Ok so, this is the story of how I got back into roleplaying games after changing cities. So it was Halloween of '07. I was invited to Halloween party by a friend of my girlfriend and I wanted to sociable so I went. Being the an introverted nerd I was worried that I wouldn't fit in. Boy was I wrong.
The Halloween Party
So at the party, there were about a dozen couples and a few singles. So I mingle and talk about my interests. Now I don't know how it happened but someone brought up roleplaying games. I know it wasn't me because this was still a time when one did not talk about the nerdy arts in polite company. Now it turned out that it was several players talking about an upcoming session, and how one of them couldn't make it. So they were ripping into him for missing the upcoming session and I didn't think anything of it. I joined in talked about D&D for a bit, relaxed and started acting like myself.
At the end of the night as I'm getting ready to leave one of the guys (we'll call him by his nickname, Squirrel) approaches me and the conversation goes something like this.
Squirrel: "Hey so, you play RPGs right?"
Me: "Yeah, I've played some D&D 3.5 and 2nd Advanced. What's up?"
Squirrel: "So the guys here think your a good fit and want you to join our d20 Modern game."
Me: "Yeah, cool, I know a bit about d20 Modern, but are you sure I'll fit in? I don't want to intrude on a game."
Squirrel: "So here's the deal, Soinso is going to be gone this week and we need some help, can you come in and play his character?"
Me: "I'm not really cool with playing someone elses character. But if everyone is cool with it, sure I guess."
Squirrel: "Cool, we are going to meet up here (the house where the party was at) this weekend. See you then."
The 12th Man
So game night rolls around and I'm way nervous. The only thing I know is where it is, the same house as the party I was at earlier that week. I don't know anything about game, the character I'm playing, or the party. I feel like Jon Snow, I know nothing. So I walk in and introduce myself. After making my way around the room introducing myself, and I realize that the party is huge. There are TEN other players and the Game Master. And I made it an even dozen.
So I was a bit confused as to why they needed me. In my opinion they had two full parties worth of players. So I find out that Soinso was leaving the game because he could play the type of character he wanted. The GM, who we'll call Dan, had some rules about making characters.
First, you characters first class level had to be in a class that no one had picked yet. So this was strange because of the classes in d20 Modern. The game only had 6 starting classes, based on each of the 6 ability scores. Soinso wanted a Dexterity based character who was a sniper, but could not make a "Fast" only character because it was already taken twice. So he had to take a level in something else. This was the main sticking point for Soinso. I didn't have that problem. I just wanted to play.
Second, you had to roll for abilities and you had to do it with at least two witnesses. You only got to roll up three sets of ability scores to work with, but you could assign them as you saw fit. No big deal, I just wanted to play.
Third, your starting level was the same as the lowest person in the group and would start at zero experience of that level. At the time that would be level 3 with 0 XP toward your next level. I thought this was strange since they had been playing weekly for 6 months. But no matter, I just wanted to play.
Lastly, you could only use the Core Rulebook for making characters. Dan wasn't allowing any extra supplements, which was reasonable. The 3.5 Open Game License was allow publisher of all sizes to just make up whatever they wanted. He wanted the game to be keep as balanced and fair as possible. This also meant you had to play a human. I can work with that, I just want to play.
The First Session
Honestly I don't remember much about that first night. I do remember the combat took a bit and involved a lot of shooting at a huge creature made of shadow. I remember that I spent most of the night using Aid Another, trying to make myself a team player. Because I didn't want to be "that new guy who doesn't know how to be tactical". Apparently I introduce the concept of teamwork to them and we hammer through the combat quickly. Dan is impressed at my rules knowledge and that I was always ready when my turn came up.
So when the creature dies it leaves behind a floating black crystal shaped like a human heart. Its floating about 4 feet off the ground and its pumping out this black mist. So the party does what any group of 20-something millennials would do, ignore it. They cover it with a cooking pot and tape the lid to the pot, that way no one will touch it by mistake.
The party goes off and starts doing some downtime activities and research. I just chill at the parties safe house and kept an eye the Black Heart of Death™. Some of them went to magical sages to research what the Black Heart of Death™ was. A few checked in with the corporate entity that they were beholden too, Globodyne. Not really sure what that was all about. There was an Egyptian adventure that I missed and they had only recently came back from. Never did get the full story on that but it involved a book of some sort.
So after about 2 hours of them doing activities and research, they are no where. So I decided that the Black Heart of Death™ had to be the clue. I'm expendable, and its a only a game. I removed the tape from the lid, and touched the Black Heart of Death™. And was immediately sucked into it. Once I did that, the others followed suit. Thus began Black Heart of Death™ mini dungeon. This is where we stopped for the night.
High fives all around. I get invited back but I will need my own character for next time. So I sit down with Dan and Squirrel and roll up a couple ability score sets. The first two were meh, so then I roll up the third one: 18, 17, 16, 13, 13, 12. Yep that will do. Dan is shocked, Squirrel asked me how I did it. I just smile and ask what classes are available. He says Smart and Strong. I let him know I'll have a Strong character ready for next week. With those ability scores, the Strong class, and being 3rd level I can build a concept character that I had for about 3 years. I'm really looking forward to next weeks game and what my concept can do.
And so ends chapter one. I'm going to try and post weekly about this game, as there are a lot of stories involved with it. I was a part of the game for over a year before it ended. I it was the longest running a game I had ever played in. How about you, what was the longest game you were ever apart of? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, happy gaming.