Like many people in my High School days, I thought RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder was for the geeks and nerds of the world. It was not something for me. I had a jaded viewpoint you see. You've seen the stereotypes: a bunch of nerds with binoculars for glasses huddled around the GM eagerly rolling dice as if they were shooting craps. That sort of mental image prevented me from ever really sinking my teeth into the game. I thought it was childish at least and boring to boot. Not only that, but how can you enjoy something that doesn't portray a story without stellar graphics, immersive sound and a rich dialogue?
I'll be the first to admit: Stereotypes are evil and this one in particular was so far fetched and blown out of proportion. Oh boy was I wrong. Not just about the stereotype, but about it being childish and boring. I've participated in sessions that were akin to stories. Some comical, some serious and some with gripping emotions that made me feel -- much like an engaging movie or book would do. Only I was part of the story.
My friend, who had been going regularly to a RPG one of his friends had designed was relentless in inviting me. Being polite, I always declined and kept those hidden stereotypical thoughts of mine to myself. I didn't want to have that association with me. Finally, after multiple attempts I said yes. I told him I would come and watch. If I was interested -- I'd join, though I held no hope for it.
I don't remember the content so much of the first session as I do the yearning. Within five minutes of play I was hooked. The GM, now my friend was ingenious in designing his system. He used a deck of playing cards and a wide assortment of dice along with custom character sheets. The characters you could generate using his system were modular and complex, though simple to design and play. The amount of fun I seen made my hands ache to hold my very own character sheet. I wanted it. I needed it.
Needless to say, I talked to the GM after and joined my first ever RPG session. My character, named Jaaku Gakai was a magically enhanced fighter who bore supernatural strength, speed and fortitude. The GM's brother made a character a close parallel to my own.
We started the campaign in opposition to the main party, though we didn't know it at the time. Our first session was a warm-up of sorts: kill the evil wizard plaguing a caravan we had to guard. Bare in mind that my friend ran a very customized system that by no means should be compared to some of the standardized systems. So when I say "Wizard" I wouldn't advise you to think of some old man with a pointy hat and a long gray beard. This wizard was a fighter who used his spells to dash around the battlefield, attacking at angles and getting the drop on his opponents. Our magically enhanced strength and speed were nothing compared to the being able to teleport around the wagon and getting back-stabbed the minute we looked away.
Our fortitude however was enough to endure.
Despite the wizards power, he had only a limited supply of it. Eventually he ran out of juice. Despite being a considerably good sword fighter himself and as wounded as me and the other fighter were -- he wasn't the match of both of us ganking him at the same time. We beat him handily afterwards and moved on to bigger and meaner prey.
To keep a long story short I'll give you a summary: my character helped kill an evil wizard, came across a magical sword that granted him bonuses based on the monster's essence he trapped, fought a viscous wight that froze my character's giblets off (which was the start of a long trend of my characters masculinity being targeted by ridiculous random things), fought the main party of the RPG including my best friend's character, turned into a midget by a pixie long sword and beheaded.
It sounds weird I know.
But I didn't despair when my character ended up kicking the bucket. I made him with the intention of moving on to another character with more effort put behind it. Jaaku was my test subject of sorts. In the years that followed my new character out-leveled every other character who played the game and triumphed over ridiculous conflicts. Not only that, but his backstory actually became a huge centerpiece in the GM's campaign.
All in all. I was impressed. I've never been hooked on a game longer. I've never been so curious about the mechanics of the game and the creation of such a large and diverse world. It impressed me enough to attempt to make my own RPG system -- mechanics and world in all. but that's another post.
I hope you enjoyed reading the post. If you did and are interested in hearing me talk about future RPG mechanics I've came across or even created/tweaked myself then feel free to follow!
Thanks and game on!
Wesii