AD&D fanatics in MMORPGs
January 30, 2009 by Joel Tan
Filed under Asian MMO, Asian MMO Players, Atlantica Online, Fly For Fun, MMORPG, My World, Perfect World, Ragnarok Online, Random Rants, Rohan Online
You can spot them a mile away—fans of the classic tabletop role-playing game Advanced Dungeons and Dragons may be a rarity in the virtual worlds of MMORPGs, but if you’re one, you’ll know one.
Yes, as I’ve said countless times in the past, I’m a fan both of tabletop RPGs and massively multiplayer online RPGs. Despite spending hours upon hours of rolling dice, taking down notes, and pumping my mind to produce images and play out scenarios, I find the allure of playing tabletop role-playing games nearly irresistible. It’s too bad I don’t get to play anymore, since most of my AD&D buddies are living about 900 kilometer northwest of my residence.
That’s probably why I shifted much of my thirst for RPGs to MMORPGs, despite the lack of any real role-playing in online games. I managed to lure two of my AD&D friends into MMORPGs. Louie, who now lives in Shanghai, China, hacked his way through Rune Midgard until Ragnarok came in 2003. Relly joined me in exploring the mythical world of Pangu when Perfect World was launched in 2006.
Of course, being tabletop RPG players, we opted to name our avatars after AD&D characters, either pre-generated (or characters that appear in various AD&D novels or adventure modules) or rolled (yeah, as in using a dice). To date, I’ve used quite a number of AD&D character names, including Tika Waylan from the AD&D Dragonlance series for my wife’s blacksmith in Ragnarok Online and Storm Silverhand from the AD&D Forgotten Realms series for my hunter in Ragnarok Online, and for my wife’s ranger in Fly For Fun and her Half-Elf archer in Rohan: Blood Feud.
It’s disappointing that other players always beat me to Drizzt Do’Urden, the name of the famous Drow ranger in the AD&D Forgotten Realms setting. Sigh. Anyway, going back to the topic …
I spotted a familiar name and somewhat familiar, uhmm, face while playing Atlantica Online. Check out this screenshot:
Egad, it’s Tasslehoff! Wait, you say, who’s Tasslehoff? Let me clue you in:
Tasslehoff Burrfoot (often called Tas) is a fictional character of the kender race from the Dragonlance series of novels, written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. He was born in Kendermore. His parents are unknown and he has few known relatives. He has a sister, and also claims (like many other kender) to have an Uncle Trapspringer. He has three uncles, by the names of Remo Lockpick, Berties, and Wilfre. He also has a cousin, Latchlifter Furrfoot.
As you may have probably surmised from the brief background on Tasslehoff, the kender is a race of cutpur … uhmm, borrowers, meaning they are fond of borrowing things but tend to forget to return what they borrow.
Can’t relate? Watch this video:
