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This was my first character in just over 19 years (aside from a tester character right before this one). I had been a heavy player back in '96-'98 (nearly flunked out of college as a result), and a somewhat heavy player in 03-'04. Last time I played, I was surprised by how much I still remembered about the game, maps, items, etc. This time, I was surprised by how much I DIDN'T remember, and just how my brain was no longer wired to even play it. The solution: immersion therapy!
The goal with Bellassan was to learn the game again, to explore, identify items, get a new grounding. Then he met Gralker and kinda got shoved into the deep end a little too quickly. But hopefully my inexperience didn't annoy anyone too much. I had a great deal of fun, and tried to be entertaining. I know it's a fine line to walk sometimes. I have played bards in the past that post a lot of notes to all, and have been criticized for it. I think it adds to the game world, but some folks get annoyed seeing my name repeatedly in the note list.
The character was inspired by many popular "swashbuckler" types. Inigo Montoya, Puss in Boots (Shrek), Captain Jack Sparrow. He was an outwardly mirthful idealist, deeply insecure, wanting to do the best but basically always messing it up. He was a drinker, a thinker, and midnight slinker..? I dunno. I tried to breathe as much life into the character as possible, and make the cabal channel a lively and fun place. I think I mostly succeeded, with an occasional moment of brilliance (if I may be so bold).
Anyway... the tale of the end:
So I was up late as usual derping around and requesting items in a place I hadn't yet explored (Consortium area). After I had traversed the whole area, I had kind of a small pile of stuff I had identified but didn't need. So I checked the who list, and see some lowbie elf guy. Score! Time to do some Acolyte chit-chat. So I tell him I have some stuff he can use, go to him, blah blah blah. Usual Bellassan drunken rambling, including an absolutely hilarious line about speaking to the parents of young ladies I have feeling was totally lost on this guy. During the convo I see an echo come in, something along the lines of "Rumors circulate throughout the land that you are a friggin tool and now everyone hates you." Huh, I think to myself, wonder what that's all about?
Then I went about my business, walking around collecting stuff. Have a little adventure with Athald to collect some gear. During that little adventure, the wheels were slowly turning in my stupid head, and it hits me what the deal was. That request thing, I had totally forgotten was even a thing. Dammit! Check my skills, and sure enough Request is no longer there.
So I weighed my options. As I had done throughout this character's time, the first question was what Bellassan would do in character, and secondarily what would be fun to do as a player. I had no doubt I could talk my way back into good graces, especially considering my obvious noob badge. But Bellassan was already on thin ice with Azorinne due to the whole goodie mob kill thing (bards are hard, guys) and was already very insecure about his worthiness to be among the greats there in the Fort. So the IC answer was, resign in dramatic fashion. And as a player, doing yet another mea culpa story arch didn't sound fun, either. I would almost surely have been demoted back to Scribe, have to put in the work to get back into good graces, yadda yadda. So as much as I really wanted to keep playing this super fun and successful character, I decided to drop the axe and move on instead.
Goodbyes:
Athald - You get first billing because you were so awesome! You patiently showed me around, taught me where the all-important potions and scrolls were located, and were a genuinely great friend to Bellassan. I really can't thank you enough.
Gralker - The whirlwind! Every time I saw you log in, I was like "oh sh*t, here we go." You also showed me around a lot, but at such a blinding pace I often had no damn clue what was even happening. I was like.. ok we were just in the Fort and now we're in some swamp... on now we're in Arkham? WTF?  Anyway, I thought you were great. The whole egg thing, kind of a stroke (no pun intended, har har) of genius even if everyone was tired of hearing about it. You spent a lot of time teaching me things, and I also cannot thank you enough.
Aerithas - #1 favorite Fort guy. I love everything you are doing with this character. Keep it up!
Mrawlf - Bellassan's best buddy! We had a lot of fun, and I hope you don't KEEP getting overlooked for Maran status. You've earned it 20 times over at this point, you just play during unpopular hours. Awesome character, very consistent and enjoyable roleplay. Great job!
Nunthdhrag - Constant thorn in my side, but also super enjoyable character. I wrote a whole role entry about you and the concept of honor. Great work!
Ok this is getting too long. Lots of other people I interacted with, overall amazing stuff. This was the best re-entry to the game I could have asked for, and it's the players who make CF the rich and exciting world it is. Great work, one and all. And of course, the imms behind the scenes doing so much for us out of the goodness of their hearts. I donated, will keep doing so, and encourage everyone else to as well. Best game in existence as far as I am concerned.
One point of constructive criticism - to the imm who dinged me for the request thing. I played during odd hours, and I often wondered if any imm staff were even active during that time. I got the premium battefield for this char, so as you will see in 200+ hours of play time, largely consisting of good-to-excellent RP by all accounts, this char ended with 0 imm xp. So I just figured, oh well nobody is around to watch. But you were there. You were watching. It's just that you were watching, apparently waiting for your moment to wordlessly take punitive action. In a game of cooperative story-telling, maybe be part of the story rather than a hall monitor. Even just a little acknowledgement goes a long way for players, and punitive actions can be actually enjoyable if done correctly. Consult with Azorinne's player if you wonder how. She is amazing at it.
Lecture over, on to the next character.
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