Playing the same character since 1985? Gwah?

[Corathon]

My campaign has been going since 1986. One of the regular players is still playing a character that appeared in the second play session. The regular game is (almost) every week.

Other players (who have moved away and thus are no longer regular)are getting together for a week of gaming in April where one will play a PC who was present in the very first session (she runs a 10th level paladin). The highest level PC in the campaign broke to 16th level (cleric) just last week. The next highest level PC is 13th, of which there are several.

The secret to the campaign's longevity is a) slow leveling and b) people have more than one PC, so when tired of playing one they switch to another. Naturally, point b contributes to point a.

I seldom play AD&D these days, but I did take a cleric from 3rd to 19th level in a game years back. That took 5 or 6 years I think.

 

[SkredlitheOgre]

My longest-played PC was a Dwarven Cleric that started in 3.0 and went from 1st to 3rd level before that group broke up. I brought him back as a DMNPC (the good kind) during my 3.5 campaign and then he switched between PC and NPC as we switched off DM's. He went from 3rd to 24th level in that time. All told, he lasted about four years before that group broke up.

 

[Tonguez]

my gnome PC left the burrows in 1995 as an apprentice alchemist, he started his own circus (as the f/x man) and had various adventures across the worlds (even in different game systems). I did DM for a while but even then the PCs would occasionally see a gnome driving a circus wagon passing them on the road. He has matured and most recently attempted to settle down, building his own Laboratory as Master Alchemist. Currently however he is leading his clan as they attempt to resettle on an unexplored island as they had to leave their home-burrows as refugees following a Human-Orc war.

Once he settles his clan he plans to retire in Faerie land (he enjoys ogling pixies)...

I have played other PCs and DM'd in that time ...

 

[messy]

i love reading all the stories of long-lived characters, but how about posting some character sheets? i wanna see some stat-blocks!

 

[Elf Witch]

My longest character was my mage in Shadowrun I played her for eight years.

My longest in DnD was four years and I am still playing her.

 

[kitsune9]

I guess my question is this: What's the longest you've ever played one character?

I think 14 or 15 months is mine. I got up to 13th level, but got killed a couple times and ended at 11th level. I know that if my players were running the same characters from 1985 or whenever, they'd be around 615th level if I did it based on 4 encounters per session, 13 encounters to level (yeah, I simplified).

 

[Herschel]

I have a Swordmage I've played sporadically for about four years now (LFR character). I have a propensity to play melee characters who get offed in ways that mean they stay offed (like teleporting with the wizard who fumbles his role and lands us 60 feet inside of a granite cliff)

 

[Yora]

I played in an online campaign where I think we played about 5 evenings per week for about a year. That character might have seen some 600 to 800 hours of play.

 

[Matt James]

I'm lucky if a character holds my attention for more than three months.

 

[Sunseeker]

I don't think I've played a single character for more than 6 months.

Of course, there are two things to consider here:
1: I often play generic fightery-types with a deathwish. It's fun as heck, but they die often.
2: I have moved a lot since I started playing, significant moves, as in: needing a whole new group. This usually requires a new character.
3: I've had a rough time finding a group I like.

But overall, I think I would get bored playing the same character in the same setting for that long. Now granted this depends a lot on the group, the DM, the setting of the story, ect... For a really good one, I might go longer, but not 20 years, I would at least need one other game on the side to keep from getting totally bored.