Playing the same character since 1985? Gwah?

[Rogue Agent]

Am I the only one who can't understand how they've played at least 700+ game sessions and no one is higher than 15th level? Am I remembering AD&D's XP tables wrong?

Well, as an example, it takes 1.25 million XP to get from 10th level to 15th level as a fighter.

If they're not playing with XP for GP (a very common house rule). Assume, I dunno, 250 sessions for that. That would be an average award of 5,000 XP per session. The XP guidelines for 1st Edition can be a little hard to unravel, but if they're not a combat-intensive group (which seems likely) that number seems pretty likely.

AD&D1 slows down a lot beyond 10th level if you're not awarding XP for GP.

 

[S'mon]

I don't play much. I must have DM'd [MENTION=326]Upper_Krust[/MENTION]'s PC Thrin for about 10 years, ca 1987-1996 maybe, with occasional stuff 1996-1999 and beyond. There were other PCs played for nearly as long. Technically Thrin is still around and was an offstage deity in my Ea campaign world, which I was running 4e in as recently as last July 2011.

I always used XP for gold, we played daily at school for years, and later on I gave 2e Monster XP as well, so advancement was quite fast. Last I heard Thrin was a combined 117th level Cavalier-Magic-User-Cleric Lesser God.

 

[pming]

Hiya.

Still playing my 1e AD&D character from 1980. Not all the time, of course, but when I do play (and not DM) 1e, it's Denakhan. He's now about half-way to 21st level as a Magic-User (a grey elf; he actually started 'life' as a 'regular Elf' in Basic D&D back in '80). Anyway, when I was playing consistently with my original group, we played about 12 to 20 hours per week (ahhh...the freedom of youth! ). This lasted about 6 years where he *just* crested 20th. Since then (maybe 1989 or so), he's garnered, perhaps, 110,000xp...but I only get to play him every few years.

For those wondering about XP in 1e... Gary figured it would take an average group of about 6 (iirc) characters about a year or two to hit 9th level. Then gain another level every year of play thereafter. I think this was assuming a 6 to 8 hour session, once a week. So...the guys with the 15th level characters are definitly on the "slow" side of leveling. Assuming they are playing 16 hours per month, (about half 'normal' 1e AD&D playing base assumption in my experience), we have levels of about 20 to 22...not that much above 15th.

In my 1e AD&D campaign I just started, everyone is still 1st level, with the thief character being the only one who is 2nd. We've played about 4 hours every week for two months or so. Although they *did* just succeed in killing not one, but *two* manticores down on the 4th level of the dungeon...so that should crest all of them to 2nd level tomorrow (Sunday). I figure, at this rate, they should probably hit level 7 to 9 by the end of the year. Maybe.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Lord Mhoram]

I could happily play some of my characters for quite a long time, but I have never ever met a dungeon master who can last more than a year with the same game: they always want to try new systems.

My question is: how do you people keep your dungeon masters enthused?

Ours is a unusual situation.
We are a one system group - and have been for the 20 years the group has been together.
We have been together 20 years.
We tend to play Champions (and I run Fantasy Hero). The supers genre source literature is geared to long running character so it makes it easy to run games that way.
Being married to a gamer helps - solo play for that character is a different experience than group gaming - and that can make for long lived characters as well.

 

[Crothian]

I played a Rifts character for about a decade. That is easily the longest I've played one character. The longest D&D character I had for 4 years.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Bizarre and cool story, but I'm curious what all those books are if they're playing 1e...

At the time 2E began, 1E had some 36 hardcover books IIRC.

AD&D1 slows down a lot beyond 10th level if you're not awarding XP for GP.

Actually, it speeds up slightly since virtually all the classes go to a fixed xp amount to progress at title level (around 10th or so) but the xp values for higher HD monsters continue to increase.

My longest running PC would be an elf fighter with 18/00 str named Aste. Ran for about ten years, every Saturday, 8-10 hours, quite consistently. Would probably be running him still on some level but the DM stepped aside when I started running my own games.

 

[billd91]

At the time 2E began, 1E had some 36 hardcover books IIRC.

I certainly don't remember that many. But we'd regularly tote around several:
Players Handbook
Dungeon Masters Guide
Unearthed Arcana
Wilderness Survival Guide
Dungeoneers Survival Guide
Fiend Folio
Monster Manual
Monster Manual 2

And for specific campaigns:
Krynn
Greyhawk Adventures
Oriental Adventures
Manual of the Planes

That's a good many to carry around, and often even players would carry around at least 3-5 of those, not just the DM.

I don't know where the 36 number is coming from, though.

 

[jedavis]

... holy crap. There are active PCs older than I am . I think my personal best for a PC both in terms of real-life time and levels gained was probably a rogue/wizard back in 3.0 who I played monthlyish for about two years. It's a rare game at college these days that lasts more than a semester of weekly play.

 

[theredrobedwizard]

I made mention of this thread to my cousin and he related a story about his uncle (other side of the family, obviously).

The afore mentioned uncle and his play group meet monthly to play. They've been doing this since 1977. They've missed two sessions in that time: once because one of their members had heart surgery and once because someone had a baby the week before the game.

Maybe I'm just too nomadic, but I can't imagine living in the same general geographic area for 35 years let alone gaming with the same people. (Then again, I'm only in my late 20s; that may have something to do with it.)

All these stories of long time games just makes me a bit... I don't know. Definitely not my playstyle at all. More power to them, though.

 

[korjik]

I ran a 3e/3.5e game for 8 years. 1st to 17th level. We were playing barely once a month for most of that tho.