Role-play gaming is very similar to group storytelling; each player takes on the "role" of one (or occasionally more) of the Player Characters (PC) in the story, much like an actor in an improvisational play. Differently from watching a film or reading, which are both passive, a player in a role play game takes an active part in the story, participates in events, and influences the progression of the plot.
In a Role-Playing Game (RPG), unlike a novel, there is no fixed plot-line, no certain outcome; just as in real life, you are never sure of how events are going to turn out in the end.
You will experience the excitement of the story through your character's adventures. When your character succeeds in some task, or solves a riddle, it will be your success as well. You will find it a uniquely satisfying form of entertainment.
If you keep two fundamental questions in mind, you will be able to pick up the basics of role-playing:
In every RPG, one of the players takes on a particular role; they act as the Gamesmaster (GM) - also known as the ref, the dungeon master (DM) or sir! The GM directs the flow of the story action by managing the other player's participation in the game. The GM fabricates setting and plot elements as needed along the way. The GM integrates the actions of the characters into the game, including their interactions with the environment, informing the player about what their character hears, sees, smells, tastes, touches, and, if applicable, senses supernaturally.
The GM also provides non-player characters (NPC's) which are people and animals with which the player characters interact during the game. It is the player's questions and answers which provide the momentum for the plot to keep it moving. The trickiest part for the GM is to mentally stay five minutes ahead of the characters, keeping track of the potential plot twists, NPCs the characters might encounter and things they might see. They also have to cope when the players take a different track to any the GM might have thought of. This can sometimes result in a GM just ditching several months worth of planning and desperately improvising to nudge the party back onto the plot-line!
Most role-playing games consist of two parts: a description of a world or setting designed to inspire adventure, and a collection of rules for generating and playing a character. Through this character, you may explore and interact with the environment and inhabitants of the role-play world. In most RPGs only the GM is required to be familiar with the setting and any NPCs. In general, it is usually better if the players discover it through successive adventures.
In addition to the rules for Character generation, most people should be familiar with the basic rules that affect the ways in which the characters interact with that particular universe. New players can and do learn the rules aided by the more experienced players in the group. The GM provides the players with the sensory information that their character gleans from the world around them. The GM also mediates and ensures that all the players abide by the rules of the system. If you are interested in starting role-playing or if you are already a role-player then there are usually people at Games Soc who are running assorted campaigns. So pick up your dice and come into the exciting worlds of new adventure.
The year is 2274. For 240 years, American politics has been dominated by the Church of the New Revelation, who believe that Christ has really come again, and is alive and well and living somewhere in Florida. But the scandal surrounding the Schwartzchild revelations and other problems with the church caused them to lose power as the '60's drew to a close.
The now legendary Gold Beach Free Festival in '69 is considered to have been the turning point, where the whispers of revolution became an open call. When people who attended this festival talk of it, much is said of philosophy, magic, and spirit - but for historians the important result was that the revolutionary force, the Reapers, declared open war on the church, and on the state for protecting it. Within weeks the revolution had left its cradle in Southern Oregon and crossed from coast to coast to march on Capitol Hill. A coup d'etat followed, the president disappeared, and a period of unrest followed.
Now, four years later, the revolutionary President Stephanie Wilson is in the White House, and is shortly to stand for re-election. But, although the revolution has been won, things are still not stable. The States are fragmented, and in a state of civil war. The Southern States, never content with the government of Washington, have declared independence, and the Confederacy exists once more. The boy-general Robert Lee Minsford commands the Virginia Volunteer Militia: considered by some to be the most effective fighting force on the continent. The Free State of Quebec, the only part of the North America to remain outside the US for its entire history, has invaded Ontario and threatens the St Lawrence Seaway and the whole industrial zone of the Great Lakes. Native American Nations have reclaimed many of the National Parks and other wilderness areas, making these places mysterious, magickal, and very dangerous. Atlantic raids from European pirates, particularly pirates from Cornwall, Brittany, Wales and the Hebrides, compete with remnants of the church to make the East Coast a very restless place. Meanwhile, the states of California, Oregon, Arizona, and Chihuahua have elected to be governed by a mysterious political entity called the Administration, which some hold to be governed by aliens from a parallel universe, intent on bringing all thinking people everywhere into a Utopia ruled by the power of thought control.
Suitable parties could be drawn from almost any place in this mishmash of conflicting interests. Government officials working with the FBI or the CIA need to do all they can to preserve what is left of the US, and bring fugitives and war criminals from the church to justice. There are many reports of strange and spooky things going on, both on the West Coast and in the Native American strongholds. United States diplomats and Embassy staff need to tread very carefully, avoiding open war with these rebels and counter-revolutionaries until a way of winning can be found. Alternatively, a party could fight against the Revolution, as Confederates, Native Americans or their mysterious wilderness allies, as Californian or Quebecois trouble-shooters, as foreign diplomats or military advisers of almost any hue, as random mercenaries, as European pirates or even as fugitive fragments of the evil inner cults of the Church of the Revelation.
As a referee, I am more interested in characterisation and entertainment, so I will cheerfully give players characters with unfeasibly large amounts of power if I think it will lead to entertaining role-playing. Good players have ended up leading religions, or large groups like the CIA.
Come let me know. Most of the old hands know how to find me, or Richard, or 4a656e6e79. Alternatively">jenny@">4a656e6e79. Alternatively I can be contacted by telephone (431998), by E-mail (simon@) or via my campaign web pages (http://www.lucid.co.uk/~simon/campaign/).
This is the 18th Discworld novel and the third to feature the watchmen 1 of Ankh-Morpork. It is also one of Pratchett's lesser efforts. It does contain sequences at the very high standards set by the likes of Mort and Pyramids, but these are the exceptions. A large part of the reason for this is that whenever the situation begins to get interesting, Pratchett takes the narrative to another set of characters for no readily discernible reason. This interferes with Pratchett's normally excellent characterisation and interrupts the natural flow of the story.
The plot hangs from two threads; the Patrician is being poisoned, and golems are apparently committing murders. These are both extremely problematic for the denizens of the city watch. To further confuse them, it also transpires that Nobby (see footnote) may well be Earl of Ankh Morpork, and rightful ruler if the Patrician gets snuffed out like a candle.
Other than a couple of niggling details, the book is intelligent, funny, and well worth reading.
This is the novel I'm talking about, not the TV series. (They're both by Mr Gaiman so its not that important a distinction.) Some bastard stole my telly so I haven't seen it yet. However if the book is anything to go by, the TV version should be very worthwhile.
Neil Gaiman is probably best known for writing 'The Sandman' 2, the only comic ever to win a literature award (World Fantasy award for best short story). The book therefore arrives with a good pedigree. To stretch a metaphor, (to about a mile past its breaking point), it then rolls over onto its back to have its tummy tickled, makes cute little endearing noises, licks one's hand, fetches one's slippers, saves ten children trapped down a mineshaft (despite the fact that the nearest mineshaft is 100 miles away), and even demonstrates good toilet training. The plot moves along nicely, with plenty of twists and turns and several surprises along the way. I can't really go into serious detail here because, if you the reader are watching Neverwhere on telly, you do not want me to tell you who's employing Mr Croup and Mr Vandemar. I just love that pair of villains. They are so cute.
Very quickly though, I think it is safe to tell you that a young man who is desperate for a decent direction to take his life in, and whose name is Richard Mayhew, helps a young girl who is being hunted by the aforementioned Vandemar and Croup and soon regrets it when he slips into an alternative London and finds his life threatened also. The characters he meets there include Islington (an angel), the Marquis de Carabas (a shady dealer), and Door (the previously touched upon young lady who has a remarkable talent).
In some ways, this isn't Gaiman's highest standard, but allowing for the fact that this is the first time he's written for TV or written a solo novel, it is more than adequate. In fact, it is very good indeed.
The grammar check on this program tells me that 'watchmen' is 'gender specific' and I should consider changing it, (Just my luck to have a PC PC). OK. The watch contains humans, trolls, dwarfs, a werewolf (female), a gargoyle, and Nobby (disqualified from the human race for shoving). I don't think I'll bother.
The grammar check strikes again. Sandman is also gender specific. I should therefore call Dream of the Endless, King of the Dreamland and Lord of Nightmares, the sleep fairy or the sand fairy. Mmm.. I'll think about that for at least two seconds.