Ah, the tales I could share concerning campaigns I have played and DM'd in the Forgotten Realms. Whether it be cautiously treading the dark depths of UnderMountain beneath the City of Splendors, or the leaf-covered elvenpaths of the enigmatic High Forest; fighting vicious barbed devils within the shattered Ruins of Myth Drannor, or working for the Dales undercover in a smuggling ring along the River Ashaba; riding horseback across the meadows and hills of the Vast or sailing with pirates across the Sea of Fallen Stars... for more than 20 years I have called the Forgotten Realms 'home'. I discovered the 'Realms early in 1988 when a friend and fellow player/DM introduced me to the original grey boxed set. After reading just a few passages I was enamored by this new world. Never had I seen anything so detailed and developed. In those days I was a collector of information, and the 'Realms was brimming with it. To my dying day I will never forget my inaugural campaign as a player in the FRCS, when my two characters became embroiled in a larger-than-life political war between Knights of Procampur and a sector of the Black Network of the Zhentarim. I could write a short novel on the life and times of those two characters. And I can thank Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grubb, Kate Novak, Douglas Niles, and so many others for contributing to the setting that became the rich background for all of my Forgotten Realms-based characters' history. First and foremost I have to thank Gary Gygax for laying the foundation.
This goes back to the old days... Recently I was going through some old notes I had saved, and came across a write-up concerning one of my favorite characters I ever played from the old AD&D 2nd edition days. I'm hoping to dust off characters such as this one to play in open gaming at GaryCon IV. The write-up became lengthy, but I thought I’d share it nonetheless. Hopefully this will let you know the type of roleplayer I have been through the years. Take your time and enjoy. ~*~*~*~*~ I fondly recall the Cavalier class. I rolled up one who was based on a character I had started off in AD&D as a simple knightly-type fighter, then revamped with the Unearthed Arcana as a Cavalier. I also used an article out of a Dragon magazine to take the over-powered class down a few notches. Then later, I converted him fully to the 2E Cavalier kit. His name is Alexander Denolas Courtenay II - one of my favorite characters of all time. In particular we had many amazing games while I was stationed in Germany (USAF) with my cavalier 'Den' and his [in-game] wife Celeste d'Abo - half-elf thief/mage/druid (long story better saved for another time). Den is currently sitting in semi-retirement at a mere 10th level. The reason I never took him higher than that was because I DM'd more than I played. Of course I barely got him started in 1988, just before 2E was released. He was also my first Forgotten Realms character. And he was a Cavalier of Helm, who later caught major flack during the Time of Troubles. His father was a great knight of Procampur who was thought to be lost at sea during a great battle with pirates while Den was still very young. As a squire and knight-in-training, Den traveled all over the Vastian Coast - from his city of birth to Ravens Bluff to Calaunt and Tantras. He met the person that would later become his wife while on his first journey to a gathering of knights at a locale just outside of Tantras. Celeste d'Abo was the daughter of a retired knight and officer of Ravens Bluff. She was half-elf - her elven mother (a druid) having died while adventuring when Celeste was very young. She was a neutrally-aligned character who was full of teen angst (i.e. she was a thief), who eventually gained a healthy respect for wizardry and multi-classed over. It was during a ceremonial gathering outside of Tantras that the Zhentarim took an opportunity to strike against the knights who'd put a stop to so many of their devious plans. Basically, imagine a horde of assassins and evil warriors & wizards descending upon a manor house during a grand ball. It wasn't pretty. Den and Celeste - both played by me at once - were some of the handful of survivors. Den was knighted after the Zhent attack for his bravery and loyalty to duty. And he then offered to ensure the safe return of Celeste and her father to Ravens Bluff on his way back to Procampur. After that, the two of them traveled together on adventures with Den always acting as the overprotective brother to Celeste until they finally became romantically involved when a female gamer needed a character to play during a one-session cameo. Together they have traveled the Vast, the Dalelands, Myth Drannor, and the southern coast of the Moonsea. They have battled Zhentarim, brigands, pirates, ogres, trolls, minotaurs, a death knight, and even a red dragon. Later, Celeste rode atop the back of that same Red Dragon over the Pirate Isles while fighting a particularly nasty band of pirates and their leader - a lich (in the true vein of the Emperor from Star Wars). And who would this Lich's right hand man be but none other than Den's father thought lost at sea. He was not lost at sea, but in fact a prisoner under a pseudo-undead Domination type spell from the Lich. (something the DM devised). *dun-dun-duuuunnn* Oh, the drama that followed. I would need an entire forum just to detail that entire storyline. one of my favorite sessions while stationed in Germany involved NO Combat at all... During one starry night just south of the Moonsea coast, after a battle along a river with some scrag, our party (including Den and Celeste) were camping and drying out their armor by the campfire. The DM rolled a random monster encounter while Den was on watch. He rolled on a table in the DM Guide and ended up with a small herd of pegasi. They flew overhead and landed in a nearby field to graze. Out of sheer curiosity and awe, Den snuck over the edge of the meadow where they had landed. He was only interested in watching these magnificent creatures. But the DM rolled the dice, and a young adult female pegasus wandered over to near Den's hiding spot. She was white as snow, yet her wings turned to a storm-cloud gray. Den was enamored. He had to touch this beautiful beast. He snuck forth, making unbelievable dice rolls, and eventually reached out and ran his hand down the wing of the pegasus. She let out a small whinny of alarm and the entire herd descended upon him with lightning speed! He was all but ran down by the alpha male. This was one of those pegasi that could speak limited common through a form of telepathy (*smirk* how convenient). To make a long story not so long, Den had apparently 'ruined' the female by simply touching her. And in order to regain her purity, Den had to prove himself to the herd by riding the alpha male – bareback – airborne! – and survive... in his long-johns no less, since his armor was still drying. So with more extremely lucky dice rolls and some very close calls, Den managed to win back the purity of the female pegasus and the respect of the entire herd. Den was also now the proud companion to this female pegasus, 'Storm'. *sly grin* Yes, the alpha male deemed that since Den was able to prove himself as a pegasus rider, and since he was able to sneak up on the herd like he did, that the young female pegasus was to stay with him as his companion in the fight against evil. So she became known as Storm, due to the white-to-gray 'stormcloud' coloration of her wings. ahh, those were the days... *starry-eyed* On his own, Den has also seen the great Kara-Tur when he was whisked away to that mystical place by another DM (my younger brother) for the module Ronin's Challenge. Den placed fourth in a tournament to crown a new emperor, but it was some of the best roleplaying and the luckiest dice rolls of my life. Meanwhile, Celeste was at home in Ravens Bluff dealing with political intrigue shortly after giving birth to their twins (yes, twins - determined by a dice roll, although I chose them to be fraternal - a boy and a girl). I have not played Den or Celeste for more than 12 years. It would be very cool to bring one or both of them out of retirement next March.
More notes from the old days; this time regarding the first Paladin character I have ever played semi-regularly. I rolled this character up after playing a Paladin in a tournament game following Dragon*Con 1993. Until that time I never once tried to play a Paladin because I had thought they were boring, stuffy, cumbersome, goodie-two-shoes, overbearing, know-it-alls. Boy, was I wrong. Enjoy… ~*~*~*~*~ Monique was a human female who grew up on a farm east of Eveningstar. One dreadful night when she was young still, trolls from the nearby Stonelands invaded several farms and took everything they didn't kill & eat on the spot. The trolls retreated back to their caverns in the nearby hills with captives to eat later. Monique was one of those captives. She thought for certain that she and the other children were as good as dead. But by daybreak, the trolls' caverns were found by a local group of heroes. A long and bloody battle ensued. Several heroes lost their lives, and one - a great swordsman - lost his sword arm. He lost it while fighting a troll that had Monique in it's clutches. Before she lost consciousness, Monique witnessed the troll bite the man's arm off at the elbow, as the man used his free hand to ram a burning torch into a wound the troll had suffered in the fight. Monique awoke at the Church of Lathander with a new outlook on life... As she matured, she decided that she too would be a hero of the people. She dedicated her life to the teachings of Tyr, and at the age of 19 traveled to the city of Suzail in order to train as a knight. The church hesitated, but took her in. She had decided early on to train with the longsword as a tribute to her savior. She did this left-handed out of respect to both him and to the deity Tyr. She would also train in the longspear, as a lance was often too cumbersome for her to wield from horseback. She also chose to wear a piecemeal suit of armor - hide, studded leather, chain, and a breastplate. As most suits of armor would not fit her lithe frame. Monique Tulon became a Paladin Knight of Tyr by age 23, and returned to Eveningstar as the protector of the Starwater Vale. My dice rolls weren't stellar by any means. Monique ended up with a 17 CHA, and met the bare minimums for other stats. So I deemed that she had to spend a little longer in training just to be granted the status of Paladinhood. Being from a 'village', I also used the Peasant Hero kit from the Complete Fighter’s Handbook (this was before the Paladin's Handbook was published later) so she could follow in her savior’s footsteps. This was perfect for her decision on using the piecemeal armor, longsword, and longspear. She basically looked like a ragtag knight. And even though I wasn't able to play her above 4th level, I did have much fun playing Monique... in the beginning at least. Funny thing - I was starting up another new character (a secondary PC since our group was pretty small): Phaelin Y'landrothiel, an elven female specialty priestess of Shiallia, from the High Forest. What she was doing on the Sword Coast is beyond me as well. LOL. But she was there according to the current DM of the group. So Monique needed to book passage on a ship in order to investigate strange happenings on a nearby island. She certainly was NOT going to leave her trusty steed in the hands of a common flea-infested stable. So she had to use every fraction of her 17 CHA to convince the captain of the ship to make special consideration for her mount. He reluctantly did so. Another character - a female roguish fighter whose name escapes me - was also hired to join us. But she had to find a stable for her mount. In passing, a female halfling thief named Bondina Trace happened to mention that the Captain made special arrangements for the paladin's mount. Of course I believe it went something more like... Captain and female fighter standing on docks discussing passage; halfling passes by; fighter mentions that she has to take time to stable her horse; halfling pipes up, "Hey, the captain was really nice and said that the other lady could bring her horse... I'm sure he'll let you bring yours too!" *big goofy halfling grin* and keeps on walking up the gangplank. Captain turns red with anger; Fighter gets happy; Captain grumbles curses under his breath and takes her horse too; Captain wishes for an opportune moment to throw halfling overboard. We all had a great laugh over that one. Then we traveled to the nearby island to check out the Caverns of Quasqueton. The DM unfortunately turned out to be quite the dull one too. But he improved as a player after I offered to start running The Ruins of UnderMountain as soon as it was released. But that is another story entirely. *sly grin* So I put Monique on the shelf for a year or so until after I found myself in Mississippi with a new DM... And strangely enough continuing with the 'ocean voyage' theme… this time to the island which contained the Secret of Bone Hill (another classic AD&D module). The DM gave me a reason to be involved too: the island was known to be an island famous for their breed of horse, where she would eventually find her Paladin Warhorse. So she went there at 2nd level with a well-rounded party and ended up investigating the ruins of an old keep. While there, we encountered several bugbears who made short work of the party. In order for the party to survive, Monique called for a strategic withdrawal (run awaaaaay!!!). While the party was retreating, Monique took on the last two bugbears and fought them to the death. She took one out and then the other struck a mortal blow to her at the same time she hit it. It crawled away while she lost consciousness and bled out. Luckily the dice were with her that session and the DM allowed her to stabilize *whew!*. The party thought her dead, and had retreated all the way back to town to tend to their gravely wounded. She regained consciousness overnight and limped her way back to town - just a few miles away. This was her wake up call. This was her 'troll' fight. She became a much more methodical, strategic warrior - a true leader on that day. Unfortunately, I never was able to finish the module. Conflicting schedules made it impossible. And shortly after we started it, I ended up moving from Mississippi back to Georgia. ... I tried playing Monique again in the mid-90's, but the few sessions were very forgettable. So she's been in retirement for more than 15 years now. wow.
That's cool. I wish I could say that I've traveled the Realms (other than the old SSI games). I primarily played in GreyHawk.
