Here within these pages are the characters that I have played, inhabited, lived with, bled with, and in a few circumstances, nearly died with. Over a gaming career spanning nearly twenty years (my God, has it been that long already?!), I have been many different women - sometimes a carefree space pilot, other times a serious and lonely Knight, a revenge-driven sorcerer, or an evil baroness. They all had one thing common - they were great fun to play.
Strangely enough, the majority of them turned out drastically different than I would have guessed at the start of the campaign. For example, Nasami started out as a bodyguard through and through. But as time went on, she became equal parts scholar and warrior, with a profound faith and unquestionable honor. On the other hand, Rhiannon began life as a weirdness magnet lush, who later demonstrated a frightening capacity for illegal activities as the need arose.
The longer I played, the more in-depth my characters became, and I stumbled upon a fundamental gaming truth - by being willing to spend points on things that served no real advantage for the character, I made them so much more real. I mean, why else would I drop points on buying a Knowledge skill of twentieth-century video games for a futuristic hacker?
People have asked me why I role-play. I call it justifiable multiple personality disorder - for a few hours, I step into another personality, and enter worlds where I can be anything and do anything. Besides, I spend all day and night being ME, which is why, in a lot of respects, I strive to play characters who are NOT like me. Sure, there's a bit of Michelle in all of them (Christian is my fanatical side and deep distrust of organizied religion turned around on me, Maureen is that hedonist risk-taker that's not-so-hidden in me, and Tiriana is just insanity personified), but take me out of conventional social mores, put me in a world where such behavior is acceptable, and suddenly the facets of my personality are on display for all to see.
There have been other characters I have played over the years in smaller campaigns or in one-shot games, but these ten are by far the most memorable.
THINGS I HAVE LEARNED FROM GAMING
I learned to dream up, write, and tell a killer story.
I learned how to put my over-active imagination to use.
I learned it's okay to pretend to be someone else, as long as you know who you really are at the end of the day.
I learned that by acting like a hero, I became more of one in real life.
I learned that even the most buff characters are still deficient in other areas, just like me.
I learned that the reference materials I found for certain games led me to developing a keen interest in those subjects on their own merits.
I learned that a steady influx of Doritos, pizza, chocolate, and cotton candy does not a balanced diet make.
I also learned that caffeine in large enough quantities made me so frappin' hyper that I was a living example of what a Rifts Juicer acted like.
I learned that gaming drunk, while vastly entertaining at times, leads to some REALLY stupid gaming decisions (like charging into battle in-character waving a donut and shouting at the enemy, because in real life I was holding a donut).
I learned that there is no such thing as a perfect gaming group, so tensions sometimes really get out of hand... like 'standing on opposite sides of the living room screaming at the top of your lungs' out of hand.
I learned that when characters get dumped or dead, their players often take it so personally that it wrecks relationships in real life.
I learned that just because people are good gamers, they're not always good people.
Come to think of it, I think I got more of an education in my eighteen years of gaming than I have in my twelve years of college and graduate school.
