Like many gamers, I started off on one of the classics, Dungeons & Dragons.
Keith Dacson came back from RPI one summer with the original little books.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons came out soon after, an we all stocked up on the books.
In those days, it was Keith, myself, Scott Carlson, John O'Kane, Ned, Grant Carlquist, Dave Arnoff and a few others.
My characters included:
Merlin, a magic user
Achillies, a figher
Whap Runestaff, an 11th level magic user,
Raum Sureblade, a 10th level Ranger
Ta-Zar Flamesoul, a 9th level Cleric
Logan Stormsoul, a 12 level Bard
Wolfgang Bearclaw,a 10 level Berserker
I worked all of these up from 1st level. Yes, I was a geek even back then...