Player Profile: Bryan GrahamAugust 17th, 2017, 9:57 am

How long have you been playing?: I believe I have been playing since Feb Feast 2011, but I’m unsure on the year.  Sometimes it seems like it has been forever, and other times like it has only been a few short years.

 

Describe your character: I find this question extremely difficult to answer.  One the one hand, Ithvendish is harsh, opinionated, and stubborn as a mule, and on the other hand he has an absolute commitment to his people, his own moral code and belief that he is in fact doing the right thing. 

Many other players consider him to be “Grumpy” and there’s been other comments tossed around in the past – however, what most players don’t see is Ithvendish’s other sides.  Where he freely provides for any of his people, whatever they might need.  Or how at great personal loss to the party he used the mass ley lines ritual to ferry those from Pinedale to Maplewood that might not have been able to make the journey on their own. 

I guess to simply put it – Ithvendish is complicated. 

 

What was your favorite in game moment? I find myself torn between two moments in particular, the first being the night that I killed the PC Odric (Played by Ryan Staring) and the death of Amanda D's character Eliana.

Odric’s murder stood out to me because Ryan had already dropped game when I sent one of my companions to go and find him. He was out of garb and ready to go to bed.  When he found out that I was looking for him, he made the choice to get back into garb and to come see me, knowing full well what was about to happen. To this day that kind of gumption impresses me.  Not everyone has such a strong commitment to Roleplaying that they march to their own death in that fashion.

Eliana’s death on the other hand wasn’t in my hands like Odric.  Her character had been in childbirth, and Ithvendish one of the Master Healers in town, and a friend had been asked to assist.  I went into the cabin with a casual attitude and put on my best bedside manner face.  All seemed well at first, and then things took a turn for the worse.  After she gave birth to her children she started to die and there seemed nothing we could do.  Several Master Healers spent spell after spell, and consumable after consumable as the atmosphere in the Cabin changed.  Part of my mind went elsewhere as we all sunk deeper into the scene.  We tried every scenario that we could think of as we tried to save her – only for me to realize that I had a solution in my bag of rituals that I had asked one of my companions to hold outside the cabin while I delivered the baby.  I yelled for them over and over…they never came.  Finally, someone went outside to fetch them only to find out that they had gone to take care of another plot. And she died…that is a weight that Ithvendish carries with him to this day.

I have personally never been so wrapped up in a roleplaying scene – at the end of it I had to excuse myself as the frustration of failure was enough to make me emotional.  It was as if I, myself had failed in a spectacular fashion and I needed time to get my head wrapped around it. 

Both of these scenes I found to be extremely powerful, and are my favorite in game moments.  Not because my character was the hero and saved the day, but rather because of the commitment to roleplaying that the people of Novitas make every time they change into garb.

 

Why do you love Kingdoms of Novitas?: Why do I love Kingdoms of Novitas? I love it because of the commitment that all of us are willing to take to make this world real and enjoyable for everyone.  Over the years I’ve had the privilege to be on staff and see some of the behind the scenes work that goes on for our game, and I could not begin to count the number of hours and work that goes on between games.  Our volunteer staff is amazing at what they do to make Novitas a home for everyone.

Along with our incredibly hard working staff I also have to say that our player base works just as hard to bring our game to life.   It is their work playing their characters, and the NPC’s that make up our world which allows our staff’s behind the scene work to truly shine. 

These two parts, combined together have created a culture in itself that just doesn’t compare too many things in the outside world.  Simply put, our people are amazing and the world we create while working together is something unique and that is what I love about the Kingdoms of Novitas.

 

Who is your favorite PC?: Abel.  Fred’s PC Abel is simply the best PC to observe and interact with – at this point I am unsure at the amount of detail that I should go into at this moment about his character, so I simply am going to say that his commitment to his character is simply incredible and the fact that he’s been doing it for so many years is a testament to Fred’s skills as a role-player.

 

What did you think your character concept was? What is it now?: When I came to Novitas I was unsure of who, or what I wanted to play so I took a year to just play as an NPC so I could observe, and play a character that I thought I would do well as.  During that time I settled on wanting to play a Wood Elf Noble.  At the time there were a few Wood Elves in game, and they did very well on their own, but I wanted to do something different. 

So in examining the lore that we had at the time, I discovered that the Northern Clans of the Great Forest were more warlike, due to their proximity to Gersh and the raiding that happened up there.  So I decided to create a character that was a Soldier from a more warlike Clan, one that had to find ways to defend themselves in a way that would drive off the Northern Raiders in ways that hopefully limited his own losses.  To that extent, Ithvendish came into game as a much harsher character then most.  He was willing to do things that many other characters (his own party included) considered to be savage and immoral – but that was the only way Ithvendish knew to stop the constant Orc and Bandit raids on the town. 

Needless to say, it didn’t work and caused no small amount of tension between him and the town, and even his own companions.  So over the years Ithvendish has been slowly mellowing out, despite an attempt to seem unchanged on the surface.   He is far less savage and unforgiving then he was before, but he is still always ready to make the hard choices when they arise.

 

How many PCs have you had? What happened to them? I’ve only had one character to date, Ithvendish.  Currently he’s still alive and coleading the Druids in game. 

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