It sat unopened and unused on my shelf until now, and so with the snow coming down like it means it and the last hours of 2025 slipping away, let's MAXIMIZE or whatever. 

The setting here is basically fairytale/general fantasy, though there is a fun mad-lib style adventure generator. Chargen involves a bunch of randomly drawn cards, and I'm good with that. We start by playing the race card. Well, actually, we draw three and pick the one we like. I get...Dwarf, Dragon-kind, and Were-kind. I think Dragon-Kind is closest to either lords or bulls, so I'll take that one. I get three action tokens, but they're in a punch card so I'm not gonna pop them out. 

Next, class! Same drill, draw 3 and pick my favorite. Swashbuckler, Sparkemancer, or Archeologist. Well, I think Sparkemancer sounds fun. I get a wand, sparkles, and a gown, I guess? Let's keep reading. Oh, I see. The wand is my close attack, the sparkles are my far attack, and the gown is my armor. I also get one action cards, three equipment cards, and three spell cards. Do I just draw those? Yes, I do. Let's do equipment!

Equipment cards (I get two) gives me a monkey's paw (oh no), a leprechaun trap of wishes (I can make a wish using only 5 words, which then discards the card) and a Dwarven arquebus. For when sparkles just don't cut it, I guess. 

My action cards is...Doctor Steel Good! It gives me a bunch of options relating to healing damage. Weird that these aren't class-dependent. Well, sure.

Spells! I get Check Your Fly (I can make someone fly), I Can Change (transform into a creature), and Stun on a Bun (I reduce someone's action tokens). 

I get 2 Willpower, and then I add up all the Armor on my cards and get...0. Great. But that's pretty much it!

We'll name my dragon-kind sparkemancer Archie. Archie has pearly scales and some of those whisker-things that Chinese dragons have in pictures. He got the leprechaun trap from a merchant, but it was the leprechaun that gave him the monkey's paw, which, like, cool! Extra wishes! No way that goes wrong.

I think Archie's flame breath is white/pink and sparkly, but still, like, burns. 

And that's it. Happy 1000th character-mas!