So what the heck is roleplaying anyway??
Well, roleplaying is a number of things as a matter of fact. It's used by shrinks (psychiatrists or whatever), to help people get a grip of themselves, and hopefully to be able to deal with their problems. But, as you might have guessed, we're not a bunch of shrinks hanging around, trying to make each other feel good.
No, the roleplaying we 'do' is the kind where you sit down around a table and have fun, mainly by pretending to be someone else(note that we only pretend to be someone else, we don't actually try to become schizo). It's a bit like the good old theatre, with the exception of a manuscript, and including (in most cases) a lot of dice-rolling.
Of course, you can look upon it as a game, which it is, but there are a couple of things that differs. You don't have a gameboard, for example.
Instead you have a gamesmaster, who's main task is to tell the rest of the players (normally 3-5 people) what happens around them. If the players are in a forest, for example, the gamesmaster (GM) tells them so, and he might also tell the players what kind of forest it is, if there are any creatures around, etc, etc.
The players usually 'stumbles' upon a quest, like 'save the girl and get the dough', or such. The quests main function is to get the game going, otherwise nothing will happen to the players.
The longer you play with a character (the person that you play in the game), the better that character becomes. If you are an archer, for example, and shoot a lot, you're bound to become better. This happens in the wonderful world of roleplaying as well. As long as your character survives, you can keep on playing with it, and see it 'grow', as it becomes more experienced (heh, sounds like a damn tamagotchi).
The game often takes place in a so called Fantasy-world (like J.R.R. Tolkiens 'Middle-earth'), or in a futuristic 'sci-fi' world. But of course you can play it in other worlds, based on other ideas, as well. You can, for example, play a World war II-game, or a James Bond-influenced game, or why not in a world like ours? Everything is possible, a long as you have the imagination for it.
back