My very first RPG experience was when I was 10 (or 9?) years old and my mother got the basic D&D boxed edition and tried to run a game for my 7 yr old sister and I. At the time we weren't interested and the box went into the cabinet. When I was about 12 my mom again decided to try her hand at RPGs and bought Gamma World. It was slightly more successful in that my sister and I made a character (drew a portrait!) and played for about 2 hours. Unfortunately none of us really knew what we were doing and so when our characters were faced with "do you eat the berries or not?" we ate the berries, died and quit playing.
When I was 13 I remember watching a D&D game (in the lunch room at school) being played by three twit boys. They were faced with a cave full of people being held captive by a couple of werewolves. They quickly slew the werewolves and then to indulge in a little male fantasy they killed all the male hostages and raped the women. Then one of the women turned into a werewolf that night (boy did I want her to rip them into little bitty bits) and they promptly killed her. I have no idea what happened after that since I became really pissed and left the room. That most likely would have ended my interest in RPGs (who wants to play in stupid immature male fantasies all the time!) except for my REAL introduction to RPGs the next year.
When I was 14 my boyfriend at the time (and still a good friend to this day) introduced me to AD&D. My character was named Whisper and she was a half elf thief. I was the only girl in the game - which suited me just fine!- in a party of 4 or 5 players. We did many a dungeon crawl during the year that my boyfriend and I went out and I believe saved the world of Grayhawk at least once. I was hooked.
I can't remember if I played at all my Sophomore or Junior year but my Senior year I was in several different games. One group I met through the very early version of the internet called BBS's (Bulletin Boards) and in those games I was by far the youngest player. However the main group I played with was comprised of about 6 boys and me. We did the weekly/daily "who's turn to GM is it?" and I played every single type of D&D character that I could think of and then some. I believe the longest set of games that we played was about 2 weeks where I played this stereotypical dumb male barbarian.
I really didn't start playing RPGs though until after I was 18 and got involved in a GURPs, Cyberpunk and a Warhammer Fantasy RPG games. I loved all three. Those games lasted for 2 years until I broke up with my current boyfriend and moved out of town.
When I was 21 I moved into a house full of gamer geeks and we played many games (this is also where I met my husband). We played White Wolf's: Vampire, Werewolf and their LARP (live action vampire game) as well as a great game of Cthulhu. During this time I also tried my hands at Middle Earth, AD&D's Ravenloft and started working with some friends on a Aliens type of Sci-Fi game.
Currently I play in a White Wolf: Mage and Vampire the Dark Ages game. Both games have been going on for over 3 years now, and I've become very attached to my characters (I've drawn many pictures of them, esp. the Vampire one).
Game Systems, According to Eden:
White Wolf:
This is my all time favorite system. It has some problems with it (esp. the first edition!), but overall I love the storytelling aspect of it as well as the gothic/darkness of the world. There's something that really appeals to me about getting to play the monster. I spend a lot of my free time drawing character portraits for this game.
AD&D/D&D:
Like most role players this was my first game system. While I love doing Fantasy based RPGs I find AD&D to be irritatingly simplistic and limiting. I also find hack 'n slash to be about as interesting as watching paint dry. I like kicking ass as much as the next person but I want something more than that. I like role playing games because of the stories they create and it's a pretty boring story that is compromised of "monster/kill/tavern/store/dungeon/monster/kill, etc.". So what can I say, I think this is an excellent intro game to RPGs, but quickly looses it's charm.
However, I think the hack 'n slash AD&D format makes for an EXCELLENT video game! I adored the Ravenloft series, Eye of the Beholder series, some of the Forgotten Realms games and more recently Baldur's Gate, Diablo and now Everquest.
Warhammer Fantasy RPG:
This is by far my favorite Fantasy RPG. I also love the game system and most especially the critical hit tables (head lobbing, yeah!). My main problems with this game is the limited number of professions, that elves are the best character to be (point wise) and if you want to play and elf you have to be a goodie-two-shoes! Blah! I really hate the "Good/Neutral/Evil" system as it is (have you ever known someone who was actually good or evil? it's all a matter of perspective) and this one is really insufferable. I also find it vaguely disconcerting that the world map looks just like Europe. Other than that though this is a wonderful game with a good mixture of hack 'n slash and role playing as well as very cool monsters and scenarios. Even the pre-packaged games have hand outs and are WAY COOL.
GURPS:
Not one of my favorite systems, although my opinion could be because I didn't like the plot of the one GURPs game that I was in. The system reminded me a bunch of Champions which I was also playing at the time. I remember it taking me a long time to make up a character.
Champions:
One of the most complex game systems I've ever come across. I had to use a calculator and it still took me most of a day to come up with a character. Even then my boyfriend at the time ended up tweaking the character to help me "maximize" my points. I was also hampered because I don't read comics and so only had a vague notion of superman and batman. It was a fun game though.
more later when I get a chance...
Comedy!:
http://www.callisto.krakow.pl/kaila/htmeng/rpg.htm
White Wolf Home Page:
http://www.white-wolf.com/
Wood Elf's RPG Index:
http://www.upl.cs.wisc.edu/~woodelf/RPG/
RPG Net:
http://www.rpg.net/
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All art and images are copyright © 1999 by Eden Celeste * all rights reserved. Do not borrow, copy, put on a web page or reproduce in any way without my express permission.