Technically Gordok Mantor wasn't my first Dungeons & Dragons character, but he was the first that I used for a game outside my own home (or Gublin's house), back in either late 1978 or early 1979.
Gordok was created for use at The Dark Tower - Tunbridge Wells' first (and only) role-playing game shop and club. Although I'd been taught the basics of Dungeons & Dragons before I ventured into The Dark Tower, that was the haven of geekiness that really fuelled my early love of this hobby.
Through rose-tinted glasses, the vague wisps of memory I have about the place make it appear as iconic as Weird Pete Ashton's Games Pit in Knights Of The Dinner Table. Sadly it didn't last that long, as might have been expected, and the area has been partially redeveloped now so you can't even see where it once stood.
Gordok failed to survive his first visit to The Dark Tower, as my first level, Lawful Good magic-user, somehow managed to get involved in an expedition to Tegel Manor, the massive haunted house module put out by Judge's Guild in 1977. As you can see from the scribbles on his character sheet he died by rapidly aging 50 years.
All his worldly goods (well, 95% of them) went to his nephew Glop, son of Gordok's brother Sam.
This was during my early Tolkien phase, as I was introduced to Lord Of The Rings around the same time as Dungeons & Dragons, and I was really enthralled by all the family trees in the back of The Return Of The King.
So, in these halycon days of gaming geekery, pretty much all my characters had family trees and many of them were related.
Glop The Grand fared slightly better (despite his awful name), but I didn't keep a record of where he adventured. He was a neutral cleric with a "sword of dexterity".
Gordok was created for use at The Dark Tower - Tunbridge Wells' first (and only) role-playing game shop and club. Although I'd been taught the basics of Dungeons & Dragons before I ventured into The Dark Tower, that was the haven of geekiness that really fuelled my early love of this hobby.
Through rose-tinted glasses, the vague wisps of memory I have about the place make it appear as iconic as Weird Pete Ashton's Games Pit in Knights Of The Dinner Table. Sadly it didn't last that long, as might have been expected, and the area has been partially redeveloped now so you can't even see where it once stood.
Gordok failed to survive his first visit to The Dark Tower, as my first level, Lawful Good magic-user, somehow managed to get involved in an expedition to Tegel Manor, the massive haunted house module put out by Judge's Guild in 1977. As you can see from the scribbles on his character sheet he died by rapidly aging 50 years.
All his worldly goods (well, 95% of them) went to his nephew Glop, son of Gordok's brother Sam.
This was during my early Tolkien phase, as I was introduced to Lord Of The Rings around the same time as Dungeons & Dragons, and I was really enthralled by all the family trees in the back of The Return Of The King.
So, in these halycon days of gaming geekery, pretty much all my characters had family trees and many of them were related.
Glop The Grand fared slightly better (despite his awful name), but I didn't keep a record of where he adventured. He was a neutral cleric with a "sword of dexterity".
Despite his 18 Dexterity (magically enhanced I suspect from my scribbles) and his plate mail armour, he was killed by an ogre - with no descendants to bequeath his treasures to.
Looking at Gordok and Glop's character sheets, this was certainly the Eric Holmes edition of Dungeons & Dragons we were playing (as that was the first I was introduced to), although there are some unexplained oddities like Gordok appearing to have two spells at first level and Glop, a cleric, wielding a magic sword.
Of course, I was only 12 at the time.
Looking at Gordok and Glop's character sheets, this was certainly the Eric Holmes edition of Dungeons & Dragons we were playing (as that was the first I was introduced to), although there are some unexplained oddities like Gordok appearing to have two spells at first level and Glop, a cleric, wielding a magic sword.
Of course, I was only 12 at the time.
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