Role-Playing
Collaborative Story-Telling
A few words of explanation: Role-playing is a term that refers to a wide variety of games, usually directed by a GM (game master) and acted upon by the players as characters in the game through conversation. A game may appear to outsiders as merely a table containing character sheets defining the protagonists, perhaps with sketches or maps of their surroundings and/or miniature figurines or tokens representing the characters. Oh yeah, and dice. Often, lots of dice. Dice allow the practical application of chance—neither failure nor success are certain when a character attempts something. Dice allow for bell-curve or flat distributions of results as the players explain what the characters do to pursue the quest given to them by the GM.
Quests... You know, quests like rescuing the princess, finding the stolen items, exposing the corrupt corporation, defeating the evil wizard, saving the day from the super-villians, surviving the machinations of the enemy, exploring the ancient ruins, stopping a demon-summoning being attempted by a cult or unravelling the plot to assasinate the political leader. Quests set in the atmosphere of Aurthurian legends, a 1920's horror story, a super-heroes comic book, World War II France, a science-fiction adventure movie, a fantasy world like the Middle-Earth of J.R.R. Tolkien, or even Chicago in 2005.
The names of these games may be familiar, or perhaps spark your curiosity: Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, The Seventh Seal, The Matrix, Villians & Vigilantes, Rifts, Babylon 5, BattleTech, Dr. Who as well as many other titles. Fun stuff. Creative, challenging, interactive and limited only by the imaginations of the people involved.
» The Seventh Seal
Larry and his friends have begun playing The Seventh Seal, a roleplaying game [RPG] of biblical horror. The Seventh Seal is a roleplaying game based on biblical mythology, with heavy focus on the Book of Revelation. Players assume the role of Sentinels, mortal guardians of Heaven invested with supernatural powers. The Sentinels are the last echelon of light, the final righteous stroke against the rising tide of dark powers that seek to claim the souls of humanity. Using the rules, a handful of six-sided dice, pencil, paper, and a heavy dose of imagination, players create characters that act in dramatic stories revealed and initiated to by the game master...
Image Credits: Pat Loboyko, ©2005 Scott Mitchell.
