Popular characters... and their backstory.

[boyflea]

Hi,
'for fun' have been looking into the lore of Dungeon Master, keen to know more about the characters themselves.

So first off, thought: who are cahracters people actually care about?
Scouring the

forums, complied a rough list of most popular characters to least popular characters:
From top to bottom, would say this approximates the trends:

Most Popular:
Gothmog, Daroou, Chani, Hissssa
Stamm, Halk, Sonja, Wuuf
Leif, Leyla, Wu Tse, Boris
Elija, Syra, Alex, Azizi
Hawk, Iaido, Linflas, Nabi
Zed, Mophus, Tiggy,
and finally... Gando

Have posted a little poll here: am sure you guys can shuffle things around
https://www.playbuzz.com/davegb10/dunge ... -selection

In the book, we get something for Alex, Syra, Nabi and Halk (as well as the three lords; Librasulus, Grey and Chaos, and then Theron - and seperately even Edvarg the Unfailing and his cronies) - does anyone know of any lore maps and stories that are fairly reliable? (Or is it just make it up' )

If nothing does exist on the characters, then any theories (including their true sex, motivation, goals, etc) or interesting backstories you guys have invested in, let me know

Thanks again...

[Jan]

Oh, cool, a poll! Great idea! Voted!

(not sure exactly how it works, I just assigned either + or - to each character, so perhaps that's it, there's no "submit" button?)

Chani got my first "+" and, of course, with no doubt and without any hesitation, Mophus got the first "-" .

DM Encyclopaedia only offers an explanation of the character's names (http://dmweb.free.fr/?q=node/199).

[Gambit37]

Some of us wrote made up back stories for the champions years ago. They were published on Cow's Inn of Lost Souls website years ago. I'll try and find the link.

[boyflea]

Cool thanks - it's new to me too: when I close it, it will tally the results:
I'll also cross-reference this with my googledoc here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

[data for this was cobbled together form old threads like 'what character did you never use' and so on)

It would be cool to see what some people decided: as there is so little backstory, everyone must have made up a lore of their own.

For me, did I hear that Hissssa should always be chosen (the hint on the front-gate) because he's related to the red dragon somehow (and so you get a bonus against it?)
I think that's what I read in ST Format once... could all be nonsense: but every game, he played upfront.

Also, thought that Hawk and Leif were cool together: like a 'Lethal Weapon' partnership. Yes, odd as it sounds, .

Like most people, Gothmog got my vote, but Sonja I liked too (yes, 'Red Sonja' and 'Conan' were big faves of mine, ... )

[oh_brother]

A tough choice! For my 4 top choices I picked the people I used in my last playthrough: Gothmog, Sonja, Syra, Zed. It was hard not to click some of my other favs, like Stamm, Alex and Hissssa.

For my least favs I picked the ones I have used least: Boris, Tiggy, Gando, Daroou. Nothing against them, I just rarely (if ever) used them. I guess I should have included Mophus, but I had no problem with him untill this forum poisoned my mind against him

I never came up with detailed back stories, but I did imagine their personalities the dynamic in the group each time I played. For instance Zed was a bit pompous and aloof, Syra and Gothmog didn't get on and Halk distrusted magic users.

A while ago I read that Beo had written a story where Gothmog had been an apprentice for Lord Chaos - I thought that was an interesting touch! (edit - just checked and it was Cows idea, though Beo included it in a story)

[boyflea]

Thanks for the feedback: here's the popular vote.

1 Gothmog
2 Chani
3 Wuuf
4 Linflas
5 Sonja
6 Leyla
7 Syra
8 Zed
9 Hissssa
10 Wu Tse
11 Nabi
12 Boris
13 Tiggy
14 Stamm
15 Alex
16 Halk
17 Daroou
18 Gando
19 Leif
20 Elija
21 Azizi
22 Hawk
23 Iaido
24 Mophus

[Saumun]

Poor Mophus... Forever unloved!
Hissssa was always my personal favourite. I like to have him up front with Halk if I go for a full party.

[Jan]

Cool! Gothmog is kind of surprise to me - I can't remember taking him into any of my parties, maybe back in the old days. I wonder - what's so fantastic about him? Is he such a good wizard, or does he look so cool? Otherwise, my personal vote was more or less similar to the result.

[Saumun]

I can only speak for myself, but the 'looking cool' thing was the reason I picked him the first few times I ever played it.

[Erik Bauer]

I can only speak for myself, but the 'looking cool' thing was the reason I picked him the first few times I ever played it.

Same for me

[oh_brother]

Same for me. That also explains my choice of avatar.

I am bit surprised at the lack of love for Halk/Alex/Stamm but overall the ratings are roughly what I would have expected.

BTW I never heard of any bonus from having Hissssa fight, I guess someone would have discovered it by now if it were true?

[Ian Clark]

I've never been a fan of Gothmog, he always seemed to run out of food and water really quickly compared to the others.

For a party of 4, Leif is mandatory for the front rank paired with Linflas or Daroou. As for the rear rank, two characters I can train as both wizards and priests - Chani and Syra fit the bill for this.

If you're interested in back-stories, check this http://dmwiki.atomas.com/wiki/Conflux/F ... the_Guilds out
It gives well written unofficial back stories re the DM characters that appeared in Conflux. And just in case you have never played it, some of the characters do have special abilities such as:

Spoiler

can cast a spell that invokes worms

Spoiler

can read Dwarven text

Spoiler

can identify doors that aren't so strong and can be bashed

[boyflea]

Thanks for the feedback!
Conflux does look interesting: looking through older threads, there seemed to have been a heap of old backstories put together, but all the links I could find seem dead.

eg:
https://www.dungeon-master.com/forum/vi ... =2&t=28774
Still fascinating how people have interpreted those iconic portraits and summoned up their whole world.

I've always wondered where Banville was: is there a compilation of locations for DM? or again is it a free-for-all?

[Phoenix]

RE Chani in Conflux: Anyone can cast that spell if they know how to unlock it. It's not limited to just her.

[Sera]

My vote goes to hissssa, but wuuf is a very close second =D

Poor Mophus... Forever unloved!
Hissssa was always my personal favourite. I like to have him up front with Halk if I go for a full party.

there is a huge running joke with mophus here (or at least i think there still is >_> someone correct me if im wrong!)

i cant get my head round gothmog because of the whole dark "edgy" thing about him XD

[Jan]

there is a huge running joke with mophus here (or at least i think there still is >_> someone correct me if im wrong!)

Hey, this is not a joke! All these rumours are true!

[Saumun]

Lol... Poor Mophus! One of the Easter eggs I put in The Chaos Mirror concerned his status as 'least loved'.