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The Ballad of Blimbro the Bard: My First D&D Character
277 Plays3 years ago
This is the tale of Blimbro the Bard, a humble yet eccentric gnome hoping to be the best in the business. But with other gnomes, evil noblemen and rival bards to contend with, will he succeed before the dice gods strike him down?
Trying something a little different this time. This is the story of my first ever D&D character as well as the reason I got so invested into the game. It is a very abridged version of events so if you would like to hear more D&D content then please let me know!
I also did a podcast episode on D&D so if you would like to hear more about that then please feel free to click here.
For more Satsunami content, please click here!
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Transcript
The Love for D&D Amidst Its Unpopular Past
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami.
Rise of D&D's Popularity with Media Influence
00:00:17
Speaker
So it might come as no surprise, but I absolutely love Dungeons & Dragons. However, when I was growing up, it wasn't exactly the most popular hobby to have. Usually when I heard about Dungeons & Dragons, it was always a punchline for either a nerdy character on TV, or just overall someone with no social
Initial Hesitations About Joining D&D
00:00:35
Speaker
life. Of course, nowadays, thanks to shows like Critical Role, the game has never been more popular.
00:00:40
Speaker
But for me, my journey into the world of Dungeons & Dragons was quite a peculiar one. So for context, I used to live away from home when I went to university. And when I came home to visit during the weekends, I had a couple of friends here who I would meet up with. So as I were catching up, one of my friends turned round and asked me if I would like to take part in the Dungeons & Dragons game.
Creating Blimbro: The Gnome Bard
00:01:01
Speaker
At first I wasn't really sure how to take it. I wasn't even sure if it was a bit of a joke or even if it was serious. But he basically explained how he and a couple of other friends started getting into the game.
00:01:14
Speaker
While I didn't really know much about Dungeons and Dragons, I decided to accept. After all, what was the worst that could happen? So after going away and thinking about what kind of character I would like to play in the game, I finally settled on a gnome bard who I'm called Blimbro.
Blimbro's Humble Beginnings and Aspirations
00:01:28
Speaker
The name actually came from a character I created in The Lord of the Rings online game, and while the life of that Hobbit bard in the MMO was pretty brief, his name lived on in Dungeons and Dragons. As for why I chose a gnome?
00:01:42
Speaker
I forgot that halflings were a thing. Whoops. So as I arrived for the first session, I had no idea what to expect. I started chatting with a couple of mutual friends, and then after we were done, it was time to play. As dramatic as it sounds, I remember picking up the dice for the first time. As my friend began the session, so too did the ballad of Blinborough the Bard.
Adventures and Challenges with Blimbro
00:02:04
Speaker
And with that, my first steps into the D&D world began.
00:02:13
Speaker
Nestled atop the verdant hills of Greentop Island exists a village of gnomes. From sunrise to sunset, the gnomes went about their business inventing and building. However, there was one particular gnome who resented the status quo. Born to a skilled inventor and a not-so-skilled baker, Blimbro had ambitions beyond the fields of Greentop Island.
00:02:38
Speaker
Despite his parents' reservations, they knew that their son would most likely choose this path, regardless of how they felt about it. With his lot in hand, the aspiring bird began his adventure.
00:02:51
Speaker
Unfortunately, he soon found himself in the company of another gnome by the name of Etsy Timbers. Despite his cheerful disposition, there was something that the bard did not like about the gnome. Regardless, the duo ventured forth and came across a band of adventurers. It was there that Blimbroke was his first taste of combat.
00:03:14
Speaker
Albeit, probably not the kind of combat he envisioned. After slaying and falling into the gaping mouth of a giant rat, Blimbro dusted himself off and introduced himself to the group.
The Return of Etsy and Blimbro’s Transformation
00:03:26
Speaker
It was there he met his soon-to-be teammates, the Ranger with the mysterious past, the Holy Cleric, the charismatic fighter, the squishy wizard, and last but not least, the accident-prone half-orc.
00:03:40
Speaker
Together they went on a bunch of bizarre adventures, and as exciting as that was at the time, the worst was yet to come. In a tale as old as time, a nobleman used them for his own selfish gains. This eventually led to the group fleeing the country, regrouping and trying to gain more allies along the way. While the stakes kept increasing for the plucky adventurers, the humble bard found himself in a rather dangerous position.
00:04:08
Speaker
During one of their adventures, Blimrow, Etsy and the Ranger were on a horse-drawn carriage, running away from the enemy. What they didn't realize, however, was a creature forged from steel, awaiting them. In a moment of panic, both Blimrow and the Ranger jumped off the carriage.
00:04:28
Speaker
hoping that they would not be the next victim. However, as they sat on the ground celebrating their achievements, they forgot one thing, that of course being to tell Etsy to get off the carriage. Within the blink of an eye, the carriage erupted into flames.
00:04:45
Speaker
taking both the creature and Etsy with it. At least, so they thought. Throughout their journey they encountered Etsy several times, no longer the optimistic gnome that he had once known in Green Top Island, but instead lusting for only one thing. Revenge. The gnomes would encounter each other over the course of the adventure.
00:05:10
Speaker
Unfortunately, however, this did little to humble Lindrow. His mist of his attitude was barely tempered by the situation. As the years went on, hearty members came and went, but the adventure still continued. As the nobleman's influence began to grow within the continent, so too did the hopeless nature of their cause.
00:05:33
Speaker
Alas, they still continued to recruit people to their cause, ranging from dwarves and dragonborns to even a mysterious tabaxi. And while the methods were a little, shall we say, unorthodox, no more was this apparent than with the bard. After Aetsey's passing, something changed within the gnome. He became more assertive, arrogant even,
00:05:58
Speaker
if it was for the greater good of the group. He would have no issue with sacrificing others. Some notable examples
Blimbro’s Pivotal Battle for Survival
00:06:05
Speaker
include the following. Betting the Rangers paid Crocodile in a game of mage hand armwrestling against a random bard in the tavern. When Lumro lost, he simply said that the Crocodile was outside. When the bard went outside, he was met with a dragon that the group had been running away from about five minutes earlier.
00:06:25
Speaker
Another example was when they were trying to defend their base against a horde of demons. Unfortunately, they required a special item which the Custodian of said item would not give up. Without skipping a beat, Blimbro simply said that they were doing a historical reenactment. As expected, the Custodian fell in the battle as she was petrified and turned into stone. The Bard and his friends went on many adventures together.
00:06:55
Speaker
But unfortunately, in the heart of an abandoned theatre, those good times were about to end. By this point, we were a good couple of years into the campaign. Suffice to say, my friends and I were really passionate about our characters. Up until this point, we had all had some kind of brush with death. Fortunately, however, it was nothing that a potion couldn't fix or a spell of healing. Sadly, that winning streak would soon come to an end.
00:07:23
Speaker
As the campaign went on, so too did the stakes that our characters had to face. During one of our missions to bring the noblemen to justice, we found ourselves in an amphitheatre where everything started to go down. From battles to backstory reveals, everything was going on. And as expected, the DM announced that Etsy had returned once again for his revenge. Much like a Saturday morning cartoon, the outcome was always the same.
00:07:49
Speaker
After an intense battle, Blimbro and the gang would overcome it, who would then shake his tiny fist and yell something along the lines of, I'll get you next time.
00:08:00
Speaker
But on this occasion, something was different. During the battle, the group were preoccupied with their own enemies, leaving Blinbro to face Etzi alone. I'd be lying if I said I was a little bit nervous, but I'd faced Etzi before on my own, and no matter how bad things turned out, I always knew that Blinbro could prevail after exchanging a number of spells and crossbow bolts.
00:08:23
Speaker
Blimbro was hit. Initially, I wasn't too worried, as I knew that my friends would come to my rescue. However, in this instance, help wasn't going to arrive. Eddy charged one final blast. All Blimbro could do was stare at his friend, as the magical bolt of energy struck him directly. The bard hit the ground with a thud. In silence, washed over the battlefield.
Victory and the End of a Four-Year Campaign
00:08:50
Speaker
For the first time, the GM asked me to make a saving roll.
00:08:54
Speaker
I had three chances to bring back my character. I rode the first, a failure. A tense atmosphere fell upon the table, knowing that I could be one of the first characters to die in the campaign. I tried again, but to no avail. At this point my friends were staring at me intently, hoping silently that I would make the saving throw. With one final hope, I cast a dice onto the table. The dice rolled, soon revealing Blumbrow's fate.
00:09:25
Speaker
one final time. I had failed. It was a bit of a weird feeling. As I said, at this point we'd been playing the game for about several years now, and of course we'd all gotten attached to our own characters. So when we realised that this was the end for Blimbrow the Bard, I feel like it came as a bit of a shock. As the DM narrated Blimbrow's last passage into the afterlife,
00:09:49
Speaker
A strange twist of fate happened. For one thing, death was unable to claim him. In a previous session, I had found a magical loot which, of course being the bard that I was, decided to try and strum. In one such instance, Blimbrow had begun to glow green before the light faded. At the time, he didn't know what this could be. Fortunately,
00:10:11
Speaker
it looked like his get out of death card. Not only was this a turning point for Blimbro himself, but it was a turning point for myself and the way I played the character. Things didn't exactly get better from there. For one thing, the nobleman had finally seized the power he was looking for. On top of that, a death curse had been cast onto the land, only affecting those who'd already died.
00:10:37
Speaker
Blimrow was no longer droveal, and his physical and mental state began to worsen. The party had their own concerns, worried that they were going into a battle they couldn't win. By this point we had reached the four year mark of our campaign, and as silly as it sounds, I was getting really attached to my character. In the last couple of sessions leading up to the finale, I did everything I could to keep my bard safe. But in the end, I knew his death was approaching fast.
00:11:05
Speaker
Perhaps I'll talk about the battle more in detail sometime. The long and short of it was after scaling a dangerous tower and being aided by the ghost of Etsy, we soon came face to face with the nobleman and all his might, despite throwing everything we had at him.
00:11:20
Speaker
The platforms beneath us began to crumble, and we plummeted down to the earth. After another twist of fate, the adventurers managed to get the upper hand and defeat the nobleman once and for all.
Reflecting on the D&D Experience and Blimbro’s Journey
00:11:34
Speaker
I'm not going to lie, it was a bit of a bittersweet feeling. On the one hand we had done exactly what we had set out to do, that of course being stopping the nobleman from enacting his evil plans. However,
00:11:45
Speaker
On the other hand, it meant that a full year's session was now coming to a close. So you might be wondering to yourself, what does a fictional gnome bard have to do with my enjoyment of Dungeons & Dragons? Well, in some ways, I felt as if I could relate to Blimbro. During those four years I played Dungeons & Dragons with my friends, there were a lot of highs and lows.
00:12:06
Speaker
But no matter how bad things got, I knew I could escape into the world of D&D, even just for a couple of hours with friends. And much like Blimbro, D&D gave me the opportunity to not only meet new people, but create new friendships, which are still lasting to this day. Even two years on, we still make references to the campaign. Heck, it even inspired me to run my own game.
00:12:29
Speaker
Which lasted pretty well until the pandemic hit. So hopefully one day we can get back to that. And as cheesy as it sounds, what began as a simple tale of a bar trying to make his name across the land turned into a tale of friendship and never giving up. And although it was a little sad leaving the character behind,
00:12:49
Speaker
I don't regret playing the game one bit. I could speak for ages about the twists and turns of that campaign, as well as some of Blimbrow's more questionable exploits. But those stories are for another day. As for what happened to Blimbrow?
00:13:04
Speaker
Well, after the fall of the nobleman, the land has gone back to some kind of normality. Many gathered in taverns to hear about the heroic deeds of the adventurers, unfortunately for Blimbro the Bard. Many chose not to believe him, as the story seemed rather unrealistic, for lack of a better word.
00:13:25
Speaker
But this time, as the barge swung his loot onto his back and walked out the tavern, he did so with a smile, and not one of anger. Once again, they gathered in the tavern, this time under different circumstances. Instead of a ranger, a cleric, a fighter, and a rogue, he sat before a king, a god, a knight, and still a tabaxi rogue. Sadly not much had changed there, but at the end of the day, his blimbrow drunk deep from his tankard.
00:13:55
Speaker
He knew he had found true happiness. As always, stay safe, stay awesome and most importantly, stay hydrated.