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Tell us about your First Table top Roleplaying charcter
skeletun
Member, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Hero Users, Neverwinter Guardian Users Posts: 0 Arc User
I'll kick this off..
My first character Ever was a Noldo Elf Bard Named Veridyth F'yfthraven (pronounce Fifth Raven) from Middle Earth Roleplaying.
He was known for being a Mischevious sort that never took anything seriously. His motto was "If I'm going to die, I'd rather it be with a smile." As a Bard he loved to sing and carried an enchanted lute that would amplify his voice to ensure that no one was ever deprived of his music. (Much to the disdain of his companions as the songs usually contained humorous lyrics narrating their faillings and his heroics).
He enjoyed fine clothing and would always be wearing the finest of silks. He disdained armor and refused to wear it. Instead he always had a set of "Combat" silks. Colorful, flashy and disposable (would never be caught in dirty clothing). He wore the most expensive perfumes. For adventuring he had an enchanted item that allowed him to change his scent (great for blending into the wilderness).
His weapon of choice was the Rapier. He was a Master at fencing and would confound his enemies (and irritate his companions) using his great agility to dance (litterally dance) about the battlefield poking the enemies with his Rapier.
He eventually became bored of adventuring, got married and had three sons. He used his wealth to establish a college for adventurers. Where would be adventurers would learn various styles of combat, Magic, song and dance (dancing is a requirement for graduation..for everyone).
It is said that if someone can find an adventure challenging enough or interesting enough he may be lured out of retirment. But after tricking a dragon back to sleep, outsmarting the Nazgul and single handedly defeating an Orcish horde..whats left?
So that's my first character. Created him back in 1989 and still have the character sheet.
What do you guys have? I hope I didn't bore you and look forward reading about some interesting characters.
My first character Ever was a Noldo Elf Bard Named Veridyth F'yfthraven (pronounce Fifth Raven) from Middle Earth Roleplaying.
He was known for being a Mischevious sort that never took anything seriously. His motto was "If I'm going to die, I'd rather it be with a smile." As a Bard he loved to sing and carried an enchanted lute that would amplify his voice to ensure that no one was ever deprived of his music. (Much to the disdain of his companions as the songs usually contained humorous lyrics narrating their faillings and his heroics).
He enjoyed fine clothing and would always be wearing the finest of silks. He disdained armor and refused to wear it. Instead he always had a set of "Combat" silks. Colorful, flashy and disposable (would never be caught in dirty clothing). He wore the most expensive perfumes. For adventuring he had an enchanted item that allowed him to change his scent (great for blending into the wilderness).
His weapon of choice was the Rapier. He was a Master at fencing and would confound his enemies (and irritate his companions) using his great agility to dance (litterally dance) about the battlefield poking the enemies with his Rapier.
He eventually became bored of adventuring, got married and had three sons. He used his wealth to establish a college for adventurers. Where would be adventurers would learn various styles of combat, Magic, song and dance (dancing is a requirement for graduation..for everyone).
It is said that if someone can find an adventure challenging enough or interesting enough he may be lured out of retirment. But after tricking a dragon back to sleep, outsmarting the Nazgul and single handedly defeating an Orcish horde..whats left?
So that's my first character. Created him back in 1989 and still have the character sheet.
What do you guys have? I hope I didn't bore you and look forward reading about some interesting characters.
Post edited by skeletun on
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Not knowing any better, my very first HP roll for 1st level (this is back when you used to roll for them at 1st level) was a 1. A 1! That didn't mean anything to me at the time, so what did I do on my very first combat? I got top initiative and I charged in screaming on my warhorse animal companion...and skewered a bandit!
Unfortunately, Glorfindel died a hero's death defending Shadowdale from the almighty Tarrasque. He was the last in the party of 3 to go down. We were tasked with holding it off until a massive hoard of reinforcements arrived to stop it. Glorfindel went down the very round of combat before the reinforcements arrived. The hereoes may have been dead, but Glorfindel's (and the others') sacrifice saved the Dalelands from being monster chow.
My next character was kender and I did my best to annoy the heck out of him by constantly talking, as kender do. Needless to say, our whole group ended up abandoning playing with him after this became a reoccurring theme and that is when I started DMing my FR campaign for all of us who were constantly being killed at the whim of the DM. He is a good buy, we were child-hood friends and all that but he was one of those DMs back then that would either kill you or stop playing if he didn't like something.
My campaign has lasted for almost 20 years now because I learned how not to DM from the experiences.
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He was the typical dumb, angry wall of meat with a gigantic stick with which to hit people. Fun times were had... at the time. I think if I played him again, I'd be bored out of my mind, considering it is now 17 years later.
I do not actually remember the names (he had around 7), because immediately after introducing him to the party, repronouncing each of his names, most difficult to say, a couple of times, he was immediately nicknamed 'Cassa-gnome-a' and the name just stuck.
He was a gnome bard who played an occarina, far prefered the joys found performing in a busy tavern to adventuring, and had an ever-growing collection of hats. My first time playing him (and any tabletop game in general) we beat the boss of the night, and everyone kept asking the DM questions. I felt left out, did not fully understand what the rest of the group (an existing group I had joined) were talking about, so finally asked if the boss was wearing a hat. The DM blinked at me, but quickly described a pretty basic hat, was quick to point out that it was not in any way magical or benefitial, and tried to move on from it pretty quickly, but I made a point of taking it. From then on after each fight the DM would have to take a moment to assure me that no, the dragon was not wearing a hat.
Now I miss that character...he might have to make an appearance in my campaign I am running these days
Keep the stories and tales of your first characters in a table-top game coming, I am sure I am not the only one enjoying these!
[ Support Center • Rules & Policies and Guidelines • ARC ToS • Guild Recruitment Guidelines | FR DM Since 1993 ]
Please tell me his name was pronounced, "KHAAAAAAAN!!!" by his enemies. :cool:
I blush but refuse to answer.
To add to it, here is my first AD&D character.
The GM and the group said I had to play a fighter. I wanted to be a Ranger or Bard but they said I had to play a fighter.
So i created Peter the Powerful. He was a 16 year old fighter on his first adventure. Grew up in a small village where he was the biggest baddest warrior. He was cocky, He was Arrogant, He had a big sword, and He was lvl 1 in a group of lvl 4-5 characters. So he joined up with the group to help out with a local dungeon clearing. (Remember I said I didn't want to play a fighter)
First door we come to..rogue check for traps. "I'm PETER THE POWERFUL..I FEAR NO TRAPS!!" Smash goes the door..(HAMSTER..no trap).
further along we hear noises down the corridor. Rogue goes stealth to investigate and hears. "I'm PETER THE POWERFUL..FEAR ME Muaahhhhh!!!!" as he charges the next room.
After that fight, the GM said you can't have a death wish. I explained The character was young, cocky inexperienced and thought he could take on the world...then I showed him his intelligence and wisdom (both less than 10) and he laughed.
Basically Peter did a Leroy Jenkins on the entire dungeon (this was in 1991). I honeslty think the GM kept him alive to screw with the party because he was having a blast.
After we left the dungeon, the party turned to Peter and said "This isn't working out..you gotta go". So I gave the Character sheet to the GM and rolled a Ranger.
Funny thing is that we kept hearing tales of this Peter guy doing heroic things all over. And the party kept getting asked if they knew him, and whats he like and stuff.
The first character I remember the name of was a Dwarf fighter Earthal Oppengoop
I like 4e bards. they are always so strong and versatile. I wish 4e was my first edition - my 3e bard made me convinced of spoonyness of bards.
EDIT:-
I remember faintly that it went to epic levels but was killed and raised as undead. But somehow DM had this funny idea that undead have no music sense - it reduced me to comic relief in most situations. Later we met a bartender who turned out to be avatar of Selune who had disguised as bartender to save herself from Shar. She retrieved the soul of my bard and made him whole again. I became cleric then. It would have taken a nice turn but then our group abandoned that campaign and started with Greyhawk. But I started to have a liking to Selune ever since.
Learning from mistakes is a sign of wisdom. *the wizard takes his hat off and salutes*
ontopic. my first character was a fighter from dragonlance. His name was Sir Conrad of York and was builded to imitate a medieval knight. Lawfull good,saving damsels in distress,making the bid of the nobles a crusader of the light and all that is good. He was a beacon of kindess, never to attack an unarmed foe or harm an innocent. This was in the year of grace 2001.
Second character was in Forgotten Realms and evil Luskan wizard by the name of Aeroth. Besides his name and origins he is a total mistery for all. He just pops up from time to time to do evil deeds all witch seem tied together for some greath evil plot.
Alozar, a Lawful Good cleric, who used that bearded "Moses" miniature that Ral Partha released in 1980. I painted him with a crimson robe. He became an NPC many years later.
After that, came Draus, a Half-Orc assassin, who caught lycanthropy from a Wererat, so he had himself put to sleep for seven years to advance the disease to the point he could control it. An assassin that could change into a rat, at will, was a very useful thing indeed. He was kind of broken obviously, so he was retired and remained an NPC.
Then came Farwin Glumpf, a Halfling Fighter/Thief, who had great RP hooks and was rather adorable. He "stumbled" into killing a young adult blue dragon, and while he didn't have much to do with the fight, was awarded all the credit (which he gladly took). He retired to write a story about it (bragging mostly) which made him rich and he too became an NPC quickly.
My first character here will be a relative of Farwin, several generations later.
Gineimis Hood-Green was a Gnome Illusionist/Thief, who eventually became trapped in the Astral Plane, in time, he becomes an ally of the Githzerai, but is then captured by the Githyanki and imprisoned in an extremely small, unstable demi-plane. He stays there for years, until he's discovered in a much later campaign, and rescued, where he also becomes a vital NPC in a campaign that dealt with a Githyanki incursion.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
They sure are. I am checking this topic a few times a day allready
Ah, memories.
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade!
Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
He was adopted as a baby by a member of the military and raised to also be a member. After 5 years of service he joined an adventuring party to explore the wild lands to sew his wild oats so to say.
I played him for about a year as my main PC while I was not a DM and occasionally as a DM character on adventures with his friends when he had free time.
When I became a regular/full time DM I had him rejoining the military and fighting in an ongoing war, thus taking him out of rotation with the group. In this war he became a great leader while his friends (my player's group) still explored the lands for adventure, occasionally crossing paths with the character but never adventuring with him (he would give them side missions as he fought the war directly with the military)
This character eventually fell in battle and was raised by a lich to fight for the very enemy he was fighting to stop and thus becoming the main antagonist in my sessions against his former friends as they were destined to destroy the evil that plagued the campaign world.
Although the players did eventually help to drive back and defeat the group of Wizards heading up the war, they never defeated the lich nor put their friend to rest and his (and the lich's) whereabouts became unknown and never returned during our gaming sessions. It was planned but all good things come to an end, including my almost 5 year steady D&D group.
God I miss those days! I just spent the past hours looking through my five banana boxes of books and miniatures. It brings back alot of old memories!
Xordan- the razorclaw monk. As a foundling, Xordan had an innate curiosity in his own past and would imagine himself to be the child of a great tribal warrior who was exiled due to the jealous chief. Unable to support his child, Xordan assumed his father gave him to the monastery in order to grow strong. Excelling in the martial arts, Xordan spent his extra time reading old history books, delighting the tales of past adventurers. He longed to discover lost ruins and delver into their secrets. In time he left into the world where he joined up with an Adventuring Company known as Lost Words.
The company would search for artifacts on commission and recover priceless trinkets for safe keeping. He partnered up with a Longtooth shifter named Dawn, who despite being mildly unstable in the mind, was a good friend. Finding himself, the voice of reason within the party, he eventually was promoted to a liaison in the underdark city of Seven Pillar Hall. (this is where his story as a player character ends.)
In a later adventure, I introduced another monk Sparrow. Sparrow was Xordan's Daughter. Born of Xordan and a human Sorceress specializing in Water and Wind, Sparrow followed her father's footsteps. She searched ancient ruins and battled monsters in order to recover and preserve hidden artifacts (magical or not). Part of a secret society of Treasure hunters, various monstaries supported by her father would have hidden vaults to protect the artifacts and hide them away from dangerous individuals.
I won't bore you anymore with her story but I can explain more about if if you guys would like.
So here goes a small tale about the very first time I bought the D&D basic box (the blue one with the red dragon hoarding his treasure):
It was spring of 1980. I was 13.
It was a difficult time. My father had been promoted within the ranks of CBC but had to move to Toronto to receive the promotion. We were stuck in Calgary, having a hard time selling the house and also finishing up school for the year before we transferred. I had not seen my father since Christmas when we visited him in Toronto. He was living in a small apartment at Church & Wellesely.
My Dad gave us a little pocket money and I used some of it to buy the box set. I had wanted to buy it in Calgary earlier, but had visited several hobby stores and could not find it.
But I stumbled into a game/hobby store called Gameway's Ark.
If you know Toronto and you are a gamer of a certain age, you know what Gameway's Ark is and what an incredible bastion it was for all things deliciously nerdy and cool.
The store had four floors. The first floor was in the basement, it was toy models, balsa planes, those cool Tamiya models we all built as kids and of course radio control models and toys. The second floor was basic games, toys and puzzles. It was the "mainstream" floor, where you could find Ker-Plunk, Sorry, Connect 4, Monopoly etc. etc.
The third floor was dedicated to the growing field of RPGs and war gaming.
It was a paradise of amazing games.
It was also the favorite floor of the staff, who seemed to be always shopping, browsing their own inventory, and eagerly discussing new games. The late 70's and early 80's were really the renaissance of RPGs, (peaking probably around 1983 or so). I was 13, my eyes were wide, I felt I had entered into something that would pre-occupy me as a hobby for the rest of my days.
Now, 33 years later, I was clearly right.
But it was the fourth floor that is the capper.
The fourth floor was a large empty warehouse. But they carpeted it and painted the walls black. They began to build (and completed) a full-size replica of the Star Trek bridge at the back of the room. I was told, they combined Star Fleet Battles with LARP on the set. I was told it was "18 and over" to join the club that did this. So I never actually got to see it live, but the set was amazing, and every detail was lovingly recreated.
In another section of this warehouse, was a MASSIVE map of Europe, with some kind of Napoleonic campaign going on. There were weather charts, turn phase charts and it looked to me like there was Russia, Prussia, France, Spain and England included as players. France was winning, I could tell that and there was just a MASSIVE amount of pieces deep into Russia, but it also looked like Russia was rallying and English forces were coalescing with Prussian forces to launch a counter strike.
This table, was bigger than most ping-pong tables. They needed little sticks to actually move the pieces at the center of the board.
Finally, the centerpiece of the room were gaming tables. These tables had embedded in them, fully laminated hexagon patterns, providing a fast, clean surface to play any miniature game you wanted. Here were several huddled groups of people, each playing their own iteration of D&D.
It was just an amazing sight and of course, I was sold on D&D as a result. Which means I was already into the game, before I even opened the starter box I had just bought.
One more anecdote for the finale. I opened my box and received the "B1 - In Search of the Unknown" module and the rule book and some fairly crappy, soft plastic dice (if you remember old dice that came in the starter, you know what I am talking about). The rule book was amazing and I devoured it instantly. The module however was junk. It had, a urine-yellow cover and some very banal flavor text on the back. It was also really just a very boring map and a list of encounters, that you could easily have derived from the starter book.
It wasn't even keyed, you had to key the whole thing yourself.
I did what it asked and began to key the thing and then coerced my brother to play. He chose "Pendor" a Halfing in the book that came with pre-rolled stats, he knocked off a few Orcs, we made him second level, but we both agreed, it was time to start designing our own adventures!
Fast forward a year later. I am now living in Toronto.
The same Gameway's Ark was having a competition. It was a fairly unique one. Most D&D competitions gave each DM the same exact adventure, and players were judged by specific accomplishments in the adventure and GMs were judged by player feedback. This one was different. This one GMs were instructed to come up with their own short adventure that could be played in 4 to 5 hours. GMs would be judged by their players and players would be judged by their GMs and a special player at each table, that was both a player and a judge. This player/judge would also help judge the quality of the GMs adventure.
I wanted into that competition as a GM!
The problem was two-fold, they had a "18 or over" policy and they had 6 party slots and all 6 were taken up. I was upset. I had prepared for this competition! I was ready!
Luckily one of the employees not only knew me, he had hung out on a session I had GM'd on a casual night at Gameway's Ark. He saw I was mature, he saw I was a fair GM and he advocated for me. They agreed to cobble together a 7th party and had just enough "waiting list" players to do it.
I came in second that day as a GM!
Now, cynics would tell you I was given second because I was just 14 and they felt sorry for me. I am sure part of that is true. But I will also tell you, we were laughing and having a ball at our table. I can also tell you some of the players last night asked me to continue the campaign. So I must have done something right. It's one of my proudest moments with D&D.
By the way, I won a ten dollar store credit and a little lapel pin badge.
But that's not the real story with the competition. The real "prize" for the night was I was heading back home to middle-class Port Credit on the GO Train after I won second place. I was carrying all my books and D&D gear in a big, ugly plastic briefcase. Now I was at a new high school, after having moved to Toronto. I was having a hard time making friends.
I was also accelerated one grade in a few subjects, particularly English, Math and Music. So all the kids in those classes were a year older than me. If anyone remembers high school, that one year often made a huge difference, in terms of size, maturity and social grace. So I was, quite frankly, intimidated.
A few of my classmates in music happened to be at the GO Station that night. They saw me, I was the younger, nerdy Oboe player who got accelerated one year. Some dork from Calgary that nobody knew or really cared to know. I was also holding this massive, plastic briefcase.
They could not resist making fun of me. So they teased me, mocked me a little. Nothing outlandishly mean, just basic hazing you get at age 14.
Then they asked what was in my briefcase.
I was nervous. I felt for sure if I showed them, I would just get teased more. So I was hesitant to show them at first. Which of course, only made them want to see what was inside more.
So they grabbed the case and opened it for themselves. They saw my Monster Manual, DMs guide, DMs screen, my big Crown Royal bag of dice and my carefully foamed cardboard boxes of Ral Partha miniatures.
"You play D&D?", they asked.
"Yes well I DM mostly, I mostly DM," I said. "A Dungeon Master they call it, it's when..."
"Oh we know what a DM is," someone replied enthusiastically.
We spent the entire train ride together, talking about D&D. It turns out they all played. They not only all played, but their favorite DM had just moved away to California. They were stuck without a DM and were looking for a campaign to play in. Not only that, one of the guys had this cool room above the garage called the "loft" that had this perfect isolated gaming table, as well as a stereo and a space heater in which to play.
That forged a friendship instantly.
I not only became great friends with those guys throughout high school, I remain good friends with almost all of them to this day.
D&D touches our lives.
It's a hobby that is easily mocked (and often for good reason). It's a hobby that is sometimes even demonized.
To me, it's one of the most creative hobbies you can ever indulge in. It also touches our lives. It builds friendships, it expands our imaginations and because it relies centrally on team work and collaboration, sets up social and even business skills that are invaluable.
I wrote this huge piece of babble for a few reasons:
1. To show how D&D touches us all.
2. To recant a tale about our first D&D experiences (the theme of the thread)
3. To also highlight the great, amazing store that was Gameway's Ark. If you lived in Toronto in the early 80's you know the store. You know how magical it was. It touched so many lives. Sadly, that building now is a Wendy's and the fourth floor, (with the Star Trek set and the gaming tables) is now a tacky fitness gym.
God bless Gameway's Ark.
God bless your local gaming store. If you are lucky to have one, do your best to support them, they are a dying, but invaluable treasure. They touched my life in ways I am still grateful for.
Check out SHADOW on YouTube!
My first character was Justacar (Yes I didn't even realize it when I wrote it down). He was a Cavalier looking to make a name for himself by doing adventures in the neighboring villages. This was back in 1986. We had a group of 6 people that we played with back them. The guys always mocked my name for the longest time. I played with a major of the group till out DM went to U of M. After that I took over being the GM and make Justacar run into a pack of undead and needless to say did not live to tell the table. Those where some of my best memory as a kid and even to this day me and one of our orginal members still get together at least once of month but we have evolved the game to space but still use swords and other "medival type" equipment but with some added fun. My friend does that DMing now and I have enjoyed our version of the old D & D. I know of lot of this is off topic but when I was reading though the thread it brought back alot of old memories. You see we didn't buy the adventure packs, we made our own. We even devoloped a system that determined where you hit someone when you fight. Fun times.
I made Ontalay the Quiet, a human monk. (Back then, all monks were human.) Later, I played him in a tournament at our local game store (It was a Gamekeeper, actually.) and I was the youngest kid at the table. At only 10th level, with almost no magic items, he was incredibly overshadowed by all the Monte Haul characters who fought alongside him, including one guy with Stormbringer.
I think we fought Jubilex in that adventure.
Anyway, I went out to buy D&D for myself and got the Dragon box, the same one ryger showed off up the thread.
Hail to the Old Gamers!
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