Speaking Pesona-lly

                    An article from Sue

When RPGers moan that they can't roll their own characters in a
CRPG but have to choose between a few which are already created, 
it's often not so much that we want to be terribly involved with
figures and stats. It's more that we like to run a particular
character or party that we have used in other games and want to
use in THIS one.

When I played the first CRPG that I completed, Demon's Winter on
the ST in the mid/late 80s, I ran a party to which I got very
attached. These were:  Zeke, Izzy, Fidget, Lone and Clarence. I
got very fond of all of them during the year or so that I played
the game but they became even more real when I wrote my story
solution for the game.  I later also used Caz a lot. She was
originally my MUG persona; the original was a giant male rabbit in
the Spellsinger books (author Alan Dean Foster) but I took the

name for my willowy female cleric for MUD2 and then a half-elven
cleric or sorceress whenever possible in CRPGs.

Most of the other characters were created purely for use in CRPGs,
starting with the aforementioned Demon's Winter and have been used
whenever possible since then.  Izzy was my main wizard, his name
came from the Sooty Show ("Izzy, wizzy, let's get busy" used to be
the chant when Sooty cast a spell).  Fidget was my thief; it
sounded a shifty name. Lone was, yes, a ranger ... Clarence was my
rather unimaginatively named cleric.

Zeke, on the other hand, has quite a story to his name and this is
mostly my reason for writing this article. Arnie has given Zeke
some bad (but very amusing) press recently. Not only has he cast
aspersions on his manliness, he has also suggested that Zeke is -
how can I put this?  - a bit of a thickie. It's time to set the
record straight and tell his tale.

Back in the late 70s, I bought a board game called Deathmaze. It
was the first RPG I had seen though I didn't know that was what it
was at the time. It came from SPI, not TSR (were they about then?)
and was played on a logical but partly random basis. You had a
pile of counters with corridor and room shapes on them and
according to the dice throw, selected and played them like
dominos. You tested for traps, rolled for monsters, fought if
necessary, determined experience and treasure and moved on to the
next room.  It was a game for 1 to 6 players and I used to play it
with my friend Lynn and her husband Paul (this was before I met
Alan).

I've still got all the sheets we used when we played. I typed out
basic character record sheets (yes, this was pre-computer days,
folks!) - name, class (hero, wizard or thief), wound points, magic
resistance, weapon skills etc. We had various characters that we
rotated - Boris Strongarm, Pincher the thief, Merlin and Circe,
but the best known was Zeke.

Paul created Zeke. He was a hero and not a bad fighter when he got
the chance. Despite good armour and weapons, sometimes he didn't
last too long, because the fact is that Zeke was plain unlucky.
Zeke was the sort of character who checks out traps with supreme
confidence - and gets gassed or blown up. He charges through
doorways with a war cry - and falls down a pit. He drinks from a
fountain - and gets turned to stone. He and the other champions
would meet an equal number of monsters but two thirds of them
would home in on Zeke. Characters who survived a game of Deathmaze
could advance in abilities, retain magical items, and return in
another game. I don't think Zeke ever survived long enough to take
advantage of such facilities.

All three of us got very attached to poor old Zeke during our time
playing Deathmaze and so he was on obvious choice when I wanted a
fighter for my CRPG. Lynn reckoned I was asking for trouble
calling a character Zeke but his luck seems to have improved as he
isn't quite as accident prone as he used to be.

So, three cheers for Zeke, Caz, Izzy and the rest of the gang.
Long may they continue to kick monster ass, get drunk, sing bawdy
songs and stagger home. It isn't the same when I can't use at

least one of them in a game and thank goodness most games now let
you use your own characters.

I'd be interested to hear where anyone else's favourite persona
comes from. Please write in and tell us in a future issue.














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