My first character was in AD&D. That's what was out when I was in High School. I made him with a friend who was an experienced player. I did not understand most of the rules and character creation even less. It's safe to say that my first character was his creation that I just happened to say "Unh huh" to every recommendation he had. While the character was built within the rules and of the correct level the items were very OP, but I did not know it at the time.
So, I was happy. Had character sheet in hand. Handed it to the DM. DM gives me the nod of approval. We set out on what was my first session of a game I had never seen before.
It was an underwater adventure. We did the character introduction. We cast a few spells. We went to the underwater complex. No water in the complex. So, no magic needed for breathing inside the complex. So, about 15 minutes into the adventure we hit our first obstacle. We have three shields fashioned together to form a sort of doorway. We have no idea what's on the other side. The party exhaust their actions trying to discover what may lie ahead, save one. A fighter with a Girdle of Storm Giant Strength who picks my character up and throws him through the shields. The shields open up and my character is sucked outside the complex into the water. He was not able to find air in time. He coughed up his lungs and died about 20 minutes into my first experience with the game.
After the session, the DM came to me and talked to me about the weapons and items being OP. Asked were I came up with idea of such items. Then told me to go and make my own character.
Lesson learned. I created my own character the next time around. A generic level 13 Human Cleric with a weapon specialization and an simple +2 mace and +2 armor. That characters name was Kilikale and I was still playing that character when the campaign ceased.
All of my major gameplay was in AD&D. AD&D 2nd Edition came out about year before we quite. We had some fun side adventures in 2E, but never a major campaign.
It had been 24 years since I played. I did not really recall much of the rules. I have kept the published material, dice, character sheets, drawings, etc. that I had when we stopped. I picked up an 4E game on Roll20 and we played through "Keep on the Shadowfell". That game ended almost 3 years ago.
Since I would have to relearn or learn an system anyway, I am open to any version or other systems.