Blast from the Past - Forgotten Firsts

I've been so distracted by my Smurfs RPG project that I totally forgot to continue running down my list of the first PCs I ever made for various games over the past 34 years. A good thing too. As I mentioned before, as time goes forward toward the present day I had fewer and fewer PCs and I remember less and less about them (with a few notable exceptions of course).

While I've actually played more in the last two or three years than I have in the 10 years or so prior, I still only recall those characters or elements of characters that, for better or worse, really stood out.


1980s

Star Frontiers by TSR - Had a Dralasite. Loved to make his whole body look like one big fist and uppercut people.

Space Opera by Fantasy Games Unlimited - Had a furry alien pilot from a coldish, swamp/marsh/moor type place. Thought of him as vaguely muskrat like.

Middle Earth Role Playing by I.C.E. - Had a Dwarf. Found a magic comb that always made his beard look good.

Rolemaster by I.C.E. - Practically no memory of my PC. Possibly a Dwarf there too.

Marvel Superheroes by TSR - Don't really remember my guy. Possibly the only Supers RPG where I can't remember my character.

DC HEROES by Mayfair - First guy was called Kid Chameleon. Powers similar to Marvel's Absorbing Man.

Ghostbusters by West End Games - Gabriel Zimmerman, the Egon of the group who was actually a specialist in UFO conspiracy and alien abductions.

Star Wars, Role Playing Game by West End Games - Dreg, a Rodian Smuggler whose starship was called the 'Unstoppable Emerald Endeavour' in Huttese but which translates poorly into Corellian as the 'Incurable Illness'.

Mekton by R. Talsorian Games - First guy was...damn I don't exactly remember. He was cool though and had a mecha with numerous redundant systems and weapons. The running gag was that villains would knock the gun out of his hand and he had another gun. If it happens again, he has another gun hidden some where. Disarm him so he drops his laser sword and he whips out another laser sword, etc.

Shadowrun by FASA - Harlan Quinn, aka Harlequin, Elven Street Samurai and twin brother to my friend Pete's character Ozymandias Quinn, an Elven Mage nicknamed Oz. Our driver was a rigger named Mortis Morrisson, aka Rigger Mortis. lol. Ah that was a fun game.

Call of Cthuhlu by Chaosium - Private Detective killed by an unnamed horror in the fifth or sixth session. Managed to hide a key clue in my shoe prompting a crazed scavenger hunt first for my shoe and then the items and places listed on the note in the shoe.

Also created characters for MegaTraveller, Chill, James Bond, Paranoia and a number of others during this time.

1990s

Cyberpunk 2020 by R. Talsorian - Netrunner dude. Pretty cool. Very anime inspired.

Torg by West End Games - Don't exactly remember but I played a Sci-Fi/Star Trek like dude. My friend modified the setting slightly so that other realities crossed into the ones from the game. Cool concept and my friend ran a great adventure. Torg sucked however.

World of Darkness by White Wolf - Merged campaign featuring Vampire, Werewolf and Mage. I played a Mummy. Loved that character and that campaign. One of the few truly great games I've been in as a player.

Deadlands by Pinnacle Entertainment - Modified setting by a friend. My character was a Northerner, steampunk style weapon inventor. I was hiding out in the campaign town under orders from the President who wanted to make sure no enemy forces kidnapped me and forced me to make weapons for them. One of the other PCs was my bodyguard. It was like 19th century witness protection. Another great game and a fun PC.

Played a number of other games during this time, mostly as ones shots. These include but are certainly not limited to Amber Diceless, Runequest, Legend of the Five Rings, 7th Sea and a few others.

2000s and Beyond

Most of what I've played in the 2000s has been either D&D 3.0-3.5 or related, homebrewed D20 variants or the occaisional game at a convention. I haven't really played anything 'new' as a player in a while. I have run a lot and had this 'Blast from the Past' series been about games I've run I would need to post several times a day for several months to cover everything.

It's been fun remembering past characters but it saddens me somewhat that I don't remember as much as I thought I would have. It also bums me out a bit that there simply isn't all that much to remember. I seriously wish I knew more excellent GMs over the years but sadly I did not. I knew a small few fantastic ones, a fair number of OK ones and a good portion that just didn't do it for me. I also knew a bunch who just sucked the fun out of the games they ran.

If I have one wish or goal in this hobby, it's to not be remembered as one of those guys. I want people to recall having fun in my campaigns even if they can't recollect the details of the campaign itself. Furthermore, I hope they remember their characters because it's a sure sign, to me at least, that they had fun playing them in a campaign I ran.

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