Hi,
Did you know….I’m a bit of a role-play nerd? Yep… No… really, I am! For those not role-play savvy this post might be a bit confusing, but read on anyway.
My love of role-play started in 2008 when I moved to Yarnton with a friend I met down the pub one night (yep, I met him once before becoming his lodger). He introduced me to a game written by White Wolf and I started playing in a LARP (Live-Action Role-Play) called Oxford by Night. This was built around NWOD (New World of Darkness) setting called Vampire – The Requiem.
I created this amazingly seductive, Daeva vampire, who was a nightclub owner. The club was based on the former Zodiac on Cowley Road, Oxford. She was a fantastic character and allowed me to channel the overly sexual trait of my borderline personality disorder. She was manipulative, a schemer, she made the court confused, and caused a few implosions in the different sectors of the court. She had a lot of highly influential characters in her pocket. The Regent (head of the court) was infatuated with her and could be seen bowing down to her behind closed doors. The Ordo Dracul adored her – she was their most prized possession, and their undoing. The Mother of the Crone was obsessed and in love with her. She had the heads of the Lancea Sanctum and Invictus in her pocket. The Mekhet loved her, the Constable (a Gangrel) was putty in her hands (later he was my real-life husband – but that’s another story). I loved Alicia Harding! She was my first role-play character and I enjoyed her so much. Once I moved to Didcot and married my ex, I stopped playing her and became quite anxious and reclusive. She fizzled away and the court imploded because of the wheels she set in motion. It wasn’t such a bad thing though as the GM (storyteller) was unwell and was struggling to keep the game going. I gave him the perfect get out clause.
After this I moved on to D&D in 2009 after playing some demo campaigns at Eclectic Games in Reading. I took part in a games day celebrating the release of some D&D 4th Edition books. Later I went on to play a regular table-top D&D game run by my ex-husband. In this game I played a gnome druid – the twin to my friends character. We caused a lot of problems for our team of adventurers and became known as the trouble makers in the group, often annoying our resident Tiefling. Who later ended up with their arm being burnt by a necrotising flame that couldn’t be extinguished thanks to us and our tricks!! Oops!!
I’ve also played a werewolf in another World of Darkness campaign – again run by my ex-husband. To be honest, he was a fantastic storyteller and had an amazing imagination. Which, (un)fortunately, was a part of the demise of our marriage – again, a story for another time. El (my werewolf) had incredible strength and became known for killing people with metal toothpicks. Yeah, she was gruesome!
I’ve had a few gaming groups that I’ve loved and miss dearly. They know who they are and they know I miss them.
Other characters include: A druid in another D&D campaign. Have you ever seen a wolf pee herself laughing? This one did! Especially when one of her party members got killed after he disguised himself as a Kobold and climbed over a wall into a Kobold encampment instead of just walking through the gate. HELLO!!! Big hint: you’re about to get killed dude!! Why not stick up a neon sign saying “I’M NOT REALLY A KOBOLD, KILL ME NOW”??
I liked a character called Admiral Mai in a Star Wars game I played when I lived in Bicester. She was an Admiral running away from her responsibility of heading a fleet that she’d inherited from her deceased father. She became a scavenger and ran a couple of smuggling ops with her party. I also played a few games of Feng Shui 2, I didn’t like that one so much. I ran a game of Squadron UK which was really good fun – lots of explosions and I somehow managed to hide a dragon in Oxford’s cellars and tunnels!! I played a few NPC’s (non-player characters) in D&D games to take a bit of weight off the DM (Dungeon Master).
At one point I was generating a character to play in a LARP called Maelstrom. Maelstrom was a weekend long LARP that happened a few times a year, where you camp out in fields and basically play your character all weekend long. Unfortunately this never came to fruition, but I was so looking forward to playing her. Her father was part dragon and carried his penis in a bejewelled box, because of a curse that happened shortly after she was born. Yeah, interesting one that!
Most recently I played a Human Sorcerer masked as a Bard in a Pathfinder game. Dwyn was so much fun and I am so in love with her character, she’s reserved but forceful and gets the job done by throwing fire at everything. She lives in a land where sorcery is banned, hence the masking as a Bard. I hope I get to pick her back up again as the people I was playing with were such a good group of blokes. Two of which are Dads at my sons school and I get to chat with them every day.
Role-play is an escape for me. It’s a safe outlet for some of my more difficult personality traits. I’m acting but it’s also tapping into different part of me, one I suppress and channel, I no longer allow it to control me and be a part of my everyday life.
Soon I’m hoping to run a game for my sons. It’s called Hero Kids and is available on the DriveThruRPG website. It’s a nice easy d6 (6-sided dice) system that they should pick up quickly.
If you have any questions about role-play feel free to ask. I can also point you in the direction of some good resources to get you started. Personally I’m a big fan of D20 (20-sided dice) and 10d10 (10 x 10-sided dice) systems. Mainly because Dungeons & Dragons and White Wolf were my gateway drugs. I’m open to trying other systems if there’s any you want to suggest.
Have a good day!
Love,
The Anxious Pixie xxx
Resources:
Hero Kids on DriveThruRPG: https://bit.ly/2RShyi7
D&D: https://dnd.wizards.com/
White Wolf: https://www.white-wolf.com/
LARP Directory: http://www.larpevents.co.uk/
The Anxious Pixie 