"So THAT'S what I was up to all this time?" - Catching up once again

Good grief has it really been more than a year since my last update here?  I recall once warning my readers (all one of you) that I tend to fall off the face of the earth from time to time. D'ya believe me now?

As far as RPGs of any sort go, I have been almost completely inactive since my online "Olde Worlde" Swords & Wizardry game came to a long grinding halt near the end of last summer. I had one brief flirtation with Pathfinder as a player-character shortly after that, but a huge steaming heap of gamemaster politics and "draah-mah" brought that to a short conclusion.

Around a week or so ago my good friend Randy (Codename:Haldir) put up a cattle-call for players in a new S&W play-by-post game and I was fairly eager to take the bait. I believe "Oh HELLYEAH" were my exact words, but I digress.

I was considering playing a human fighter or perhaps cleric, but it wasn't long before Randy and I both seemed to come to the mutual agreement that I'm a character-actor, and by that I'm sure all my awesome readers know exactly what kind of character I'm talking about.

I freely admit I've got quite a few character sheets for various half-orc characters I've played in the past, some of which I routinely resurrect with minor adjustments to fit whatever game module or level of play they're about to join. But while I believe in recycling, I try to be very faithful to each character and not "reinvent" her entire personality.  Janara is my favourite. She was my first...kind of like a schoolgirl crush, you might say. Even though she has appeared in D&D 3.0, 3.5, Warhammer and S&W, her basic attributes, personality and quirks have remained the same.  I sometimes call her (after the Arthurian legends) "the Once And Future Janara".  I hope one day to actually find a way to work her into a futuristic sci-fi game.

So, back on topic (in a roundabout way), I didn't think Janara the Hafforc Cleric would be the best fit for Temple Of Elemental Evil, so I called up another character from the minor league. She was one I made for our thieves' guild game using Labyrinth Lord rules, and her name was originally Burzug,...I admit not a particularly good name for a character, but I was in a bit of  a pinch and had to name her quick. I will now claim the name was just an alias.

She is now going by the name Chara...which is coincidentally also the name of the team captain of the Boston Bruins. She, like he, is a bit of a goon,..loved by some, loathed by many more. Though she is technically speaking only a fighter, her lifelong aspiration is to be a thief. In fact that is what she was doing before joining the party, and I'm sure the circumstances of her leaving behind her life of crime to become a traveling adventurer will be interesting..as soon as those details come to light.

In my new game, the adventure began at a crossroads. Our party was deciding which way to go first, and we all were already acquainted with one another. This saves us much in-game time getting to know each other, and permits all players the chance to reveal bits and pieces of our pasts as we (the players) get a better feel for our own characters and those of the other players.

So, Chara has somehow won the approval of a lady monk called Isha, a human cleric called Coriander Waterspout, or Cory, for short, and a dwarven magic user (yes, you read that right) called Golden Hammer, and Golden Hammer's bodyguard, who calls himself Body Guard.  We're a motley crew and you can probably already imagine the fun sorts of group dynamics that can develop as the game progresses.   At the moment, the magic user and cleric are kind of taking charge. Perhaps that is because Isha and Chara are "just girls", but somehow I suspect that neither monk nor fighter will remain wallflowers forever.

And now to compound Chara's troubles..and yes, she is a complicated woman, she has Body Guard following after her like a lovestruck puppy.

At this point, the adventurers have just arrived at the Inn of the Welcome Wench. No doubt there will be booze a'flowing soon, and I have invited the other players to fill in a bit more of Chara's history, specifically what happend any one of those times she got so drunk that she herself cannot recall what she did.

I only hope no players will take TOO many liberties with poor Chara's history. She is, after all, a distant cousin of Janara, and Janara might have her cut off from the family fortune.