Role Playing Games

Role playing games are, as the name suggests, games in which the players place themselves in certain roles .

I have played various games including AD&D and RoleMaster with (among others) Andy Perrott, Glen Corbridge, Colin Corbridge (AKA Spike), Peter Martin, Peter Adams, Patrick Moore, Chris McCandless and Michael Ardill (noticing a slight gender bias here ).

It's interesting that there are two, almost diametrically opposite views held about RPGs and the people that play them.

One school of thought holds that it is an activity strictly reserved for children, the other that is the work of the devil. Quite a spectrum to cover eh?

Of course, children do play RPGs, but the games were almost invariably designed by adults for adults. In this day and age, a hobby that requires children to read books with a challenging vocabulary and set of concepts ought to be quite a good idea .

 As for the work of the devil, well, that's even more puzzling... The usual viewpoint put forward by these people is that games involve dark gods, etc. etc... Of course, it's less than clear why one is not regarded a devil worshipper for watching "Clash of the Titans" then, but I suppose there are some people that have trouble telling fantasy apart from reality.

The Advanced Dungeons & Dragons system, better known as AD&D, did contain demons and devils in its first edition - but so did it include more powerful angelic creatures. Some people didn't like this and removed all traces of them from the game, or more usually renamed them. Personally I think you're more in danger from trying to twist a fantasy world so that it fits the real world more closely, than from simply indulging in what is clearly understood as a made-up world. It might also be worth noting that many players are Christians, and don't feel and compulsion to worship dark gods of an evening after a quick AD&D game.

So let's discuss more up-beat things. In most RPGs, one unfortunate is the DM (Dungeon Master) or GM (Games Master). This person is unfortunate because they have all the work (but also all the power ). Essentially this person paints the scene, and decribes the actions of NPCs (Non Player Characters - extras) and monsters, then the PCs (Player Characters - the other guys) specify their action based on their character abilities and equipment. This continues ping-pong until a conclusion is reached (a dead or triumphant party of adventurers ).

The DM acts as a referee for all disputed on the rules, and shouldn't be acting for or against the players. (S)he is quite intitled to bend the die rules behind the screens to make the game more challenging when the party is having life too easy, and to be lenient when a PC is about to die in unfortunate circumstances - the idea is for everyone to have fun - so the right level of challenge is essential .

The advantage of the DM system over, say, a computer referee is that almost all actions are possible. Any cunning plan the players have can be run through, without the need to prompt them with a list of choices.

For us, RPGs are about getting together with friends, eating some junk, indulging in much banter and having a great laugh .

See some pictures in the gallery.