Thank you for checking out our Informational Reference section. We have provided this section to combat harsh assumptions that many people have about exactly what role playing is. I hope you find the information listed here useful and informative.
Many people hear the word RPG today and may think of many games that are out on the Nintendo 64, Play Station, or on PCs. The advertisements for them are on almost every channel at one time or another. A large number of games in the market today bear the title "RPG" with out the buyer knowing the truest version of RPGs. First of all, RPG stands for rocket-propelled grena..oops wrong game. RPG stands for Role Playing Game. These games have been around for centuries, in one form or another. "Cowboys and Indians" and "Cops and Robbers" are simple role-playing games that we came up with as children. Role playing games have been used in classes to teach various lessons in schools and at home.
The basic concept of a role playing game is: one person sets a situation, gives various kinds of information for the players to use, and the players respond to the information in the way they see fit. That is the driest look at what a role playing game is.
Gaming companies took this dry form of the game and added variety to it. The information that the person gives to the players could now vary greatly from what a social structure is, the prices of various items in the game, what a creature is doing, how the weather looks, to whether or not they serve food at the store they are at! The players now also get greater options to them. They can do anything they could do in this world. And in some cases, things they could not do. The Players are expected to "Role Play" their "Characters" in the game, that is, begin their train of thought with "If I was that person, in that situation, what would I do?" and tell the Game Master (The person handling all the other information) what their character does. In turn the Game Master would tell the players how the creatures and environment responds to their actions.
If this sounds to technical for you, there is an example of playing here.
"Isn't that that game where some people did some weird stuff and something happened?"
"AD&D??!?!?! Role playing?!?!?! Thats evil! I wouldn't have any of my friends in that!!!"
These are statements you may or may not have heard about Role Playing games. Many people due to an event that I will soon explain, are under the assumption that role playing games are "evil, the devil's work," encourages satan worship, and other such vile things. These rumors are based on missinformation and uneducated guesses. These statements couldn't be further from the truth.
To Understand where these rumors got started, I'll give a basic history of role playing games.
In the 70's a company formed called TSR, which did a lot of games that tested strategy. A person in the company, named Gary Gygax, and some others (which I dont have a copy of a book on hand to do a proper creditation) got together and created a game called Dungeons and Dragons. This game used the imaginations of the players to guide fictional characters through an imaginary world that a seperate player (called a Dungeon Master) controlled. This game became popular and many people played it. It was very popular among teenagers and college students.
One of these students was the son of Patricia Pulling. This son, due to emotional problems, committed suicide. Ms. Pulling blamed Dungeons and Dragons for this problem and created "Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons" (BADD). This organization spread information that the game was evil, and promoted devilish things. Word got around and pretty soon many people were under the alse impression that the game was evil. These rumors were based on artwork that appeared in the "monster manual" which is a source for the DM to use in his/her games. These pictures were of demons and devils that were intended to be used as opponents in a "good vs evil" type game, with the players fufilling the role as the "Champions of Good". One other rumor that the spread was about witchcraft. They stated that the game uses spells and magics to put curses on people. It is true that there are spells in the game, but they are simply tools of wizards and priests inside the game. These spells have about the same effect on people as little children's toy guns used in those games of "Cops and Robbers", except you can hit people with the plastic guns, but you can't hit them with the sentence, "My wizard casts Detect Magic". Some people claim that players of Role-playing Games go around places and fight with swords and dressup in costumes and such to do vile things. This is simply a missinterpretation of something called Live-Action Role-playing which is exactly the same thing as acting. No one gets upset when movie heroes go around doing the same thing.
Ms. Pulling's occurance, and the few others like it, have caused the game to get a bad reputation. However, we use role playing in conversations, school work, and many other places that we don't think about. Any "What if...?" state ment is similar to a small role playing game in which you guess what would happen when something else happens.
Role playing game systems involve many things that, if people were not tainted by this missinformation spread by various groups, could be considered beneficial to people playing them. Many people who play state that it teaches math skills, such as quick calculating, basic math practice, and probability prediction. It also increases a persons problem solving methods, and teaches players to pay attention to details to enjoy the game more fully. In some people, especially the DMs/GMs, it increases their ability to write and quick thinking skills. Its also excellent practice for people who are in Drama type activities. Its also looked upon as a fun social activity, an opportunity to meet new people. It can also increase a person's knowledge of history, since many of the games are set in Medieval times, or the reinassance period, and many others.
With this being said, you can plainly see that role playing games actually help people instead of hurt them.
Now that you know that they are perfectly ok to play, what's next?
Well, you might try playing or listening to one. This site does provide a link to a site that has session of one game recorded in a text file format (or word pad doc format). There are locations you can play online also and these will be provided in the mentioned links section.
If you are interested in watching/playing one of our games, feel free to go to the members section and e-mail any of the members on the members page. Thank you.
