New characters

[astilwel]

So, I just lost my first character, whom I loved dearly, and I'm feeling pretty bummed about it. :cry:  How did everyone else deal with the loss of thier first character? How long does the average first character last? I'm having trouble getting motivated to make a new character, does anyone else have any suggestions?  :roll:

I'd love some good first character stories right about now.  

[Summer]

Just wait for a little bit, think about the things your character did and the things they weren't able to do. Maybe make a character that could explore those areas of Arm.

Other suggestions people have is play somewhere you haven't seen before. Play a combat/explorer if your last character was a thief.

Hopefully you died a good death, look for what was cool in the death, even if it was from an NPC. A character I started to really like got killed by a gith, I was bummed for a bit, but then I thought that the last thing my character saw as they were killed was Suk-krath setting. That symbolism was kinda cool and so I felt better about the death.

Hope something in there helps

[spawnloser]

My first character died to walking past some militia in Allanak...she had some spice on her and they searched her and found it.  They tried to subdue her, but she slipped away, so they gang-banged her.  This all happened when I typed 'e' to continue on my merry jaunt, looking for a Templar so that I could turn over the evil stuff to the authorities.  How did I react to this?  I was pissed...really pissed, in fact.  I eventually got over it though...realized that I learned a lesson: Stupid militia with their no delays.  No, seriously, it kinda hammered home how bent the socio-political outlook is.  Then again, it may have just been because I was playing a female character, trying to mudsex my way to power and riches.

[Mekeda]

It's never easy to lose a character and I think everyone has to find their own way to deal with it. I normally, back when I was a player, took a bit of time to grieve and spent about 3 days thinking about all the things I should have done instead of what I did that got me dead. As time has gone on, it never really gets "easier" to lose a well loved character but you do develop a coping mechanism. One thing I have learned for myself is that if I do make another pc, even if it is a "throw away" pc, it helps me get out of the last characters head and move into a new one.

Just hold onto the good memories, and cherish the storylines that you helped to write, and rest assured that you will and are being missed already. Really good pc's leave behind gaps in other players hearts as well.

Mekeda

[CindyLou]

My first Arm character lasted several months. Very involved in politics and other stuff. Died a totally awesome death. I cried all day at my computer. It just wasn't FAIR! I kept thinking...and yet, within 5 minutes of the mantis head and the BEEP - I was submitting another application.

My desire to play Arm exceeded my grief over the loss of my first character. Damn that addiction, damn it all to Drov!

Wheeeee! Keep on keepin on, don't sweat the small stuff, remember it's a game, all those nifty cliches you'll hear, etc. etc. But more importantly, feed your addiction. It's good for you.

[Myrdryn]

There is thread in the archives that is very similar to this thread.  It can be found here.

But I think the best advice that I've heard (and it's in that archive thread)  was from Narlac.

[Dakkon Black]

I recently lost a very well loved (by me) char. It was brutal and I've heard mention of that char's name since and it sucks. To deal with it I just went over all the notes and wordpad docs I had made of his/her life. Then I put it all in linear order and on my sad ass map of Zalanthas (which is nowhere near complete I'm sure) I marked where he/she died. It felt great because what nobody gets with thier char's death is closure and this gave me that. Give your char an ending. Then it doesnt seem to bad.

[hammie2]

My first character died 30 minutes into the game when a templar saw my character and shook him down and killed him because he had deposited his money in the bank already.

[Socko]

My first character died 30 minutes into the game when a templar saw my character and shook him down and killed him because he had deposited his money in the bank already.

Such is life in Zalanthas.

[sacac]

awhile.. I was killed because I was an elf and taller than the dwarf templar.

[ShaLeah]

I find that making a character right away helps me not get stuck in the grieving-shoulda-coulda-woulda process. My first char got killed a bit shy of three months real-life playing.
Below are ShaL's hand-notes for the recently deceased:

1.  Keep a note pad with any ideas you have throughout your character's life.  See a character you think is cool and want to mimick them? Jot it down.
2.  Stay away from your old character's friends.   It's easy to fall back into your old character's persona if you surround yourself with everyone he or she knew, that will not only be (in -my- opinion) a bit frowned upon, but sad for you at the inevitable mention of your name if you meant anything to these people or the lack thereof if you did not mean anything to these people and thought you did.  Hehe. Best to start fresh somewhere else, where noone knows your name.
3.  Pick something completely unlike what you were just playing, polar opposites, gender opposites...
4.  Make a perky, happy, spice-smoking bard who hallucinates every Ocandra.  Probably will not last long but at least it'll be fun.  
5.  Make an assassin, make his or her background specific enough to despise any of your old best friends, one by one, kill them off.  Misery loves company, what better way to feel better about your own death than to bring death and misery to others whom you supposedly cared for in a past life?!  Not only is it a great test of separating yourself from your old character BUT it is soothing to the lonely feeling that comes along with character death to know all your old friends aren't cavorting around the mud starting plots and enjoying life without you.   :twisted:
6.  If you need time off, take it. The game will be there when you come back, waiting... to kill you again!


In my opinion the only thing that tops the first Arm death is the death of a truly loved character. There's always logs and memories, right?

[Xygax]

5.  Make an assassin, make his or her background specific enough to despise any of your old best friends, one by one, kill them off.  Misery loves company, what better way to feel better about your own death than to bring death and misery to others whom you supposedly cared for in a past life?!  Not only is it a great test of separating yourself from your old character BUT it is soothing to the lonely feeling that comes along with character death to know all your old friends aren't cavorting around the mud starting plots and enjoying life without you.   :twisted:

Can't say I much like this one, but the rest are good suggestions.  No doubt this was spoken with tongue firmly planted in-cheek.  

[witchman]

While no well-loved character's death is easy, the worst, IMO is when you have the entire weekend to yourself, you sit down with a steaming cup of java and fire up your client and ten minutes later are trying to figure out what you are doing with the rest of your weekend.  *sigh*  Those are some tough nights!

[Spartaxica]

I know this is a slightly cold thread now, but that wont stop me
I have just joined ARM and my first character is walking aimlessly around. I know she will die fairly quickly and already have a second character waiting to be registered. I think I will continue like that, create a new character while still playing one, it gives me time to start familiarising myself with the new one before they come into play.

[slvrmoontiger]

Directions in your home city (if you chose a city for your starting location) is a very useful and helpful command while you are in that city. It will help you to learn what major points there are and how to get to them.

[Reiloth]

I know this is a slightly cold thread now, but that wont stop me
I have just joined ARM and my first character is walking aimlessly around. I know she will die fairly quickly and already have a second character waiting to be registered. I think I will continue like that, create a new character while still playing one, it gives me time to start familiarising myself with the new one before they come into play.

Holy ten year threadomancy, batman!

Welcome to Armageddon.

My first five or so characters did exactly that -- wander aimlessly around, get eaten by beetles, or silt horrors around Red Storm.

My sixth character I had for around 2-3 months, and when he died after spitting on a Noble's shoes in public and got murdered by said Noble's lieutenant in an apartment, I was hooked.

I think once you have a PC that gets involved in some plot threads, you will begin to focus on the moment with your PC rather than planning ahead for the next one. I still do that though -- Come up with PC ideas and phase out my current one. I look at PCs like stories, and sometimes you want to read a new book.

[valeria]

Welcome!  You can never have too many planned PCs waiting in the wings.

[Eyeball]

Don't worry, the more characters you lose, the less you'll care.

[Iiyola]

Don't worry, the more characters you lose, the less you'll care.

It's a trap!

[Asche]

My first character died after getting lost in a sandstorm, dying of thirst and attempting to climb the shield wall, sure civilization couldn't be far from the top. I guess my attributes were pretty high, because I made it pretty far up, despite having never grinded climb. Ended up falling near the top, bringing me to negatives. Was a slow, inevitable death from there on out. Funny enough, this was the SECOND time she'd gotten lost and nearly died, but for whatever reason, I was found dying of thirst by wandering Bynners the first time. Had about three HP left the first time, and they brought me to 'Nak for the first time, IC and OOC. I was a spice sifter from Storm, so that turned out well with the nearly unconcious woman. Good to know I put all that luck and effort to use dying within the week.

[chrisdcoulombe]

My first character was a ranger, fell in a hole at about 4 hours played.  Maid a Dwarf burglar and he lived to around 8 days played, I was upset with his deatth, me and human warrior fell in a hole and a Redfang  made us fight to the death, but we attacked that d-elf together, only to get wrecked.  I made an elf warrior, rebel from Tuluk and he joined the Byn and met another elf, made some contacts in the rynth and started stealing food, selling and trading it to rynth rats for spice and money.  Got caught, got away, got assassinated by a Jaxa in Red storm.    That character was about 10 days played.  Good times.  I enjoy making new characters it doesn't get me down.    I like playing the different classes. 

[Culinary Critic]

My first character was a thief/stoneworker.  He lived for almost a R/L year as a (very minor and unimportant) Whatsit to House Fale in Nak.  I adored every moment of his live, even though my play times were off from the vast majority of the House and he spent a lot of time doing non-House things and generally having fun.  His death was not what I expected.  He went home, totally shit-kicked after his (and my) first sparring session, went to sleep on the couch in his four room apartment and was assassinated by someone that slunk out of the shadows.  I assume that this was politically motivated due to a perfectly delivered emote.

Advice for dealing with the death of a character, first one, twentieth, whatever:  Do something totally the opposite.  You just lost a southie, male, thief/crafter?  Go play a northie, female, bard/thug.  Just lost a northie Legionnaire?  Play a southie gick who hates northies.  And so on.

[IAmJacksOpinion]

You know, while reading this it occurred to me that Armageddon characters are analogous to romantic partners in a lot of ways.

• The first one is always hard to lose, but most of them are easier after that. You'll later realize that it was a horrible character, but you'll always remember it.
• The longer you're with them, the harder they are to lose (usually), and vice-versa.
• Sometimes you have such high expectations for them that, even when you lose them to some BS mistake like 5 hours in, you still feel like they left a hole in you, and you think "Some day I'd like to give that [concept / person] another try. When the time is right."  
• Some you start playing with the expectation that they will be long term.
• Some you start playing knowing that it will be a short-lived disaster, but damn will it be fun! (Think a dwarf whose focus is bang a Templar, or your best friend's sister!)  Even here, you may be surprised.
• Sometimes the easiest way to get over them is to move on to the next one promptly, even if you really don't feel like you can get into it (rebound characters.) Sometimes you'll use 'um and dump 'um in a matter of days, sometimes they'll surprise you and you'll stick with them for months.
• Most players have a type (socialite, adventurer, mage, mercenary) that they feel most comfortable with, but that doesn't mean that trying something new can't be fun. It might even surprise you.
• Some people go from one long-lived character to another, never knowing the fun of a throw-away.
• Some people can't seem to keep a character longer than a week, never knowing the intimacy of a long termer.
• et cetera ad nauseam

My first character was a half-elf assassin in Red Storm. I logged in for like 30 minutes, then went link dead upstairs in the bar. I logged back in 3 months later with only 300 of my starting coins left (had no idea that that was atypical.) Went down stairs and the first character I met was some dragon-tattooed guy who sold me a cheap flint dagger for 200 sid, then hired me to assassinate a Templar in Allanak, and gave me some vague directions of how to get there. I walked there with my assassin (back when only rangers had desert nav), wandered around the city aimlessly, and then got backstabbed in the rinth.

Not great, but still pretty amusing. It always surprises me when people's first characters lived months or even years. Maybe it's because I was such a rambunctious / adventurous shit back then (read like 15 years old), it took probably a few dozen characters to keep one alive more than a week. I would get in game with my assassin and talk shit to everyone, convinced that my newbie backstab / sneak / hide was going to win me the day.

I'm still a pretty high-character-volume player (when I play actively, which is usually only a few months on, a few months off these days). I bounce between five rebound characters between nearly every long-lived one. Just trying different things until something feels right. I've had at least 150 characters, maybe closer to 200 in my 10 years, but I can still remember a bit about each and every one as I pass it in my bio. And some I think about every time I go back to the old drawing board.

So don't feel like all's lost just because you've been staring at the mantis until the server booted you for inactivity. Despair not, for the end of something old, is the start of something new!

*drops the mic*

[Attana]

My first character was an assassin who joined the Byn.  While I could RP my way around most folks who were just starting out like me (I studied syntax for months before hand), I didn't know the first thing about playing an assassin - thus she never learned any assassiny things, though she was pretty decent combatwise.  She died during a spat between north and south after being led out on what was supposed to be something completely different than what she'd been told it was.  I had been SO attached to her, I think I cried for like ... HOURS after she died.  I absolutely REFUSED to make another character, feeling so torn from my first loves complete and utter destruction.  I think I moped around for days before I finally managed to come up with my second characters concept - that one went on to stick around FOREVER and I had gads of fun with her.  I stored her after a RL year or so, but then was allowed to bring her out of storage further down the road to have even more fun.

It's definitely depressing to lose that first character, but I found that planning out my next character helped ease the pain of loss.

[slvrmoontiger]

To be honest, my first character lasted long enough to wander into the Grey, avoid an NPC Halfling hunter only to decide, (gee look there's a nice vine like plant). Oh that's what a ginka is (mantis screen). So I didn't get to bummed.

First time I got bummed was with a character I loved I really loved this character and he wound up getting killed by someone he trusted and actually saved their life on two occasions. I just created a new character and did something stupid and crazy and fun with it and it wound up being eaten only a RL week later because he did something stupid. So that helped me to get over it. Best advice I got was if you are bummed about the loss of a loved character create a throw-away character. One that you can just have fun with until eventually they do something stupid and die.

Welcome to Armageddon and have fun!