Originally posted by puglover
What's an RPG and what do you do in one? 
Originally posted by puglover
What's an RPG and what do you do in one?
RPG stands for RolePlaying Game.
At the risk of sounding too obvious is at first: a game. But one that everyone has played at least once during his/her childhood.
Did you ever played to be a teacher or a physician? or a cowboy pursuing apaches?
If you didn't then... i guess you were born an adult.
Second, and not less obvious: a game where you role-play. Yes, where you do a character's play. The difference between the childhood games is that there's a storyteller who prepares the stage, helps you to design your character and officiates as referee. No more discusions if that arrow went through your character's heart or you evaded it.
To be more academic:
A roleplaying game is an specific gaming genre where every player plays a different character into the storyteller's previously created stage and where he/she tries to decide how his/her character will act upon the variated circumstances presented by the storyteller. All the game is run into the players and the storyteller's imagination and by the means of the narration.
Players don't actually perform the activities of the characters they're representing, instead they're described by word.
There are many different kinds of roleplaying games, from the classic sword and cloak medieval to the far future starship's voyages, passing thru the cosmic horror.
Each roleplaying stands; generally, upon its own set of rules which describe the characteristics of the environment where its run, the suggested ways to develop characters and to decide the success or failure of their actions. But anyway that's up to the storyteller... because they're only "SUGGESTIONS".
A rpg-manual can be high priced... but the manual doesn't make the game. As i stated before i writed my own set of rules and the general story of this new colonized planet far there in Alpha Centauri's star system. There has ocurred many catastrophes and this world has become a really strange place as everyone of its inhabitants has its destiny already written by some mighty power developed upon a wrong set of calculus made up for the chief science officer of the project.
You are one of the inhabitants of that world... and you may choose how your destiny is fitted, among only 9 options. There you begin your journey to find Mount Jupiter and unwrap many misteries through your way... even nobody knows were that mountain is or even know about its existance.
Keep civilized
David
PS: There has been many attemps to do role-playing "LIKE" games based upon a computer program... But certainly they're not rpg's, because there's no interaction among players and the storyteller
costs $23 tho. 
