Roll Call - Characters I Have Played

This week I want to take the time to do something I've never done before.A retrospective of the characters I have been as a player, a "roll call".Maybe some themes will emerge.I apologize now for the lack of character names,as I honestly don't remember them all! Expect a similar future post about my favorite NPCs as a GM.

First up,and we'll disregard the ranger I played as a child,was a straightforward,no-nonsense "Fighter" in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. He had exceptional strength and absolutely no brains.The weapon of choice was a ranseur, a pole-arm weapon, and I had spectacularly good luck with my rolls, consistently killing everything in one move.

Next,after a long absence from gaming,was a werewolf in "Werewolf:The Apocalypse".He was of the Fianna tribe,the Irish wolves.I really struggled with the animal side and aggression in playing a werebeast.To offset this I made the character more of a rogue.Still,I felt I was playing to the human side of the character and trying to play around his wolf side.

Sticking with World of Darkness games, my third character was in "Mage:The Ascension". In this game you choose one of nine traditions, which are really schools of magic. I went with the "Verbena",which is a representation of Wicca and Druidry.I loved the game and the character was extremely easy to play, probably in part because of my familiarity with occultism outside of gameplay.It was a tough call choosing though,I was very tempted by "Cult of Ecstasy", the hedonistic tradition that plays with time.

The next character was in "Cyberpunk 2020".This time I went with a "Fixer", essentially a rogue who had cybernetic implants in his vocal chords.That gave the ability to perfectly mimic any other voice. It was a real buzz to play someone who was very much in the frontline of our missions, who was relying on wits and charm in a very dangerous world. Great roleplaying experience can be had with those kinds of characters and I think it's often neglected in favor of combat roles.

Crossing the Atlantic, my first character was an "Alchemist" in "Pathfinder". I thought through a really good story along Jekyll & Hyde lines, only to find that in actual gameplay my only function was to throw chemical grenades at monsters. Majorly disappointing and this is when I stepped away from being a player for a while, focusing instead on running games.

Not to be deterred for long, I joined a campaign in "Warhammer:Fantasy Roleplaying". My character was "Witch Hunter" by the name of Edwin Luther. I loved that character and played him as ruthless,violent zealot. It's such an easy concept but takes discipline to play, along with a willingness to stick to a path that can be detrimental to the party as whole.I ended the campaign early with my scorched Earth approach, but it was true to the character.

Last and by no means least was my character in "Apocalypse World".I was the "Hardholder", the guy who runs the town in which the group plays.I picked a name, Barnum, and thinking of the circus master I decided that the town would be a circus.Barnum was a thug with a hopeless vision of running his family circus in a world falling apart.Apocalypse World is not easy to play and the Hardholder is tough in particular as you have to make big decisions. Barnum gradually lost his town, his mind and finally his life through the decisions he made.He's easily the best character I've played.