How did it all begin...

        Five years ago I have met someone called Mike. This person found out that I have interest in Fantasy games and proposed me to join one fantasy role-playing game (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons) . I went to his house and he gave me a character sheet with an elven fighter (NPC). After that he told me to read the notes and try to play the character when the time comes. Several hours passed and I was starting to understand what was going on, what it really meant to role-play. When the time had come I tried my best playing this char. Next session I continued playing this character but this time it wasn't NPC but PC.

S'Tsung N'Avana Neorr of the fifth house of Neoreda
       It was dark elven fighter/mage, who was banished from the elven society because of practising evil magic. He was left alone in the middle of nowhere and his memory was erased. He tried to survive in the mountains and actually succeeded. For three years he was there in his cave. He learned a lot, learned how to find food, how to kill animals he could eat. One day a party of seven people came across his cave. He was wondering what are those people doing there. There was no 'civilization' nearby to be found (in a hundred miles). He was offered that he can join the party so he did it. From this moment he was on a quest to retrieve a magical orb which can control creatures from other planes. This orb was stolen by an evil Dark Queen who dwelled somewhere in these mountains (actually under those mountains). The King (good guy:-) was afraid she would use it to call forth all the demons dwelling on this plane and start a war (he was right:-) DM is always right...). A lot of things happened. S'Tsung (as I started to call this char) started to remember things. His neutral nature was starting to disappear and his evil self was starting to take control. Also his magic was there once again. But he had to stole a spellbook to be able to cast spells. It seemed that his lust for evil deeds was increasing. By the time they arrived in Dark Queen's domain he has fully remembered his past and his wishes.
       At this moment my character became once more NPC character (because it was actually the Big Bad Guy). When we entered (we actually teleported there, trying to get to the orb) the dungeon we found out that we are being tested by the orb. The orb was trying our wills. S'Tsung will was strong (only save which was usable for something:-) but he was also evil. By the orb S'Tsung started to communicate with the Queen and joined the Dark Army of Demons. At this moment he disappeared and the rest of the party was left alone. Party continued in it's quest and had a hard time beating minor demons. They met S'Tsung once again, being happy that he's alive and is able to help. But S'Tsung led them to a trap. He closed them in a room, which was starting to be filled with water. But there were just six members of the party. One was missing. S'Tsung went to find him, to kill him. But this person was a smart one (It was a thief. This character never liked mine char and was highly suspicious. And the rest of the party never believed his warnings. He was also stabbed by my char by a coincidence..:-) The Thief didn't know about this, but the player of this char knew it...) never believed me. He saved the party and then together they went to find S'Tsung. Meanwhile the Dark Queen took the orb and left. With her army she marched to our kingdom (theirs)...
        I left this group, after this final session (my character died, party survived except our druid, and the kingdom was destroyed.)

Silence

        I started looking for a new group and couldn't find one. I went to a Czech convention and everyone was speaking about something called 'Draci Doupe' (Dragon's Lair - DrD). I had no idea what it was until I went to another convention. There was held a 'tournament' in this game and I have found that this DrD is an RPG. It was supposed to start at midnight so I had plenty of time for deciding. To go or not to go:-). But I decided to play and I asked a GM if I can join his group. He asked me if I played this game before and I have answered no. But I also told him that I am familiar with AD&D. So we started. It was a shock when I have found out that things I considered normal in AD&D are not possible in this system. But it was an RPG after all and I ended up as the most experienced player.
When I came back to school (a new class) I have found one person who plays DrD (and who has no idea what AD&D is). She said that I can join them. I did. But soon after this I left. Her CS was good one (she was interested in history and medieval way of life) but she was no DM. Not to mention that the players who should have five years of experience didn't know what it means to role-play. I've done a pretty mess in this group, so it was better for me (and them) to leave.
       Another campaign was DMed by my Star Trek friend. Also badly DMed and the players were beginners except me and another player. I was saying them what we should do and they weren't listening or said that it's a nonsense. When DM made a summary of the scenario and told us what we were supposed to do (which was what I have proposed) no one even admited that I have said it earlier. But I have to admit I was a bad player under this DM. I had not too much respect for our DM nor the players. They were arguing all the time and doing nothing...I was starting to be desparate. There's no one who knows AD&D?

Finally

       By this time my sister started watching Star Trek TNG (which I already saw and liked:-). This was a good thing for me - we became members of Star Trek Kontinuum. And there on one of these gatherings I have met Alnag Kay. We started to speak about RPGs. I don't actually remember this but it had to happen because we agreed to play DnD3e together. I started DMing (Maybe I will write 'me and DMing' because it wasn't my first time DMing.) because nobody want to DM. Actually it wasn't a good idea. I had experience just with second edition reedition and I was DMing a high level parties. So after almost destroying Waterdeep the party was engaged by my illusion of 30 skeletons (two ghouls and 28 skeletons..I think) and PCs 'died' (they would be just in shock and unconsious). But I thought it was already enough. I couldn't continue. It was too much for me and I didn't want to tell them that they're not actually dead. After their death Alnag proposed that he would try to DM. (after 3 years of DMing a high level campaign I said 'yes'. I have actually never played on a lower level than 7.)
       So it started. A detective story - an opening for a campaign (CS called Creet). It was good, fun and mysterious (also there were hints for the future sessions). The players were great. I was happy as never before.
        A new character was born. It was a drow elf fighter/wizard who was dying almost all the time. This was actually the most common state of our group. Our groups name is - 0hp (zero hit points). S'Tsung was lucky in the beginning but soon he lost his spellbook (with his good spells) and his only weapon. Not to mention that he was buried alive by our fellow sorceror. S'Tsung survived but not for long. He was killed by a dragon (just because the dragon had two more points on init.)..hmm now I'm looking at my char sheet, S'Tsung died on seventh level! That's the level on which my second edition S'Tsung began:-)
Note: I would like to write more about S'Tsung's adventures but I'm too lazy and not so skilled as my DM.

Another characters being born

Onihime
       Another char I hold dear is called Onihime Kime. At first she was just a PC for one scenerio but she ended up on the 10th LVL. I filled the charsheet with all the necessary info for the game except her name (and gender). I was thinking about that name for a long time but I wrote down Otohime. It didn't seem too original to me. So I changed that 'oto'to 'oni'. Then I was thinking about 'who the hell would give a name to a child like this?' (note: Onihime means ogre princess or demon princess). But I wanted to keep that 'oni' (I like this character:-)) So I was starting to think about the second part of the name. Could find anything but finally I just rewrote the character to another character 'hime'. (same pronunciation and meaning, but it's not used commonly). When I was looking for the character in the dictionary and deciding which one would be the best I was saying to myself 'kime' (means decide). Eventually I added this 'kime' to Onihime's name. Again I started to think about how my char could get a name like this. And I came up with a whole background for her.
        Onihime's real name is Otohime Ooki. She was born to a pure elven family. The problem was that Onihime was a half-elf. By the laws of the Emperor she was supposed to be killed by her mother. But Onihime's mother was not able to do that (so she failed in her 'duty' and was also sentenced to death). The Emperor was kind and said that he won't harm them. When Otohime was 40 years old, the 40 years elves started to call her Onihime. This period was difficult for her, she new that she's already an adult but the others were just children. She decided to take her life but she didn't have the courage to do that. So she was waiting for a chance to do it. The Emperor died and his son became a new Emperor. He didn't agree with his father's decision about Otohime and sent his warriors to kill the whole Ooki family. Otohime didn't want to die defending her family as she should have and decided to run away. She hid in a forest which is considered hounted. There her former (and forbidden) teacher took care of her. He taught her how to survive in the wilderness and to respect the nature. In the end he told her a secret. Her ancestors were always the defenders of nature and this particular forest. He told her that her ancestors were forced by the Emperor to leave this place - they became slaves of the imperial court. Decade after, all slaves were forced to meld in their community or to die. The Ooki elves chosed to live. They didn't forget their 'duty' and decided to undergo a ritual, which would transform one of them into a guardian spirit of the forest. Time passed and the family became respected. The family also forgot about their duty. Next generations knew nothing about the past of their own house.
        Her caretaker was actually that spirit and now he passed this task upon Onihime (when she was living with dono (caretaker), she was 'forced' to accept her nickname as a real name. Finally, she accepted it.) She also accepted the task. But her chaotic and adventurous self took over and Onihime left the forest. She travelled the world and found herself on a new continent^_^ - Faerun. There her new adventures began.
        This is a summary of what happened, it's more complicated though and I'm nul at explaining and storytelling^_~

Gallendor
        I played also in another group than Alnag's one. This group was really 'crazy'. I'll mention just this character's death. I named my char Gallendor, he was a nice elven cleric/wizard. He was quite weak, but was intelligent and wise. But there was no use of that^_^. The place where we appeared was the most dreaded place on Faerûn - Underdark. His spells were useless (except his green glowing light spell), his morning star was also useless. After seeing a death of a fellow companion (desintegrated) he lost his power to cast any clerical spells except CLW which is normally important but it was of no use in the end.
       Gallendor was raced by his elven family. He lived in a world where time didn't matter. He was slow, slow thinking but patient and good at concentration. This wasn't an actually good for him in Underdark. When our party was running away from a not so 'good natured' party we got stuck in a tunnel. Gallendor was the third in the line. He stopped when the two companions couldn't continue and was ready to pass the information to the fourth person in line. But he was so desperate and continued in his run. By chance we fell through a 'small' hole into underground river, which was fast running and the flow was strong. Gallendor was first in the water and didn't manage to save himself (to get out of water). So I decided to let him cast his famous light spell (surprised that I have to target an object in 3e). So he cast that spell on his head. He succeeded in casting it because of his high concentration^_^. The second character caught on an edge (lucky), but got stuck. He couldn't climb up (he could let himself go but he didn't know where he would end up.) My character was carried away by that flow and accidentally drowned. Another PC was trying to help but it was even worse. Both of the characters ended up in the furious flow of water.

Gaming conventions

Pragocon
        I have visited and took part in various gamecons. Dragon's Lair (Draci Doupe) tournaments are helt at these conventions (and other game tournaments - Arena, M:TG, HP, Pokemon...). First tournament after the one above mentioned was at Pragocon. I played an elven ranger and joined a group of adults (I throw a die, even number for adults, odd number for 'children'). The children group seemed quite arrogant to me (but I have to admit one thing, they were right about that they would win.). I don't remember my DM, but I know he wasn't bad. A problem was that the DMs had to be strict about the rules. So there are few funny stories from this session. We've been group of three rangers , two wizards, fighter and an alchemist. Our party encountered a stone golem. The four of was who were able to fight 'charged' the golem to get rid of im as soon as possible (charging is not possible in DrD, so it was something like moving two meters per round). But finally we managed to attack him and no one succeeded^_^. So we decided to let our familiars to do the job for us^_^ (it was a joke at first). So three dogs, a raven and a cat attacked the creature. The dogs bit the golem, the cat 'dug her claws into' her foe and wizard's raven also tried hi best. And you know what? They all succeeded and damaged the golem. They killed him in the first round! I started to imagine this scene and started to laugh.
        Next day's morning I went to find out who won. One thing surprised me - there was also a price for best role-player. I won this one^_^. I was really happy...

Duchackovy kobky
       Another gaming convention called Duchackovy kobky was held in september (if you know czech you can read 'the adventure'). It's also 'tournament' in DrD.
        I should have played a good aligned ranger (and I played for a while), but when I had to ask a necromancer for help I switched back to my second edition 'not so good aligned' S'Tsung. I really enjoyed the game. It was good role-playing 'game'. But two of the players didn't enjoy the game, it was their first session and they weren't used to evil PC in the party. The problem was that the players knew that S'Tsung was evil but their chars weren't aware of that. There was another problem, as I started playing S'Tsung (who is/was a fighter/mage) I forgot all about the ranger I was supposed to play^_^. I even forgot the weapon which the ranger was wielding^_~. I was so excited (and in a good mood) that I didn't realise the change from the ranger on my sheet to 2e S'Tsung.
        The game was really good, but the XP system was badly done. I could have won this tournament, but a player who killed another PC on high level (26? 36?) won. That wasn't fair, I had the most XP from 'key' scenes in the adventure. But the adventure was so good, it didn't make me angry. As a recompense (^_^) I won the best role-player in the group.
After this convention I decided to be at this particular convention every year. I have met DMs who were really good at DMing and players who respected their DMs and actually role-played. This was what was missing in the earlier DrD groups.

Gamecon
       The first Gamecon was terrible, our DM wasn't able to give us the correct and supposed information. So we didn't get to the second round. At 11 pm, really angry (I almost teared my char sheet to pieces. Something I would never do to any of my chars^_^, not to mention that it's really difficult to make me angry) I went down to see the message board. There was one message which interested me - one person was looking for a DnD3e players. I copied down the number of the room and went there to try my luck. Four players were already there, admiring 3e Monstrer Manual. I asked if the game will begin, the answer was that no one volunteered to DM. So I volunteered, warning them that I mastered only high level party before. At 10 am, the other day, we started playing in my campaign setting for PCs on the sixth level. We started to play so late because someone who was still playing the first round wanted to join us. Also they didn't know the rules so it took a long time to explain.
They started on the sixth level (not a good idea for beginners, not even for me. Not knowing 3e well) somewhere on Izmaeron (my CS). I'm not sure which part of my CS they played. It's possible that they started in Durmon, a town which was cursed (they (not everyone) became lycanthropes). They decided to find the cure (some of the chars realised this change). Some of them ended up in High Forest and some of them in Underdark under High Forest. It was quite crazy in Underdark. I found out that a lot of things working in the second edition for drow elves was no longer working and it wasn't place for 6th LVL chars^_^ But they managed to get out of there (encountering a group of undead good aligned elfs). The other group in High Forest tried to ask Mielikki for help but she didn't answer (the other half of the group killed a unicorn near Unicorn river). I think that they finally got their hands on Athropa Beladonna but that it was already late (the player of the first char trying eating wolf's bane got natural 20 for fortitude save. The others almost died...not aware of that the herb is so higly poisonous.). But they managed to survive. They had to try something else, so they decided to visit a high level cleric or wizard (they didn't know where they were. Looking for a wizard in this forest??). They killed a small child green dragon somehow on their way^_^.
        After 18 hours of playing/DMing without pause (without food or drink) they sincerely thanked me for this crazy adventure. It was again that nice feeling that what I have done was done for something good. They really enjoyed my DMing^_^.

My situation now - silence no.2

       Nowadays I do not play. I don't know about anyone who would be really playing an RPG. Even if I knew about people like this, language barrier would be a problem. But (at least) I'm trying to convert my classmate to paper-based RPGs (it looks like I almost did it). Now I wait for invitation to play an RPG^_^. We'll see what it will be like^_^. Can't imagine^_^

A bit of hope

       I've started to play Magic: The Gathering once again. I know it has nothing to do with role-playing. By playing MtG with other players in the vicinity I've met some people who play Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer. I've already 'survived' one session badly played (but the scenario was good). For the rest of night we played MtG which was much more fun^_^. But I think this group can improve and it's going to be more fun to play. So we will see...