ROLE-
PLAYING?
Roleplaying
has been described in many ways in its time, not all of them pleasant,
and it is one of the perennial problems of Role-Players everywhere to try
and explain it to other people. All too often the description ends up sounding
silly, and no doubt this one will to some people too, but I'll give it
a go.The
first thing to start with is a simple brief description (and a good old
standby at that); have you ever read a book or seen a film where a character
did something really stupid and you thought "No! Don't do that! Do
this! If it were me, that's what I'd do..."In
Role-playing games it is you, and you have complete control over
whatever that character does, rather like a play where each person writes
one person's script. In
(nearly) every Role-playing game (RPG) you create a fictional character
who is placed in outlandish situations. You play the role of that character,
just like an actor, but there's no script; everything is ad-libbed according
to the situation and the personality and background of the character. He
or she has traits which tell you how good he or she is at doing various
different things. Of course having four or five people inventing the story
as they go along isn't conducive to fine plot, complex details or planning
ahead, so one player, called the Games Master (GM) (or Dungeon Master,
Storyteller, Referee etc.) takes the part of the "director".
The GM sets up adventures, encounters and mysteries for the players, plays
all the other people they meet; villains, witnesses, passers-by etc. and
generally keeps everything running smoothly. For many people being the
GM is an experience in itself; I for one enjoy creating worlds, monsters,
and fiendish plots even more that playing them.But
why, ask many people, is it all about weird things like dragons, vampires,
monsters and fantasy? I'm not entirely sure, but my guess is that it's
because Role-playing is an inherently escapist pastime. You forget about
yourself for a while and play a heroic (or tragic) character with abilities
far beyond your own. After all, if you played a perfectly normal person
in a perfectly normal situation, what would be the point? You can play
that role all day every day, and probably do! Roleplaying is firmly grounded
in the fiction of the fantastic. Every RPG I've ever seen is inspired by
Fantasy, Science Fiction or Horror literature, sometimes all three, or
by Legends and Myths of our own pasts.Originally
RPGs certainly deserved the allegation that they were simplistic (though
still fun). In the original Dungeons & Dragons each character was quite
clearly a Macho Hero Beating Up The Minions Of Evil (and that applied to
the women characters too!). The actual portraying of a role took a back
seat to getting treasure and fighting everything in early games. Rules
were of prime importance and loads of dice were used to create a random
element. Even now many games are still heavily rule and dice based, and
the exploration of rule-systems in and of themselves is also a subject
which many Role-players find of great interest. There are few dedicated
players that don't find themselves making up their own system at some time
or another. As the hobby developed however new kinds of games developed
which dispensed with system in favour of in-depth characterisation. Now
there are games which have no dice at all, in which your Role-playing skill,
and the GM's intuition decide whether you succeed or not in an action,
while others try to balance a set of rules and a concentration on Role-playing.
Roleplaying these days, accommodates many styles of play, from movie-style
fantasy to those that claim that Role-playing is actually an art form.
In general one can see a division between 'System' games, and 'Characterisation'
games, and everything between. The important thing is that Role-playing
is fun, for everyone involved. Certainly, whether as a work of art or just
a bit of fun, Role-playing has grown to be a very popular pastime, with
multi-million pound companies sitting alongside the home-grown games of
many enthusiasts.Unfortunately
with success comes unwanted attention, and Role-playing seems to have been
perfectly designed to attract criticisms of the wildest sort, from those
who dismiss it as frivolous to those that claim that it is in some way
'evil', or even Satanic. The first objections are hardly of much concern,
each to their own I say, but the second are far more serious. Role-playing
has been accused of leading people into evil, murder, suicide, and who
knows what else. I could lay all kinds of accusations of my own at the
door of Christian fundamentalists, who seem mainly responsible for such
complaints, but it seems to me to be more important to understand exactly
where all this stems from. Role-playing is all about stepping outside your
own character, and indulging your dreams and fantasies. Often there is
the opportunity to step outside social norms and conventions, few people
really walk about in plate mail wielding broadswords. The kind of behaviour
that a player's character undertakes can even seem pathological in the
context of our world, but the point is that Role-playing is a tool of the
imagination, the character's behaviour does not take place in the real
world, but in a place where all our desires and dreams can be safely indulged
and explored. People really act in a way dangerous to society rarely understand
the dividing line between reality and fantasy, but I have never met a Role-player
who didn't understand that it was just a game.For
the Record: No-one has ever committed suicide because of RPGs. Role-players,
just like all sorts of people, have committed suicide, but much quoted
evidence suggests that in fact Role-players are less likely to commit suicide
than non-Role-players. Just the same no one has ever killed anyone because
of an RPG, no one has been kidnapped into a Satanic cult, and Role-players,
unlike most other groups, have never tried to blow up anything at all.If
RPGs that allow players to play characters that are 'evil' have become
popular, along side those that expect them to be both good and heroic,
it's because, like many actors who prefer evil characters, they realise
that it is cathartic. By being evil in a fictional context where no real
harm is done, you can work off your frustrations, just as by being good
you can indulge your better instincts. Ultimately, it's about escapism.
Like I said at the start, it's a game and it's supposed to be fun.New Players page