In the early 90's I moved out of London and to a small town in Oxfordshire and, after a while, I managed to find a D&D group to play with. They already had an established DM, party and campaign so my character, Jesse, needed to start at a comparable level. I think this was the first time that I needed to create a character background for a 'campaign' character who wasn't starting at first level, and I think this might have been the first character I created one level at a time, making up a history/backstory as I went.

By the time Jesse got into play, I know what skills he had, who had taught them to him, what his experiences were, who his family was and where they lived. Jesse was to join a well established party, who had all the main functions covered, so I had to find a role that would allow him to fit in, not steal anyone's thunder, but still be a useful member of the group. I based the character (lightly) on a Celtic Mythological figure, Fionn mac Cumhaill, a wise and knowledgeable hunter. So Jesse became a Ranger/Bard, and his family background had the flavour of a rural clan holding.

After a while I was allowed to DM a couple of sessions and, later, became one of the main GMs. Jesse's background setting, Lower Smokey, grew to become the focus for the adventures that I ran, and became an important part of the game world. The area still exists in my Consolidated Game World, although only as a line in the Far Coast States description. However, the concept of Celtic clans as semi-independent 'nations' followed through into the game world, with the inclusion of the Ancient Family Heads on the Imperial Council.

We played for years, and the last character sheet I have for Jesse put him at Bard11/Ranger9 :) Jesse became Pagini of the Paginis and Warder of the Thinhorn, while the other characters all gained holdings and titles of their own.

I think this was the first game where I started to play around with strongholds, titles and that sort of RP related stuff.