Can you remember your very first character in an RPG?
I DMed basic, so my first played character wasn't until ad&d - a Ranger called Gilzean. I stupidly called him Harpy-slayer after he duffed up a couple of them, only to fall prey to another later on in his career.
I played a Woodman Animist in MERP around the same time, although i recall next to nothing about him other than he got killed by a Rogue in the Thieves of Tharbad adventure.
I'm sure I probably had a character made at some point that never lasted, but the very first character I can remember was one I created when I started playing, so he was at the very least one of the first, if not the first.
Merdock. Fighter. Also the highest level character I've ever had. Started out on B/X and made it to level 5 or 6 before converting over to AD&D. This was in 1981 and I played him a lot until the early 90s, when he was retired for good at level 16.
IIRC, my first character was poisoned and slain by a giant spider on the first level of the dungeon, not too far into the first session I ever played. He dreamed big dreams but wasn't destined for greatness, after all, and history has forgotten his name. :lol:
But I was totally hooked...
Tanjlock Sarlon, Wood Elf Fighter in AD&D2e. One of my friends played his brother Tark.
It was probably a Paranoia 2e character... but I don't remember.
Paranoia is a terrible first RPG, because until you've played pretty much anything else, you won't understand why exactly Paranoia works. But it's still a lot of fun if everyone is at that stage, just exploring Alpha Complex and getting in trouble.
Get a group of players with vastly differing RPG experience levels, though, and Paranoia will suck.
Lars, a fighter in an AD&D game played during Boy Scout campouts. I was 12 and did not have a clue how to play. Our party got attacked by werewolves and one bit Lars, so Lars bit the werewolf back. The DM decided Lars didn't contract lycanthrope, but contracted a degenerative mouth/throat disease that rotted his head off over the next few months.
Good times, good times....
It was a cleric, whose name escapes me, for the old (1991) black box D&D Introductory Game didactic solo adventure.
In a real game, though (i.e. one run by someone else), it was either a human bard for someone's AD&D 2e school break game, or an elf mage for my buddy's Tagmar (Brazilian fantasy heartbreaker) game. I don't really remember which came first.
Quote from: Sacrosanct;587457Merdock. Fighter. Also the highest level character I've ever had. Started out on B/X and made it to level 5 or 6 before converting over to AD&D. This was in 1981 and I played him a lot until the early 90s, when he was retired for good at level 16.
That is eerily similar to my Magic User. Just about the exact same arc/timeline, except I blew the
resurrection system shock roll instead of retiring at 16th level. :)
Basic D&D Fighter. I've long since forgotten his name. He never got to go to a dungeon, leave the starting town, or even get more than 20 feet away from the stereotypical tavern/inn where all adventurers meet and start from. He was killed almost immediately by a monster/familiar controlled by the other PC, a magic user.
Quote from: StormBringer;587497That is eerily similar to my Magic User. Just about the exact same arc/timeline, except I blew the resurrection system shock roll instead of retiring at 16th level. :)
I think Merdock only died once, around level 10 or so, that I recall. Got a few levels drained at a few points though.
However, I have it on good authority that I'm lying, because no character in TSR era D&D ever lived to make to to level 3. As soon as the orcs figured out that 10 foot pits were the bane of all adventurers everywhere, you couldn't go anywhere without finding them all over the place ;)
Quote from: Sacrosanct;587501I think Merdock only died once, around level 10 or so, that I recall. Got a few levels drained at a few points though.
However, I have it on good authority that I'm lying, because no character in TSR era D&D ever lived to make to to level 3. As soon as the orcs figured out that 10 foot pits were the bane of all adventurers everywhere, you couldn't go anywhere without finding them all over the place ;)
Of course, I assumed you meant level 3. :)
I still have the character sheet!
His name was Malcolm, 1st Edition AD&D Fighter. He fought valiantly against the forces of Charles Rayne a.k.a. the Reign of Terror. Good times.
I mostly DMed, even as a wee kid.
I remember my first DMPC...Iron Fist, a CE fighter with 18/00 strength, and yet, a reliable henchman.
Hey, 10 years can be silly sometimes.
My first character was a bounty hunter in Star Wars D6.
It was a one-on-one campaign, run by an acquaintance after much pressuring to finally let me try these RPG things.
I crash landed on a strange world, only to discover a hidden Imperial base. I managed to sneak into the base and steal a shuttle and escape, only to be immediately captured and executed by the Star Destroyer in orbit directly above the planet.
I think it was intended to be a doomed adventure, in an attempt to sway me away from the hobby.
It didn't work.
Anson. Bow wielding elf ranger.
I think he was named Sir Imrahil, a Knight in a PbP Dragon Warriors game. I ended up dropping out of it due to time constraints but I was really excited about him (and yes, he was unashamedly a homage to Imrahil of Dol Amroth).
A fighter called Newt Ralgud. No prizes for guessing his alignment. After a couple of years when that campaign restarted I reskinned him in what I thought was a serious way, giving him an authentic Old English name - Stansceaft (pronounced "Stan Shaft"). Knowing what I now know, that name turned out more gonzo than the original.
Skipping all the time when I pretty much only DM'd for my brothers, my first real character was an RDF Veritech Pilot in an Invid Invasion game, named Jestauf Kalhor. He had been with the SDF during its jaunt around the solar system, and received a hit to the cockpit during an engagement with a Female Power Armor that broke a coolant line and vented it in, freezing him.
He woke up as he was reentering Earth's atmosphere and punched out, to be picked up by human freedom fighters and joined their cause. I don't remember how that particular game ended, but I like to think he retired to the south of france somewhere and died of old age.
My first character in an RPG was an elven fighter/magic-user in a game of AD&D 1st edition, or perhaps it was an AD&D/BECMI mish-mash. I couldn't really tell you, because I was 5 (or possibly 6, but no older than that - I seem to recall I got the red boxed set for my 7th birthday, and I think it was before that).
My stats were Str 18, Int 13, Wis 14, Dex 16, Con 18, Cha 16. And yes, I can still remember that after all that time. I rolled them up in front of witnesses by the default AD&D 1st edition method of 4d6, drop the lowest, arrange as desired.
I had a name too, but it escapes me now. I think we only managed one proper game with that character. I was the "party leader". I think I may have tried to grapple an orc or something.
Thinking of it it must have been a hybrid game if I didn't have some kind of percentile Strength score. Or maybe I did? Don't remember that bit.
That's just about all I remember!
My first character was a Special Forces OCC from Rifts: Mercenaries. He was a Coalition-trained fighter pilot from a Chi-Town family that fell out of the Proseks' favor. As a decorated officer, he was given the opportunity by his commanding officer to escape to exile while the rest of his family was purged.
The campaign was based around the ARCHIE-3 adventure from the first Sourcebook, but ended up with us absconding to the New German Republic - at the suggestion of the "data" that Archie let us find - to tell their leadership the truth about Karl Prosek's reign.
My first RPG character was a Rider of Rohan in MERP.
My second was a sniper in Shadowrun.
Both were in 1989.
Prior to that, I'd played a lot of computer games and tactical games (BattleDroids, Ogre, Car Wars, etc.) but those were my start into tabletop RPGs.
My very first play session was in B2: The Keep on the Borderlands where I was handed a pre-made halfling thief, IRRC. I've been in love ever since.
But like the OP I was the DM for our shiney new Red Box that following Christmas, so I didn't get much playing done until much, much later.
A basic D&D fighter. He never made it out of the Keep alive. Picking a fight with the watch is an especially bad idea if you are alone. What do you expect from a cocky 10 year old? :)
Quote from: Exploderwizard;588083A basic D&D fighter. He never made it out of the Keep alive. Picking a fight with the watch is an especially bad idea if you are alone. What do you expect from a cocky 10 year old? :)
Heh. Yeah, I was about the same age and we were under the impression, "Why would there be stats for the castellan and his aid if they weren't meant to be killed? Hmmm, he's higher level, so obviously we are meant to clear the caves, gains some levels, and then take over the keep." :D
I was 11 years old. My brother got to play this weird game with my much older, 20-something cousin at the time and a bunch of other family members. The game's really weird, using those bizarre dice, and my brother is a WIZARD! I watch the game, since I'm deemed too young to play...
And I DROOL on the side lines...
I mean. I was CAPTIVATED. I SO wanted to play the game.
And then a miracle happened.
My brother got BORED and left the game table. While my cousin was wondering what to do of the character and whether to quit playing the game altogether, I seized the occasion and BEGGED him to let me take my brother's character and play him myself.
My cousin agreed reluctantly.
I remember we were exploring some catacombs under the cemetery of Hommlet. It was AD&D First Ed. I was a MU with 1 HP, a light spell and a dagger. I remember feeling the environment, listening to the noises as I crawled under a coffin in some tunnel that led to the catacombs. The feeling of darkness, the wetness of it all, the drops going "plock plock plock" in the distance... it was magical. I was there. It was AWESOME.
Then, I turn a corner... and a Skeleton strikes me with his short sword, hits, and kills me outright.
That's it. That was my very first RPG session as a kid.
I was HOOKED. The rest, as they say, is history.
I can't recall his name, but the oldest character I can recall was a fighter who perished in the Caverns of Chaos in Keep on the Borderlands. Two gnolls hurled spears at him and that's the end for him!
My first character was Ilmore, a Black Fang Assassin, exploring the Rainbow Mounds of Apple Lane in Glorantha. (I had chosen Black Fang as I didn't like the look of the other two Cults in the RuneQuest II book.)
I had spent most of my time slowly and carefully exploring the caves and avoiding the cliff toads and the rock lizards. Once past them however I rushed over the bridge that promptly collapsed and I fell into the water.
It took the GM an hour to then deal with my sister's and brother's characters before returning to me to reveal I had been captured by the newtlings. I later became their champion.
Good times.
His name is lost to time. I was in elementary school, and someone brought some d6's and made up something that was essentially a simplified version of D&D to use with a D6. He had a halberd and a lantern, and went deep into a maze to fight a minotaur.
We only had the one session.
Still I had fun.
The first game I was allowed to play in, rather than simply watch, I was a human illusionist.
My brother ruled that my character was killed by an invisible stalker about 45 minutes into the session because I was being so annoying (nothing's changed, etc.). "You're dead, go sit in the corner and shutup."
I loved it for some reason, though, and learned to play along with "the adults" (really teens, but when you're as young as I was, they seemed like full-blown grown-ups!).
A Kinder thief in AD&D called Timothious. He stole five rings of fireball and claimed to be an elf wizard with height problems.
The first character I played was a fighter in a very messed up version of D&D that my friend ran from memory. I didn't run into D&D again for another 3 or 4 years and then I think I made a rogue.
My first character was Rollo the Thief, who never made it to 2nd level because he tried to sneak up on the ogre in Keep on the Borderlands and failed. He was followed by his brother Mollo the Magic-user, who inherited Rollo's belongings, sold them, hired a few men-at-arms and had them shoot the ogre dead with crossbows. Mollo eventually rose to 18th level by killing many more ogres -as well as other monsters.
Rollo and Mollo were created in Holmes Edition, but the campaign evolved into AD&D as the DM and players acquired the books.
first one was a thief, moldvay basic. we were going through b2, and he died the first session--the pit trap inside the kobold (i think) lair got him. went with a magic-user for my second. :)
My first character was a secret agent in a game of James Bond 007. I had some sort of bionic arm, I think.
Quote from: Ben Rogers;587777My first RPG character was a Rider of Rohan in MERP.
My second was a sniper in Shadowrun.
Both were in 1989.
Prior to that, I'd played a lot of computer games and tactical games (BattleDroids, Ogre, Car Wars, etc.) but those were my start into tabletop RPGs.
I played tactical games first, too. Car Wars, Harpoon, Air Superiority. I'm fuzzy on the years, so I might be all goofed up. also played Battletech before RPGs. My first lance was a Hunchback, Catapult, Locust, and Trebuchet. Looking back now, I cringe at that lance, haha.
shit, look at me. Being all nostalgic.
Not counting Fighting Fantasy books, my first character was not very memorable; an elf (if I recall correctly) that died very quickly. However, I do remember quite a few of my first 6-12 characters ever, some of which were quite a bit more memorable (as in, I played them for years).
RPGPundit
I don't recall the name of my first D&D character, but I remember the name of the first one to make it past third level. An AD&D Monk named Morgan Banecraft (hey, I was a kid, back off my cheesey character name)
I remember the first Robotech RPG character I ever made; a zentraedi named Khyron.
RPGPundit
Well, I played Phoebus the Lizardman from Rogues Gallery the very first time I played. The first character I rolled up was Hiborn the barbarian, a first level fighter, the first time I played him I got paralysed by a ghoul and sat out the rest of the session. The next time I played him the session was dominated by a massive chase through a city between two PCs, one of whom had been sold into slavery by the other. Their roof top battle is still one of the most epic things I ever saw in an rpg.
Quote from: RPGPundit;589649I remember the first Robotech RPG character I ever made; a zentraedi named Khyron.
RPGPundit
You didn't just use the stats out of the back of the book? The Zentraedi characters always intrigued me more than the RDF guys; especially in Sentinals and Strike Force.
I've been looking at this thread for a while and for the life of me I can't remember the first character I actually sat down and played. I honestly GMed so much when I first got into the hobby that the few times I played in that time are fleeting. I remember that the first time I played under a GM I was a Rogue and I was a male (because I always play males when I'm a player) but that's it. I cannot remember another detail about that character.
Quote from: everloss;589715You didn't just use the stats out of the back of the book? The Zentraedi characters always intrigued me more than the RDF guys; especially in Sentinals and Strike Force.
No, this was a totally different Khyron, who had to deal with sharing a name with the infamous zentraedi malcontent.
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