What is Role-playing? Al Ray

1-17-01

What is role-playing? Role-playing is a form of improvisational acting where several people create their own characters and lines to portray and a person to create the setting. Role-playing through the use of a role-playing game(RPG) is probably the most common among teens and adults. Of the RPGs the most well known is Dungeons and Dragons(D&D). This game has be denounced, unduly, by some people as a form of Satanism or Occult. This is untrue and D&D is not the only form of role-playing. There are hundreds of RPGs, crossing all genre, from sci-fi to fantasy, from super heroes to James Bond style spies and many others.

The number of people in a role-playing is variable, but the minimum number is two. This is so because you need a player and the person to create the setting and plot. This person is call the Gamemaster(GM), Dungeonmaster(DM), Storyteller(ST) depending on the game, although GM is the generic one. The GM in essence is the writer, director, producer, supporting cast member and extras all at once. He/she is the world outside of the player characters(PC) and whom that interact with.

How does one play a role-playing game? The are many ways to play a RPG. The ways are dependent on the style of role-playing and the system used. The are main two styles of game role-laying: table-top and live-action role-playing(LARP). Table-top is the more common of the two. This is the one were there is a group of people sitting around a table, acting out their characters and rolling dice. The dice use is dependent on the system and yes there is more types of dice than the "normal" six-sided dice. There are seven types of dice in use. There are four-sided, six-sided, eight-sided, ten-sided, twelve-sided, twenty-sided and a percentile dice. The dice in RPG parlance are call d(# of sides), foe example 6-sided dice would be d6s, a four-sided die would be d4, ect. The type of dice used is dependent on the system. Some systems use all, other some of the dice, while a few systems use on one type of die. This form of role-playing has a high male to female ratio, with male gamers being more common.

The second style of game role-playing is the LARP. It differs from table-top in several ways. First is that LARPs are far closer to acting that table-tops. In essence the player IS their character while in the game as an actor is his role. Anything that is done out of character (OOC) has to be accompanied by a gesture signifying that it is OOC or it will be assumed in character. The role of the dice has been replace with the hand game paper, rock, scissors. The author of this essays has yet to experience this form of role-playing. There is still a male to female ratio, but it is much less that with table top ie, more women play LARPs.

What type of person role-plays? The is not a single type of person that role-plays, although there a general trends that people that role-play have. They are people who love to have fun, intelligent, somewhat enjoy acting, and have at least a decent income. The income is needed because RPGers are often the type of person to spend thousands of dollars in a life-time to buy books, dice and accessories. There is a joke among RPGers that you know your a role- playing gamer if: losing your dice bag is a major financial blow. Joke that are written about gamers are most likely written by gamers and you have to be a gamer to understand them or, at least have a gamer around to translate.

There are five major archetypes of gamers. These archetypes represent the personal style of the individual gamer. The first is the Real (wo)Man. These gamers are the stereotypical macho, brave, kill the enemy and save the girl type that often play warriors. The second type is the Real Role-player. These are the dramatic types that often play under-powered characters that have book length histories and interesting personalities. The third type is the Loony. This are the players who play the most off the wall, insane characters who would do anything for a cheap laugh. These have some overlap with the Real Role-player, but are crazy in every character they do. The fourth type is the Psychopath. These players are the ones who play the evil cold-blooded killer types that often get the other players in trouble that could have been avoided. The last of the major archetypes is the most feared and reviled of all, the Munchkin. The Munckins are the players who don't really get the spirit of role-playing. They try to win even though one doesn't "win" a role-playing game. They are the ones who make the most one-sided over-powerful characters, often by using obscure rules to there advantage and often by whining and cheating. Munchkin characters often have no background or personality. They are the types of role-players most often made fun of by other gamers.

As you have seen role-playing is a form of entertainment that has many aspects to it and has its own following. It is a form of fun that each of has done while we were children and which many of use keep while we grow and mature and the content matures with us. It is a form denounce by those whose vision is colored and who have never experienced it. If you are reading this and wonder what more there is to role-playing than is in this essay, go out there a ask someone you know and believed has played RPGs, what is it like. If you are still curious try it for yourself, then you might understand and find you looking toward new horizons.

Bibliography.

Baker, Richard and Bill Slavictek. Alternity: Gamemaster Guide. Renton: TSR-Wizards of the Coast, 1998.

Cook, Monte, Jonathan Tweet, and Skip Williams. Dungeons & Dragons: Players Handbook. Renton: Wizards of the Coast 2000

---. Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeonmaster's Guide. Renton: Wizards of the Coast 2000

Even, David Erik, www.gamerjargon.com