I think I have talked on here a few times about Dungeons & Dragons and my interaction with TTRPGs (table top roleplaying games). It is one of the things (along with wrestling) that I have truly rediscovered since really being into it in high school. It has always been a place to sort of play out and embody ideas that I had at the time, sometimes even ones that I didn't even know were bouncing around in my head. The experience has somewhat come full circle now that I am really coming into my own running these games rather than playing in them. So, I think it is probably easiest to contextualize my experience through the various characters that I played.
Now, these are just going to be the characters that I have played for an extended period of time. I have played a bunch of characters that have only been played for a few sessions. This might be because the group I was in fell through or they died. So these are the characters that allowed me to really get into what makes them tick.
Something else I hope to bring about this is to sort of show people that this game is much more than bards seducing people and barbarians kicking in doors. Not to say that those things aren't fun or valid way to play them but you can make them mean something more. The true magic of the game is when the concept that was just some numbers on a sheet and some point form notes turns into a fully formed character. Then you can start getting into the reason for things like fears, motivations, little nuances, and truly make the character unique. It takes some practice, confidence in yourself, and the right group that invites it but when the stars align nerds around a table can become high art. Not to say that I am some great actor of the modern era but still, lets get into the characters...
Francis the Redeemer So, this was the first character I ever played and based on the name it should be no surprise that this was in high school. Don't worry, it gets better. They were a hellbred (a person that was sent to hell and then found that they were not entirely meant to be there) paladin that wielded a huge two handed sword. So being a hellbred is sort of interesting because it means if the character dies they can't be revived due to their soul being pulled back down to hell. That means that they have one chance at proving they shouldn't be in hell. This meant that every good act of Francis was tinged with the caveat that it was inherently self-serving. Thus it should be no surprise that this eventually lead to Francis "falling" as a paladin. Let me explain: a paladin is a holy knight that needs to abide by a certain code of conduct to keep their powers. This usually is dictated by the specific religion that they follow or the order that they are a part of. It generally consists of being honest, loyal, obedient to your order, and classically chivalric sorts of things. In the game that Francis was in there were a bunch of crime lords and a succubus that were all functioning behind a veneer of public decency and through lackeys. This meant that getting to them was difficult. This provided Francis an option: continue to follow his code or make sure these people faced justice. Francis walked into one of the taverns owned by the crime lord. Walked up to his room. Then choked the crime lord to death. This basically turned Francis into a fantasy version of the Punisher. This is also where I learnt that I was really good at strategic thinking. Francis was not a brute, he became cold and calculating. He built a network in the city to keep a flow of information on the criminal activity. He quickly became the battlefield commander for the group as in game he had the charisma and experience while outside of the game the table trusted my judgement on these things. When it came to hard decisions Francis always had an answer, it might not have been the answer that people wanted but it was an answer. The best example of this was when a child was being held hostage by that succubus main villian and Francis used a concealed crossbow to fire a bolt made of a soul stealing stone to kill the child. This meant that they couldn't use the child against them and the material made it easier to raise the child from the dead again. By the time the next game rolled around Francis had actually become the villain. Having now become undead to escape the reality that his soul would be pulled into hell. He lead an army of various goblins with the same cold tactical mind on to the world. If I remembered correctly he conned a demon into aiding them only to backstab the demon. I think he was trying to destroy the world and re-create it with his iron will or some such. So yeah, that was my first character that I played in a game that went for more than a year. Kind of a wild trip to think on all of that for me.
Monty Banks Probably one of my favorite characters I played that had a huge affect on how I played characters from then on. This was my first stab at playing a wizard, a far cry from the heavy armor and smiting of Francis. Playing a wizard is all about having a plan for everything and using your large spell list to its utmost. It is kind of a large hurdle for a newer player to take but it fit like a glove. Monty Banks (very clever name, I know) was a quick talking, quick thinking, no nonsense street smarts wizard. Monty functioned in the same city that Francis had but years later. He was a plant within the cities criminal underground where he ran the numbers for one of the major gangs in the city. This meant that for a while he was fudging the numbers slightly and trying to help people here and there. The party didn't really trust him that much because he kinda had to keep up the facade to be totally functional. That was until a daughter of a friend of the family was kidnapped and was found held behind a barrier of soul energy. So the whole party was caught up in how to deal with this. What magic could be used? Is there an ability that can be used to overcome this? Who has the best save to deal with it? Monty saw all of this while a young girl was in danger behind this barrier. The answer was easy for Monty when it was all laid out. If you can't go around then you need to go through. Monty, the short and thin magical accountant, ran right through the soul barrier having their limited constitution drained away so he could get to the girl and then teleport himself out. The party was shocked by the decisive action and it sort of set up a theme when it came to Monty. This was the character that I learnt that your stats don't mean anything in this game and bad decision for the right reasons are what truly makes characters shine. Monty was a genius level mind in terms of his intelligence stat but he was also a hot head and followed his heart. His entire spell list was about controlling the battlefield or countering opponents but that didn't stop Monty for punting an orc warlord in the face during a ritualistic combat duel. The reason he did this was because he looked up to the party from the last campaign and one of them was engaged in that fight. Monty was also aware that no magic was allowed in the fight. Monty did not want to disrespect the tradition or the person he looked up to so he did what he could. Of course he broke his foot on the orc's jaw and then got picked up by the neck and had all of his blood punched out but still. It was about doing what was right. By the end of that game Monty became a master of metamagic (a system that allowed you to adapt spells to make them more powerful or do different things) and was an ordained minister. He created his own plane of existence, after dropping an entire volcano on Francis, where he spent his time gardening in the hopes of reseeding the damage that was done during the war. He had a mailbox at a favorite tavern of the party where his followers could message him if he was ever needed to sort something out. This was probably my favourite character that I ever played, it does remind me that I need to play a wizard again at some point...
Gerald Brightmantle Ah, Gerald! What a lovely lad he was. The youngest son of a noble family that was stuck in the middle of a war as he tried to garner aid from both the human and elf side of his lineage. Eventually learning that his initial failure leading troops was due to his older brothers sabotage which had him living under a different name to escape the judgement of his family as well as the country he served. Eventually Gerald began to build his own organization that would be entirely neutral and would teach the next generation of adventures so that they could stop conflict across the lands. He also had a horse named Mason If you know anything about me and my writing on being Metis you would be surprised to learn that this character actually came before I found out about that part of myself. I actually got the news from my Mom while I was playing this character. It seemed that I knew something was different about me, I just didn't expect to sort of hit the nail on the head so directly. Which sort of brings up another really interesting thing about D&D, that it is a place for you to sort of work through some complicated things sometimes. I have heard a lot of people that have learnt about their sexuality, gender, and many other things about themselves through characters. That is not to say that D&D should be considered therapy because it is a terrible idea to bring your problems to the table. More what is going on is a different perspective allowing you to interact with the problem from a safe distance.
Joan Doxx There was a big break between the good boy that was Gerald and the walking problem that is Joan. This meant that this was a different group, one that looking back kinda killed the game for me until recently. Still, when they said that they were going to be running Ravnica rather than Forgotten Realms or other very standard fantasy settings I knew it was my time to shine. Let me take a moment to explain Ravnica because this setting is very important to understand Joan. Considering that the setting itself comes from a plane of existence in Magic the Gathering you should already have an idea that things are going to get interesting quick. Ravnica is a plane of existence that is one giant city. Not that there is a world that has one giant city. Not that outside of the city is too dangerous so nobody goes there. The entire universe of Ravnica is an endless city. This city is split up between various guilds that all have a function within the city to keep it running. There are the Golgari which function as both the trash pickup and farmers, there is the Boros that are the guards and military, there is Izzit which are a bunch of inventors and scientists to just name a few. Each of the players in this game were to be a representative from a guild of their choice. I choose Rakdos. Rakdos is the entertainment and manual labor guild. Might sound kind of tame but here is where things go sideways. Their full name is the Cult of Rakdos and their leader is a giant demon that goes by the name of Rakdos. So, basically the performances of the Cult of Rakdos are hyper violent, hyper sexualized, madcap events where survival is not guaranteed but excitement is. It is basically like Cirque du Soleil if it got really into BDSM and was run by Cenobites and Harley Quinn. Now, this is where Joan Doxx comes in. Joan Doxx was what was known as a "pain taster". I am not going to fully explain to you exactly what that means other than it wasn't her pain that she was tasting. Mechanically she was an arcane knight fighter that had a penchant for doing cartwheels and flips in full plate. Along with a bladed chain she was menace in all ways. Highly chaotic and wore all of her worst personality traits on her sleeve, she was just this complete joy to play. Beyond all of that she had the goal to bring about a war within the guilds starting with setting up a deal with the Golgari, who lived in the sewer system under the city, to allow the Gruul Clans, a clan that survives in the wild spaces of this city and look to destroy it, to move through the undercity. Basically, she was tired of being looked down and having to curry favor to just advance in the cutthroat guild lifestyle. Thus the only reasonable solution would be to become valuable as the center of an alliance that keeps the entire city as a hostage, just simple math.
Drowner Moving on from the big city we move to the dark and foreboding swamps. This is Drowner's neck of the woods. Drowner is what happens when I decide to take Killer Croc and make him a Cajun smuggler that fit into the cast of Deliverance like a glove. Wearing a wide brimmed hat and ratty coat that had various trinkets and charms hanging from it meant to ward off ill spirits, Drowner worked the riverways taking odd jobs wherever he was able. To be more specific, Drowner is a lizardfolk which are more known to be rangers, druids and barbarians. I opted to ignore that and make Drowner at first a rogue and then a warlock. In both incarnations he was still an oddly charming and morally dubious sort that was always looking for ways to get ahead. If it was cheating at cards or selling someone up the river it was in Drowner's wheelhouse. The character became more nuanced when they became a warlock, however. This meant that it was Drowner that met a watery death only to be saved by the fae that he worked for. Having come back from the dead his tribe, which already mistrusted him for his dealings with the fae, gave him the title of "Drowner". The thing was that Drowner was doing all of this because he didn't want to spend his whole life out in the swamps just surviving. Drowner was looking for a way out because he knew there was nothing for him there. Though people didn't trust him out of the swamps either, that was until the party he was in accepted him. Before that he only had the capricious fae lady as the only one that was looking out for him. I mean, she was the one that gave him the magic to leave that place in the first place. That was until the wizard shared a spell with Drowner. He didn't think that Drowner was too dumb or shouldn't be given such a thing, Drowner didn't even have to trick him. After that Drowner began to question how much his patron truly cared for him. The interesting part about Drowner is that they are the only character that I originally made for a game I was going to run but then played instead. They were going to be one of a few lizardfolk that a swamp cult worked with. I am glad I got the chance to bring him to life because he is a joy to play. This really made me think of the sheer variety of monstrous races, like Hobgoblins, that I need to mess around with.
Zir My current character that I am playing and one that touches on a lot of the best parts of other characters that I played. The reason for that is due to me intentionally going out of my way to play a character that I would think me in high school would love. I wanted to get back to that place of full enjoyment so I went back to comics as inspiration, namely Rorschach and the Question. This was after I was told that the party was very straight forward with their approach to the game. It felt like having a shadowy detective asking questions about the reason for things would be exactly the thing to balance out the group. So I ended up going with a changeling (a race that is descendant from shape changers so they can alter their appearance at will) shadow sorcerer. This meant that I had all of the Noire vibes I could muster, terrifying shadow spells to confuse and disorient opponents, as well as the capacity for my character to be anyone at anytime. The best part of this was anytime that Zir was in battle or interrogating some criminal I could have them actually not have a face. This visual alone made me know I was heading in the right direction.
Past the striking visual Zir has a bit of a wild backstory so buckle up. This whole thing starts in a city called Gravebridge. I ended up making it this fantasy New York with shadowy and evil magics flowing through it. The place is rife with criminal activity and nobles that are as crooked as the cobblestones on the streets. This is where Zir haunted back alleys as they hunted down information about various crimes. These streets were home for Zir as they had run away after living in a home that tried to hide that they were changelings. This meant that much of Zir's teenage years were spent with other run-aways making ends meet and figuring things out together.
Through the detective work of Zir they managed to find his way into a rebel group looking to kill the gods of this world. For Zir this was fine enough work finding people and gathering information. Seemed like these folks were part of the good guys until he found out one of the choosen people whose soul was needed for the gods to be killed was one of those run-aways he had grown up with and helped him through figuring out everything about himself. This is when Zir realized that all the work they did for this group had people getting killed for no reason other than bad luck. Deciding to go against this Zir began to kill off agents in Gravebridge. Every time going to greater and greater lengths to make certain that they would have no trail to follow. All the while a dark magic grew in them. As Zir descended deeper and deeper into the paranoia of a hunted person the shadows of Gravebridge began to follow Zir closer and closer. By the time that the rebellion had to pull out the agents in Gravebridge Zir had become a different person, their magic becoming something more like an overprotective animal than a force to control. Now, Zir has found themself in a party with other folks that they feel can truly make some changes. Finally having a group around them is both a blessing, as Zir is aware that someone has their back, but also can never be fully trusting. The one person that Zir has been trusting is Philius, the celestial warlock librarian who has taken a baffling interest in them. Philius has single-handedly taken a story that I thought was going to be about this hard boiled detective diving deeper and deeper into the mystery of the game and flipped it on its head. Because of this very kind and caring character the story about Zir is all about overcoming their past and realizing that they can't change the world but they can change the world of those around them. Zir has become an individual nose diving into the abyss to a character that is re-learning what made them a detective in the first place. This is honestly the first time that I have ever even entertained the idea of a romance for any of my characters but it just fits. Zir's magic is all dark shadows and inky black forces while Philius is bright sparkles and emotional effects. This wasn't planned by either of us but can just happen at D&D. Just two players understanding what each other is going for and creating this incredibly compelling cooperative narrative. It has elevated a character that was meant to be just unapologetic self-pandering (as well as being aggressively nonbinary) to become one of my favourite D&D experiences I have ever been a part of.
Right, those are the characters I have played. Other than Zir I am currently becoming more focused on running the games. Sort of has me thinking about doing a write up of the different players in my game. Still, I sort of hope that this could show how D&D is not just dice and numbers. There is a huge amount of emotions that go into a character that you truly care about. That is personally what I am always aiming for when I sit at a table. I want to be able to engage and elevate the role play.
If you are new to D&D or want to try it out I hope that this can get you excited for what could be to come. It might be daunting but all of these characters came about step by step. It was about knowing your character and yourself enough to act with confidence. As long as everyone at the table is happy then go for it.
Thank you fine folks for reading, I hope that this was a nice distraction from... well... *everything*.